January 31 - Ain't Easy Bein' Green

January 31 – Ain’t Easy Bein’ Green

Patrick was born around 390 AD. His parents were Christians living in Britain – which at the time was under Roman rule. When he was sixteen years old, he was taken as a slave and sent to work with pigs in northern Ireland. All of a sudden, he decided that he might want to take God seriously and began to pray. He escaped and headed for the coast. He caught a boat to France and then went to a monastery in the Mediterranean.

Pat’s only problem was that God wasn’t done with him in Ireland. He began having dreams about Irish children begging him to bring the Gospel. He went back to France to study more about the Gospel and in 432 returned to Ireland.

Now, this wasn’t the first time the Gospel had been in Ireland, but because of Patrick’s former life there, the people were ready to listen. This man converted most of the Irish to Christianity. He started around 300 churches and baptized 120,000 people. There are a lot of legends that surround his life in Ireland, but he had to deal with local chieftains and Druids. However, the local people always listened to him.

Patrick knew that he needed to work with things that the people knew – the shamrock was a great way to teach the Trinity. He worked with the people of the land to show them God’s love.

He lived there for 30 years, quietly bringing God to these people. Many years later, missionaries came and found that the Irish were already living lives filled with a strong faith. The priests and monks were scholars and had also been sending missionaries out into the world. They lived simple, holy lives that reached throughout Europe as they taught their faith.

The church in Ireland began without the influence of the Roman church, organizing itself around the monasteries in the country. There was no ‘church business’ other than preaching, studying and taking care of the poor. Ireland became Catholic in the 1100s and they canonized Patrick at that point.

January 30 - Golden Mouth

January 30 – Golden Mouth

If you are a wonderful preacher, some might say you have a golden tongue. Well, that’s exactly what people said about a young man named John. The good news was that the Greek word for golden mouth is ‘Chrysostom’ (kri – SOSS – tom). John Chrysostom lived in Antioch as a pastor. At one point, the emperor Theodosius decided to tax the people and they were furious! They began rioting, but when it was finally dealt with, they were assured of severe punishment by the emperor. While the bishop of Antioch, Flavian, tried to deal with the emperor, John spoke to the crowds. His sermons “Homilies on the Statues” (because they defaced a bunch of statues of the emperor and his family), was profound, prophetic preaching. Flavian brought good news – the emperor wasn’t going to massacre the people for their uprising and John encouraged them to change their lives.

John had been well educated and joined a monastery after his mother died. His main focus was on Biblical texts and took a literal approach to the Bible. This was in direct opposition to those from Alexandria who looked for the secrets behind the text (the heresy never really was dealt with, eh?). He preached messages on the Genesis, Matthew, John and Romans – which still exist and wrote commentaries on other Biblical books.

In 397 AD, Emperor Arcadius called on him to become bishop of Constantinople. While this was quite prestigious, John certainly didn’t let it go to his head. He opposed the Bishop of Alexandria, the large Arian community in Constantinople and spoke out clearly against the priests who were immoral. He preached against the suggestive dress of women and managed with that to offend the Empress.

Finally, he accepted several monks back into the fold who had been disciplined and the Bishop of Alexandria had enough. He called a synod and they banished him from the church.

He came back when the Empress got superstitious and gave a bunch of money to his church. But, he didn’t quit preaching his mind and in 403 was exiled again.

This time, however, the people were furious, burned several buildings and some of his supporters ended up dying. He died in exile, but Pope Innocent finally cleared his name.

January 29 - Utter Brilliance

January 29 - Utter Brilliance

Best way to start a blog:

"Lord, make me chaste, but not yet."

These were Augustine's words as he worked towards becoming a Christian. Augustine was born in 354 to Monica, who was a strong Christian and Patricius, who was a pagan and a Roman official. He was a brilliant young man who studied at the best schools. He rejected Christianity because he thought that only simple-minded people were Christians (nice way to think about your mom, Auggie!).

Before leaving Carthage for Rome, he tried several different types of philosophies and even got a young concubine pregnant, while still in his teens. On his way to Rome, he met Bishop Ambrose in Milan and discovered that there were actually brilliant Christians. So, one day, in 387 AD, while sitting in a garden, he heard a child singing, "Take it and read, take it and read." He picked up Paul's letter to the Romans and as he read, the words of God leapt from the page and he wrote "It was as though the light of faith flooded into my heart and all the darkness of death was dispelled."

He soon became a monk and left all of the life pleasures behind. In 391, he was ordained as a priest and became bishop of Hippo in North Africa in 395.

Augustine had to deal with some interesting groups of people. The Donatists felt that there were less-than-perfect clergy within the church and set up a separate church. Augustine said that though there may be some less than perfect people in the church - the church is one. He felt that the sacraments were visible signs of an invisible grace - they weren't effective because a priest was righteous, but because God's grace operates through them. (recognize any of these words from Communion liturgies? They're Augustine's words).

Another man, Pelagius, from Britain, taught that man had to choose God. Man had the power to be holy and no man was born sinful. Augustine put this man in his place as well.

Augustine's "Confessions" was the first spiritual autobiography. The opening paragraph states, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in You."

When Rome fell, he wrote "City of God" defending the Christians (they were again in trouble, because people believed the city fell due to the fact no one was worshiping the Roman gods) by explaining God's plan and His work in history. He said that since Cain and Abel, there have been two cities in the world - the City of Man (pagan society) and the City of God (the church). The City of God will prevail.

Augustine's teaching and thoughts have pervaded all of Christianity. His teaching on God's grace and man's complete inability to save himself are essential parts of our tradition.

January 28 - Stand up and say NO!

January 28 - Stand up and say NO!

The church didn't give up much ground once Constantine offered it freedom. There would never be another time when it was under the great persecution it experienced under the Roman emperors.

In 385 AD, Bishop Ambrose, in Milan, had been ordered the give the Empress Justina control of the Cathedral. He flat out refused. Her bodyguard stood with her as she ordered him out. But, the worshipers stood their ground with him, singing and speaking Psalms. The people, who still knew the hideous tales of persecution, expected that there would be a massacre.

Ambrose had been groomed to be an official in the Emperor's government. He was trained in law and had been named a governor of the territory around Milan. While he was governor, an Arian (remember those guys?) was the bishop. When this bishop died, a riot ensued during the selection of his successor. Ambrose showed up to calm things down and all of a sudden, a hue and cry arose to elect him as Bishop. What the heck? He hadn't even been baptized. But, they rushed him through the process and he became bishop of Milan.

He believed in orthodox Christianity as taught by the Council of Nicea and as bishop, he studied scripture and the church Father and began to preach regularly. He was a brilliant man and highly admired. He wrote hymns and taught Augustine (who we'll meet tomorrow).

So, here we are with Justina outside the cathedral. She wanted to return the building to the Arians. Ambrose refused and everyone waited. The soldiers were there, ready to remove him by force. But, all of a sudden, they left. No one is sure why, but Ambrose prevailed against the Empire ... a new sense of power for the church.

January 27 - Vulgar Words

January 27 - Vulgar Words

Athanasius encountered many different people during his life. One of them, the emperor, Julian, was Constantine's nephew. Julian hated Christianity. Why? Because his entire family was murdered by Constantine's son and others who called themselves Christians when Julian was only six years old. The boy grew up alone, always in fear.

Consequently, when Julian became emperor, Christian bishops and priests lost their privileges within the empire. He called home all those that had been exiled, hoping to upset the balance within the church.

Athanasius called the Eastern and Western churches together and after the arguments that had occurred due to the Creed of Nicaea, he hoped that they could meet and come to agreement. That did actually happen, and terrified Julian. He threatened Athanasius' life and he fled to hide among the desert monks, returning when Julian finally died.

