20.14. The Christian Influence on Society
To those who remained behind the Christian writers tried to teach the view of poverty as a probation and of wealth as a trust, the mutual dependence of rich and poor, and the lesson that men should be one in heart as they are one in origin — caritas qua in uno incommunicabili unum sumus.
They frequently recall the communion recorded in the Acts, and now that change of conditions had rendered community of goods impossible, a new means of applying the principle was sought, first in feasts of charity and regular collections for the poor, in the private munificence of the bishop, or in a proportionate and elaborately organised distribution, under the bishop, of church revenues. These by dint of careful administration and continual accessions grew to an immense property, till by the fifth century the Church had become the greatest landowner in the Empire.
In general, promotion to a bishop's stool meant merely entry into a large fortune. “Make me Bishop of Rome and I will become a Christian” was Praetextatus's reply to Damasus, and it reflects the public opinion.
Ammianus Marcellinus waxes scornful over the episcopal splendour and extravagance at Rome, but he qualifies or points his sarcasm by the admission that there were bishops in the provinces who, "moderate in eating and drinking, simple in dress, shew themselves worthy priests of the Deity." Instances of fine and unselfish philanthropy are equally common in the theory held by great churchmen and in their practice. Perhaps the most striking justification of the common claim that bishops are the proper and recognised helpers and guardians of the poor, the widow, and the orphan, is found in their readiness to convert the communion plate into money for the distressed. "It is better to save living souls than lifeless metals . . . the ornament of the sacraments is the redemption of captives," are the words with which Ambrose defended himself against the charge of sacrilege.
Refuge from the tax-burdened world was afforded by the monasteries, which are too often judged, not by the circumstances which called them into being, but by the abuses which attended their decay. And side by side with the strictly religious houses there sprang up innumerable charitable institutions — orphanotrophia, ptochotrophia, nosocomia, gerontocomia, brephotrophia — intended to relieve the wants of every class and every age and not merely those of citizens, as had been the case in heathen Rome and Athens. Not the least of the debts which the world owes to fourth century Christianity is this invention of open hospitals. Julian felt its power and summoned his followers to imitate in this respect the hated Galilaeans.
But with superior organisation the old spirit of voluntary charity waned. Individual effort disappeared; a steward discharged the philanthropic activities of the bishops; deaconesses waited less on the poor and more on the worship of the Church. Charity became less discriminating and aped the pagan largesses. Begging now finds a place in the statutebook, and the first law against mendicancy was issued by a Christian Emperor, Valentinian II. Yet the Church sought to meet this evil also by restoring labour to honour. Slavery had degraded it, and commerce had always been despised at Rome. Before the eyes of an idle and unprofitable multitude was now displayed the example of Christ and his apostles, workmen all, an example which was actually followed in the monasteries where the perfect life joined prayer with work, both to charitable purposes.
The Pachomian houses, as self-sufficing communities, provided regular work, not merely as a penitential exercise, but as an integral part of the life. Basil would have his ascetics despise no form of labour; Augustine reproved African monks who were deserting work for prayer. Sloth was assuredly no inmate of the cloister then, though the work done cannot be described as always useful or rational.
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