The second-century Letter to Diognetus described the Christians’ lifestyle in the following way:

‘They live in their own countries, but only as aliens. They have a share in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their fatherland, and yet for them every fatherland is a foreign land … It is true that they are “in the flesh”, but they do not live “according to the flesh”.

‘They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, but in their own lives they go far beyond what the laws require … They are poor, and yet they make many rich … Christians dwell in the world, but are not of the world.’