1.4 Early Church

Christianity and the Empire

 Christianity Spread

 Peaceful areas

 Well-constructed roads; easy to travel

 Greek or Latin spoken

 Allowed Christians to spread the message of Jesus

 Attractive message

 Help people with personal or economic problems

 Hope- promised a better afterlife

Romans mistreated
Christians

Romans felt threatened by Christians

Romans- polytheistic belief & Christians- monotheistic belief

Christians criticized Roman festivals that honored numerous Roman gods

Different belief on how to solve problems; Christians refused to join army

Burned died verse buried dead in catacombs

Believed Christians caused natural disasters like famine and fire

Christians mistreated and some became martyrs- willing to die rather than give up beliefs

The Empire Accepts
Christianity

330 C.E.- Diocletian great persecution of Christians

312 C.E.- Constantine’s vision of flaming cross in sky; with “In the
sign you will conquer”

313 C.E.- Edict of Milan: decree allowed religious freedom

Christians served in gov’t and excused from paying taxes; serve in
army

Axum & Kush

Axum- city-state and trading center in Africa

300 C.E.- Axum defeated neighboring Kush

334 C.E.- King Ezana of Axum made Christianity official religion

Organizing the Church

Communities began to practice Christianity differently

Church leaders wanted to clarify & write down their beliefs

Hierarchy-an organization with different levels of authority

Clergy- church officials

Laity- regular church members

Women cared for sick & needy

300 C.E.- individual churches were headed by priests

Bishops supervised the dioceses, or several churches grouped together

Organizing the Church

Bishops managed regional church affairs

Bishop is in charge of an entire region called archbishop

Archbishops are in charge of the cities of Rome, Constantinople,
Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem (known as Patriarchs)

Discissions reached at the councils were accepted as doctrine-
official church teaching

What writings shaped
Christianity?

Christian leaders preserve stories about Jesus and the writings of the apostles.

300 C.E. four accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus were recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Each of account was called a gospel- meaning “good news”

Christians later included the four gospels with the writings of Paul and other early Christian leaders together with works
became the New Testament

New Testament add to Greek version of the Jewish sacred writings, called the Old Testament together these works formed
the Christian Bible

One of the most important Church Fathers was Augustine, a bishop of North Afica; he wrote The City of God, the first history
book written from the viewpoint of a Christian.

The Bishop of Rome

Bishop of Rome claimed power over the other bishops

600 C.E.- the bishop of Rome was called by a special of title– pope

Latin-speaking Christians in the western part of the empire accepted
the pope

Greek-speaking Christians would not accept the authority of the
pope over them (becoming the Eastern Orthodox Church)