Roman Military & Christianity: Concord, Discord, Or...?

[Theodosius the Great]

Out of curiosity - what do you make of the story (in Ammianus, I believe), that a Christian soldier may actually have removed Julian with a well-thrown spear? That could support the idea that Julian's army was not too keen on his beliefs.

Yes, I agree, that would count as a sign of discord mile:

Actually, this story isn't told by Ammianus. He simply says that a cavalry javelin struck Julian down. Since Ammianus was a witness I'm disinclined to believe the later story about Julian being assasinated by a Christian soldier. It seems unlikely to me that anyone would choose that moment to assassinate him while being chased by the Persians. (The army was in full retreat.)

Certainly Julian's apostasy alone (nevermind his anti-Christian policies) caused discord among the Christian soldiers. He publicly and constantly blasphemed against Christ but I'm not sure if he was stupid enough to do this in front of his troops. So, it's hard to say to what degree the discord reached since his body was treated with respect and eventually given a Christian (!) burial in Constantinople.

Jovian's election, I believe, simply shows that Julian's paganism / apostasy was rejected by the army as a whole since some western troops were present both then and at Valentinian's accession. Both events are powerful affirmations of the soldiers' Christian sentiments in my view.

Another event that may possibly indicate a Christian majority in the army is the destruction of the Serapeum of Alexandria and closing of pagan temples in the 390s. The Egyptian troops do not seem to have protected the temples and may in fact have participated in their destruction. The sources seem a bit vague but at least show that the troops did not hinder the Christians who went about destroying them with impunity. Although the city still had a sizable pagan population the pagan element in the army seems to have been negligible. Of course, Egypt was one of the oldest, most Christian provinces to begin with so there may have been more Arians than pagans. (It's interesting that we don't hear about discord in the army between Arians and Catholics.)

~Theo