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Christianity began as aSecond Temple Judaic movementin the 1st century in theRoman province ofJudea, from where it spread throughout and beyond theRoman Empire.
Christianity "emerged as amovement of Judaism inRoman Judea"[1] in the syncretisticGreco-Roman world of the 1st century AD, which was dominated byRoman law andHellenistic culture.[2] It started with theministry of Jesus, who proclaimed the coming of theKingdom of God.[3] Afterhis death by crucifixion, some of his followers are said to have seen Jesus, and proclaimed him to bealive and resurrected byGod.[4][5][6][7][8] The resurrection of Jesus "signalled for earliest believers that the days of eschatological fulfillment were at hand,"[web 1] and gave the impetus in certain Christian sects to theexaltation of Jesus to the status ofdivine Son and Lord of God's Kingdom[9][web 1] and the resumption of their missionary activity.[10][11]
Traditionally, the years following Jesus until the death of the last of theTwelve Apostles is called theApostolic Age, after themissionary activities of the apostles.[13] According to theActs of the Apostles (thehistorical reliability of which is disputed), theJerusalem church began atPentecost with some 120 believers,[14] in an "upper room," believed by some to be theCenacle, where the apostles received theHoly Spirit and emerged from hiding following the death and resurrection of Jesus to preach and spread his message.[15][16]
The Christian Testament writings depict what orthodox Christian churches call theGreat Commission, an event where they describe theresurrected Jesus Christ instructing hisdisciples to spreadhis eschatological message of the coming of the Kingdom of God to all thenations of the world. The most famous version of the Great Commission is inMatthew 28:16–20, where on a mountain inGalilee Jesus calls on his followers to make disciples of andbaptize all nations in the name of theFather, theSon, and theHoly Spirit.
Paul'sconversion on the road to Damascus is first recorded inActs 9:13–16. Peterbaptized the Romancenturion Cornelius, traditionally considered the first Gentile convert to Christianity, inActs 10. Based on this, theAntioch church was founded. It is also believed that it was there that the termChristian was coined.[17]
After thecrucifixion of Jesus, Christianity first emerged as a sect of Judaism as practiced in theRoman province of Judea.[1] The first Christians were allJews, who constituted aSecond Temple Jewish sect with anapocalypticeschatology.[18][19]
The Jerusalem community consisted of "Hebrews," Jews speaking bothAramaic and Greek, and "Hellenists," Jews speaking only Greek, possibly diaspora Jews who had resettled in Jerusalem.[20] With the start of their missionary activity, early Jewish Christians also started to attractproselytes, Gentiles who were fully or partlyconverted to Judaism.[21][note 1] According toJames Dunn, Paul's initial persecution of Christians probably was directed against these Greek-speaking "Hellenists" due to their anti-Temple attitude.[22] Within the early Jewish Christian community, this also set them apart from the "Hebrews" and theirTabernacle observance.[22]
Christian missionary activity spread "the Christian Way" and slowly createdearly centers of Christianity with Gentile adherents in thepredominantlyGreek-speakingeastern half of the Roman Empire, and then throughout theHellenistic world and beyond theRoman Empire inAssyria,Mesopotamia,Armenia,Georgia andPersia.[15][23][24][25][note 2] Early Christian beliefs were proclaimed inkerygma (preaching), some of which are preserved inChristian Testament scripture. The early Gospel message spreadorally, probably originally inAramaic,[27] but almost immediately also inGreek.[28]
The scope of the Jewish-Christian mission expanded over time. While Jesus limited his message to a Jewish audience in Galilea and Judea, after his death his followers extended their outreach to all of Israel, and eventually the whole Jewish diaspora, believing that the Second Coming would only happen when all Jews had received the Gospel.[29] Apostles and preacherstraveled toJewish communities around theMediterranean Sea, and initially attracted Jewish converts.[24] Within 10 years of the death of Jesus, apostles had attracted enthusiasts for "the Christian Way" fromJerusalem toAntioch,Edessa,Ephesus,Corinth,Thessalonica,Cyprus,Crete,Alexandria and Rome.[30][15][23][31] Over 40 churches were established by 100,[23][31] most inAsia Minor andUpper Mesopotamia, such as theseven churches of Asia, and some in Greece and Italy.
