Julian the Christian

Julian “the Apostate” saw how the Christian church grew “due to philanthropy to strangers, burial of the dead and seeming purity of life.” Pagans needed to catch up, and this meant charity: “In every city,” he ordered, “numerous hostels should be established that strangers, whether or not of our faith, may experience our philanthropy whenever they need it.” And, “Teach the adherents of our religion to add voluntary contrubitions and accustom them to philanthropy. It is shameful when our poor lack assistance.”

Augustus and later emperors fed the populace of Rome, but they didn’t have a social welfare service. That’s a Constantinian inheritance, one that Julian couldn’t give up.