The complex interaction of different Christian systems created a series of uncertainties: about how to coordinate different ritual systems (e.g. baptism and the ritual year), about hierarchy (e.g. relation of the chain of command to status hierarchy), about the relation between the clerical elite and the monastic elite, and about the ritual status of heretics.

The apostolic see was asked how ritual systems, especially the system of clerical ordination, should be coordinated with the rules for the reception of repentant heretics. The main ritual system in question was clerical ordination, but baptism was drawn into the discussion. The main heresies in question were the Novatians, the followers of Bonosus and (less prominent) some Arians. The actual content of these theological heresies was hardly discussed in the papal responses. In terms of modern analytical ‘etic’ concepts, the responses are legal rather than theological. The last part of the chapter explains this conceptual distinction – between ‘legal’ and ‘theological’ – as it will be used throughout the book. Medievalists sometimes assume that canon law and theology were indistinguishable before the late twelfth century. It is true that they had constituted a continuum in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. When we look further back to late Antiquity, however, we find that a de facto distinction had emerged, even if around 1100 it would be submerged for a time.

Whether to baptize returned heretics, and whether to let them exercise priestly functions, were major practical problems, solutions for which called on the subtlety and flexibility of, especially, Innocent I.

By the end of the third century, in Asia Minor and beyond, the churches had some institutional heft. Conflict with the non-Christian majority stayed below the surface, but it was a phoney peace. The Emperor Diocletian, blaming Christians for difficulties in divination, commenced action, demolishing the church in Nicomedia. In a small town in Phrygia, the Roman army burnt a church down with the congregation inside. Valerius Diogenes, governor of Pisidia, constructed facilities for the imperial cult and dedicated an altar to ‘the pietas of our emperors’. Markos Ioulios Eugenios was tortured then discharged from the army; afterwards, about 315, as bishop of Burnt Laodicea (Ladik) he rebuilt the church, with ‘cloisters, antechambers, murals, mosaics, water fountain, entrance porch … and everything else’. Eugenios and his flock were Novatians: their church and the Montanist church were linked. The Emperor Constantine funded construction of churches in provincial capitals, including Laodicea on the Lycus. Gothic settlers came to Phrygia, including the father of Selenas, bishop of the Goths. Phrygia, still remote from the metropolitan milieu, moved beneath a Christian sacred canopy.