According to Fredriksen, when missionary early Christians broadened their missionary efforts, they also came into contact with Gentiles attracted to the Jewish religion. Eventually, the Gentiles came to be included in the missionary effort of Hellenised Jews, bringing "all nations" into the house of Christianity’s God.[29] The "Hellenists," Greek-speaking diaspora Jews belonging to the early Jerusalem Jesus-movement, played an important role in reaching a Gentile, Greek audience, notably at Antioch, which had a large Jewish community and significant numbers of Gentile "God-fearers."[21] From Antioch, the mission to the Gentiles started, including Paul's, which would fundamentally change the character of the early Christian movement, eventually turning it into a new, Gentile religion.[32] According to Dunn, within ten years after Jesus' death, "the new messianic movement focused on Jesus began to modulate into something different ... it was at Antioch that we can begin to speak of the new movement as 'Christianity'."[33]
Paul was responsible for bringing Christianity toEphesus,Corinth,Philippi, andThessalonica.[34][better source needed] According toLarry Hurtado, "Paul saw Jesus' resurrection as ushering in the eschatological time foretold by biblical prophets in which the pagan 'Gentile' nations would turn from their idols and embrace the one true God of Israel (e.g.,Zechariah 8:20–23), and Paul saw himself as specially called by God to declare God's eschatological acceptance of the Gentiles and summon them to turn to God."[web 2]According toKrister Stendahl, the main concern of Paul's writings on Jesus' role and salvation by faith is not the individual conscience of human sinners and their doubts about being chosen by God or not, but the main concern is the problem of the inclusion of Gentile (Greek) Torah-observers into God's covenant.[35][36][37][web 3] "Hebrew" Jewish Christians opposed Paul's interpretations,[38] as exemplified by theEbionites. The relaxing of requirements in Pauline Christianity opened the way for a much larger Christian Church, extending far beyond the Jewish community. The inclusion of Gentiles is reflected inLuke-Acts, which is an attempt to answer a theological problem, namely how the Messiah of the Jews came to have an overwhelmingly non-Jewish church; the answer it provides, and its central theme, is that the message of Christ was sent to the Gentiles because a number ofJews rejected it.[39]
There was a slowly growing chasm between Gentile Christians, and Jews and Jewish Christians, rather than a sudden split. Even though it is commonly thought that Paul established a Gentile church, it took centuries for a complete break to manifest. Growing tensions led to a starker separation that was virtually complete by the time Jewish Christians refused to join in theBar Kokhba Jewish revolt of 132.[40] Certain events are perceived as pivotal in the growing rift between Christianity and Judaism.
Christianity spread toAramaic-speaking peoples along theMediterranean coast and also to the inland parts of theRoman Empire,[41] and beyond that into theParthian Empire and the laterSasanian Empire, includingAssyria andMesopotamia, which was dominated at different times and to varying extents by these empires. In AD 301, theKingdom of Armenia became the first state to declare Christianity as its state religion, following the conversion of theRoyal House of the Arsacids in Armenia, although theNeo-Assyrian kingdom ofOsroene became Christian earlier. With Christianity the dominant faith in some urban centers, Christians accounted for approximately 10% of the Roman population by 300, according to some estimates.[42] Christianity then rapidly grew in the 4th century, accounting for 56.5% of the Roman population by 350.[43]
By the latter half of the second century, Christianity had spread east throughoutMedia, Persia,Parthia, andBactria. The twenty bishops and a number of presbyters were more of the order of itinerant missionaries, passing from place to place as Paul did and supplying their needs with such occupations as merchant or craftsman.
