Hospitality in the early church

Receiving travellers, strangers, and fellow Christians. Part of Almsgiving and care for the poor.

Didache 12.1Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · Welcome travelers in the Lord's name, but test them.
Didache 12.2Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · Help travelers, but only for two or three days.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.27.2 (104.2)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Sheltering trees are hospitable bishops who cared for the needy and widows.
Diatessaron, section 13Tatian · ca. 160-180
Diatessaron, section 30Tatian · ca. 160-180
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 30.6Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · Whoever receives Christ's disciples receives him.
On Prayer 26Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Hospitality should include prayer, both when receiving a brother and when being received, as Christ commanded his disciples to greet a house with peace.
Didascalia 2.36Anonymous · first half of the third century
Letters to Virgins 1.12.8Anonymous · 3rd century · Hospitality and brotherly love please God.
Against Marcion 4.31Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ's command to invite the poor and his parable of the great dinner follow the Creator's long history of inviting Israel through the fathers and prophets and then calling the gentiles in their place.
Fragments on Genesis, column 115Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Gen 16–19: Sarah and Hagar read as virtue and preliminary studies; the new names; Abraham's prayer for Ishmael and for Sodom; Lot's hospitality at the gate.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.20.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Essenes live in many towns and welcome traveling members as family; they travel carrying only a weapon.
Commentary on John 32.47Origen · ca. 230–248 · Abraham did not wash his guests' feet himself but had water brought for them.
Homilies on Jeremiah 19.13Origen · ca. 240 · Pashhur threw Jeremiah down into a dungeon although there was an upper room in God's house; Scripture shows that saints receive prophets “upstairs,” and whoever keeps Christ's Passover must go up to the upper room, where Christ gives his body and blood.
Commentary on Romans 9.13Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · To pursue hospitality is not only to receive guests but to search them out, as Lot did.
Commentary on Romans 10.18Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Prisca and Aquila, the tentmakers of Acts 18, risked their lives for Paul and were hospitable to Jewish and Gentile believers alike; 'the church in their house' includes the servants who shared their ministry of hospitality.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 3Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Marcellus feeds and heals the captives, buries the dead, sends everyone home, and becomes famous throughout the region for his charity.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 4Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Manes hears of Marcellus and sends Turbo, a disciple of Addas, with a letter; Turbo is turned away at every inn until he mentions Marcellus.
Homilies 1.16Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter welcomes Clement, praises his hospitality to Barnabas, and invites him to travel with him as far as Rome.
On Sodom, lines 25–48Anonymous · 4th-5th century (disputed) · God sends two angels to Sodom, where Lot alone fears God; he receives them hospitably, and when the townsmen besiege his door he pleads with them against their unnatural lust.
On Sodom, lines 49–73Anonymous · 4th-5th century (disputed) · Lot offers his daughters to protect his guests; the mob turns on him, but the angels pull him inside and strike the crowd blind.
Testament of Our Lord 2.13Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Divine Institutes 6.12.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Invite those who cannot repay.
Divine Institutes 6.12.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Cicero praised hospitality only to the illustrious.
Divine Institutes 6.12.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The just man's home should be open to the lowly.
Divine Institutes 6.12.9Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Cicero's hospitality aimed at gaining influence.
Divine Institutes 6.12.12Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Hospitality for influence is pretense.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.6.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Job’s hospitality matches Christ’s words about welcoming the stranger.
Demonstration 20.17Aphrahat · 337-345 · The blessed poor are those poor in spirit who use wealth for others, like Abraham, Lot, Job, and Zacchaeus; the rich young man went away sad; the reader should urge givers to sow generously.
Commentary on Matthew 10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary expounds the mission discourse: the harvest of the Spirit, the apostles’ equipment, the worthy house as the catholic church, peace given or withheld, the serpent’s prudence, persecution, the sparrows, the sword dividing the five in one house (body, soul, will, sin, unbelief), taking up the cross, and receiving Christ’s messengers.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 34Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · Basil's thirty-fourth rule, that each should set a good example, with Rules 35 (on blaspheming the Holy Spirit by crediting his fruit to the adversary) and 36 (on receiving those who keep the Lord's teaching), whose headings the scan lost.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 37Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · Basil's thirty-seventh rule, that eager service according to one's means is acceptable to God even from women, with Rule 38 on simple hospitality toward the brothers, whose heading the scan lost.
