______________________

The entire first half of the third century proved that pagan Rome was already close to a sad solution to the question that Christianity posed to it: to be or not to be? The first half of this century is the time of the elevation of Christianity both in the consciousness of its followers and in the consciousness of the pagans themselves.

He is no longer so much persecuted as accustomed to peaceful communication with him. About the middle of the third century there were two emperors so sympathetic to Christianity that there is even a tradition that they were Christians: we speak of Alexander Severus (222-235) and Philip the Arabian (244-249). In the person of Alexander Severus, paganism became friends with Christianity. In the character, in the religious and intellectual direction of this sovereign, there was much that made him very favorable to Christianity. He was not a Roman by birth, he was born in Syria, and therefore he was one of those emperors who cared very little about the preservation and consolidation of the Roman religious-political order, and did not think of using force to defend the religious ideals of ancient Rome. By his nature he was gentle, kind, and was "the friend of all men," as Aube puts it. These qualities of the sovereign were useful for Christians as well. Alexander's religious-intellectual trend is described in interesting information by his biographer Lampridius. He makes it clear that Alexander was brought up on the famous idealist Plato, whom Alexander positively read, and that, on the contrary, he remained more than indifferent to everything Roman. The same biographer attests to his character from the best side, points to his "exemplary life and good morals"; He was called "pious and even holy"****. His soul was not entirely devoted to any cult, he is a religious eclectic, of which there were many at that time. He was, as Aube put it, "the friend of all the gods"*****." The friend of all the gods "knew Christ and revered Him on an equal footing with other various heroes. The same biographer Lampridius says that Alexander offered sacrifices every morning to the divine persons, whose images were placed in his chapel; among these images we meet Christ, Abraham, Apollonius, Orpheus******. There was even a rumor that he wanted to build a temple to Christ, i.e. to rank him among the gods of the Capitol, but refrained from doing so due to the opposition of conservative Roman trends*******. After this, it is not surprising that Alexander was favorable to Christians and did not hide it. His biographer notes that he showed tolerance towards Christians********. But, in all likelihood, Alexander did not fix this favorable attitude towards Christians by any legislative act, but manifested it only in actions and policies, and therefore Christians derived only relative benefit from it. Among the private actions in which his favor to the Christians was expressed is the following: when the Christians in Rome took possession of some empty land and wanted to build a house of prayer on it, some keepers of a drinking house (ropinarii) decided to take this place away from them; the matter came to the emperor; The emperor, having examined it, said: "It is better to worship the Christian God in a disputed place than to build a drinking house*********. From the history of Alexander's reign it is evident that he was quite well acquainted with Christianity, its institutions and rules, and that he liked other things so much that he held them up as a model both for society and for individuals in their activities. It is said of him that he recommended to the pagan society that certain officials should be elected by public vote, and that the merits and demerits of the persons elected should be openly stated, in the manner in which priests were elected among the Christians***********.

______________________

* Les Chretiens dans l'empire Rom. P. 284.

** Lampridius. Alex. Severus, cap. 30 (B Histor. Augusta).

*** Ibid., cap. 3.

**** Lampridius. Op. cit. Cap. 24.

***** Aube. Op. cit. P. 284.

****** Lampridius. Op. cit. Cap. 29.

******* Ibid., 43.

******** Christianos esse passus est. Ibid., cap. 22.

********* Ibid., cap. 49.

********** Lampridius. Op. cit. Cap. 45.