Here is something you may or may not know.  The target of Revelations (New Testament) was originally  the Roman Empire and the horrible things the Romans did to the Jews, including the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.  The writer , John, was a refugee from that brutal war.

Why was it included in the New Testament despite protestations from numerous Christians at the time?  The “evil Empire” had embraced Christianity, so why should it not have been viewed as just another apocalyptic prophesy from John, a Jew in a long line of Jewish prophets?

The answer seems to be that Athanasius, bishop in Egypt and a man of huge ambition and ability to get his way, was intent on getting a fixed content of  teachings in what was to be the New Testament and silence all dissent. The beliefs of Christians were fluid at the time, and the debate on what Jesus said and what this new religion was about was being hotly debated.

Athanasius saw an opportunity to re-interpret Revelations and use it in a cynical way to anathematize his fellow Christians who disagreed with him about doctrine.  Thus began the exclusion of “heretics” (those who disagreed with him).  Revelations, once aimed at the empire, was now aimed at  fellow Christian dissidents.  Anyone who thought that Jesus was subsidiary to his father, anyone who thought that Christ was within us and objected to the growing army of priests and deacons, was termed the Beast and threatened with hellfire.  His policy was very effective.  We only know about the dissidence and the debates because some enlightened monks hid the Dead Sea scrolls.

To some Revelations seems to be the ravings of  a man on some drug or other.  But to the poor and oppressed, to this day, the ideas contained in it still resonate.  So by accident Athanasius did the right thing.

What has this to do with Epicurus?  It illustrates the way ambitious men can use ruthless tactics to get their way,in the sphere of religion as elsewhere.  In this case, with the passage of time, the outcome as arranged by Athanasius has come to be regarded by those who know no better, as the word of God. What Jesus would have thought of it all I have no idea.

Epicureans flinch from such manipulation and prefer consensus and working together, however hard that  might be.