Various theories attempt to explain how Christianity managed to spread so successfully prior to theEdict of Milan (313). InThe Rise of Christianity,Rodney Stark argues that Christianity replacedpaganism chiefly because it improved the lives of its adherents in various ways.[44] Dag Øistein Endsjø argues that Christianity was helped by its promise of a generalresurrection of the dead at theend of the world which was compatible with thetraditional Greek belief that trueimmortality depended on the survival of the body.[45] According toWill Durant, theChristian Church prevailed overpaganism because it offered a much more attractive doctrine, and because the church leaders addressed human needs better than their rivals.[46]
Bart D. Ehrman attributes the rapid spread of Christianity to five factors: (1) the promise of salvation and eternal life for everyone was an attractive alternative to Roman religions; (2) stories of miracles and healings purportedly showed that the one Christian God was more powerful than the many Roman gods; (3) Christianity began as a grassroots movement providing hope of a better future in the next life for the lower classes; (4) Christianity took worshipers away from other religions since converts were expected to give up the worship of other gods, unusual in antiquity where worship of many gods was common; (5) in the Roman world, converting one person often meant converting the whole household—if the head of the household was converted, he decided the religion of his wife, children and slaves.[47]
There was no empire-wide persecution of Christians until the reign ofDecius in the third century.[web 4] As theRoman Empire experienced theCrisis of the Third Century, the emperorDecius enacted measures intended to restore stability and unity, including a requirement thatRoman citizens affirm their loyalty throughreligious ceremonies pertaining toImperial cult. In 212,universal citizenship had been granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire, and with the edict of Decius enforcing religious conformity in 250, Christian citizens faced an intractable conflict: any citizen who refused to participate in the empire-widesupplicatio was subject to the death penalty.[48] Although lasting only a year,[49] theDecian persecution was a severe departure from previous imperial policy that Christians were not to be sought out and prosecuted as inherently disloyal.[50] Even under Decius, orthodox Christians were subject to arrest only for their refusal to participate in Roman civic religion, and were not prohibited from assembling for worship.Gnostics seem not to have been persecuted.[51]
Christianity flourished during the four decades known as the "Little Peace of the Church", beginning with the reign ofGallienus (253–268), who issued the first official edict oftolerance regarding Christianity.[52] The era of coexistence ended whenDiocletian launched the final and"Great" Persecution in 303.
TheEdict of Serdica was issued in 311 by the Roman emperorGalerius, officially ending theDiocletianic persecution ofChristianity in the East. With the passage in AD 313 of theEdict of Milan, in which theRoman EmperorsConstantine the Great andLicinius legalised the Christian religion, persecution of Christians by the Roman state ceased.[web 5]
According to Indian Christian traditional legends, following previous migration by Jews,[53] Christianity arrived along the southernIndianMalabar Coast viaThomas the Apostle in 52 AD[54] and from this cameThomasine Christianity. But there is no contemporary evidence for this. According to the third centuryActs of Thomas, Thomas visited only the realm ofGondophares in Northwest India (which is nowPakistan). Although little is known of the immediate growth of the church,Bar-Daisan (AD 154–223) reports that in his time there were Christian tribes in Northwest India, which claimed to have been converted by Thomas and to have books and relics to prove it.[55] Certainly by the time of the establishment of theSassanid Empire (AD 226), there were bishops of theAssyrian Church of the East in northwest India,Afghanistan andBaluchistan, with laymen and clergy alike engaging in missionary activity.[54]
In 313, Constantine andLicinius issued theEdict of Milan, officially legalizing Christian worship. In 316, Constantine acted as a judge in a North African dispute concerning theDonatist controversy. More significantly, in 325 he summoned theCouncil of Nicaea, effectively the firstEcumenical Council (unless theCouncil of Jerusalem is so classified), to deal mostly with theArian controversy, but which also issued theNicene Creed, which among other things professed a belief inOne Holy Catholic Apostolic Church, the start ofChristendom.
OnFebruary 27, 380, the Roman Empire officially adoptedTrinitarianNicene Christianity as itsstate religion.[56] Prior to this date,Constantius II (337-361) andValens (364-378) had personally favored Arian orSemi-Arianism forms of Christianity, but Valens' successorTheodosius I supported the Trinitarian doctrine as expounded in theNicene Creed.
In the several centuries of state-sponsored Christianity that followed,pagans and heretical Christians were routinely persecuted by the Empire and the many kingdoms and countries that later occupied the place of the Empire,[57] but someGermanic tribes remained Arian well into theMiddle Ages.[58]
Historically, the most widespread Christian church in Asia was theChurch of the East (now theAssyrian Church of the East), the Christian church ofSasanian. This church is often known as the Nestorian Church, due to its later adoption of the doctrine ofNestorianism, which emphasized the disunity of the divine and human natures of Christ. It has also been known as the Persia Church, the East Syrian Church, the Assyrian Church, and, in China, as the "Luminous Religion".
