Hailed as a Praeparatio Evangelium

Even before he became emperor, Augustus, grandnephew and heir of Julius Caesar, had carved out the boundaries of Roman Asia. He avenged the defeat of the Romans at Carrhae and drove the Persians east into the Syrian desert. His people urged him to sweep on across Asia like a Roman Alexander. Wipe out Persia, they cried. Some would have had him push even farther, to India. But Augustus sensed, perhaps unconsciously, that Rome’s power base was the Mediterranean and he persistently refused to be drawn into endless land wars. Having conquered Armenia he paused and, instead of pressing on, chose rather to force a treaty of peace in 20 B.C. on the hapless Parthian emperor, Phraates IV. It was an important date in history. It marked the beginning of a new era, the pax Romana, a hundred years of almost uninterrupted peace that Christian writers ever since Origen have hailed as a praeparatio evangelium, one of the ways in which God prepared the world for the coming of Christ and the establishment of the church.

That same treaty changed the pattern of church history also by fixing the boundary between Rome and Persia roughly along the course of the Euphrates River. As a result, from the beginning of the recorded history of Christianity, if any line of division is to be drawn between Asian and Western church history it falls most appropriately not at the western edge of the Asian continent and not at the Mediterranean, but at the Euphrates. It was there that East met West. West and north of that line, Asia Minor, Roman Syria, Judaea, and Armenia were all drawn sooner or later out of Asia proper into the history of Western Christianity. This was a separation, political and cultural, that as it turned out was eventually to divide the church and grievously affect the progress of Christianity in both the East and the West.

–Moffett, A History of Christianity in Asia, vol. I, p.7

It’s interesting to note that the long Roman peace, and the ways in which it was a preparation of the world for the spread of the gospel, may be owed to this decision by Augustus to not press on to conquer more of a weakened Persia. What if he had pressed his advantage and tried instead to be that Roman Alexander others were calling for? How did he know that it would be a classic blunder if he got involved in a land war in Asia?*

By remaining content with the Euphrates boundary, Augustus effectively established a new status quo with his neighboring empire. And in this revamped east-west arrangement – which lasted largely until the coming of Islam – Christianity was not only able take root in an age of relative peace but eventually to thrive in both the Roman west and the Persian east. Though, as Moffett notes, the longterm affect of this line would also lead to deep regional divisions in the Church.

*only slightly better known than the fact that you should never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line

If 23 more friends join us as monthly supporters, we should be 100% funded and able to return to the field! If you would like to join our support team, reach out here. Both monthly and one-time gifts are very helpful right now. Many thanks!

For my list of recommended books and travel gear, click here.

Photos are from Unsplash.com