The desert monks were a group that had been influenced by Paul and the Gnostics. These people had found refuge in the desert, leaving behind the political garbage of the empire and rejected all physical pleasures. They lived in poverty, eating only enough to stay alive.

Finally, though, a few began to realize that God's word said man wasn't to live alone (from Genesis 2:18). They founded monasteries. Women had already figured this out and were living in religious communities. The word 'nonnus' is the feminine word of monk - they were called nuns. The word 'convent' is Latin for gathering place.

It's amazing what guilt will do to a person. One of these monks was a man named Jerome. He was ashamed because he had admired pagan authors. It is said that even after he retreated to the desert, he battled memories of nude dancers in Rome. Guilt ate this man up and he began to hate everything physical.

He refused to bathe, insisting that Christ had cleansed him once for all. He couldn't get rid of his physical desires. As he tried to eliminate everything but God, he learned Hebrew. Finally, he realized that he couldn't live alone and returned to Rome.

There was a smart man there who put Jerome to a task - one of the most profound things that has come down to us. He asked Jerome to create a good Latin translation of the scriptures. He did something amazing with this. Rather than translating from the common Greek translations, Jerome went directly to the Hebrew scriptures. He also used words that were common, rather than high - churchy words. While church members didn't like it, it soon became a favorite version of the Bible. We still call this translation the Vulgate (Latin for common or vulgar).

Jerome finished this in 405 AD. It became the standard Bible for the Catholic church for hundreds of years.

January 26 - Kicked out, but not down

January 26 - Kicked out, but not down

It does not pay to get on the emperor's bad side.

One of the things that Constantine insisted upon was that the church be ecumenical. He wanted people to feel at home in the church. If they wanted to join, the bishops were to allow them in.

There was one man, however, that didn't quite agree with that. Athanasius decided that unless a person agree with the Creed of Nicaea, they weren't to be allowed into the church. Constantine followed through, kicked him not only out of the church, but out of the country and he was exiled to a town near what we know as Luxembourg now.

Constantine died and Athanasius returned to Alexandria, only to be exiled again. This time he went to Rome. He returned and three more times he was kicked out of the church for varying things that he believed in. He finally returned to finish out his bishopric until his death in 378 AD.

The biggest reason for his continued exiles was his refusal to accept anyone that didn't adhere to Orthodox beliefs in the church. He just wasn't going to waver on the subject. He wrote strong missives against Arius and that heresy. He wrote several pieces against pagans and even against Jews, defending the Christian faith.

There was one piece of writing, however, that has come down in history with great importance.

Every year the bishops sent out a letter to all of the churches letting them know the dates of Lent and Easter, which then allowed them to set the dates for all of the other church festivals. Along with that information, other things were written for the general good of the church.

Athanasius ended up writing 45 of these 'Festal Letters.' Thirteen of them still exist in their original form. In the thirty-ninth festal letter, he set forth a list of books of the Old and New Testaments which were considered to be canonical at the time. That list is identical to what we now know as the New Testament and was written in 367 AD.

Now, this list wasn't considered completely authoritative yet. Over the next years, there would be many disagreements. But, within 44 years of Constantine giving the church freedom to move within the Roman Empire, the books that we know as the New Testament were set into place as the canon of the Bible.

Athanasius' list gave these books authority and authenticity. The letters of Peter and the Revelation had been called into question and he silenced these questions. The book Shepherd of Hermas and The Epistle of Barnabas were stricken from the canon.

He stated that within these 27 books alone, the teaching of godliness was proclaimed.

This is a man who faced down the emperor of the Roman Empire. While it didn't look like he won the battle, he stood up against all odds for the strength of the teachings of the church.

January 25 - Superman?

January 25 - Superman?

It wasn't enough that Christians had to run for their lives every time they saw a Roman soldier, but they were also desperately trying to deal with powerful men in the faith defining what it was the church would believe.

Arius taught that Jesus was a created being of God. Oh, he taught that Jesus was superhuman, but not quite God. Since he was a powerful pastor in Alexandria, Egypt, people listened to him and his teachings started making waves throughout the church. God was the supreme being, who created Jesus and then Jesus walked among men. This teaching made a lot of sense to the people of that day and age who had just converted to Christianity. They came from pagan religions that taught a lot about one powerful god who created many lesser gods to deal with mankind and the world.

This teaching didn't sit too well with a young man - a deacon, not even a bishop - named Athanasius. He was pretty upset that Arius' teaching left Christianity without a divine Savior and wanted a creed developed that affirmed Christ's divinity.

Constantine heard the trouble happening throughout his empire and called a council of the bishops. Where did they meet? Nicea on July 4, 325 AD. About 300 bishops showed up to this council and walked into a room prepared for them. Constantine walked in with all of the regalia of his position, but with no soldiers in order to assure the bishops that they were safe. Many of these same men had been dealt terrible blows during the Roman persecutions.

He didn't stay long, but told them “Division in the church is worse than war" and informed them that they had troubling questions before them and needed to deal with them.

The bishops, though some thought to compromise with Arius at the beginning, were stirred into action by Athanasius and decided that they needed to develop their beliefs. The Nicene Creed was born.

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father, that is, of the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things came to be, those things that are in heaven and those things that are on earth, who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, and was made man, suffered, rose the third day, ascended into the heavens, and will come to judge the living and the dead.

Over the next one hundred years, this teaching battled with Arius' teaching within the church. The bishops were not finished and would meet again and again to fully develop the teaching of the church. But, Christ's divinity was affirmed.

January 24 - Whew!

January 24 - Whew!

313 AD. Edict of Milan.

Constantine and Vilinius as emperors of the western and eastern Roman Empires met in Milan. They saw the insanity of attempting to build a better empire while fighting against the Christians. At their meeting, the first order of business was religious freedom ... for everyone.

Churches were restored to their congregations, priests were released from prison, property that had been stripped from Christians was returned to them and present owners were allowed to apply to the Empire for compensation. These two men recognized that prosperity for Christians would bring prosperity to the Empire.

In 323 AD, Constantine reunited the entire Roman Empire under his rule and Christianity became the religion of the state by the end of the century.

Now, the tale of Constantine and Christianity began in 311 AD. As he was preparing to meet Maxentius in battle, he saw a cross in the sky that afternoon with the words, "By this sign conquer." He heard Christ Himself tell him in a dream to take the sign of the cross into battle.

Before long, every shield in his army had the Chi-Rho marked on it. Constantine rode forth to meet Maxentius, who fled with his army. He tried to cross a small bridge over the Tiber river, but his army in its haste to run from Constantine pushed him into the river. He ended up drowning because his armor was so heavy. Constantine, as victor, entered Rome as its ruler.

In 314 AD, Constantine wrote to the Council of Arles (bishops of the church) and spoke of how God doesn't allow people to walk in shadow but reveals salvation, a fact which Constantine said he had experienced for himself.

During these years, he didn't force Christianity on others, but he did stay away from the traditional Roman gods - his famous Arch of Constantine shows none of the traditional etchings of gods, though it also doesn't show any Christian symbols.

When he took the East from Licinius in 323, he moved the seat of power to Byzantium from Rome. He openly called himself a Christian, but it wasn't until just before his death that he was baptized. His sons were raised as Christians.

In 325 AD, Constantine called for the Council of Nicaea, a great turning point for the church.

January 23 - Power of Ten

While persecution against Christians existed for the three hundred years between Nero and Constantine, there were periods of time when it was incredibly intense and then decades would pass when Christians lived in relative ease.

