Military priests in Late Empire armies?

[P. Lilius Frugius Simius]

Carlton, Travis,

thanks for your replies, they make a lot of sense....

I'm trying to reconcile them with the fact many times an army would be in campaign, there would not be local bishops nor local christians (and the local pagans would probably be of a different religion, think campaigns in Germania, Dacia, Pannonia, Armenia, Syria, etc...) But unless a classical reference is found, it's a hard question to ponder, true...

The second thing that makes me wonder is that while most of the movements of Alaric's were just military ones, the last entry on Italy was a full, blown-out migration, with women, children, elders and whatnot... In that case, I'd venture they would have taken the local priests with them, right?

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As far as Arian rites go, the truth is that they were probably not all that different, if different at all. Certain invocations about the Trinity which are common to the liturgy, would doubtless be different, but I know of no recorded formula for the Arian trinity in the liturgy.

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You wouldn't catch an Arian using the Creedal formulas, but other than that, I'm not sure what they would have done that would have been so different.

Travis

Thanks for this explanation, I see what you mean... If you happen to have pointers to any texts to help me out, it'll be really helpful. Not being Christian, I barely know the most important current prayers; the old ones are surely beyond my knowledge at the moment!

thanks a lot