Conclusion

This chapter has argued that the traditional identification of late antiquity with religious violence has obstructed more fine-grained analyses of social and religious change in this period, and, by setting religious violence apart, has hindered its contextualisation within late antique violence in general.

Of course there were acts of violence perpetrated by religious individuals and groups, but it is questionable that these should set the tone in what ought to be a complex symphony of cohabitation and tension. If social theory is often called upon to offer a more complex image of late ancient religious interaction, including its violent aspect, I have focused on the categories with which late antique sources represent violence. Indeed, there can be no doubt that there is a high level of reporting of violence of all types in late ancient Christian sources. This is the product, I submit, of a morally charged distinction that the church made between itself and society. Identifying itself with peacefulness, society appeared as the wielder of the sword. The idea had limitations that jar somewhat with modern sensibilities: it excluded warfare and coercion in day-to-day social relations, including corporal punishment of subordinates. The shedding of blood in times of peace was seen as morally proscribed: capital punishment, for example, was called into question. Within these limitations, it generated moral expectations by which one was judged. In a context of intense conflict within the church, it should not surprise that accusations of the violation of such moral boundaries abounded and this is one reason why Christian reports of Christian conflict often highlight their violent nature. The distinction between church and society was, in turn, grafted on an opposition between Christian and pre-Christian, that is pagan, times. Exemplified in blood sacrifice and the persecutions it called forth, paganism was seen as a fundamentally violent religion. Paradigmatically described in Rufinus, paganism committed truly sacred violence, stemming from its very nature as a religion. An obviously highly charged view of paganism, it gave poignancy to later accusations of persecution that Christian groups would trade: acts of persecution were reenactments of originally pagan, criminal sacred violence. This moral grid, projected onto reality and related to specific understandings of religion and history, renders late antique violence visible to us. The justifications of Rufinus and Severus play on these premises. If this is a challenge to modern historians, it was also a challenge to contemporary actors. As we have seen in the case of Severus of Minorca, it also drew attention to how much late antique Christian society still fell short of the ideals it set forth.

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Source: Fagan Garrett G., Fibiger Linda, Hudson Mark, Trundle Matthew (eds.). The Cambridge World History of Violence. Volume 1: The Prehistoric and Ancient Worlds. Cambridge University Press,2020. — 756 p.. 2020

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