SOCIAL STATUS AND CONVERSION The Structure. of the Early Christian Communities Dimitris J. Kyrtatas Thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Brunel University Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology April 1982 TO My pARENTS ABSTRACT This thesis is concerned with social aspects of early Christianity, It considers the social origins and careers of the early Christians, as far as they can be traced in the scanty and fragmented evidence. The spread of Christianity is examined in relation to the prevailing social and economic conditions of the Roman world in the first centuries AD, The Christian attitudes to slavery and the penetration of Christianity into the countryside are discussed at some length. The evidence considered does not justify the traditional views which regard early Christianity as a religion of the underprivileged and the oppressed. Except for the imperial slaves and a small number of favour- ites of Christian masters, slaves, as far as it can be established, were not eager to embrace the new relegion, while in-the countyside, Christi- anity seems to have found its first adherants among the landowning and Hellenized peasants* In the cities, besides bankerst artisans and prosperous freedmen, Christianity attractedq as it is illustrated, many people of leisurep education and wealth, Overall, it is maintained, that although in principle Christianity drew its members from all social classes and groups, professing egalitarian doctrines, it was in effect more successful with the middle classes of the cities, which it organized under the leadership of wealthy and highly educated church officials. Millennial and prophetic tendencies, with strong social implicationst such as were manifest among the first generation of Christians, survived or were revived only as marginal phenomenat especially in the countryside. Mainstream the Christianity advocated and encouraged strict observance of existing social order. I CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction Part I Elements of Slavery and Freedom 32 Slavery, Early Christianity and Modern Ideology 33 I, Christianityg Slavery and Slaves 41 I. The Slave System 41 2. Christian Attitudes to Slavery- 47 3. Christianity and the Slaves 61 4. Slaves and their Christian Masters 70 2. Christianityp Manumission and Freedmen 78 I. Manumission 78 2. Christian Attitudes to Manumission 90 3. Christian Freedmen I00 3- Christianity and the Familia Caesaris 103 I. Familia Caesaris 103 2. The Christianization of the Familia Caesaris 109 3. The Significance of the Christianization of the Familia Caesaris 114 Part II Christianity in Cities and Countryside Iis From the Palestinian Countryside to the Cities of the Roman Empire and back to the Countryside 119 4. Christianity and the Cities 122 I. The Christianization of the Upper Classes 122 2. Social Developments in the Cities 139 144 3- Patterns ofthe Christianization of the Upper Classes 5 4. Power and Leadership in the Urban Christian Communities 174 5. Christianity and the Countryside 183 1. The Spread of Christianity in the Countryside 183 2. City-Country Relations 186 3. The Case of Egypt 189 4. Social and Economic Developments in Rural Egypt 201 5. Christianity in Rural Egypt 212 Conclusions 228 Abbreviations 241 Notes 243 Bibliography 272 6 ACKNOWLEDGEY=S I am indebted to Professor K. Hopkins to whose encouragement and guidance I owe this thesis. His suggestions, some of which went far beyond the limits of the project as it now stands, have been a constant source of inspiration and criticism. Mr. G.E. M. de Ste. Croix has with great patience enlightened me on several aspects of Ancient History. He has kindly read Part I and an early version of chapter 4, and has saved me from many errors. I wish to thank Mr. D. Marsland and the members of the postgraduate seminar at Brunel University for discussing with me early versions of chapters I and 5.1 also wish to thank my friends N. Manolopoulos for reading through my thesis and assisting me in matters of style and meaning, J. Peponis for helping me clarify methodological issues in the early stages of my workq and C. Michalopoulou for valuable aid during the preparation of the typescript. Mrs. E. Matthews has patiently typed my thesis, 7 On one such occasion I was travelling to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests; I in the the day I and as was on my way ... middle of saw a light from the sky, more brilliant than the sun, shining all around me and my travelling-companions. We all fell to the ground, and then I heard a voice saying to me in the Jewish language, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you, this kicking against