1 Nero - 64-68 AD
2 Domitian - 95-96 AD
3 Trajan - 104-117 AD
4 Marcus Aurelius - 161-180 AD
5 Septimius Severus - 200-211 AD
6 Maximinus - 235-237 AD
7 Decius - 249-251 AD
8 Valerian - 257-260 AD
9 Aurelian - 274-275 AD
10 Diocletian - 303-305 AD
(The dates are not the dates of the emperor's reign, but the years in which persecution was at its height.)

During Diocletian's reign, the first 19 years (284-303 AD) were relatively peaceful. In fact, his wife and daughter were either part of the Christian church or at least attached to it superficially.

In 303, he began to get a bit feeble minded and his assistant - Galerius - decided it was time to take it up with the Christians. Four edicts were set forth. The first edict proclaimed that all places of Christian worship were to be destroyed and any Christian books should be burned. Christian professors were stripped of their freedoms and were to be tortured.

The emperor worried about a Christian revolution, so a second edict was handed down within weeks. Every priest and church officer was imprisoned.

The third edict was issued on the twentieth anniversary of the emperor's reign. All prison doors would be opened. Christians were allowed to leave if they would sacrifice to the emperor's gods. If they didn't, they were to be tortured.

The fourth edict was that all Christians should sacrifice to the emperor's gods.

The Empire had already been split in two (285 AD) and Diocletian (in the west) and Maximian (in the east) abdicated in 305 AD. Constantius relieved all of the pressures against Christians in the west as soon as he possibly could - Africa, Italy, Spain, Gaul (France) and Britain were exempt from persecution. However, he ended up dying in 306 AD and regional governments managed the affairs for the emperor. Little bits of persecution showed up and made a mess of things for Christians. In the east Galerius was still doing his best to persecute Christians.

Constantine took over the west in 312 AD and Licinius the east.

Things were about to change in a really good way for Christians.

January 22 - Rejoicin'

January 22 – Rejoicin’

Worship among Christians had a few common themes, some of which have come down through the centuries, some changed during the Reformation for us Protestants. In all cases, it’s fun to see why these traditions developed.

In Acts, we saw that the early church gathered each week to break bread. Doing this on the first day of the week celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. They didn’t celebrate Easter once a year, they celebrated it every single week. The service wasn’t a call to repentance or to teach about their sins, but a celebration of the resurrection and its promises. Communion was enjoyed each week, but again – not as a focus on sin, but to celebrate the fact that we could participate in the resurrection of Christ. Communion has always been the highest act of worship. Only in very recent times has the focus become preaching rather than communion.

Early worship services were held in homes and occurred around a meal. The tone was always one of joy and gratitude. After the meal, where everyone brought what they could, communion was served. During the second century, there were accusations of orgies at these love feasts, so the meal began to be set aside.

There were two main parts of the service at this point. First, reading of Scripture with comments and then prayer and singing hymns. Very, very few Christians actually owned a copy of Scriptures so the only way for them to know the Bible was during this time. And this part of the service might last for hours.

The communion service was only open to those who had been baptized. Converts who had not yet been baptized might be allowed to the early part of the service, but were sent away during communion.

Services might be held in homes, but sometimes in catacombs and cemeteries, because early Christians wanted to be near the heroes of their faith, ancestors, martyrs. They believed that communion joined all the saints of the church, both living and dead as one with Jesus. This is what gave rise to celebration of saints’ days.

As Christianity grew, homes became too small and the idea of losing the unity of the church because of having many congregations was important enough to begin converting buildings to churches. The oldest Christian church dates back to 256 AD.

Every Sunday was an Easter celebration – every Friday was a day of penance. Later, the celebration of the actual resurrection became important and there were many arguments about the day on which it should land.

New converts were all baptized on Easter and converts renewed their baptism vows. Lent was introduced as people fasted and did penance in preparation for their baptism.

January 21 - Sorry I didn't die.

January 21 – Sorry I didn’t die.

So, you caved in to the Romans and offered a sacrifice to their gods. You accepted the sacrifice certificate. Or maybe you ran and decided that being alive somewhere else was better than being dead in your hometown. Or maybe you were able to bribe someone and get a fake sacrifice certificate. But, here’s the deal. Everyone around you knows that you didn’t stand up for your faith. When push came to shove, everything else – including your life – was more important than standing up for Jesus Christ.

You had lapsed. What in the world was the early church supposed to do with you? This became a huge controversy for the church.

Cyprian converted at the age of 40 and became bishop of Carthage. This happened just before the persecution and he felt that it was his duty to flee. So, he took off and continued leading his church through extensive letter writing. Many, though, saw this as cowardice. The Roman church had lost its bishop to persecution, why would Cyprian think he should live? He insisted that he had done it for the good of his flock and not because his was a coward – a fact that he would prove later in his life when he did die as a martyr.

Those that had stuck around? They were called confessors. And all of a sudden, they gained a great deal of authority in the church, especially when it came to decisions regarding the lapsed.

Some thought that the lapsed should be readmitted – after declaring repentance. But, some other church members got involved and wanted great judgment to happen. A schism began to occur until Cyprian stepped back in. He fully believed in the unity of the church. He didn’t want to easily restore the lapsed, but there needed to be penitence.

A system was developed based on the level of sin that the lapsed had committed. Cyprian said things like “Outside the church there is no salvation” and “He cannot have God for his Father who has not the church for his mother” which placed great importance on the bishops of the church. A bishop could determine whether or not a person was admitted to the church, which in effect was saying whether or not the person was saved. That the Spirit worked through the bishops of the churches, rather than the church and the people was the implication of this movement.

The bishops gained power. Cyprian also taught that the mass was a sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood. Since the priests functioned in Christ’s behalf and offered the sacrifice at every worship service, they continued to increase in power.

In the early days of the church it was held together by these ideas. But, as bishops were elected who were immoral, selfish, and greedy, they would quit caring about their flock and the structure of the church would create a split between the leadership and the people.

January 20 - Sacrifice or Die!

January 20 – Sorry I didn’t die…

In 247 AD, Rome had a birthday party. It was 1000 years old! This was a party to end all parties and lasted for three days and nights. Christians, however, refused to play. Then … after the party … a plague devastated the city and many of the Roman citizens wondered if the Christians had really ticked off the gods.

There was a new boss in town – Emperor Decius. He was a true Roman and believed that the only way to regain the favor of the gods and restore the ancient glory of Rome was to restore the ancient religion. So, he tossed out all of those simple laws regarding Christians and Jews. There were no more laws about ignoring Christians unless they were accused of something. No more laws about obstinate Christians who refused to worship the emperor. Now the law pretty much stated that unless you worshiped the ancient gods, you were guilty of high treason. Decius figured that the survival of Rome depended on this.

He wasn’t about creating martyrs, he wanted obedience. Worship of the ancient gods was mandatory. Everyone had to offer sacrifice to the gods. If you complied, you received a certificate. If you didn’t have a certificate, you were an outlaw.

Generations had passed since the last round of persecutions and people didn’t know what to do. They weren’t ready for this. Some left the Empire, others tried to stand firm, but failed and finally offered the sacrifice. There were others that purchased fake certificates and then there were those who refused to obey.

Since his purpose wasn’t to create martyr, but to force obedience, there weren’t many who were actually killed. Most were arrested – in fact, Origen was tortured and imprisoned during this time.

Decius died in 251 and this round of persecution faded with his death. Gallus came after him and set aside his policies. Six years later, Vespasian began a new round of hideous persecutions, but the Persians captured him and hauled him away. Christianity then had at least forty years of peace.

However, there was a problem that arose in the church.

Remember those who had failed and ended up with a certificate? They wanted to come back to the church. But, there was no way to tell who was truly repentant and who wasn’t. They couldn’t just take in false believers, could they?

We’ll look at these ‘lapsed’ believers tomorrow.

