Early Christianity

It took Christianity only about three centuries to turn from an obscure cult know by few into the official religion of the Roman Empire. Having survived conflicts and barbaric invasions barbarians, became the bridge between the ancient and medieval era.

Our knowledge of Jesus of Nazareth and the earliest time of Christianity is very limited. Judea was a small, though restless, province of the Roman empire, and religious movements in the region attracted the attention of the Romans only when they threatened public order. The only source of information about the life of Jesus are the four Gospels, written many years after his death. Besides, the Gospels focus mostly on his mission and messages, omitting biographical details. In addition, there are contradictions within them, while some of the information does match with the data from other sources accurately. The factors that contributed to final shape of the text might include inaccurate memories of the authors, misunderstandings, and perhaps some deliberate distortion.

"King of the Jews"

But there is no reason to doubt the basic message of the gospel: Jesus was a Jew who encouraged to repent and renounce sin, get rid of worldly desires, promoted love and kindness, and spoke about the impending Judgment Day that would see sinful souls doomed to eternal damnation. Eventually, Jesus was tried and crucified by the Romans as the alleged offender political (declared "King of the Jews"), probably at the initiative of the Jewish clergy. His disciples proclaimed him the long-awaited Messiah (in ancient Greek Christos meaning "anointed one", "the chosen one"), and claimed they had seen him risen and had witnessed his accession to heaven.

According to contemporary research the birth of Jesus took place roughly six years BC, and his crucifixion between 29 and 33 years of AD, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea (26-36 AD). It was a period of tensions and unrest, conflicts between rich and poor, and finally between the rebellious zealots and those who advocated an agreement with the Romans. There were also disputes between the different sects of Judaism. The atmosphere was hectic and full of expectations as written in manuscripts of the era, found in the desert near the Dead Sea. The texts, left behind by a reclusive sect, reflect a belief in the imminent coming of the Messiah who would help Palestine throw off the shackles of Roman Empire.

Uprisings in Palestine

Supporters of the teachings of Jesus remained in minority, perhaps because - regardless of the pretext that was used to convict him - he didn't promise liberation in the political sense, but offered "kingdom is not of this world" instead. In 66 ADD the great Jewish Revolt broke out, resulting in the Roman looting of Jerusalem and the long, bloody siege of Masada. In 132 AD the Jews revolted again, this time under the leadership of the self-proclaimed messiah, a man named Simon Bar Kochba, but the rise was suppressed.

Both during Jesus's lifetime and in the first years after his death, Christians were just one of several Jewish sects. Early supporters converted outside Judea came from Jewish enclaves that existed in many cities scattered throughout the Roman Empire. Previously, the Jews tried to convert inhabitants of these settlements to Judaism, but the process was hindered by the requirement to conform to all its traditional religious practices, including circumcision.

Christians' decision to abandon these rigors gave the new denomination an advantage over orthodox Judaism at the cost of increasing differences betweeen the two. They were futher deepended by the doctrine preached by St. Paul who claimed that Jesus was not only the Messiah, but in fact the Son of God, sent to this world to redeem the sins of mankind through his suffering. Adoption of this doctrine cemented Christianity as a completely separate religion.

Persecution

Little is known about Christianity in the first century, except that the Emperor Nero blamed the Christians for the great fire that destroyed most of Rome in 64 AD. Perhaps it was the Christian predictions of the Judgement Day and the fires of hell that lead to the accusations. The persecution that followed were cruel, but short-lasting, and Roman sources are silent about Christianity until the 112 AD, when the imperial officer Pliny the Younger wrote a letter to Emperor Trajan, asking for advice on how to deal with Christians. Trajan replied they should not be prosecuted and no action based on anonymous denunciations should be taken. Instead, only those who came out as Christians should face punishment.

The main offense of Christians was that they recognized neither the divinity of the emperor nor the gods of the Roman pantheon. The Romans were relatively tolerant, but it they found it to understand why Christians refused to worship the emperor on a par with Jesus Christ. Roman notables tolerated Jewish resistance against worshiping the emperor, because it was an old, national worship. However, Christianity was new and could be politically dangerous. What's more, many ordinary citizens shared this view, although it is not clear why. by the end of the 2nd century anti-Christian riots broke out in Lyon and in Smyrna. It was often thought at the time that Christians were characterized by "hatred of the human race".

To some extent, this negative perception of early Christians might have been because their religious practices were confined to the privacy of their own homes (churches appeared only in the fourth century AD) and did not accept nonbelievers into their community. In religious matters they were irreconcilable, which sometimes set them at odds with their neighbors. Additionally they refused to adhere to one of traditional civil obligations - that of bearing arms. A simple form of rituals also distinguished them from other communities: there were only two sacraments, baptism and the Eucharist which symbolically reconstituted the Last Supper.

