394 CALLIA RULMU community who risked being perceived as populated by possessed/ insane adepts 10, or even of a congregation afflicted by the “welfare syndrome ”, to which Paul showed how to live independently to free them from the client-patron relationship 11. I propose that the embarrassing number of scholarly reconstructions might be overcome by seriously considering two factors. On the one hand the possibility that the Thessalonian Christian community could have been structured (and perceived) as a professional voluntary association of hand-workers. On the other hand Paul’s injunctions to the Thessalonians were motivated by the urgency to provide a practical advice to assure the community survival rather than being situated on the grounds of philosophical reflection. This study is organized as follows. Assuming the Christian group of Thessalonica to be similar to a professional voluntary association of manual workers — like many others in the contemporary Roman Empire — I will attempt to reconstruct the socio-political context of first century Thessalonica by gathering relevant information on the status of the voluntary associations 12 and of the Cult of the Emperor in the Eastern provinces of the Empire, showing how the adoption of an exclusive cult and the consequent rejection of the Imperial Cult put the Christian Thessalonians at odds with their fellow city dwellers and their potential Roman patrons. I then examine the possibility that the reformation initiated by the Empire in the administration of the Eastern Provinces W.A. MEEKS, The Fist Urban Christians. The Social World of the Apo- 10 stle Paul (New Haven – London 1983) 106. B.W. WINTER, “‘If a Man Does not Wish to Work...’ A Cultural and 11 Historical Setting for 2 Thessalonians 3:6-16”, TynBul 40 (1989) 303-315. Winter recognizes that “those who laboured with their hands certainly did not command the respect of the well-to-do outsiders”. But he thinks that it is possible “that the outsiders to whom Paul refers had been patrons of some of the Christians. A client had a financial source to call upon for his daily food. If on the other hand, he makes no further claims on his patron would he not earn the respect of his patron?” (312). This could be possible, but it seems to go against Saller’s statement, endorsed by Winter himself (305), that “[...] a man’s social status was reflected in the size of his following — a large clientèle sym- bolizing his power to give inferiors what they needed [...]” — R.P. SALLER, Patronage under the Early Empire (Cambridge 1982) 205. If this is true, then how much happier would be a wealthy citizen to lose a number of clients? See ASCOUGH, “The Thessalonian”, 316 for a concise description of the 12 two primary types of associations (religious and professional).