January 19 - Severus ... Snape?

January 19 – Severus … Snape?

If Christians thought they had it bad before, it was about to get much worse. Septimius Severus was the emperor and faced constant threats from outside his borders and civil war from within his empire. He decided that there needed to be religious harmony. So … he proposed that every one of his subjects would worship Sol Invictus – the Unconquered Sun. All gods would be accepted as long as they acknowledged that the Sun reigned over all.

Hmmm … guess who was stubborn about that? Yup … Jews and Christians. So, he outlawed, under penalty of death, all conversions to Christianity and Judaism. This was in addition to the earlier legislation of Trajan. 202 AD? Many, many, many new converts and existing Christians all over the Empire were executed.

In 203, Perpetua, a young, fairly wealthy woman was arrested with her slaves – Felicitas and Revocatus and two young men named Saturninus and Secundulus. She was a young mother and her father begged her to abandon her faith. Her answer was that, just as everything has a name and it is useless to try to give it a different name, she had the name of Christian, and this could not be changed (a rose by any other name?).

Felicitas was pregnant when she was arrested. Her greatest fear was that her life would be spared for that reason, or that her martyrdom would be postponed and she wouldn’t be able to join her friends. In her eighth month, she gave birth to a child who was adopted by another Christian woman.

When the jailers heard her moan during childbirth, they asked how she expected to face the beasts in the arena. Her response was, “Now my sufferings are only mine. But when I face the beasts, there will be another who will live in me, and will suffer for me since I shall be suffering for him.”

The three males were the first to be put in the arena. When the women came out, they were told they would be attacked by a ferocious cow. It didn’t end up killing them. They stood in the middle of the arena, bid each other farewell and died by the sword.

Not long after, persecutions slowed. For the first half of this century, Christianity grew rapidly. But, this was the calm before the storm.

January 18 - Who's the Boss?

January 18 – Who’s the Boss?

Among all of these heresies and varying beliefs, who was going to decide who was right and who was wrong. While everyone agreed that Jesus’ taught the truth, the Gnostics claimed the had some secret access to His message and it had come to them through a series of secret teachers.

The church came up against these teachings, claiming to have the original gospel and teachings of Jesus. It came down to the authority of the church versus the heretics and their claims.

How did the Christians deal with this? Apostolic succession. The argument set forth was that if Jesus actually did have some secret, He would have told His disciples. Remember, He trusted them with His church! If, in turn, they had any secrets, they would have passed those on to the leaders that followed them. So … as the argument played out … if there were secrets that had been passed down from Jesus, the bishops who were the successors of the disciples would have them. The fact is, they completely and unan9imously denied that any secrets ever existed.

To make this claim work, the bishops had to show that they were actually the successors of the apostles. Several of these churches had lists of bishops that linked them with the apostles of Jesus. The lists were found in Rome, Antioch, Ephesus and several other locations.

While modern day historians have trouble with the veracity of some of these lists, the fact is that they existed and the church of the second century had no problem connecting itself to the apostles.

Now, there were other churches in existence that couldn’t actually show a connection to the apostles, but the reality for them was that they believed and agreed on one single faith.

Later on, things progressed and ordination could only be performed by a bishop who could prove apostolic succession. At the first, this was meant to be inclusive because it was based on the witness of all the apostles. Over time this would change, but for awhile, it worked.

The original meaning of the phrase catholic church – was a universal church. Again, this was in opposition to Gnostic groups. The universal church stood for universality and inclusiveness of the witness of all the apostles – not just secrets that some held.

It is strange, though … that the term developed over the centuries came to be centered on the authority of one apostle – Peter. The catholic church developed throughout time to mean something completely different than its beginnings.

January 17 - I Believe!

January 17 – I Believe!

Whoops – not ready to leave the second century yet.

In 150 AD, as a way to combat gnosticism and other heresies, an early form of what we now know as the Apostles’ Creed was developed. It was also called the ‘symbol of faith.’ It was another way for Christians to distinguish between true believers and those that followed various heresies. If you could affirm this creed, you were definitely a Christian.

One of the main ways the symbol of faith was used was during baptism – which is a very familiar time for many of us to speak these words.

Three questions were asked and then answered.

Do you believe in God the Father almighty?

Do you believe in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was born of the Holy Ghost and of Mary the virgin, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and died, and rose again at the third day, living from among the dead, and ascended unto heaven and sat at the right of the Father and will come to judge the quick and the dead?

Do you believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy church, and the resurrection of the flesh?

This is the core of what would later become the Apostles’ Creed and it was built around the Trinity. Since baptism occurred in the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Ghost, these questions were set forth to discern a true believer.

Because the Gnostics differed the most from Christians in their beliefs regarding Jesus Christ, this was the longest, most involved sentence. The reference to the virgin birth wasn’t inserted to affirm a belief in Mary’s virginity, but to affirm the fact that Jesus was actually born to a human woman and didn’t just appear on earth. The reference to Pilate was made in order to give a real date to His existence, to place Jesus in the context of history.

In referring the the holy church, Christians began to uphold the authority of the church.

The creed that is so familiar to many of us had its beginnings in the church’s long-standing fight against heresy.

January 16 - Movin' on up

January 16 – Movin’ on up.

I’m nearly ready to leave the first and second centuries and move on. A lot happened for the church in those 150+ years. There were incredible highs and lows. But honestly, it was never easy. Christianity has never been about taking the easy path or having the good things in life handed out on silver platters.

Some of the greatest growth happened because of horrendous persecution. Some of the most amazing teachings came because of heresies that threatened the core foundations of faith.

Christians who had been Jews discovered that their heritage rejected them. Gentiles were confused because first they were told that they had to abide by Jewish law to be accepted into heaven, then it all changed. Greek philosophy, Roman structure, Jewish heritage. All of these combined to give Christianity an incredible history.

Teachers, heresies, creeds, canons, authors, apologists, theologians. Overseers, church fathers. Martyrs, revolutionaries. Persecution, death, excommunication. Everything that happened revolved around individuals, communities, churches … people!

God ripped the curtain open at Jesus’ crucifixion, allowing the world access to His presence. There would be false prophets and false teachers. There would be liars and self-promoters. There would be every possible test of this young religion.

The one thing that we must recognize is that this ‘young’ religion came from the most Ancient of Days, the Creator of all things. He had spent centuries hoping for His people of Israel to figure out what their true purpose in the world was. They were to bring the world to His doorstep. They succeeded, but only through the death of God’s Son.

When Marcus Aurelius came to power in 161 AD, he was known as one of the most enlightened emperors of the age. He didn’t care for power or glory, he was more interested in being a good man. However, this did not translate into relief for Christians. While he reigned, there seemed to be an overabundance of natural disasters, health epidemics, invasions and other terrible occurrences. The explanation that came was that Christians had brought on the wrath of the gods. Whether or not he believed this, he fully supported continued persecution.

One of the things that drove the Romans absolutely crazy was the fact that Christians were so stubborn about their faith. There is a story of a woman named Felicitas and her seven sons. She was a devoted Christian and gave so much of her life to the church that she was supported by the church. Pagan priests were furious with her and brought her before the Roman authorities. She refused to abandon her faith. When the prefect tried to get her sons to persuade her, she encouraged them to stand firm. Finally the matter was turned over to Marcus Aurelius, who ordered that they should all die in separate sections of the city to appease various gods.

A letter from the churches of Lyons and Vienne (in present day France) sent to Christians in Asia Minor describes terrible persecution. In fact, there were so many Christians held in one location that some died of suffocation before they could be executed.

The worst problem for Christians was that they didn’t know where or when the persecution would occur. Under some emperors, they were relatively safe. In some locations, they were relatively safe. But these circumstances could change without notice and quite regularly. They never knew when they could breathe.

