Displaced Peoples: Reflections from Late Antiquity on a Contemporary Crisis

Abstract

Episcopal letters offer valuable evidence concerning the widespread problem of population displacement in the fourth and fifth centuries, and more specifically on a subset of displaced persons, refugees and asylum-seekers. In a search for historical antecedents this article compares contemporary Australian approaches to refugees and asylum-seekers with the approaches of bishops in Late Antiquity. It offers two case studies of episcopal responses to displacement and individual displaced persons in that period, and concludes with some caveats and reflections upon future directions.