the goad. ' I said, 'Tell me Lord, who you are'; and the Lord replied, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But now, rise to your feet and stand upright. I have appeared to you for a purpose: to appoint you my servant and witness, to testify both to what you have seen and to what you shall yet see of me. I will rescue you from this people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you* I send you to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to God, so that, by trust in me, they may obtain forgiveness of'sins, and a place with those whom God has made his own. ' Acts 26: 12-18. Accordingly (Constantine) besought his father's rod in prayer, beseeching and imploring him to tell him who he was and to stretch out his right hand to help him in his present difficulties, And while he was thus praying with fervent entreaty, a most incredible sign appeared to him from heaven... He said that about noon, when the day was already beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the it. sun, and an inscription CCNQUERBY THIS attached to At this sight he himself was struck with amazement, and his whole army also, which followed him on an expeditionj and witnessed the miracle. He said, moreover, that he doubted within himself what the import of this portent could be. And while he continued to ponder and reason on its meaning, night overtook him; then in his sleep the Christ of God in appeared to him with the sign which he had seen the heavens, and commanded him to make a likeness of that it sign which he had seen in the heavens, and to use as a safeguard in all engagements with his enemies. Eusebius, Vita Constantini 1.28.1. 8 INTRODUCTION A. From 'Syndoulos' to 'Brothers and Sisters' Equality and Hierarchy. The apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Colossians (1: 7)0 referredto one of his colleagues as being a aMovXog (fellow slave). The concep- tion of men as slaves of a master/god, almost unanimously accepted by the New Testament authors had been an essential feature of Jewish theo- logical tradition. The same conception was prevalent at least in some social circles of the Roman world (1). With the spread of Christianity, the master/slave metaphor was diF- fused into Hellenistic and Roman culture. It became all the more domi- nant, as the slave system entered its long and fatal crisis (2). The Pau- linep and subsequently common Christian metaphorl howeverv had little in common with 'the pedantically slavish spirit' of the Jewish people. To the 'mechanical slavery' (3) of a blind observance to the Law, Christians counterpoised an internalized humility, which had more to do with the de- velopment of a novel religious psychology, than with the repetitive ri- tual actions of traditional Judaism. Paul's The Christian idea of a6v6ov%og had a second point of emphasis. colleague was not a mere slave of God; he wasp at the same timev Paul's fellow-slave. The Jewish community, with its national religionp had a strong sense of national and religious identity; circumcision and other ceremonial practices clearly separated it from the loutside-Worldl. Christians inherited from Judaism the idea of an elect nationp but in bar spite of the efforts of their most powerful moralistsy could not themselvesp as successfully as the Jews, from the heathen world. Univer- to sal closed marriages (i. e. marriages between Christians as opposed mi- xed marriages) always remained an unaccomplished aim. Howeverg the constant polemic with the non-Christian world led to the 9 development of a vocabulary, which in its turn, strengthened the fee- lings of a closed group. EOvbovXog was a term belonging to this voca- bulary. The idea of aMouXog as developed by the early Christian theo- logians, included all adherents of the new religion as members of a common familia, i. e. the familia of a single master (4). A second New Testament passage in which the term uMovXog appears, expressed in a most powerful way the idea of a closed group in a life and death con- flict with its enemies. 'Eug n6xc, 6 bean6TT)gO 6 dyLog xaC dXT)8Lv6g, o6 kpCvcLg xaC Ix6LKcZg T6 aZlia hVOv tx T@v HaToLxoOvxuv InC Tqg yýgp ask the slain martyrs in the Apocalypse of John during a period of per- secution. Rest yet for a little longer, they were told, until your a6v- 6ovXoL and brothers are also killed as you have been (6: 11). UvbovXoý;, it thus seems, had good reasons to become a dominant technical term of the developing Christian vocabulary. New religions, in forming their theological and moral discourses, either select terms from the existing stock of older religions and phi- losophies, or, if necessaryt invent new terms to meet with their novel needs.