Traditionally Christians celebrate Easter together in local church services, sometimes with pageantry composed specially for the occasion, but not this year. Following the recommendations of health officials against social gatherings, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to silent, empty buildings or a skeleton crew of individuals presenting a worship service to an empty church that congregants watch live on YouTube or some other media streaming service. There are some who are resistant to social distancing and stay at home orders, like the pastor of a megachurch in Tampa Florida who was arrested for holding public worship services. But is this really the best way to demonstrate your faith in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic? We can look to the past and gain insight from how the followers of Christ acted in times of plague.
In 166 AD triumphant Roman legions returned from their victory over the Parthians in Armenia, bringing with them an epidemic that would ravage the Roman Empire for the next twenty years. Known as the Antonine Plague, it would alter the landscape of the Roman world and kill at least 7 to 10 percent of the population. Lyman Stone said in “Christianity Has Been Handling Epidemics for 2000 Years,” some historians have also suggested it contributed to the spread of Christianity, as “Christians cared for the sick and offered a spiritual model whereby plagues were not the work of angry and capricious deities but the product of a broken Creation in revolt against a loving God.” But it was the Plague of Cyprian (250-270) that really triggered an explosive growth of Christianity.
That plague caused political, military, economic and religious upheaval within the Roman Empire. At its height, it claimed an estimated 5,000 deaths per day in Rome. The outbreak claimed the lives of two emperors: Hostilian (251 AD) and Claudius II Gothicus (270 AD). It also decimated the ranks of the military. Populations in the countryside fled to the cities. “The abandonment of the fields along with the deaths of farmers who remained caused the collapse of agriculture production.”
The illness claimed the lives of emperors and pagans who could offer no explanation for the cause of the plague or suggestions for how to prevent further illness much less actions for curing the sick and dying. Christians played an active role in caring for the ill as well as actively providing care in the burial of the dead. Those Christians who themselves perished from the illness claimed martyrdom while offering non-believers who would convert the possibility of rewards in the Christian afterlife.
Pagans believing the plague had a supernatural origin, believed the gods were punishing them. Dionysius, the bishop of Alexandria, said “the heathen” deserted those who began to be sick, and fled from their close friends. Not so the Christians:
Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead.
Writing for The Gospel Coalition, Glen Scrivner said Christian death rates during the Plague of Cyprian were significantly lower than the general population. The mutual love and care meant those who provided care were at a higher risk of infection, but those who were infected had better survival rates. When the plague had swept through the Empire, Christians were stronger as a proportion of society since proportionally more of them survived. “They also had more resilience because they had a robust hope in the face of death.”
In 1527, Martin Luther refused calls to leave Wittenberg during an outbreak of the bubonic plague, staying rather to care for the sick. This refusal cost him the life of his daughter, Elizabeth. He wrote a tract reflecting on what a Christian should do, “Whether Christians Should Flee the Plague.” He called for Christian doctors to remain at their hospitals; Christians who hold public office should continue in their service. “Preachers and pastors should likewise remain steadfast before the peril of death.”
Where no such emergency exists and where enough people are available for nursing and taking care of the sick, and where, voluntarily or by orders, those who are weak in faith make provision so that there is no need for additional helpers, or where the sick do not want them and have refused their services, I judge that they have an equal choice either to flee or to remain.
Applying this stance to the current situation, Lyman Stone said it is better for Christians to die serving our neighbor than surrounded by a pile of masks we never had a chance to use. If we care for each other, if we share masks and hand soap and canned foods, if we truly are our brother’s keeper, we may actually help flatten the COVID-19 surge. “The Christian motive for hygiene and sanitation does not arise in self-preservation but in an ethic of service to our neighbor. We wish to care for the afflicted, which first and foremost means not infecting the healthy.”
And there are ways Christians can care, and are caring for the sick and loving their neighbor in this time. Christianity Today noted where churches are dropping off groceries or supplies to those in need. Another church in a farming community provides fresh eggs, fruit and vegetables for those in need. An unemployed young woman was given toilet paper purchased by a store employee when she discovered the store was out. Others provide care and meals for the medical workers and first responders. Another church recruited childcare workers for healthcare workers.
The concluding words of Ed Stetzer for Christianity Today exemplify the heart of those Christians who ministered during the Antoine Plague and the Plague of Cyprian. Martin Luther cries, “Amen!” to these words: “We don’t know a lot about the future. But we know the Lord does, and he cares. And in the meantime, we are called to glorify him by serving others.” So, what can you do during the COVID-19 pandemic?