Reassessing the Origins of Christian Healthcare on the Eve of Nicaea’s 1700th Anniversary
Vol. 67 No. 3 (2026), History of Medicine and Ethics
Vol. 67 No. 3 (2026)

Reassessing the Origins of Christian Healthcare on the Eve of Nicaea’s 1700th Anniversary

History of Medicine and Ethics
Published 2026-10-15
Donatella Lippi
Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Italy
Rebecca Debeerst
Faculty Library of Arts and Philosophy, Ghent University, Belgium
Mariano Martini
Department of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, Italy
Francesco Baldanzi
Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Italy
PDF

Keywords

Council of Nicaea (325 AD);
Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (410 AD)
roots of Christian Healthcare
history of hospitals
Xenodochio

Abstract

On the eve of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea (325 AD), this paper re-examines the widespread claim that the council instituted hospitals (xenodochia) throughout the Christian world.

Through a critical analysis of the sources, it shows that this belief rests on later, spurious pseudo-canons transmitted via Arabic and Syriac traditions rather than on the authentic Nicene canons.

The paper also considers the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (410 AD), concluding that, despite its historical importance, it had no normative influence on Western Christian hospitality.

The study argues that Christian healthcare institutions in the Latin West emerged independently, shaped by local ecclesial, monastic, and charitable traditions.

PDF

References

Riva MA, Cesana G. The charity and the care: the origin and the evolution of hospitals. Eur J Intern Med 2013;24:1-4.

Maritano M. Assistenza e cura dei malati nel Cristianesimo antico. Med Secoli 2012;24:441-66.

Debeerst R. L’économie miraculeuse: economie en heilige plaatsen in het Oost-Romeinse Rijk tussen de 5e en de 7e eeuw (Casus: Qalʻat Semʻan (Noord-Syrië)), MA Dissertation. Ghent University 2017.

Mansi JD. Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio. Tomus II. Florentiae: Expensis Antonii Zatta Veneti 1759.

Voltaggio M. Xenodochia and Hospitia in Sixth-Century Jerusalem: Indicators for the Byzantine Pilgrimage to the Holy Places. Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 2011;127:197-210.

Troupeau G. Le traité sur la trinité et l’unité: deʻabd allāh ibn al-ṭayyib. Bulletin études orientales 1972;25:105-23.

Vööbus A. The canons ascribed to Maruta of Maipherqat and related sources, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 439-440. Leuven: Peeters 1982.

Brock SP. Marutha of Maypherqaṭ. In: Brock SP et al. (eds.) The Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press 2011.