Julian’s program failed because the polytheism of ancient Rome was unable to sustain the kind of self-sacrificial love and compassion that Eusebius observed in Caesarea.
Writing to a pagan priest, he said, “hen it came about that the poor were neglected and overlooked by the priests, then I think the impious Galilaeans observed this fact and devoted themselves to philanthropy.” To another, he wrote, “ support not only their poor but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us.” In fact, Julian proposed that pagan priests imitate the Christians’ charity in order to bring about a revival of paganism in the empire. Such actions convinced them that they alone were pious and truly reverent to God.” A few decades after Eusebius, the last pagan emperor, Julian the Apostate, recognized that the Christian practice of compassion was one cause behind the transformation of the faith from a small movement on the edge of the empire to cultural ascendancy.
Eusebius goes on to state that because of their compassion in the midst of the plague, the Christians’ “deeds were on everyone’s lips, and they glorified the God of the Christians. However, the Christian conquest of the Roman Empire came not by the sword, but by the preaching of the gospel joined with acts of compassion. Indeed, Christianity eventually dominated the empire by taking root in almost all the major cities of the ancient Mediterranean world, from Alexandria in North Africa to Cordova in Spain. Even though the cities were unpleasant places to live, they were the population and intellectual centers of the empire, and they provided Christians with opportunities for numerical growth and cultural influence. Major catastrophes were not uncommon, including fires, plagues, conquests by armies, and frequent earthquakes. With few sewers existing, cities were filthy beyond imagining and became a breeding ground for disease. Others gathered together from all parts of the city a multitude of those withered from famine and distributed bread to them all.” Ĭities in the ancient world were even more overcrowded than the densest population centers today.
Bishop of the city and historian of the early church, Eusebius, recorded that during the plague, “All day long some of them tended to the dying and to their burial, countless numbers with no one to care for them. However, in the midst of the fleeing inhabitants, at least one group was staying behind, the Christians. The populace began fleeing the city, one of the larger ones of the Roman Empire, for safety in the countryside. Famine and war had recently afflicted Caesarea, so when the plague hit in the early fourth century, the populace was already weakened and unable to withstand this additional blow.
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