it was simply not right that a ‘new’, ‘hitherto unknown’, and
‘depraved’ sect should seek to overturn the benefits of Rome’s
ancestral religion (Comparison of Roman and Mosaic Law15.3).
That Christian monotheists rejected the gods worshipped by
pagans across the empire also had social ramifications that served
to mark out Christianity as distinctive. Taking their lead from
Old Testament prohibitions on idolatry, early Christian writers
from Paul onwards argued that no Christian could participate in
the public sacrificial rituals that were central to Graeco-Roman
religious practice. Hence the test of sacrifice during periods of
persecution. From the early second century, Roman and munic-
ipal officials were aware that devout Christians could not perform
this ritual, so it could usefully be deployed as a way of ensnaring
them (see the case study at the end of this chapter). But the insis-
tence on sacrifice had a positive significance too: by making
offerings to the gods, those accused of being Christians could
advertise publicly that they really belonged to the pagan commu-
nity. Rejection of sacrifice meant not only that Christians refused
to take part in the central rituals of pagan cult, but also that
they could neither eat the sacrificial meat nor participate in the
public feasting that sometimes accompanied pagan rites (thus
Paul, 1 Corinthians8). Rejection of pagan gods and rituals, there-
fore, went hand-in-hand with ostentatious exclusion from some
central aspects of life in ancient communities.
Such behaviour could be construed as subverting the basic
social order. It could be surmised also from other Christian prac-
tices. Since they lived, for much of the first three centuries, under
the intermittent threat of persecution, Christians were prone to
conduct their religious gatherings in seclusion. This could pro-
voke the suspicion of imperial and local authorities. The Romans
associated secretive behaviour with tendencies towards perversion
and criminality. This link is apparent in the description offered
by the historian Livy (writing under the emperor Augustus) of
the orgies and conspiracies that accompanied the secret rites
of Bacchus, which had been suppressed by the senate in 186 BC
(Livy 39.8–14). The secrecy surrounding Christian rituals gave
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