I recall reading something like that in a book about the Crusades by Karen Armstrong. Something about how dying and dead Byzantine soldiers were denied Christian funerals/sacraments because being a soldier was seen as very unChristian but eventually they decided they didn't want to be run over by Persians/Arabs/Alans/Slavs or whoever was attacking them at the time.

Was this correct at all or am I imagining things? Edit: What were early Christian Roman/Greek/Byzantine views on violence and warfare even in self defense? I recall St. Augustine said a war of defense could be called a just war.