“The Christian communities had come increasingly to accept a dangerous degree of ‘moral specialization’: one life was left for the ‘perfect’, another for the average Christian. And it was just this widening gulf between an ascetic elite and a passive rank and file which brought the Christianization of the Roman world to a halt.”

Augustine, from Augustine of Hippo: A Biography

Interesting insight. Just emphasizes people’s tendencies then are much as they are now.