The Church of the East developed almost wholly apart from theGreek and Roman churches. In the 5th century, it endorsed the doctrine ofNestorius,Patriarch of Constantinople from 428 to 431, especially following theNestorian Schism after the condemnation of Nestorius forheresy at theFirst Council of Ephesus. For at least 1,200 years, the Church of the East was noted for its missionary zeal, its high degree oflay participation, its superior educational standards and cultural contributions in less developed countries, and its fortitude in the face of persecution.
The Church of the East had its inception at a very early date in the buffer zone between theParthian and Roman Empires in Assyria, andEdessa (nowŞanlıurfa) in northwestern Mesopotamia was from apostolic times the principal center ofSyriac-speaking Christianity. When early Christians were scattered abroad because of persecution, some found refuge at Edessa. The missionary movement in the East began which gradually spread throughoutMesopotamia andPersia and by AD 280. While the rulers of the Second Persian Empire (227-640) also followed a policy of religious toleration, to begin with, they later gave the largely Assyrian Christians the same status as a subject race. These rulers encouraged the revival of the ancient Persian dualistic faith ofZoroastrianism and established it as the state religion, with the result that the Christians were increasingly subjected to repressive measures. Nevertheless, it was not until Christianity became the state religion in the West that enmity toward Rome was focused on the Eastern Christians.
The metropolis ofSeleucia assumed the title of "Catholicos", (Patriarch) and in AD 424 a council of the church at Seleucia elected the first patriarch to have jurisdiction over the whole church of the East, including India andCeylon (Sri Lanka). The establishment of an independent patriarchate with nine subordinate metropolises contributed to a more favorable attitude by the Persian government, which no longer had to fear an ecclesiastical alliance with the common enemy, Rome.
When Constantine converted to Christianity, and the Roman Empire which was previously violently anti-Christian became pro-Christian, the Persian Empire, suspecting a new "enemy within", became violently anti-Christian. The great persecution fell upon the Christians in Persia about the year 340. Though the religious motives were never unrelated, the primary cause of the persecution was political.
It was about 315 that an ill-advised letter from the Christian emperor Constantine to his Persian counterpartShapur II probably triggered the beginnings of an ominous change in the Persian attitude toward Christians. Constantine believed he was writing to help his fellow believers in Persia but succeeded only in exposing them. He wrote to the young shah:
I rejoice to hear that the fairest provinces of Persia are adorned with...Christians...Since you are so powerful and pious, I commend them to your care, and leave them in your protection[1]".It was enough to make any Persian ruler conditioned by 300 years of war with Rome suspicious of the emergence of a fifth column. Any lingering doubts must have been dispelled when about twenty years later when Constantine began to gather his forces for war in the East. Eusebius records that Roman bishops were prepared to accompany their emperor to "battle with him and for him by prayers to God whom all victory proceeds".[2] And across the border in Persian territory the forthright Persian preacher Aphrahat recklessly predicted on the basis of his reading of Old Testament prophecy that Rome would defeat Persia.[3]
It is little wonder then, that when the persecutions began shortly thereafter, the first accusation brought against the Christians was that they were aiding the Roman enemy. Shah Shapur II's response was to order double taxation on Christians and to hold the bishop responsible for collecting it. He knew they were poor and that the bishop would be hard-pressed to find the money. Bishop Simon refused to be intimidated. He branded the tax as unjust and declared, "I am no tax collector but a shepherd of the Lord's flock." Then the killings began.
A second decree ordered the destruction of churches and the execution of clergy who refused to participate in the national worship of the sun. Bishop Simon was seized and brought before the shah and was offered gifts to make a token obeisance to the sun, and when he refused, they cunningly tempted him with the promise that if he alone would apostatize his people would not be harmed, but that if he refused he would be condemning not just the church leaders but all Christians to destruction. At that, the Christians themselves rose up and refused to accept such deliverance as shameful. So according to the tradition in the year 344, he was led outside the city of Susa along with a large number of Christian clergy. Five bishops and one hundred priests were beheaded before his eyes, and last of all he himself was put to death.[4]
For the next two decades and more, Christians were tracked down and hunted from one end of the empire to the other. At times the pattern was a general massacre. More often, as Shapur decreed, it was intensively organized elimination of the leadership of the church, the clergy. The third category of suppression was the search for that part of the Christian community that was most vulnerable to persecution, Persians who had been converted from the national religion, Zoroastrianism. As we have already seen, the faith had spread first among non-Persian elements in the population, Jews and Syrians. But by the beginning of the 4th century, Iranians in increasing numbers were attracted to the Christian faith. For such converts, church membership could mean the loss of everything – family, property rights, and life itself. Converts from the "national faith" had no rights and, in the darker years of the persecution, were often put to death. Sometime before the death ofShapur II in 379, the intensity of the persecution slackened. Tradition calls it forty-year persecution, lasting from 339 to 379 and ending only with Shapur's death.
