They justly considered the profession of a soldier, and that of a Christian, as incompatible.
Celsus accuses them of abandoning the empire, under whose laws they lived, to its enemies.

And what is the answer of Origen to this accusation?
Look: at his pitiful reply! He endeavours to palliate this undutiful refusal by representing that--"the Christians had their peculiar camps, in which they incessantly combatted for the safety of the emperor and empire, by lifting up their right hands-- IN PRAYER!!" (See Origen contra Celsum, Lib.

8, p.

437.) This is a sneaking piece of business truly! But Origen could have given another answer, if he had dared to avow it, which is, that his co-religionists, in his time, had not ceased to expect their master momentarily to appear; and, of course, it little mattered what became of the emperor, or the empire.

This notion was the principal engine for making proselytes; and it was by this expectation that many were frightened into baptism.
That Christianity was considered incompatible with the military profession, is evident from many passages of the fathers.