Were the Christians a sect that was isolated from society?

Christians lived integrated lives within their broader society; though they had their own cultural understanding, their own teachings, friends, relatives, and neighbors. They did not isolate themselves from the culture into which they were born or from broader society and all that came with it. They lived in the world, but they were not of the world. They had a special vocation to sanctify the world by the work of God through them and within them: “For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:7) and “as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Pet. 1:15–16).

In the Epistle to Diognetus , which is counted among the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, we read that the Christians were not, as [the pagan] Diognetus thought, an isolated

866 See Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, The School of Alexandria Before Origen (Sydney: Pope Shenouda III Coptic Theological College, 1995): Chapters 4–5.

867 See the Translators’ Note in Section 1257 above.

868 St. Justin Martyr, Second Apology 10 (ANF 1:191).

and inward-looking community that formed a separate state with its own language and independent customs; but that the Christian faith embraces openness to all humanity, unlike the Jews. The Epistle says, “The difference between Christians and the rest of mankind is not a matter of nationality, or language, or customs. Christians do not live apart in separate cities of their own, speak any special dialect, nor practise any eccentric way of life.”⁸⁶⁹

The relationship of the Church to the world is like the relationship of the soul to the body — the source of life, she is the leaven of human society, the light that guides the world in the right path. “To put it briefly, the relation of Christians to the world is that of a soul to the body. As the soul is diffused through every part of the body, so are Christians through all the cities of the world. The soul, too, inhabits the body, while at the same time forming no part of it; and Christians inhabit the world, but they are not part of the world. The soul, invisible herself, is immured within a visible body; so Christians can be recognized in the world, but their Christianity itself remains hidden from the eye. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against her without any provocation, because she is an obstacle to its own self-indulgence; and the world similarly hates the Christians without provocation, because they are opposed to its pleasures. All the same, the soul loves the flesh and all its members, despite their hatred for her; and Christians, too, love those who hate them. The soul, shut up inside the body, nevertheless holds the body together; and though they are confined within the world as in a dungeon, it is Christians who hold the world together.”⁸⁷⁰