The belief in the imminence of Judgment made Christians disregard earthly matters, interpret Jesus's incitement literally and reject the mundane world. But when it turned out that the Last Judgment would not necessarily come soon, the Christian community began to organize: the positions of deacons, presbyters and bishops emerged and continued to gain importance in the society. Christians compromised with the world of the mundane by rejecting the principle of non-violence, which probably occurred at the end of the third century. However, refusal to worship the emperor induced reluctance on the part of the state. It was not so much a question of religion, as to the obligations of citizens: tribute to the emperor was meant to help consolidate the empire. Christians were persecuted especially in times of crisis that witnessed extensive reform efforts aiming at strengthening the power of the state during the reign of Decius (250-51), Valerian (257-58), Diocletian (303-05) and his successor Galerius (305-11).

Despite all its cruelty, persecution did not last long, so it did not jeopardize the very existence of the cult, but strengthened the faith of survivors. In fact, the emperors probably had to come to terms with the fact that the sheer number of Christians made it impossible to eliminate them all. At the beginning of 300 ADD they were still a minority, but a significant one - they made up about 10 percent of the population.

Christianity emerged when Romans' confidence in their own abilities and their optimism began to wane quickly and there was a general feeling that the empire is collapsing. The need for religious experience was on the rise though and that was something that the highly formalized cult of the Roman gods could not satiate. An array of Eastern gods and religions followed, giving Christianity a few serious competitors. In fact it shared some common characteristics with them - several of mystical cults featured ceremonies symbolizing death and resurrection during which the followers were to be "born " into a new life.

Advance of Christianity

In many respects Christianity had an edge over those religions. It was no different in that it offered a personified god and the hope of immortality, but what set it apart was that it turned towards everyone, not only to the initiated. Christian sense of community was very strong, based on a complete spiritual equality between the rich and the poor, masters and servants. But since it also proclaimed indifference to most of temporal matters as well as obedience to the system of government, it posed no obvious threat to the social order. In fact, Christianity could provide a sense of solidarity contributing to the preservation of the Roman state. Probably it was just one of the reasons why Emperor Constantine, called the Great, advocated it. His favorable attitude validated Christianity and gave it a shot in the arm it needed to become fully developed.

Converted Emperor

Some argue that Constantine's conversion was a result of a vision he had before his victorious battle at Ponte Milvio (312). Allegedly he attributed the vision to the god of Christians. In any case, Constantine urged his political rivals to tolerate all religions while favoring Christianity itself, although formally he remained a follower of the cult of the Unconquered Sun. Once he had seized control over the entire Roman Empire, Constantine declared himself a Christian (formally he became one on his deathbed). The first ecumenical (universal) Church council was held in Nicaea in 325. The very fact that Constantine presided it proves the Church's success in establishing its position and suggests the Emperor's tried to play a key role in its his structures.

Council of Nicea was convened mainly in order to settle doctrinal disputes between the supporters of views that would eventually prevail and those who stood by Arius. Such disputes undermined Constantine's hopes that Christianity would cement the empire's unity. Indeed, heresies (i. e. views of minority sects) often gained support in the provinces such as Egypt where opposition to Roman rule was strong. Over the next few centuries, the Church declared the views of Arius (Arianism) as well as nestorianism, monophysitism and other interpretations of Christian doctrine to be heresies, not allowing for any diversity of opinions.

The state threw its weight behind the Church's rulings. In 391 Emperor Theodosius I banned all non-Christian religious practices, describing them collectively as "pagan". The word "pagan" is probably derived from Pagus (peasant) because it was in rural areas where old beliefs were most difficult to eradicate. In 483 Theodosius II went a step further, issuing an edict by which the Arians and Nestorians were subject to death penalty. Christians turned from a persecuted sect into oppressors.

New ideas

Before the end of fourth century, Christianity had already received a solid intellectual foundation. It was created by the so-called Fathers of the Church - thinkers who adapted elements of Greek philosophy to the needs of Christianity. Another great achievement was translation the Bible into Latin by St. Jerome (345-420). But at this time, the western part of the empire collapsed following repeated barbarian invasions (476). The universal character of the Christian religion was confirmed by rapid conversion of the new barbarian rulers, even though initially most of them turned to the heresy of Arianism. The chaos that followed the raids prompted the peoples of the Western Empire to turn away from the mundane world. In 529 St. Benedict founded the first monastery on the top of Monte Cassino. Since then, the monasteries were to play an important role in the life of Europe.

Rivalry

When Italy lay in ruins, the bishops of Rome - the popes - played an important role as defenders of the faith and values that made up the core of the Roman civilization. They demanded recognition of their leadership over the whole Church. However, Rome had three strong contenders - Alexandria, Antioch, and the capital of the eastern part of the Empire - Constantinople. In the seventh century, Antioch and Alexandria were conquered by Muslim Arabs, leaving Rome and Constantinople as the only surviving centers of Christianity, each representing two divergent traditions - Latin and Greek - that would eventually separate.