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1 results

  • Chapter 5 - The First Christian Family of Egypt

  • from Part II - Religion
  • Edited by Harriet I. Flower, Princeton University, New Jersey
  • Book:
    Empire and Religion in the Roman World
    Published online:
    26 August 2021
    Print publication:
    19 August 2021, pp 117-138

  • Summary

    The chapter discusses a papyrus letter in the Basel papyrus collection that is our earliest autograph of a self-proclaimed Christian. The earliest evidence of Christians in the Egyptian countryside points to a well-traveled and well-read local landed elite. The Basel letter shows that Christians at that time were not hindered from taking public offices in their hometowns. In fact, they were called upon to do so, along with their pagan fellow citizens of means; their financial situation was decisive, not their faith. The Basel letter further illuminates the early spread of Christianity beyond urban centres and the strong links between urban and rural areas operating in a symbiotic relationship. It helps us elucidate the lives of early Christians in the Egyptian countryside during the first half of the third century, a period for which literary evidence is lacking.