and the Roman empire were similar. Such positive attitudes to
Rome reached a climax with the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea,
for whom the conversion of Constantine to Christianity vindi-
cated his view that the empire had an important role to play in
God’s plan for humankind. As we have seen, such a belief led
Eusebius to associate outbreaks of persecution with tyrannical
emperors only, a thesis that runs counter to many of the known
facts about the Roman empire’s dealings with Christianity. For
example, it prompted Eusebius to assert that the emperor Philip
the Arab (244–9) had actually been a Christian and that the perse-
cution initiated by his successor Decius was in large measure a
reaction against what Eusebius interpreted as Philip’s outright
support for Christianity (Ecclesiastical History6.34 and 6.39.1).
Modern scholars generally agree that Eusebius has overstated the
nature of Philip’s attachment to Christianity. At best, the emperor
may have had a positive interest in Christianity that restrained
him from initiating a persecution himself (Barnes 1968). Indeed,
Eusebius also tells us that Philip and his wife Severa received
letters from the theologian Origen (Ecclesiastical History6.36.3).
What evidence there is suggests that the third century,
at least during periods when persecution was in abeyance, saw
Christianity gaining some degree of intellectual and social
respectability – albeit one that falls short of actual approval. Philip
the Arab was not the first emperor to express an interest in the
religion. Eusebius recounts also that Julia Mammaea, mother of
the emperor Alexander Severus (222–35), invited Origen to the
imperial palace at Antioch to discuss matters religious (Ecclesi-
astical History6.21.3–4). A later, but unreliable, source mentions
that Alexander also had a statue of Jesus (along with images of
Abraham and the deified emperors) in his shrine of household
gods (Historia Augusta, Life of Alexander Severus29.2). Later in
the third century, Paul of Samosata called on the emperor Aurelian
(270–5) to adjudicate in an ecclesiastical dispute arising from
Paul’s expulsion by his fellow bishops from the see of Antioch
(Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 7.30.18–19). Aurelian inter-
vened (and found against Paul), but we should be wary ofEARLY CHRISTIANITY AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE
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