Chapter 2 THE EARLY CHRISTIANS The early Christians, by their tremendous faith in Jesus and imitation of his life, transformed the Roman world and its values.

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Chapter 2THE EARLY CHRISTIANSThe early
Christians, by their tremendous faith in Jesus
and imitation of his life, transformed the Roman
world and its values.
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CHAPTER 2THE EARLY CHRISTIANS

• The early Christians endured some of the harshest
  conditions and persecutions ever suffered in
  Christianity.
• While some abandoned the Faith when the
  challenges were overwhelming, many Christians,
  fortified and guided by the Holy Spirit, endured
  until the end.
• They often worshipped in secret, yet shared their
  material goods with friends and strangers alike,
  striving to live an upright life in the midst of
  an often depraved society.

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CHAPTER 2THE EARLY CHRISTIANS

• They set about the great task of building a new
  civilization.
• In the face of a hostile world, the Christians
  offered a radical new vision of human society.
• Many reforms in the Church, including those of
  Vatican II, have looked back at the early
  Christians as models of holiness, simplicity, and
  fraternity.

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PART 1Beliefs and Practices The Spiritual
Life of the Early Christians

• Christ did not leave his Church with a fully
  developed theology and disciplinary practice.
  These beliefs and practices emerged through
  centuries of theological, philosophical,
  cultural, and historical development under the
  guidance of the Holy Spirit.

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PART 1Beliefs and Practices The Spiritual
Life of the Early Christians

• These eternal truths were passed on and developed
  within the living and changing body of believers.
• While the earliest Christians remained closely
  associated with the Jewish Tradition, later
  events, such as the Council of Jerusalem, the
  destruction of the Temple, and the influx of
  Gentiles into the Church, altered the ethnic
  makeup of the Christian community.

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BAPTISM

• Jesus was baptized by St. John the Baptist with a
  baptism of repentance, but it was Jesus who
  instituted the Sacrament of Baptism in the Holy
  Spirit.
• In Baptism a believer (is)
• Forgiven original and actual sins
• Begins a new life in Christ
• Incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ
• Has a baptismal character imprinted on the soul.

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BAPTISM

• In the earliest Church, adult converts were
  baptized immediately. However, in time, a period
  of instruction called the Catechumenate was
  developed.
• The Catechumens would be baptized at the Easter
  vigil or on the Saturday before Pentecost.
• Vatican II reinstated the Catechumenate to bring
  back these beautiful customs of preparation for
  reception into the Church.
• While the practice of infant baptism goes back to
  the time of the Apostolic Fathers, the practice
  became universal and very common by the third
  century.
• Baptism has always been administered when a
  person is in danger of death and in such a case,
  anyone, including a non-believer, can administer
  the Sacrament, as long as the Trinitarian formula
  is used and the intention to baptize is present.
• The unbaptized (especially catechumens) who die
  for the Faith receive graces through martyrdom
  which is called Baptism of Blood.

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AGAPE AND THE EUCHARIST

• The Agape (love in Greek) Feast refers to an
  early Christian religious meal that was
  celebrated in association with the Eucharist.
• Because of abuses, as detailed by St. Paul, it
  was discontinued, but the ritual of the Mass or
  Eucharist continued to develop gradually over
  time.
• The Rite of Mass included Scripture readings,
  singing of Psalms and hymns, common prayers, a
  collection for the poor, and a homily, and
  concluded with the Eucharist, which repeated the
  words of the Institution Narrative and
  Consecration.
• The Eucharist (thanksgiving in Greek) was the
  central act of Christian worship and culminated
  with Holy Communion.
• All early Christian documents that teach about
  the Eucharist indicate that the early Christians
  considered the Eucharist to be the true Body and
  Blood of Christ present under the appearances of
  bread and wine.

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CHURCHES

• The earliest Masses were celebrated in private
  homes and in the catacombs.
• Some Roman Emperors allowed Christian churches to
  be built, but most of these were destroyed in
  subsequent persecutions.
• After the Edict of Milan (AD 313) the Emperor
  Constantine began a building program favorable to
  Christians, and Roman architectural design, such
  as the basilica, was transformed into Christian
  churches.

