Christian Help in Times of Plague Is Nothing New

Christian Help in Times of Plague Is Nothing New

In the early days of the church, Rome had two major plagues, the Antoine Plague (165-180 A.D.) and the Cyprian Plague (249-262 A.D.) which killed approximately one third of the population, including three emperors. Christians led in caring for the sick and dying, and in the process these courageous people of faith led many to salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bishop Dionysus observed the following in Alexandria, Egypt, during the Cyprian Plague, "At the onset of the disease, the pagans pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treated un-buried corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease.

“Heedless of danger, the Christians 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 ... [a death that] seems in every way the equal to martyrdom."

Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage, recounted, "Although this mortality had contributed nothing else, it has especially accomplished this for Christians and servants of God, that we have begun gladly to seek martyrdom while we are learning not to fear death."

These sacrificial acts by the early followers of Christ didn’t just provide comfort to the sick and dying, but they also helped spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost who were suffering and abandoned. They shared the hope we have in Christ as they ministered to those who were ravaged by the deadly plagues that enveloped the world of their day!