Hexaemeron 8.5Basil of Caesarea · ca. 370 · Cranes keep watch in turns, storks care for their aged, the swallow builds with ingenuity, and the halcyon calms the sea: lessons in hospitality, filial love, hope, and prayer.
Letter 4.1Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome greets Florentius, whose charity to pilgrims, including Heliodorus, he has heard praised, and offers him friendship.
Letter 66.11Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome praises Pammachius for building a hospice at Portus, comparing him to Abraham in his personal service to guests.
Letter 77.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome praises Pammachius, who with Fabiola founded a hospice for travellers and the poor at Portus, the harbour of Rome.
On the Duties of the Clergy 1.11Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · Duties are “middle” or “perfect,” as Christ’s answer to the rich young man shows, and mercy to the poor makes the Christian perfect like the Father.
On the Duties of the Clergy 2.21Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · Reputation grows by defending the oppressed and by hospitality, as with Abraham and Lot; liberality must be distinguished from prodigality, and the bishop must spend fittingly on churches, the poor, strangers, and clergy.
On the Duties of the Clergy 3.7Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · Expelling strangers from a city in famine is both shameful and useless, as a recent expulsion from Rome showed, whereas an aged prefect kept the strangers fed by a collection from the wealthy.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.51.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · At midday Abraham received the Lord with two angels.
Letter 157.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · True Christian rich people use their wealth for hospitality and charity and are ready to lose wealth, family, and life for Christ.
Homilies on Matthew 26.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ offers of his own accord to go to the centurion’s house so that the man’s faith and humility may be revealed; as with the leper, he confirms the centurion’s belief in his authority by marveling at it.
Homilies on Matthew 32.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The apostles are to stay only with the worthy and not move from house to house, to give their peace as a blessing, and to go without possessions, so that their virtue may commend them even before their signs.
Homilies on Matthew 35.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ asks his disciples to hate even their own lives and promises rich rewards to those who receive them, even for a cup of cold water; Chrysostom then rebukes those who give to entertainers but abuse the poor as idle.
Homilies on Matthew 37.5John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The threat against the cities applies also to Christians who shut their doors to strangers and their ears to the apostles; Chrysostom begins his attack on the theater, whose shameful songs defile the ears of the soul.
Homilies on Matthew 45.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Giving a cup of cold water to the poor is like serving Christ as a priest; since Christ asks so little in return for so much, those who neglect the needy deserve the fire prepared for the devil.
On what sort of wives to marry, section 6John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom explains that Abraham's servant asked God for a sign of hospitality rather than of wealth or beauty in Isaac's bride, and urges those about to marry to seek a wife through prayer to God rather than through matchmakers.
On what sort of wives to marry, section 7John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom praises Rebekah's chastity and eager hospitality at the well, and the servant's prayerful prudence, and tells those choosing a spouse to ask first whether the person is dear to God.
Sermon 11.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God, who could feed Elijah by ravens, made him need the widow of Zarephath so she might be tested and blessed; God "commanded" her not by a word but by inspiring her heart, and her two sticks prefigure the cross.
Sermon 81.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Rome is the Romans, not its buildings; the city may be chastised but cities and the world pass away, and Rome’s gods had already failed Troy; Christians should answer by hospitality to the refugees.
Sermon 103.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Martha received the Lord in the flesh while Mary chose to be fed by him; Christ still receives hospitality in the least of his own, and he judged that of the two good offices Mary chose the one thing needful.
Sermon 111.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine urges hospitality, since every Christian is a stranger and guest even in his own house, passing on to the homeland above; he closes by announcing the anniversary of Bishop Aurelius’s ordination.
Sermon 169.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Martha's good service of the saints will pass away, but Mary chose the better part, contemplation of the Word, the one thing that will not be taken away and that Paul had not yet attained.
Sermon 179.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Mary, sitting at Jesus' feet, chose the better part of hearing, as John stood and heard the Bridegroom; Martha's hospitality to Christ and the apostles was a great good, still possible through serving the least.
Sermon 179.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Martha's service of bodily needs will cease when mortality ends, though its reward remains; Christ deigned to hunger so that those who fed him might be rewarded, while Mary's part will never be taken away.
