AN OVERVIEW OF CHURCH HISTORY (PART ONE)
- The Beginning and Birth of the Church
-The Church began right after the “fall” and culminated when Christ founded a visible and organized church upon Peter and the apostles.
(See Gen. 3:15; CCC 761 and Mt. 16: 18-19)
-The birth of the Church took place on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in fulfillment of his promise he made during the last supper. (See Jn. 14:16-17; Jn. 14: 25-26; Jn. 16: 12-13; Acts 1:3-4;
Acts 1: 8-9 and Acts 2:1-4.
-The Early Church (See Acts 2:42-47)
-Conversion of Saul of Tarsus (See Acts 9:1-5)
- From its early life, the Church, true to its role, has always guarded against schisms, heresies and apostasies.
-The Judaizers wanted to impose circumcision of Gentile converts and observance of Mosaic practices for admission to the Church. (See Acts 15: 1-2)
Peter was at first inclined to side with the Judaizers but God prevailed upon him to not to call any person profane and unclean. (See Acts:10; Gal. 2: 11-14 and Acts 10: 25-28; 34-35)
The Council of Jerusalem (49 A.D.) was convened and when Peter spoke, the whole assembly fell silent and eventually decided to accept the Gentiles to the Church without any imposition of Mosaic practices (See Acts 15: 7-12)
“Rome has spoken, the matter is finished.”
-Heresies besieged the Early Church
The “Gnostics” – promoted the teaching that all matters are evil and therefore, Jesus could never have been human. Also claimed that they alone possessed deeper knowledge of revelation.
Marcion - claimed that the only inspired writings are the gospel of St. Luke and the letters of Paul.
“Montanism” – espoused that the Holy Spirit leads all men to the truth, thereby undermining the teaching authority of the Church
- The Persecution of Christians
-Emperor Nero (64 A.D), accused Christians of disobedience and treason (the blood of the martyrs’ became the seeds of Christianity) The persecution of Christians continued and grew more fiercely.
-The center of the Church moved from Jerusalem to Rome. Patriarchates were established in Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria and Rome.
- Final Break with Judaism
-Around 90 A.D. Christians were excommunicated from the Synagogue
- Observance of Sabbath changed to Sunday
- End of persecution of Christiansduring the reign of Emperor Constantine
- Constantine issued the “Edict of Milan”which reads –
“Christians and non-Christians should be allowed to keep the faith of their own religious beliefs . . .Every individual still desirous of observing the Christian form of worship should without interference be allowed to do so (Eusebius’ book “History of the Church”)
-Constantine favored the Christians but never made Christianity the official religion of the kingdom
- Christological Heresies
-Arianism, i.e. Jesus is not divine (countered by the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.)
-The heresy of Nestorius, i.e. Mary is not the “Mother of God (countered by the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D.)
-The heresy of the Monophysites, i.e. Jesus has no human will (countered by the Council of Chalcedron in 451 A.D.)
- The Fall of the Roman Empire
- The West was invaded by the Barbarians who were eventually Christianized
-The East was taken over by the Muslims who converted the Christians by force resulting in Christianity becoming a minority religion
- The Dark Ages of the Church (9th century)
- Rampant practice of simony (buying of church offices), marriage of the clergy and lay investiture
- The Renewal of the Church (10th and 11th century)
-Surge of monasticism and renewed submission to Church authority under Pope Gregory the Great
- Crusades to free the holy land from the Muslims
- Final Schism Between the East and the West
- The Church in the West is now known as the Roman Catholic Church
- The Church in the East is now known as the Greek Orthodox Church