main : catechism - church history : first to fourth centuries

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Religions, Philosophies and Culture around the Church
Jewish Christians and St Paul
Early heresies
Arianism, First Ecumenical Council
Second Ecumenical Council
Growth of Church of Rome
Sacraments in the Early Church

Timeline:
33: Pentecost.
33-100: Apostolic Period. Council in Jerusalem. Much evangelism. Memoirs of apostles (i.e. the Gospels) written, the Epistles written to churches.
70: Sacking of Jerusalem, dispersion of Christians, beginning of final seperation between Church and synagogue.
100-200: The Apostolic Fathers. Struggle against Gnosticism. Rise of Logos theology.
165: First description of the Divine Liturgy by St Justin Martyr.
303: Conversion of St Constantine, Edict of Milan, toleration of Christianity in Roman Empire, beginnings of monasticism.
325: First Ecumenical Council meets in Nicaea, refutes Arianism.
381: Second Ecumenical Council meets in Constantinople, refutes Macedonianism and Apollinarianism.

When Christ came, He did not come into a cultural vacuum. There were a number of religions, philosophies and cultural understandings in play that both He and His Church would have to deal with. Not least of these was Hellenistic culture, which was spread across the Roman empire and gave a single culture for a large area that Christians would then evangelise.

There were also a number of religions. The prevailing religious viewpoint was Theism (i.e. the belief that a deity was in control of the universe); in addition, it was Roman law to follow the civic religion, the cult of the emperor. It was not only law, it gave unity to the empire, but even though it's purpose was for the state (it was rarely seen as religious by non-Christians), Christians would refuse to countenance the idea that a person - or anything other than God - could be worshipped. The state religion was not exclusive, and mystery cults - surrounding the Great Mother, Isis, Serapis and, particularly in the army, Mithras - often filled the yearning of people for their Creator. Gnosticism was also present at this point, but it will be addressed later on this page.

Philosophy was also very strong, and provided the framework of understanding that made sense of the myths and rituals surrounding religion. Plato's Academy and Middle Platonism was very influential. Middle Platonism contained within it the idea that man could be deified, which provided fertile ground for the Christian concept of theosis (that man could become adopted sons of God). Aristotle's Peripatetic School was also operating, as was the Epicurean school (although the latter was largely ignored aside from generally unfair polemics). Stoicism was also present, and highly influential in the west.

The first Christians saw themselves as Jews, and came under the Jewish exception for participation in the civic religion. They lived at peace with the religious authorities in Jerusalem, while having their own institutions to differentiate themselves as believers in Christ. However, Hellenist Christians were persecuted in Jerusalem for violating temple beliefs, and they ended up leaving to evangelise. Jewish Christians in Palestine had little involvement with the rest of the Christian Church.

From this close early beginning, there were a number of factors that caused the seperation of the Church from the Synagogue. The chief question was the observance of the Law of Moses: if it was first necessary to become a Jew and observe the Law before becoming a Christian, then Christianity would be limited to being a messianic sect of Judaism; if not, however, Christianity would be its own religion. During the 70AD sacking of Jerusalem, Christians either fled Jerusalem or were neutral; by 90AD, an anathema was inserted in services by the Rabbi's to prevent a 'Nazarene' from officially participating in its liturgy. Between the theological division and the subsequent difference in actions, any remaining Jewish Christians were marginal and anachronistic.

The Stoning of St Stephen, recorded in Acts, caused a dispersion of believers who carried their faith with them. It has been hypothesised that St Stephen was the leader of a Hellenistic grouping of Christians, and when the leader was killed, the group dispersed and evangelised where they went.

It would be difficult to understate St Paul's role in the spread of Christianity outside of Palestine. St Paul went to many nations, including Antioch (where our patriarchate is), and it was he that defended Christianity as being post-Mosaic during the Council of Jerusalem (in Acts). Later, he challenged St Peter to eat with Gentile Christians.

However, the spread of Chrisitianity was not without challenges. While Gnosticism existed before Christianity, the spread of Christianity and the presence of a messianic figure - Christ - meant that some Gnostics converted to Christianity, not fully, but attempting to integrate Christianity and Gnosticism at the expense of various important Christian beliefs). Christianised Gnosticism refused the belief that Christ was Wisdom enfleshed, and can be considered an early heresy of the Church - a type of proto-Docetism. In what would be a trend of the period, the Christian reaction to Gnosticism caused a great deal of theological development in the Church. It was in response to the delight that the Gnostics took in the Gospel of St John that led to that Gospel being in a dubious state of canonicity for quite some time.

The major characteristics of Gnostic Christianity include that there were some secret teachings, revealed only to a few, because only a few could handle the secrets of Gnosticism (this was Christianised as a type of apostolic succession and rejects the idea that everyone can be saved, and was repuiated by the Church); Gnosticism held a great deal of mythology, particularly based on concepts as subjects (i.e. ideas taking form or personification); and Gnosticism was heavily syncretistic, not hesitating to borrow elements from other religions. Gnostics consider themselves displaced persons, or spirits trapped in material bodies (which rejects the Christian idea that it is the whole person that Christ came to redeem); as a corrollary to this, they see that there are two worlds - the spiritual world, which is good, and the material, which was contaminated. Christianised Gnostic eschatology believed that at the end times, pagans would be destroyed, ordinary (i.e. non-Gnostic) Christians would have a second-class salvation and that only the Gnostics would be fully saved.

There were two major groupings that the early Church had to deal with, the Valentinian school and the Basilidian school; later, it also had to deal with Mani, who founded Manichaenism.

Gnosticism was not the only heresy that Christianity had to deal with. Surprisingly, without great levels of organisation, the Chruch was theologically robust.