Sermon 217.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ wills that his own be with him in the secure home of heaven; we reach that good place by feeding, sheltering, and welcoming the needy in this bad place.
Sermon 235.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ willed to be recognized in the breaking of bread for the sake of those who would eat his flesh without seeing him; hospitality restored what unbelief had taken.
Sermon 236.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, recognized as a guest in the breaking of bread, is received in every needy Christian; in heaven all need will end, and our whole business will be the praise of God.
Sermon 239.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · We can still receive Christ as a guest, since he is in need in his members until the end of the world; believing without seeing, we recognize him in good works.
Homily 14.2 on 1 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains that a widow's not remarrying is worthless without good works, since Paul did not condemn second marriage but wished her free for God, and praises personal hospitality and almsgiving.
Canon 5Anonymous · 394 (or 396) · Churches are not obliged to support every travelling pilgrim; each decides freely.
Historia monachorum, chapter 5Rufinus of Aquileia · Greek original ca. 394-395; Rufinus's Latin ca. 404-406 · Oxyrhynchus, a city full of monks and virgins, with twelve churches and no heretics or pagans, whose people competed to show hospitality.
Historia monachorum, chapter 16Rufinus of Aquileia · Greek original ca. 394-395; Rufinus's Latin ca. 404-406 · Paphnutius asks God whom he resembles and is shown a musician who had been a robber, a village headman of upright life, and a merchant; each follows him into the desert, and Paphnutius dies teaching that God has hidden saints in every walk of life.
Historia monachorum, chapter 21Rufinus of Aquileia · Greek original ca. 394-395; Rufinus's Latin ca. 404-406 · Arrival at Nitria, with its fifty dwellings under one father, where the monks run to meet guests with bread and water and excel in love, hospitality and knowledge of the Scriptures.
Apology against Rufinus 3.17Jerome · ca. 401–402 · Jerome defends his hospitality to Paul, an Egyptian bishop deposed by Theophilus, appealing to the Samaritan and to Christ in the stranger.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 58.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's example calls Christians to wash one another's feet, in the heart and preferably also literally, as many did in hospitality.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 5.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Christ asked Peter to repay his love not by serving him, as Zacchaeus and the widow served God's servants, but by feeding his sheep and being ready to die for them.
On the Christian Life 8Fastidius · ca. 411-430 · God let Israel suffer as strangers in Egypt to teach them mercy toward strangers, orphans and widows; the whole law hangs on love of God and neighbour.
City of God 16.29Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The three visitors at Mamre were angels in whom Abraham recognized the Lord, as Lot did in the two at Sodom; they renewed the twofold promise.
The Institutes 5.23John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Gluttony has three forms; monks should eat plain common food such as bread, hide their fasting, and set it aside for the sake of guests.
The Institutes 5.24John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Egyptian elders broke their fasts to welcome Cassian and his companion, saying that love for Christ in the guest outweighs voluntary fasting.
The Institutes 5.25John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · An elder who had eaten six times with arriving guests out of hospitality urged Cassian to eat more.
The Institutes 5.26John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · A hermit never ate alone but waited up to five days for a guest; the monks make up by stricter fasting for meals shared with visitors.
Against Lying 34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420 · The midwives could have refused and died for the truth, and Rahab could have been protected by God without lying, as Lot's guests were at Sodom; Rahab's hospitality and faith are to be imitated, but not her lie.
The Conferences 2.26John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Moses advises keeping one biscuit for the evening to share with any visitor, so that both abstinence and hospitality are kept; Cassian closes the first two conferences.
The Conferences 21.14John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Fasting is intermediate, like marriage or vigils: good in its right time and manner, but wrong when it shuts out hospitality, harms health, ignores festivals, or seeks praise, as Isaiah 58 shows.
Sermon on the Life of Honoratus 9Hilary of Arles · ca. 430 · Honoratus's elder brother Venantius joined him, and the two vied in asceticism and hospitality, so that their home became a school even for bishops.
Sermon on the Life of Honoratus 20Hilary of Arles · ca. 430 · Honoratus welcomed every visitor to the island with joy, and gave away freely whatever was entrusted to him, keeping only daily food and clothing.