January 15 - The Twelve Disciples

January 15 – The Twelve Disciples

There’s no way that I can manage to do this whole thing chronologically – there’s just too much information. I’ll do my best to stick closely to a timeline, but I can guarantee nothing. Especially when I run across another resource that seems helpful.

At some future date, I will break down the lives of the Twelve Disciples in a much more precise manner, but as we start tracking the expansion of Christianity, there are some traditional ideas of where these men traveled as they took Christ’s gospel to the world.

Simon Peter was actively seen in the book of Acts and there are traditions that say he visited both Britain and present-day Germany. He is believed to have been crucified upside down in Rome during Nero’s persecution of the Christians between 64-68 AD.

Andrew supposedly preached in Scythia, Asia Minor and Greece and was crucified at Patras in Achaia, which is a province of Greece.

James, the son of Zebedee was executed by Herod Agrippa 1 who died in 44 AD.

John, followed up Philip’s work in Samaria, was exiled as an elderly man to Patmos, probably was a Bishop at Ephesus where he died around 100 AD.

Philip is said to have been crucified in Hierapolis in Asia Minor (present-day southern Turkey).

Information regarding Matthew is a bit convoluted. Various traditions have him in Ethiopia, Parthia, Persia and Macedonia.

Thomas supposedly preached in Babylon. There is strong tradition that tells of him being in India and eventually being martyred there after founding churches.

Bartholomew accompanied Philip to Hierapolis and tradition says he was martyred after ministering in Armenia.

James, son of Alphaeus possibly ministered in Syria.

Thaddeus more than likely ministered in Edessa, a province of Greece.

Simon the Zealot has been associated with Persia, Egypt, Carthage and Britain.

Each of these men left Jerusalem and took Jesus’ gospel to the world. Some were martyred for their faith. But, few of them became well known. The only important thing to them was telling the stories that Jesus told to them, bringing hope to a world that needed to know a Savior.

Information taken from:
Walton, R.C. (1986). Chronological and Background Charts of Church History. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

January 14 - Gone Fishin'

January 14 – Gone Fishin’

One of the symbols Christians have long been familiar with is the sign of the fish. The problem today is that we are used to seeing the icon, and many of us know that this was a symbol for early Christians in the midst of persecution used to identify themselves to other Christians, but that’s about all we know.

The sign of the fish – or ICHTHUS – came from Alexandria, Egypt. This was a seaport and fishing was a major industry. These people knew fish.

Guess what the Greek word for fish is? If you guessed ‘ICHTHUS,’ you are absolutely correct.

Iota
Chi
Theta
Upsilon
Sigma

It didn’t take long for someone to associate Jesus’ command to his disciples to become ‘fishers of men’ with Christians. The symbol began being used as a reminder of Christ. But, they didn’t stop with the image. They were able to use each letter as the first letter of another word – and we now see:

Iota = Iesous (Jesus)
Chi – Christos (Christ)
Theta – Theou (God)
Upsilon – uios (Son)
Sigma – soter (Savior)

Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior – Ichthus.

This symbol is found on first century catacombs – the only identification that the buried person might have in those days of persecution that they were a Christian. It was used to mark meeting places. When Roman soldiers were everywhere, a hastily drawn sign of the fish in the dirt could identify another as a Christian and allow them to speak freely of their faith. Generally one Christian would draw one of the arcs of the symbol and the other person would finish the symbol, thus allowing them to know they were in safe company. A brush of the sandal across the sign would remove any evidence.

Until the time of Constantine, when Christianity was finally accepted as the state religion, Christians used this symbol as a means of communicating safely with each other.

The symbol’s continued use today also identifies each of us as Christians. Hopefully when someone sees that symbol on our cars or anywhere else we bear it, they also see that we are fishers of men … and that we live a life based on the One who called us.

January 13 - Word Up?

January 13 – Word Up?

Living as a Christian in the second century was really difficult. They had to deal with persecution from many different areas, they were really trying to figure out what was up and down with their faith. They didn’t have the benefit of thousands of years of scholars and preachers and teachers to make their faith walk easier.

So, what was it about Christianity that made the church work? Was it common tradition? Was it Scripture? Was it Faith? Was it God’s Spirit? What was it.

In many parts of the Empire, churches focused on the Word – through scripture – and were led by their clergy – the Overseer. This was a firm foundation for them to work from … until … people started wondering about those miracles that happened in the book of Acts? You know, all that prophesying that was talked about in Acts 2?

Whoosh … a movement of the Holy Spirit went wild in the churches. Three people in Phrygia began prophesying – Prisca, Maximilla and Montanus. Roman church leaders didn’t like this very much and denounced them, but not everyone agreed with that. They were worried that if the New Prophets were all kicked out, they might miss some true prophets along with the false prophets.

This movement of the Holy Spirit brought about a sense of personal holiness, raising standards of morality.

A division was developing between the Roman church and these New Prophets. The Church tried to emphasize the importance of the Overseers – this was a chain of command that worked. The church’s holiness was because of the Overseer. The church contained both holy and unholy people – as long as they were led by a holy Overseer, they were united as the Church in God’s Spirit.

The New Prophets taught that the church’s holiness was in the lives of the believers. If unholy people were allowed into the church, then the church wouldn’t be pure enough to be Christ’s bride.

None of this was really working well. Because what they weren’t understanding is that it wasn’t one or the other. The holiness of the church came from the Spirit (1 Peter 1:2).

They’ll figure it out at some point.

January 12 - 3=1, Err, What?

January 12 – 3=1. Err, what?

I find it absolutely fascinating to see the development of doctrines that we find commonplace. As Orthodox Christians, we easily accept the doctrine of the Trinity, but there was a time, quite long ago, when they were still debating whether or not Jesus was actually divine.

In about 196 AD, a man named Tertullian began writing. However, he was very different than previous Christian writers. Most of them wrote in Greek. That language was nearly perfect for the philosophy side of Christianity. Then, Tertullian showed up. He was from Carthage – in Africa and though he was fluent in Greek, he wrote in Latin.

Now, I know that my writing style changes whether I’m typing or writing longhand. That’s nothing compared to the grand differences between Latin and Greek. Romans used Latin to teach in a practical way with strong morals as opposed to free-wheeling philosophy found in Greek.

Greeks were still trying to figure out how Christ and God worked in relationship to each other. Tertullian decided that it was time to bring things together. He is the one that clarified with the idea that God is one substance, consisting of three persons. The trinity.

He didn’t use philosophy to figure this out, he used the practicality of Roman law. God’s substance – Latin ‘substantia’, was God’s property – His ownership. The person – Latin ‘persona,’ doesn’t mean one single person, but a party in a legal action. So … it made sense that three personae could share one substantia.

Three persons (Father, Son and Spirit) share one substance (divine sovereignty).

Tertullian left the Roman church in 206 because he felt that Christian’s morality was not as pure as it should be. He felt that the bishops’ power was leading to this lax moral structure because they could pardon sins. Tertullian began emphasizing the teaching that all believers were priests and that the church should care for itself rather than just allow a priest to run everything.

His ideas weren’t accepted at all until Martin Luther came on the scene some twelve hundred years later.

Information taken liberally from:
Curtis, A. K., Lang, J. S., & Petersen, R. (1991). The 100 Most Important Events in Christian History. Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell.

January 11 - Boom! It's a Canon

January 11 – Boom! It’s a Canon

The teachings of Gnosticism made one thing abundantly clear. Christians couldn’t come against it unless everyone was on the same page. Now, while this might have been difficult at the time, the gift that it gave us was an order of scripture that we can believe God had in His hands.

