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A case against revenge

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  • #16
    https://earlychurchhistory.org/milit...nt-roman-army/

    The Roman military was a fruitful mission field for the Christian message. A Christian soldier did not, however, have divided loyalties between church and state. An inscription in the Catacomb of St. Callixtus memorializes a Christian soldier:



    “His friends’ memories keep the record of Theodulus who died with military honors. His loyalty was outstanding among non-commissioned officers. He was faithful to all fellow-soldiers and friends. His reputation declares him a servant of God rather than of money and an upright official of the city prefecture. If I were able, I would sing his praise forever so that he may be granted the promised gifts of light.”

    The Christian man Theodulus’ loyalty as a soldier was to Rome and to his “fellow-soldiers.” He was known as a “servant of God rather than of money (Mammon)” and was buried with “military honors.”

    Apparently Roman Christian soldiers in some remote outposts were allowed to worship freely. A Christian church inside a Roman army fortress in Megiddo, Israel was discovered in the 1990’s.

    Megiddo-Mosaic.jpg

    The small church was created from a back room in the fortress by Christian soldiers stationed there. The fortress served as the military headquarters of the Legio II Traiana (“Trajan’s legion”) and Legio VI Ferrata (“Ironclad Legion”). A mosaic on the floor shows two large fish, the Ichthus symbol.

    That's what
    - She

    Without a clear-cut definition of sin, morality becomes a mere argument over the best way to train animals
    - Manya the Holy Szin (The Quintara Marathon)

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    • #17
      Originally posted by Bill the Cat View Post
      https://earlychurchhistory.org/milit...nt-roman-army/

      The Roman military was a fruitful mission field for the Christian message. A Christian soldier did not, however, have divided loyalties between church and state. An inscription in the Catacomb of St. Callixtus memorializes a Christian soldier:



      “His friends’ memories keep the record of Theodulus who died with military honors. His loyalty was outstanding among non-commissioned officers. He was faithful to all fellow-soldiers and friends. His reputation declares him a servant of God rather than of money and an upright official of the city prefecture. If I were able, I would sing his praise forever so that he may be granted the promised gifts of light.”

      The Christian man Theodulus’ loyalty as a soldier was to Rome and to his “fellow-soldiers.” He was known as a “servant of God rather than of money (Mammon)” and was buried with “military honors.”
      I don't know where that website got the idea that that very long quote comes from the inscription on that funerary stele, but that's not what the stele says. Rather it refers to someone named Licinia Amias, and it reads "fish of the living", then below the fish and anchor it reads, "Licinia Amias well-deserving lived ...", and it wasn't found in the Catacomb of St. Callixtus, it was found near the Vatican necropolis under St. Peter's Basilica.


      The quote about the soldier named Theodulus is copied from a book called "Footprints in Parchment", which was written by a professor of parapsychology (I didn't know one could actually be such a thing) at Allegheny Community College, named Sandra Sweeny Silver. As far as I can tell, she doesn't give a source for the inscription, nor a date for when it was written. In my little bit of online research I couldn't seem to find anyone named Theodulus who was a soldier in the Callixtus/Callistus Catacombs. There was a soldier named Theodulus who was named among the 40 martyrs of Sebaste (modern day Turkey) who were martyred in 320 AD for openly confessing themselves Christian. You can read about that here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty_Martyrs_of_Sebaste


      Apparently Roman Christian soldiers in some remote outposts were allowed to worship freely. A Christian church inside a Roman army fortress in Megiddo, Israel was discovered in the 1990’s.

      [ATTACH=CONFIG]23331[/ATTACH]

      The small church was created from a back room in the fortress by Christian soldiers stationed there. The fortress served as the military headquarters of the Legio II Traiana (“Trajan’s legion”) and Legio VI Ferrata (“Ironclad Legion”). A mosaic on the floor shows two large fish, the Ichthus symbol.

      The current view is that this wasn't a church proper, but likely a personal residence connected with the military. It could have been an early home fellowship dating to the 3rd century, but some archaeologists are not convinced that it's possible for it to date so early. There are a number of archaeological indications that it dates to a period post-Constantine, but one of the biggest tells may be that it is associated with the Roman military.