Christianity became the official religion ofArmenia in 301 or 314,[59] when Christianity was still illegal in the Roman Empire. Some[who?] claim theArmenian Apostolic Church was founded byGregory the Illuminator of the late third – early fourth centuries while they trace their origins to the missions ofBartholomew the Apostle and Thaddeus (Jude the Apostle) in the 1st century.
Christianity inGeorgia (ancientIberia) extends back to the4th century, if not earlier.[60] The Iberian king,Mirian III, converted to Christianity, probably in 326.[60]
According to the fourth-century Western historianRufinius, it wasFrumentius who brought Christianity to Ethiopia (the city ofAxum) and served as its first bishop, probably shortly after 325.[61][62][63]
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TheGermanic people underwent gradualChristianization fromLate Antiquity. In the 4th century, the early process ofChristianization of the variousGermanic people was partly facilitated by the prestige of the ChristianRoman Empire amongst European pagans. Until thedecline of the Roman Empire, the Germanictribes who had migrated there (with the exceptions of theSaxons,Franks, andLombards, see below) had converted to Christianity.[64] A number of them, notably theGoths andVandals, adoptedArianism instead of theTrinitarian (a.k.a.Nicene ororthodox) beliefs that were dogmatically defined by theChurch Fathers in theNicene Creed andCouncil of Chalcedon.[64] The gradual rise of Germanic Christianity was, at times, voluntary, particularly amongst groups associated with the Roman Empire.
From the 6th century AD, Germanic tribes were converted (and re-converted) bymissionaries of the Catholic Church.[citation needed]
Many Goths converted to Christianity as individuals outside the Roman Empire. Most members of other tribes converted to Christianity when their respective tribes settled within the Empire, and most Franks and Anglo-Saxons converted a few generations later. During the later centuries following theFall of Rome, asschism between thedioceses loyal to thePope of Rome in theWest and those loyal to the otherPatriarchs in theEast, most of the Germanic peoples (excepting theCrimean Goths and a few other eastern groups) would gradually become strongly allied with the Catholic Church in the West, particularly as a result of the reign ofCharlemagne.
In the 3rd century, East-Germanic peoples migrated into Scythia. Gothic culture and identity emerged from various East-Germanic, local, and Roman influences. In the same period, Gothic raiders took captives among the Romans, including multiple Christians, (and Roman-supported raiders took captives among the Goths).
Wulfila orUlfilas was the son or grandson of Christian captives from Sadagolthina in Cappadocia. In 337 or 341, Wulfila became the first bishop of the (Christian) Goths. By 348, one of the (Pagan) Gothic kings (reikos) began persecuting the Christian Goths, and Wulfila and a number of other Christian Goths fled toMoesia Secunda (in modernBulgaria) in the Roman Empire.[65][66] Other Christians, includingWereka, Batwin, andSaba, died in later persecutions.
Between 348 and 383, Wulfila translated the Bible into theGothic language.[65][67] Thus some Arian Christians in the west used the vernacular languages, in this case including Gothic and Latin, for services, as did Christians in the eastern Roman provinces, while most Christians in the western provinces used Latin.
TheFranks and their rulingMerovingian dynasty, that had migrated toGaul from the 3rd century had remained pagan at first. On Christmas 496,[68] however,Clovis I following his victory at theBattle of Tolbiac converted to theorthodox faith of theCatholic Church and let himself be baptised atRheims. The details of this event have been passed down byGregory of Tours.
Christianity spread to other great pre-modern states, including theKingdom of Aksum where as in the Roman Empire, in Armenia, and in Georgia, it became thestate religion; in these areas it thrives to the present day. In others, such as theSasanian Empire, theTang dynasty in China, theMongol Empire, and in other areas, despite widespread success, it never became the state religion and is now practiced by small minorities.
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