Beg your pardon!

Paul/Saul ish Tarsus was a Hellenised Jew, quite possibly a Roman citizen (especially if he'd served in the Legions) and a con artist magna cum laude. People, especially Greeks and Romans, back then were quite happy to hand over substantial "donations" for initiation into a Mystery Cult. Like the Freemasons or the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes a century ago, it gave you a ready-made social circle, a badge to wear and a bit of social standing. The other mystery cults of the time: Eleusinian, Cybele, Mithras etc often had strict entry requirements, rules of behaviour and so forth, not to mention a need for very high "donations". Pauls' little outfit, his "Mysteries of the Christ" was probably cheaper, not so fussy about entry requirements, anbd demanded no mo9re of its members than regular attendance and a lifestyle no more difficult than that of the average Stoic (Stoicism was practised widely by ordinary people in the Graeco-Roman world, as was Epicureanism). He must have made a fortune!