Because of Marcion’s teachings, the church came down strongly on the side of the truth of Hebrew Scriptures. There was no question that Yahweh from the Old Testament was who Jesus revealed in John 8:58. These were the inspired words of God. So, they were all in with the traditional Hebrew scriptures.

But after that they needed to know what came next. There was still a lot of oral tradition, Gnostics claimed that they had received secret messages from Jesus and there were many, many writings traveling the circuits of the Roman Empire. There had to be a way to discern what God had inspired.

Now, the truth of the matter was, that for quite some time there were at least twenty writings that the Church had as foundational. The four Gospels, Acts, Paul’s thirteen letters, 1 Peter, 1 John and the Revelation. Hebrews, James, 2 & 3 John and Jude were accepted by a large number of Christians. Three other books, 2 Peter, the Revelation of Peter and the Shepherd of Hermas were also at the top of the list.

Three questions had to be asked. Is an apostle responsible for the book? Do churches regularly accept the book and use it? Does the book agree with what is generally known about God?

The Revelation of Peter and the Shepherd of Hermas were discounted pretty quickly and set aside. By 200 AD, the Canon (which means ‘measuring stick’) was set into place.

If you question the veracity of books like Mark and Luke, it was well known that Mark traveled with Peter and in fact was probably acting as Peter’s secretary when writing that Gospel. Luke traveled with Paul and James and Jude, who weren’t apostles, were actually Jesus’ half brothers.

So, we have a Canon set into place. Christians have a written authority with which to dispute the Gnostic’s teachings. All is right with the world.

Information taken liberally from:
Jones, T. P. (1999). Christian History Made Easy. Torrance, CA: Rose Publishing.

January 10 - Originally A Christian

January 10 – Originally a Christian

Ok, it’s a bit of a play on the name, but Origen was another Gnostic that began as a Christian. In 202 AD, his father was killed in the name of Christ. Origen tried to martyr himself in his father’s stead, but his mother hid his clothing. He was only sixteen at the time.

Origen was an amazing teacher and within the next two years became well known for his teaching among young Christians. He taught against Gnosticism, but then got caught up in much of it. He renounced all physical comforts, castrated himself, only drank water and didn’t wear shoes. He also began teaching Christians to search the Scriptures for hidden, mystical messages.

Origen was quite a prolific writer. It is said that he kept seven secretaries busy with his dictation. He produced more than 2000 works, including commentaries on nearly every book in the Bible and hundreds of sermons. One of his greatest works was the Hexapla. In this, he found the best Greek translation of the Old Testament and in six columns displayed the Hebrew OT, a Greek transliteration, three Greek translations and the Septuagint.

He wrote apologetics and one of the first books of systematic theology, examining Christian beliefs about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, creation, the soul, free will, scriptures. He taught that there were three levels of meaning in the Scriptures; the moral, the literal and the spiritual or the hidden meaning.

Origen worked at relating Christianity to science and philosophy, teaching that Platos ideas could work with Christianity. Much of Greek though teaches that the material world is inherently evil. He believed that the soul existed prior to birth and a man’s place in the world was due to the soul’s conduct. He denied that there was a real resurrection and tried to teach that God would provide salvation for all men and angels. He taught that God had sent the Son to create the world since God could come into contact with matter. When Jesus died, it was only his humanity that died on the cross.

These teachings got him excommunicated, though he stayed in contact with many church leaders because of his outstanding mind. Even though Origen got caught up in teaching and philosophy that were terribly wrong, his incredible scholarship laid the foundation for that within Christianity.

January 9 - Those Preacher's Kids

January 9 – Those preacher’s kids

As I began studying Christian history, I realized that most of it was never covered in anything I had ever learned in my life. Yet, I would have to argue that learning about how our faith has developed, the people that have impacted it and the way it has interacted with the world, is as important as learning about Christopher Columbus and George Washington. As Christians in today’s world, we tend to have a very narrow view of our history and don’t know much about it except for a few great names and the impact that the last 150 years or so has had.

There are names of men and women that we have never heard, yet they were not only prominent figures in their day, but some of them completely transformed the church.

One of those men was a man named Marcion (MARR-see-un), a preacher’s kid. He wasn’t terribly fond of that business, so bought a ship and traveled the world. Somewhere along the line, he decided that he didn’t approve of the physical world. However, that didn’t stop him from having sex with a girl in his father’s church. He got kicked out and ran to Rome. He took about $2 million with him and the Roman church was more than glad to see him (his money?).

While there, he developed a Gnostic sect. He taught that God was nothing like the Old Testament God and turned Jesus into a spirit, saying that Christ only seemed human. His followers denied all earthly desires, even banning sex between spouses.

This was happening in about 140 AD and the New Testament canon was being put into place. Marcion had a problem with the fact that there weren’t many books in the Bible that actually supported his teachings. So, he created a canon that was to be authoritative. Luke’s Gospel and ten of Paul’s letters were all that made it to the list. To top it off, he removed the story of Jesus’ birth from the Gospel and any mention of the Old Testament from Paul’s letters.

The Roman church was pretty freaked out by the whole thing and in 144AD gave him back his money, did their best to turn him back to the truth, but finally sent him on his way. He went on to Italy and Asia Minor and started his own churches.

January 8 - I've Got a Secret

January 8 – I’ve Got a Secret!

Everyone wants to know the secret things that the Bible has to offer. We’ve seen numerology and symbols from scripture used to promote crazy ideas. Jewish mystics attract people like Madonna because they are searching for something more than the Word of God.

A great heresy that has never quite died out was called Gnosticism. Gnosis is the Greek word for ‘to know’ and the Gnostics believed that they had the inside scoop on the things of God.

They’d been around for awhile and many of Paul’s letters deal with different portions of this heresy.

Some of their strongest teachings were that the physical things in life were corrupt and only spiritual things were pure. They believed that the earth was evil and denied themselves every earthly desire. Many castrated themselves. They didn’t drink wine because it might incite pleasure, so if they were part of a Christian church only used water for the Lord’s Supper.

Since the physical was evil and corrupt, they flat out rejected the humanity of Christ. John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us” was rejected by them. Christ didn’t become flesh, but was a spirit that lived in a normal human called Jesus.

They taught that the world was created by angels, not God – that God is distant and not really connected to the world and that if you learn the secret teachings, you can gain salvation. They believed that the Gnostics were superior to regular Christians.

Gnostics fused Christianity with Greek philosophy and Asian religions. This appealed to many who believed that they could then be in charge of their own salvation.

Throughout the early centuries of Christianity, Gnosticism was a great threat and many well known names in the history of the Christian church were Gnostics. Much of this heresy became part of the early traditions. In the first century, Christians had totally rejected physical pleasure. Marriage was acceptable, but less holy than a life of celibacy. Ideas such as this still pervade some Christian thought.

Gnostics finally withdrew from the churches, yet at the same time, it forced the church to define itself. We’ll look at these challenges next.

January 7 - I'm Sorry

January 7 – I’m Sorry.

No, that’s not right. The first Christian Apologist showed up in the mid-100s. Christians were trying to deal with the charges that were coming at them and it took a young philosopher to begin telling their story in a different way.

Instead of “I’m Sorry,” I guess I should explain myself. The Greek word ‘apologia’ is a legal term that referred to the logic surrounding a person’s beliefs. The apologist in a legal trial in Greece was the defense lawyer. Plato’s Apology was written as the defense’s rebuttal in the trial of Socrates.

A brilliant young philosopher named Justin was walking one day and came upon an elderly Christian man. Justin was impressd with him and throughout their discussion was shown that Jesus was the true Son of God.

