7aa. Burial Societies

At the end of the second century, when Tertullian asks why the church should not have been classed among lawful clubs when it commits no actions commonly feared from unlawful ones, he implies that the church was regarded as the latter. He then goes on to speak of the church as a Christian club and society and to describe its activities, including a monthly contribution and the feeding and burial of the poor. When Tertullian's comments are taken as a whole, they clearly place the church in the status of an unlicensed but ordinarily tolerated religious club.(1.)

Within the Greco-Roman Social Order

This conclusion is valid not only for the church of Tertullian's day (c. AD. 200) but very likely for the earlier Christian mission as well. Whether the development of the monarchical episcopate owes anything to the necessity under Roman law for a club (of certain kinds) to have a designated representative to act on its behalf is a question that may be left unexplored since it takes us in any case beyond the situation of the Pauline church. In general the Pauline ecclesiastical organization and ministries arose from uniquely Christian experiences and to meet the church's own needs, but it is clear that some elements in its order, terminology, and practice, and particularly its affinities with the synagogue, have resemblances to the clubs. All these factors taken together create a strong probability that the church in the Roman Empire as a social entity was perceived and perceived itself as a religious club and that, as such, it found from the beginning a degree of toleration and its "place" within the Greco-Roman social order.(1.)

A Burial Society

Christians in the Roman Empire were content to continue meeting in houses. Other religions had their temples; Jews had their synagogues: but Christians were something new. They were not recognized by the government and were often suspected, always insecure. In some places Christians did own land for the graves of their dead. It was customary in the Empire for people to club together in order to secure land for graves, and one such "burial society" composed of Christians would not be specially noticed. In this period, graves were the Church's only property.(2)

In large households, masters sometimes encouraged the formation of a club and provided a meeting place for it, like the burial society that met in the house of Sergia Paullina in Rome, attested by a well-known inscription. (4) Another example, an inscription dated A.D. 136 about a burial society in the Italian city of Lanuvium, records in detail the bylaws of the society showing how the society was organized and the character of its activities. Part of the bylaws reads as follows:(6)

Bylaws of the Society

"It was voted unanimously that whoever desires to enter this society shall pay an initiation fee of 100 sesterces and an amphora of good wine, and shall pay monthly dues of 5 asses. It was voted further that if anyone has not paid his dues for six consecutive months and the common lot of mankind befalls him, his claim to burial shall not be considered, even if he has provided for it in his will. It was voted further that upon the decease of a paid up member of our body there will be due him from the treasury 300 sesterces, from which sum will be deducted a funeral fee of 50 sesterces to be distributed at the pyre among those attending; the obsequies, furthermore, will be performed on foot.. .. It was voted further that if any member desires to make any complaint or bring up any business, he is to bring it up at a business meeting, so that we may banquet in peace and good cheer on festive days. It was voted further that any member who moves from one place to another so as to cause a disturbance shall be fined 4 sesterces." (6)

Penalties for Bad Behaviour

"Any member, moreover, who speaks abusively of another or causes an uproar shall be fined 12 sesterces. Any member who uses any abusive or insolent language to a quinquennalis at a banquet shall be fined 20 sesterces. It was voted further that on the festive days of his term of office each quinquennalis is to conduct worship with incense and wine and is to perform his other functions clothed in white, and that on the birthdays of Diana and Antinous he is to provide oil for the society in the public bath before they banquet."(6)

Devotion to Christ

Against this background, it is fair to say that in at least some respects the Christian groups will have looked familiar to outsiders. Like the Christians, members of this burial society met regularly (monthly rather than, as with the Christians, weekly), ate food and drank wine together, honoured one another by elections to office, addressed the problem of causes of disturbance in the meetings and joined together in activities of worship. Such associations, like the house churches in Corinth and elsewhere (cf. Acts 2:41-45), provided a social context for people from primarily the non-elite trades and crafts end of the social scale to participate in a common life larger than the household but smaller than the city state. The Christians were distinctive, however, in the mixed social composition of their groups, the exclusiveness of their focus on devotion to Christ crucified and risen and the seriousness of their commitment to holiness.(6)

Bibliography

"You are fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household." Ephesians 2.19

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