CONDUCTA ANTISOCIAL Y DELICTIVA.

visible and displaced form; see W.A. Meeks (1984) 142; S.R.F. Price (1984) 108, 11-14; R.A. Markus (1990) 118-19,21; and D. Handelman (1990) 41-8.

^ Chron. Josh., 36.

Chron. Josh., 44. Such public rituals became an increasingly common response to crises; see E. Patlagean (1977); A.M. Cameron (1978) 104-7; P. Brown (1982a) 124-6; and R.L. Fox (1986) 679.

those located in the centre and those visitors from ru ral satellites w ere brought together in times of crisis by both m isfortune and the consequent rituals w hich m ade visible the connections.

W ithout the structure p ro v id ed by C hurch leaders, the frontier com m unities occasionally fell into disorder. D uring the A.D. 503 siege of A m ida, John the bishop died. For a tim e there was no central ecclesiastical figure present to adm onish the people and prevent the p ro u d and boastful behaviour from raging unchecked. W hen the new bishop w as chosen from one of the m onastic com m unities w ithin the city, he im m ediately set about publicly rebuking the people, especially the m agnates, and had published a personal vision concerning the city's fate. In this revelation an angel had appeared to him and w arned that G od's w rath w ould befall the city if the m ighty did not turn and help their poor brethren.^!

The organisation of cerem onies replicated the existing p attern of asym m etrical social r el a t i o n s . ^ 2 The poor w ere dependent on the elites to

organise expensive rituals, and hence the dom inant role of church leaders and th eir benefactors w as perp etu ally evoked. W ealth w as given a concrete, if symbolic, form in both the sm all b u t w idely distributed gifts such as crosses, garm ents, and candles, and also in the m ore sum ptuous item s such as incense, icons, and banners w hich played an instrum ental p a rt in C h ristian celebration.^^ in controlling the civic cerem onies, ecclesiastical leaders ensured th at their notions of com m unity w ere the ones expressed, at the expense of their rivals.

W orks of charity also p ro v ed h elpful in b u ild in g su p p o rt for C hristian leadership. D uring the late antique period the construction of hospices, orphanages, and even civic m aintenance and intervention in the m arket place w as increasingly m anaged by the C h u r c h . ^ 4 D uring the

horrific fam ine w hich struck Edessa durin g the w inter of A.D. 500/1 ecclesiastical leaders organised the sanitary disposal of corpses and set up

Zach. Mit., 7.4.

12 R.L. Fox (1986) 80-2,92; and D. Handelman (1990) 15,23-28, and 49-52.

13 For examples of such endowments see Chron. Ed. 540, 60 (a senator giving a silver

tabernacle to the Great Church at Edessa); Chron. Ed. 540, 61 (the magister militum per

Orientem providing a silver sarcophagus for the bones of St. Thomas); and Zach Mit., 74 (the consul Isaac Bar 'Ai furnishing costly vessels and garments for the church). Such legacies are highly prizeded by local communities, see M. Mauss (1954) 41-43.

14 J.B. Segal (1955) 116-117; E. Patlagean (1977) 193-5; H. Chadwick (1980) 11; and R.H. Weaver (1987) 368-81.

infirm aries for the living.i5 Bishop N onnus of Edessa w as recorded as having constructed, in addition to several churches, a place for invalids, convents, defensive w orks, bridges and level roads.i^ Church leaders even had som e degree of influence in setting the price of corn. In A.D. 503, bishop John of A m ida pu b lish ed an account of his divine revelation w herein he w arned that those hoarding corn and neglecting the m ouths of the poor w ere only saving u p grain for the enem ies of the city.12

H ow ever, C hristian leaders do n o t alw ays exhibit the best record in support of their comm unities. W hen in A.D. 525 a terrible flood w ashed through Edessa, the Bishop, Asclepius, w as recorded as having abandoned his flock to find safety in Antioch. After a seventy-day absence, he died. O nly later did his com m unity bring A sclepius' b ody back to rest in Edessa.i3

There is nothing new about elites patronizing civic construction. H ow ever, w hen Christian elites enter into such projects, it is w orth noting that C hurch funds became increasingly entangled in w hat m ay be seen as the responsibilities of the State— ie., fortifications, m aintenance of roads and bridges, etc., —resulting in greater enfranchisem ent of ecclesiastical leaders. That is to say, the interest of Church and the State m erged. It is also w orth noting that the frontier population in tim es of peace looked increasingly to the C hurch hierarchy to provide guidance and patronage, and such leadership continued in times of war.

§ 3. Church Leadership in Local Defence:

The role w hich C hristian clergy played in m ilitary affairs along the entire eastern frontier has been greatly under-em phasised in general studies in English of the late ancient w orld. Jones gives the false im pression that the C hurch and the m ilitary w ere, by and large, w idely separated in their activities, and that only the dregs of society entered the

^3 Chron. Josh., 42.