Early Christianity (33 – 312)

Main article: Early Christianity
See also: Judeo-Christian

Early Christianity refers to the period when the religion spread in the Greco-Roman world, from its beginnings as a 1st century Jewish sect,[2] to the end of imperial persecution of Christians after the ascension of Constantine the Great in 313 AD. It may be divided into two distinct phases, the apostolic period, when the first apostles were alive and organizing the Church, and the post-apostolic period, when an early episcopal structure developed, whereby bishoprics were governed by bishops (overseers) via apostolic succession. Soon after its inception, Christianity acquired a distinct identity following tension between Jewish authorities and the Early Church. The name “Christian” (Greek ?§??±?½ was first applied to the disciples in Antioch, as recorded in Acts 11:26.[3] The earliest recorded use of the term Christianity (Greek ?§??±?½) is by Ignatius of Antioch c. 107.

Apostolic Church

The Apostolic Church, or Primitive Church, was the community lead by Jesus’ apostles and his relatives.[5] The principal source of information for this peroid is the Acts of the Apostles, which gives a history of the Church from Pentecost and the establishment of the Jerusalem Church to the spread of the religion among the gentiles and St. Paul’s imprisonment in Rome in the mid-first century.

The first Christians were essentially all ethnically Jewish or Jewish Proselytes. An early difficulty arose concerning the matter of gentile (non-Jewish, generally Greek) converts as to whether they had to “become Jewish” (be circumcised and adhere to dietary law, etc.) before becoming Christian. The decision of St. Peter, as evidenced by conversion of the Centurion Cornelius, was that they did not, hence created two distinctions within the early Church: Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. The New Testament does not use the terms “Gentile-Christians” or “Jewish-Christians”; rather, Paul of Tarsus used the terms circumcised and uncircumcised (e.g. Colossians 3:11). The matter was further resolved with the Council of Jerusalem.

The doctrines of the apostles were considered by the Jewish religious authorities to be blasphemous, and this eventually led to the expulsion of Christians from the synagogues and the martyrdom of SS. Stephen and James the Greater. Subsequent to this expulsion, Christianity began to spread in the Greek (Hellenistic) world, rather than being limited to Palestine.

This is a Blog is completely full of Early Church History -Christian Histroy

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