      Source: The Ancient Church at Megiddo: The Discovery and an Assessment of its Significance by Edward Adams

      1.3. The Date of the Building and the Christian Meeting Room

      The field archaeologists have dated most of the potsherds discovered on top of the mosaic floor to the third century ce, and few to the fourth century. Finds in the northern wing of the building were mainly dated to the third century ce, with a few dating to the early fourth century ce.

      Coins recovered from Area Q mostly range from the second to the fourth centuries ce, with the bulk dating to the fourth century. All of the (twenty-eight) coins collected specifically from the building with the Christian meeting room date to the second and third centuries ce. The latest coin dates to the reign of Diocletian (284–305 ce). Tepper believes that the building was abandoned in the late third century ce, coinciding with the presumed relocation of the Sixth Legion Ferrata. There is no evidence of violent destruction. Tepper thinks that the building was deliberately dismantled, and the floor covered over, when the army left.

      Di Segni dates the Greek inscriptions in the mosaic to the third century ce, on the basis of the style of lettering and the language used. Tepper provisionally dates the construction of the building, including the Christian meeting room, to the first third of the third century ce, specifically ‘about 230 ce’, in an alleged brief period of peace for the Church broken by the accession of Maximinus in 235 ce.

      Other experts, however, have contested the proposed dating. Reacting to the initial announcement, Joe Zias, a former curator of the Israel Antiquities Authorities, doubted whether the mosaic could be pre-Constantinian. In his view, the building is most likely a Roman building adapted for Christian use at a later date. In a recent article, Vassilios Tzaferis argues for a date in the second half of the third century, during a period of peace that continued until the Great Persecution (303–313). During this time, he points out, there was an increase in the number of Christians serving in the Roman army.

      Gaianus’ benefaction is felt to be problematic for a pre-Constantinian dating of the church. Zias doubts that a Roman army officer of the third century ce would have been so foolish as to advertise his Christian faith in this way. One must not imagine that Christians in the Roman army (and Christians generally) were continually persecuted throughout the second and third centuries. Many Christians served in the army before the early fourth century and apparently met little trouble, except during the Great Persecution. Yet, ‘the Christian in the army was caught in a religious net of exceedingly fine mesh’. Roman military religion was so pervasive, it would have been impossible for Christian soldiers to avoid it completely. Most seem to have got along by performing their army religious obligations (whenever such duties could not be eluded), while keeping their Christianity a private matter, so as to prevent any outright clash between the two. By making (what amounts to) a public declaration of his allegiance to Christ on army or state owned property (as Tepper has it), Gaianus would be inviting the kind of religious conflict, with potentially fatal consequences, that others took care to avoid. Gaianus’ profession of faith would thus be unusually daring for a military officer of this period, which seems to make it a difficulty for a third-century dating of the church.

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      • #18
        Originally posted by Adrift View Post
        I don't know where that website got the idea that that very long quote comes from the inscription on that funerary stele, but that's not what the stele says. Rather it refers to someone named Licinia Amias, and it reads "fish of the living", then below the fish and anchor it reads, "Licinia Amias well-deserving lived ...", and it wasn't found in the Catacomb of St. Callixtus, it was found near the Vatican necropolis under St. Peter's Basilica.
        The stele has a fair amount of symbolism that could be taken as Christian, which makes it plausible that he was one (it was, after all, about the limit of what could safely be done), but it's not definitive. There were a number of soldier-martyrs pre-Constantine; some of them were converted while participating in the martyrdom of another Christian, but many were not.
        Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

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        • #19
          Originally posted by One Bad Pig View Post
          The stele has a fair amount of symbolism that could be taken as Christian, which makes it plausible that he was one (it was, after all, about the limit of what could safely be done), but it's not definitive.
          Oh, I think there's little doubt that it's Christian. I just don't think it has much to do with soldiering.

          Originally posted by One Bad Pig View Post
          There were a number of soldier-martyrs pre-Constantine; some of them were converted while participating in the martyrdom of another Christian, but many were not.
          Yeah, I think we discussed this a bit in this thread: http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/sh...e-early-church

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