Marcionism was started by a presbyter called Marcion. While there are some similarities between Marcion's teachings and Gnosticism, including dualism, Marcionism is not a subset. Marcion went to Rome around 139 to teach and, after his excommunication in 144, went into schism, creating a new church with a new canon of scripture - a modified Gospel of St Luke and 10 epistles of St Paul - which prompted the Church to develop a canon of its own. A fundamental part of Marcionism was that the deity of the Old Testament could not be the same deity revealed by Jesus, and, there must have been the Demiurge and altogether different from the loving Father that Jesus spoke of.

Montanism was started by a man called Montanus, who considered himself the mouthpiece of the Spirit; his teachings were rejected by the Church because he preached an entirely new prophecy and a forthcoming apocalypse. Montanism became a rigorist grouping, and was condemned by the first synods that formed in the East. Tertullian is considered by most historians to have left the Church for Montanism.

Sabellianism was a form of Modalistic Monarchianism; that is, that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were simply different roles that the one God would play in showing Himself to humanity. Ironically, Sabellianism was condemned by a Monarchian bishop, on the grounds of patripassianism (i.e. on the grounds that the Father - patri - had to have suffered - passio).

The Church dealt with a large number of heresies through the centuries, particularly to the seventh century; it is rare to find a heretical belief, even today, that the Church has not already rejected.

Although the Church had dealt with a number of heresies and synchretistic groups, the problem of Arianism would create a new way of handling theology and Church discipline. Arius was a popular presbyter in Alexandria and parish priest of Baucalis. He was condemned by Pope Alexander of Alexandria, but without regard he continued to spread his views and gain supporters. He was deposed by a council of 100 Egyptian bishops, but had already fled to Palestine, winning the support of Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia.

Arius believed that the Logos (λόγος / the Word) was something created out of non-existence but in time, which meant that there was a time when the Logos didn't exist, and that the Logos was a creature, and therefore capable of vice or virtue. The Logos was the mediator between God and the world, but consonant with his view that there was no ontological middle ground between created and uncreated, the Logos must, therefore, have been created. Arianism continued in some form until around 660, when communities based on his teachings finally disappeared; however, Arianism was taken into and can be found in some religions today.

The Nicene Creed, formed at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, was formulated by taking an existing baptismal creed as the basis and inserting beliefs and excluding Arianism, including the term 'of one essence (ομοούσιος / homoousios) with the Father'.

However, not all was straightforward for the Nicene party, and those supporting Arianism fought back. Eusebius of Nicomedia was made the bishop of Constantinople, the imperial capital, and began machinations against those who supported Nicaea. Eustathius of Antioch was deposed and exiled, Marcellus of Ancyra was deposed and exiled and St Athanasius of Alexandria was exiled. St Athanasius, however, was restored to his office by appealing to Rome, and returned to defending the term homoousios.

Emperor Constantius involved himself in Church theology, forcing bishops to use homoian ('like') instead of homoousios, but this was not accepted; instead, the opposition became between homoousios (of one essence) and homoiousios (of similar essence) - the difference, literally, of one iota.

Later, St Athanasius achieved a settlement between the parties, where everyone agreed to use the term homoousios because everyone meant the same thing by it. The Cappadocian Fathers furthered and completed the justification for using homoousios, and it was sealed by Emperor Theodosius the Great.

In 381, the Second Ecumenical Council was called in Constantinople. New heresies had arisen, including Macedonianism (named for the leader, Macedonius) and Apollinarianism. The Council condemned Apollinarianism and ruled that the Holy Spirit was fully God, and passed a modified version of the Creed to combat Macedonianism; however, the creed of the Church was still the one accepted in Nicaea, and would remain so until the Fourth Ecumenical Council of 451.

In addition to the theological work, Alexandria was made a patriarchate, but the Council made preeminent sees to be based on political importance; on this basis, Constantinople was made the second patriarchate (after Rome). This decision caused friction between Rome and Constantinople and between Constantinople and Alexandria.

Between the Second Ecumenical Council and the Monothelite controversy, the Church of Rome experienced several stages of growth. Firstly, the Church of Rome was in a position to adjudicate Donatist claims in Africa. Then, in the early 400s, the fall of Rome to the barbarians occured. Leo taught the Primacy of Peter who spoke through the popes of Rome, his successors, and Rome began to call itself 'the Apostolic See'.

The Acacian schism around the turn of the fifth century demonstrated both the importance of Rome and the extent of alienation, even at this time, between East and West. In 530, Justinian retook Rome.

Rome possessed a role and an authority among the churches generally by the end of the fourth century; however, both East and West saw this authority quite differently. In the West, Rome possessed an almost legislative authority, and came to be seen - particularly after the fall of Rome - as the keeper of Roman tradition, in opposition to the now-barbarian governors. In the East, however, while Rome held a position of strong influence, they didn't recognise his authority over them.

The rituals surrounding Baptism, Communion and Confession did not, of course, float down from the sky, but have undergone development from the Church's earliest days through the centuries. Baptism was a given as a universal practise, and done by immersion at the same time as a confession of faith. While the sequence of repentance, baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit were always present, it became more drawn out over time. Additionally, the Catechumenate was institutionalised and lengthened in the third century.

Communion, originally, was a communal meal, of which the Eucharist was a significant part; later, the Church decided that it would be more beneficial if Communion was seperated from the meal. The desire for contact with fellow believers lives on in many places today through having a coffee hour after a service. The first description of the Communion service is given by St Justin Martyr in 165.

Confession was originally far more arduous, where the Church was seen as a community without major sin. However, Johannine forgiveness won out over Roman austerity, thanks to Bishop Callistus of Rome and his application of Christ's analogy of the wheat and the tares to the Church. At the start of the third century the Church was seeing public confession; by the mid-third century, confession was able to be done for the forgiveness of all sins.

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