Christianity and the Existing Social Order in the Early Church

What did it mean to be a Christian in the early days of Christianity?  How did the Christians live, and how were they different from other people?  How were they different from the Christians who lived in later times?

Being a Christian did not mean living in a separate community (except in the very first days in Jerusalem).  It did not mean giving up your job or your position.  Christianity did not teach a new social order.  Those who were slaves continued to be slaves, and those who owned the slaves continued to own them.  Christians tried to be good citizens.  Wealthy people remained wealthy, and soldiers continued their service in the Roman Emperor’s army.  Christianity did not proclaim a new order of society.  Yet in all their relationships with other people, the Christians were inspired and guided by their love for God, and for their fellow men.

Apostle Paul did not tell those who owned slaves to set them free, but when he was himself imprisoned, and met a young runaway slave called Onesimus, who became his disciple, Paul wrote a letter to the slave’s owner, Philemon, who was also a Christian.  He told Philemon that Onesimus was coming back to him of his own free will, and then went on writing:

“I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment…I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.  I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the Gospel, but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but of your own free will.  Perhaps this is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in flesh and in the Lord.  So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.  If he has wronged you at all, or owed you anything, charge that to my account” (Philemon 10-18).

[Church tradition tells us that Onesimus was freed by his owner and later became a bishop.  He is venerated as a Saint.]

Rich people did not necessarily give away their fortunes, unless they did it of their own free will, for the love of God.  However, the Christian Church took care that none of its poor members suffered want.  An important part of the life of the early Church was to care for the needs of its members, and the distribution of help was supervised by deacons and deaconesses.  Collections were also made for churches that were in distress, and the travels of the Apostles were often connected with the taking and bringing of collections.

* from The Orthodox Christian Church Through the Ages (Chapter 8: Life in the Early Church)
by Sophie Koulomzin