From this point forward, Justin began reading Old Testament prophecies, the Gospels, the writings of Paul and soon became a Christian. He then traveled and throughout the rest of his life, taught others about Jesus and wrote his beliefs. He helped develop the church’s theology, how it understood itself and its relationship with the world.

Justin was well educated and had grown up with Greek philosophy. He knew how to interpret Christianity in ways that made sense to educated Greeks and Romans.

The work that he is well known for is his book “Apology,” which was written to Emperor Antoninus Pius. He explained and defended his faith, explaining that it was wrong for the Roman authorities to persecute Christians and encouraging Rome to join Christians in exposing falsehoods within the pagan systems.

Justin was instrumental in developing the awareness of the Trinity and the Incarnation, and at the same time held strongly to the fulfillment of prophecy in Jesus. In another work, “Dialogues with Trypho,” he writes to a Jewish friend, showing how Jesus was the Hebrew Messiah.

In AD 165, Justin was arrested, tortured and then beheaded. With this, he became known forever as Justin Martyr.

January 6 - You Knew Who (Whom)?

January 6 – You Knew Who (Whom)?

Sometimes we think that the New Testament existed in a vacuum. We don’t really put it all together that the disciples interacted with others and there might be a record of that information. This is one of the reason that studying early church history is so fascinating.

For example, Ignatius. I suspect you don’t know too much about him, but he was born between 30-35 AD and in his later life became Bishop of Antioch. (Remember, Antioch is where they were first called Christian, where Peter was Bishop before moving to Rome and where the mess occurred that brought the disciples to Jerusalem for the first big meeting of the church to decide what to do with the Gentiles.)

Under Emperor Trajan, Pliny the Younger was a governor in what we know as northern Turkey. The two men corresponded about what to do with Christians because Pliny wanted to be just in his punishment of them. They finally honed it down to whether there were any crimes that the Christians were committing or if simply being a Christian was a crime. Trajan didn’t actually have a law that dealt with that, so in essence, the state would not waste their time, energy and monies seeking to find Christians, but if there was an accusation against one, then they should be punished. Worshiping anyone other than the Roman Emperor was grounds for great punishment.

In other words, don’t ask, don’t tell.

In about 107 AD, Ignatius was an old man and condemned to death for being a Christian. They took him to Rome for the execution because there was a festival being planned to celebrate some military victory. His death would be fun to watch.

On his way, though, he had the opportunity to write seven letters. These exist to this day and have given us a lot of information about early Christianity.

While he traveled through Asia Minor, many Christians met with him and there was even one that traveled with him and took down his dictation for his letters. Obviously, these Christians were safe from prosecution, so the don’t ask – don’t tell policy was at work.

Ignatius heard that Christians in Rome were planning to free him, but he didn’t want that to happen. He was a humble man and in his letter to them he let them know that his purpose was to be an imitator of the passion of his God – Jesus Christ. As he faced the ultimate sacrifice, he believed that he began to be a disciple. He asked for their prayers for his strength, not his freedom.

We don’t know who accused him or what the accusations are. We don’t know when he died or how it happened. But, this man wanted to be a witness to his faith in Jesus Christ and we do know that he accomplished that.

It is in his letters and those of his contemporaries that we find hints and allusions to the things that were happening in the early church as well as what might have happened to Peter and Paul in Rome during Nero’s reign 50 years earlier. He knew the disciples, he worked with people that knew them intimately. He went to his death affirming the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ. He was a witness.

Gonzalez, J. L. (1984). The History of Christianity. Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

January 5 - Christians are Atheists!

January 5 – Christians are Atheists!

Quick! Can you name the Roman emperors to this point? Yah, me neither. I need a chart.

Augustus (27 bc – 14 AD)
Tiberius (14-37)
Caligula (37-41)
Claudius (41-54)
Nero (54-68)
Galba (68-69)
Otho (69)
Vitellius (69)
Vespasian (69-79)
Titus (79-81)
Domitian (81-96)
Nerva (98-117)
Trajan (98-117)
Hadrian (117-138)

There, that should get you up to speed. We have looked at several of the emperors. Nero, who began persecuting Christians because he saw them as a convenient scapegoat. During his reign, Paul wrote most of his epistles and Mark wrote his gospel.

Vespasian, who led the armies to attack Judea until he got called back to Rome. Matthew wrote his gospel during this time and Jerusalem fell in 70 AD.

Titus was Vespasian’s son. He finished the job in Jerusalem and then, 9 years later became emperor. Luke wrote his gospel and the book of Acts.

Domitian was another son of Vespasian. He was responsible for incredible persecution against the Christians. It was during his reign that most scholars believe John received the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Prior to that, he probably also wrote his gospel and the three letters. Domitian was in power for 15 years, a lot happened.

Now, there was something else happening in Christianity through this time. The church began to build power in Rome. While many of us avoid looking at the history of the Catholic church, we must realize that the Bishops of Rome were instrumental in the growth of the church.

The Vatican constructed the following chronology, according to Johnson (1976): In 34AD, Peter became Bishop of Antioch. He then moved his ‘see’ (a see is the home of the Bishop – the Holy See is the home of the Pope) to Rome in 40 AD. In 59, he named and consecrated Linus and Cletus as his successors. This was the beginning of the unbroken line of succession throughout the centuries. We will meet Clement a little later. He followed Cletus and may have even been mentioned in one of Paul’s letters.

Domitian demanded that the title “Lord and God” be his throughout his reign and also decreed that all Jewish tithes be sent to Rome since the temple was gone. When Trajan became emperor, Christians were given a chance to curse Christ and live, or they would be killed. Roman citizens got a chance to have a trial, common people were killed immediately.

Anyone who rejected the Roman gods were called atheists.

One of the earliest martyrs was a man named Polycarp. He was an 86 year old man, who was a well known Christian pastor and had known John the apostle well. His stewards were tortured until they gave up his hiding place. He surrendered peacefully. When the judge demanded that he say, “Away with the atheists,” Polycarp refused. He spoke to the crowd, saying, “Away with the atheists (pointing at the crowd)! Eighty-six years I have served Christ, and he has done me no wrong. How, then, can I blaspheme my king, who has saved me?” He was then burned alive. (Jones, 1999)

Christianity continued to grow rapidly throughout the region even during these terrible persecutions. Where would you have been during these dark days?

Johnson, P. (1976). A History of Christianity. New York, NY: Touchstone - Simon & Schuster.

Jones, T. P. (1999). Christian History Made Easy. Torrance, CA: Rose Publishing.

January 4 - Sects?

January 4 – Sects?

Before I go further into Christian History, I think I’d like to take one day to explain some of the different Jewish sects that were in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus and existed when the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. Yesterday I mentioned that these different factions couldn’t come to an agreement on how to defend the city – so, they lost.

We recognize two of these groups from scripture – the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees were comprised of the aristocrats, they were the high priests and fully supported Roman occupation of Judea relying on Rome to take care of the government. They were wealthy and very conservative.

The Pharisees, on the other hand, upheld the Law. They worked on its interpretation and for the most part interpreted scripture and the Law sensibly. This would have been the middle class party. They were nationalists and even a few were Zealots, not wanting to have anything to do with the Romans.

The Pharisees and Sadducees made up the Sanhedrin, which was the ruling council in Jerusalem. The two groups despised each other. One of the few times they ever came together on a decision was when they prosecuted Jesus.

We hear of the Essenes because of their association with the Dead Sea Scrolls. This group believed that the ruling groups were corrupt and believed that they should set themselves apart. Before Christ’s birth, they had been in existence for nearly 150 years and were a respected group of Jews. No one joined the Essenes, you could only be born to the group. They could trace their ancestry to Zadoc, who came from Aaron’s priestly lineage. They kept themselves quite separate and holy, hoping to make a new covenant with God. They observed Temple law and set up an alternative Temple at Qumran until the original could be purified and restored.

