What Julian The Apostate Would Think About Our Volunteers
Hint: He'd be pretty ticked.
It is disgraceful that, when no Jew ever has to beg, and the impious Galilaeans [Christians] support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us. —Julian the Apostate
Roman Emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus Augustus (c. 331-363) is known as Julian the Apostate for his rejection of Christianity. He liked the old Roman way of doing things, you know, back when Rome struck fear into the hearts of the lesser peoples they conquered. His plan for restoring Rome’s glory had two prongs: 1) conquer the Sassanians, and 2) repaganize Rome.
As you can see from the quote above, he had so much contempt for Christians, he couldn’t even call them by their name, preferring to use the slanderous term, “impious Galiliaeans” to describe the 4th Century’s Jesus-followers.
Julian's project to Make Rome Pagan Again failed largely because he underestimated how thoroughly Christianity had transformed Roman society, institutions, and culture during the preceding centuries. Christianity had fundamentally altered Roman expectations about religion's purpose and focus. And despite his denunciation of Christianity, even Julian was impacted by Jesus’ teachings and the priorities. Whereas a true reboot of paganism would have involved reinstituting temple prostitution, reviving gluttonous festivals of food and wine, and championing gory death spectacles, Julian’s idea of paganism included the very Christian virtue of caring for the poor and needy.
And Julian’s instructions to his appointed priests sound like instructions from someone who had drunk a significant amount of Christian Kool-Aid. Specifically, he instructed them to “lead holy and austere lives, to avoid the theater and races, and to organize works of social welfare for the poor and unfortunate.” Talk about conceding the high ground to your enemies.
To be fair, Julian’s motivation for these instructions was pretty pagan. He wasn’t motivated by a respect for holiness. Instead, he was bothered by the fact that the underclasses loved and praised Christians for their acts of charity. As a Roman aristocrat, he was troubled that the poor's love and praise flowed toward Christians rather than toward him as their traditional patron and protector. Julian seemed to realize that being nice to your underclasses caused them to respect and glorify you more than fear and abuse did. Ultimately, his goal was to make his slaves respect him more than they respected Christians, and he didn’t seem to fathom that he was using the Christian playbook to reach his objectives.
Obviously, when your strategy is to beat Christianity with Christianity, you end up losing. “A house divided cannot stand,” and paganism infected with a Christian virus can’t wipe out Christianity. Julian also failed to conquer the Sassanian Empire, which makes him 0-2. Sorry, Julian the Apostate!
Some things that probably really upset Julian
I probably shouldn’t enjoy Julian’s misfortune so much. But I think there is a lesson to be learned for Christians in the story of Julian the Apostate. Christianity has risen to prominence in a Negative Evangelistic World, where being a Christian was harmful to one’s status and safety. Yet, it fundamentally transformed Roman culture to the point that even its harshest critics had pretty much adopted Christian assumptions as their own. Today, we are in another Negative Evangelistic World. Being an impious Galilaean is likely the way forward. Instead of taking up arms in a culture war, history suggests we should just do what Christ commands—love the poor.
27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. [James 1:27]
So, good idea or not, I am writing this post to share some things going on with the Resilient Recovery ministry that would probably be a stone in Julian’s sandal if he were alive to see it.
Volunteer Portal
Our volunteer portal is nearing completion. Our volunteer, Carrie Boogart, has created an elegant interface that allows us to access training, incident reporting, and volunteer profiles. She has built a calendar of meetings and set it up to remind facilitators to submit brief “After Resilient” reports within 36 hours of facilitating a meeting. We will be able to pull attendance reports, newcomer reports, and collect feedback, all of which will inform our continuous improvement processes. Carrie’s gift of technical skills has freed up our paid staff, Anna Reinemann, to concentrate on building our training, conducting interviews with volunteers, and setting up communication channels. Carrie’s motivation for helping? Turns out she’s a very impious Galilaean, caring about the poor on the other side of the country from her Michigan home.
Humanitarian Welcome Baskets
Our Church body has designated $4,000 to Resilient, allowing us to provide welcome baskets with hygiene products and other essentials for individuals transitioning from the streets to treatment at local sober living homes. Additionally, a young man from our church will be overseeing the project as part of his application to become an Eagle Scout. I asked him how much this project appealed to him. He rated it 9 or 10 out of a possible 10 based on some very Christian impulses. “I like that it helps people who need some support.” He and his family are active participants in our church, and his reasons for liking this project seem to make him the kind of “Impious Galilaean” who would really get the Apostate’s goat.
Photography Project
I had a meeting earlier this week with a woman from our church who was interested in following up on my thoughts about making photographs a Sober Tradition. She’ll be taking both group and individual photographs that attendees can share with a friend or relative. The attendees will add a note about their progress in recovery and the improvements in their lives. The photographer will also help us make posters of the attendees to make our meeting space inviting and convey two important facts:
We care about people, and
We are interested in seeing and celebrating progress in recovery.
To top it off, the photographer is donating materials such as envelopes, printed photographs, posters, and even stamps from her own pocket. Sounds like the kind of generosity Old Julian the Apostate would have [literally] killed to see in his appointed pagan priests.
Prayer Team
When I sent out the call for people interested in joining our prayer team, I had no idea that we would immediately get 5 volunteers. Nor did I suspect that one of the volunteers would, in addition to her time, spontaneously donate $500 to Resilient. I also did not anticipate how much the attendees would appreciate this act of service and love. I’ve had people text me mid-week to ask me to pass along a prayer request to the team. And when a former attendee of our Bible study in the prison found out her friend had submitted a prayer request on her behalf, she tracked me down to tell me how much it touched her that people outside the prison cared about her father’s health.
Be the kind of "Impious Galilaean" That Would Drive Julian Crazy
Julian the Apostate couldn't figure out why Christians kept winning hearts and minds with their radical generosity. He watched in frustration as followers of "The Galilaean" cared for their own poor and his people, too. Although he accepted Christian suppositions about caring for the poor, he was blind to the motivation. He couldn’t see that competition for human acclaim was a poor motivator for acts of generosity. Nor could he see that God’s grace was the supernatural fuel behind Christians’ acts of charity.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. [2 Corinthians 5:3-4]
If you are one of those Impious Galilaeans who are inspired by the Holy Spirit to “organize works of social welfare for the poor and unfortunate,” why not support Resilient Recovery?
Your donation to Resilient Recovery helps us:
Fill welcome baskets with essentials for people entering recovery
Train and support volunteers who facilitate our meetings
Create photography projects that help attendees reconnect with family
Maintain our prayer team ministry
Keep our doors open for anyone seeking hope and community
We’re growing in quantity and quality of our work. To continue our work, we need to raise $50,000 by year’s end and expand our team of monthly donors until we have an additional $5,000 in recurring gifts. Your gift, of any size, helps build our ability to serve. Will you become an impious Galilaean with us?
An artist’s depiction of our goals.
