us administration of relief. St
Chrysostom's sermons give no impression of the rise of any new
administrative force, alike sagacious and dominant. The appeal to give
alms is constant, but the positive counsel on charitable work is _nil_.
The people had the _annona civica_, and imperial gifts, corn, allowances
(_salaria_) from the treasury granted for the poor and needy, and an
annual gift of 50 gold pounds (rather more than L1400) for funerals.
Besides these there were many institutions, and the begging and the
almsgiving at the church doors. "The land could not support the lazy and
valiant beggars." There were public works provided for them; if they
refused to work on them they were to be driven away. The sick might
visit the capital, but must be registered and sent back (A.D. 382); the
sturdy beggar was condemned to slavery. So little did alms effect. And
in the East monasticism seems to have produced no firmness of purpose
such as led to the organization of the church and of charitable relief
under St Gregory.

Another movement of the Byzantine period was the establishment of the
endowed charity. The Jewish synagogue long served as a place for the
reception of strangers--a religious [Greek: xenodocheion]. Probably the
strangers referred to in "the _Teaching_" were so entertained. The table
of the bishop and a room in his house served as the guest-chamber, for
which afterwards a separate building was instituted. In the East the
Jewish charitable inn first appears, and there took place the earliest
extension of institutions. There was probably a demand for an
elaboration of institutions as social changes made themselves felt in
the churches. We have seen this in the case of the [Greek: agape].
Similar changes would affect other branches of charitable work. The
hospital (_hospitalium_, [Greek: xenodocheion]) is defined as a "house
of God in which strangers who lack hospitality are received" (Suicerus,
_Thesaur._), a home separated from the church; and round the church, out
of the primitive [Greek: xenodocheion] of early Christian times and the
entertainment of strangers at the houses of members of the community,
would grow up other similar charities. In A.D. 321 licence was given by
Constantine to leave property to the Church. The churches were thus
placed in the same position as pagan temples, and though subsequently
Valentinian (A.D. 379) withdrew the permission on account of the
shameless legacy-hunting of the clergy