The Essenes believed that God was no longer bound to the Temple in Jerusalem, but drawn to the worship of the Essenes. Wherever there were Essenes gathered, there could be a Temple. This was the first time the idea of the Church being more than just a building, but a community of worshippers became popular. (Johnson, 1976)

There is every probability that John the Baptist was an Essene monk.

The Essenes were divided in regards to pacifism. Several were also Zealots and despised Roman occupation of Judea. The monastery at Qumran was the site of a very bloody battle during the war of 66 – 70 AD. (Chadwick, 1993)

The last group we might look at would be the Zealots. These were nationalists and could be found in nearly every group that we’ve already mentioned (maybe not the Sadducees – too much money and comfort to spend their time on fighting against Roman rule).

In Matthew 10:3-4, we read that even among the Twelve, there was a Zealot – named Simon. These were the people that stirred the rebellion against Rome, believing that God would restore national rule to the Jews once again.


Chadwick, H. (1993). The Penguin History of the Church. Vol 1, The Early Church. London, England: Penguin Books.

Johnson, P. (1976). A History of Christianity. New York, NY: Touchstone - Simon & Schuster.

January 3 - Tumbling Down

January 3 – Tumbling Down

After Herod the great died, his son Herod Archelaus came into power. Now remember, the Jewish leaders were there only by order of Rome. They were allowed to reign because Rome wanted to keep the Jews quiet and happy. When, Archelaus came into power, he was awful! The people asked Rome for help, so a series of governors was sent to try to keep peace. Pontius Pilate, then Felix, Festus and Gustavius Florus.

In 50 AD, as the Jews were celebrating Passover, a Roman guard lifted his robe, bent over, turning his backside to the Jews and made a terribly indecent noise. A riot ensued killing as many as 30,000 men and women. (Jones, 1999)

In 64 AD, Florus was the new ruler for Judea. During the next two years, he not only insulted the Jews, but seized silver from the temple whenever he didn’t receive enough in taxes. Finally, the leaders demanded that he stop. His response was to send soldiers into the Jerusalem marketplace to slaughter the Jews. By the end of the day, 3600 were dead.

Nero grew weary of the troublemakers in Judea and appointed General Vespasian to regain Galilee and Judea. He began his campaign, but just as he was ready to attack Jerusalem, he returned to Rome because Nero had committed suicide. He became emperor and sent an army led by his son, Titus to besiege Jerusalem. Factions of Jews fought internally over strategies to defend the city. People began to die from starvation. The Jews fought as the Romans destroyed the outer wall, then the second wall and finally the third wall.

Titus tried to preserve the temple, but the soldiers destroyed it in their fury. A band of Zealots had re-taken Masada much earlier from the Romans and stayed there for three years, but the Romans built a seige ramp, invaded the mountain and discovered that the Zealots had all committed suicide rather than be captured.

This marked the end of the Jewish state.

Christians had remembered Jesus’ warning in Luke 21:20-24 and had fled to the hills when the armies approached. The Jews also excluded all fringe groups from their synagogues. At this point the division between the church and the synagogue was complete. The Christians were on their own when facing Roman persecution. They would never be aligned with Judaism again.

January 2 - Nero Fiddled

January 2 – Nero fiddled

In the summer of 64 AD, Rome burned. Nero partied. Christians were blamed. Persecutions began.

Up until this point, Christians were still considered a sect of the Jewish faith. With Nero’s direct accusation of Christians, they became a distinct group. While there are many different ways to look at this event, one of the greatest is that Christianity was set apart from the Jews forever from this point forward.

It was a dark and stormy night … (ok, I’ve always wanted to start a story like that, but since I will probably never successfully write fiction, I have to do things my way here).

Anyway, as the story goes, fires burned through Rome for six days. Nero wasn’t even in town. When he arrived back, he organized fire-fighters and allowed many refugees to stay in his gardens. Rumors ran rampant (I like alliteration as well). People said that Nero had set fire to the city so that he could rebuild it the way he wanted it. We have all heard the rumor that Nero played the harp (or fiddled) while Rome burned.

The reality is that the fire probably began in a warehouse. Nero spent extreme amounts of money purchasing gifts for the people of Rome, but the rumors still continued. Finally, in a desperate act, Nero blamed the Christians for the fire. (Jones, 1999)

He began rounding them up and killed many of them by setting them on fire. He lined the roads with Christians who were crucified and set on fire – providing torchlight for travel. This persecution lasted for 4 years until Nero’s death in 68 AD. During these years, tradition tells us that Peter was crucified upside down and Paul was beheaded. (Curtis, Lang, Petersen, 1991)

Not long before the fire, Christians were beginning to create their own enemies. Judaism was desperately trying to separate itself from the new religion, even going so far as to try to draw the Roman government into the conflict. There were many different religions moving throughout the region and emperor worship was on the rise. It probably seemed as if all the religions were sharing their deities, but Christians refused to do that. There was one God and the only way to God was through Jesus Christ. They weren’t sharing the stage with anyone.

Christianity had grown like crazy and there were many Christians living in Rome. They owned businesses and worked with those who held polytheistic beliefs. Because they were so different in the way that they lived, it was not difficult to identify them and they were quick and easy targets for Nero’s persecution.

The pressure of persecution did something that no one imagined, though. While it occurred randomly over the next 250 years, it seemed as if every time persecution began, there were more Christians than ever before. The church grew exponentially during these years, even with the threat of incredible persecution hanging over their heads.

Curtis, A. K., Lang, J. S., & Petersen, R. (1991). The 100 Most Important Events in Christian History. Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell.

Jones, T. P. (1999). Christian History Made Easy. Torrance, CA: Rose Publishing.

January 1 - Interminable Meetings

January 1 – Interminable Meetings

Not long after the new sect of Judaism was called Christian for the first time in Antioch, there was a meeting. It figures, doesn’t it? I don’t think there are a group of people that can do anything without a meeting.

This meeting, though, was a significant moment in the beginning of our history. You can read all about it in Acts 15:1-21. The gist of the story is that a group of men visited those new Christians in Antioch and told them that unless they were circumcised they couldn’t be saved.

You see, Christians at the time were still considered part of Judaism and as they began adding to their numbers from the Gentiles in the area, Jewish law was still very important. These people weren’t just added to the Christian church, they were actually becoming Jews as well.

Paul and Barnabas were furious. They had been traveling throughout the region, teaching the Gentiles about Christ and brought back amazing news of the new converts. It was up to them to travel to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles and the elders of the chuch. Their reports were received with great joy … until … some of the Pharisees who were also Christians stood up and re-stated the requirement that the Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses (Acts 15:5).

This necessitated a meeting. Acts 15:7 says, “After much discussion …” I leave it to you to imagine how long that meeting was in session.

Fortunately, Peter decided that the meeting needed to come to a close and told the group that God would not have asked the Gentiles to bear a condition that none of them would ask to bear (yes, adult males being circumcised would probably scare a bunch of them off).

“We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:11)

This is incredibly significant in the birth of the Christian church. With these words, Peter set forth a doctrine that would be foundational for bringing a world to Christ. The grace of Jesus is the one thing that brings us salvation.

James (the brother of Jesus and the head of the church in Jerusalem), then stood up, quoted from Amos 9:11-12 and encouraged the brothers to ‘not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.’

From this point forward in the book of Acts, the Jerusalem church fades into the background. The focus is no longer on the Jews, but on the growth of the church among the Gentiles.

A meeting. For the church. Over two thousand years have passed. We still have meetings – more than anyone probably needs. But, this meeting changed how people would be accepted into the church. Everyone is welcome. Everyone is offered grace in Jesus Christ.