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HOLY DAYS

• For early Christians, Wednesdays and Fridays were
  days of fasting and penance.
• Christians at first kept the Jewish custom of the
  Sabbath (Saturday) as the primary day of worship,
  but it was soon replaced with Sunday as the
  holiest day of the week because it represented
  both the day of the Resurrection and of
  Pentecost.
• It was the first day of creation and of the
  re-creation in Christ.
• Feast days were developed throughout the years,
  with the Feast of the Epiphany being one of the
  first to be celebrated.

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THE PAPACY

• Christ made St. Peter the head of his Church,
  conferring upon him the responsibility and
  supreme authority of guiding the Church after his
  departure.
• There are several historical documents that
  indicate the Bishop of Rome was regarded as the
  supreme authority on Church matters from the very
  beginning.
• Pope St. Leo (d. AD 461) was instrumental in
  centralizing the Churchs governance based on the
  preeminence of the Bishop of Rome. While the
  political significance of Rome had diminished in
  favor of Constantinople, and the Patriarchs of
  Constantinople and Alexandria had increased their
  political importance, the Church councils still
  deferred to Rome before making a decision.
• Pope St. Gelasius I (d. AD 496) was the first to
  use the title Vicar of Christ.

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THE EPISCOPACY

• From the beginning of Christianity, the Bishops,
  as successors of the Apostles, were responsible
  for shepherding and guiding the flock.
• Bishops baptized, celebrated the Mass, celebrated
  weddings, ordained priests, and engaged in all of
  the sacramental work of the Church.
• St. Ignatius of Antioch (AD 107) wrote, Wherever
  the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude
  also be even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there
  is the Catholic Church.

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PRIESTHOOD

• The word priest is an English contraction of
  the Greek word presbyteros often translated as
  presbyter.
• In the early Church these were the elders.
• The full understanding of the sacramental role of
  priests, subordinate to the bishop, developed
  over the centuries. However, there is evidence
  that by the second century, priests were being
  ordained to celebrate the Mass.

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MONOTHEISM

• Christians believe in only one God (monotheism).
• Because their pagan neighbors were polytheistic
  (worshiped many gods), the Christians had to
  reject the Roman cult of worship and its acts of
  sacrifice and public worship.
• Christian artists could not work in pagan
  temples. Christian teachers could not teach
  mythology, nor could they serve as Roman judges
  or magistrates.
• Many Christians were martyred because they
  refused to adore the images of emperors, who
  proclaimed themselves gods.

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THE SCRIPTURES

• The canon of the Bible was developed in the
  earliest centuries of Christianity.
• The Old Testament canon was based on a Greek
  translation of Scripture called the Septuagint.
• After much discussion, a definitive New Testament
  canon was declared at a large synod in Rome AD
  382, and by the fifth century the entire Western
  Church possessed the complete canon.
• Finally, in the Council of Trent (AD 1546) the
  Church made its definitive statement concerning
  the canon of Scripture.
• The Catholic Church never considered the
  Scripture as authoritative apart from its
  legitimate interpretation by the magisterium of
  the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit.

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THE SCRIPTURES

• The Scriptures, while extremely important in the
  life of the Church, were never seen as a complete
  record of everything that Jesus and the Apostles
  did nor the sole source of Revelation. It is the
  Tradition of the Church expressed in Christian
  literature, liturgical practices, and statements
  that clarify and interpret Scripture. Scripture
  is a vital and central part of a broader
  tradition.

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SLAVERY AND CHRISTIANITY

• Slavery was an ancient and widespread institution
  during the time of Christ. It is estimated that
  two of the seven million inhabitants of the
  Italian peninsula were slaves at the time of the
  Emperor Augustus, and the hardships and cruelties
  of Roman slavery are well known.
• Jesus never spoke directly about slavery, but it
  is clear that the Gospel implicitly condemns
  slavery as a grave offence against humanity, as
  it undermines the dignity of the human person,
  and is inconsistent with Christs two great
  commandments.

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SLAVERY AND CHRISTIANITY

• Slaves in the early Christian community were
  welcomed, not as slaves, but as brothers, equal
  in dignity, and as full and equal members of the
  community.
• It was not Christianitys purpose to abolish
  slavery, and the Christian community did not have
  the moral authority or power to make such as
  change. Rather, Christianity slowly undermined
  the institution of slavery.
• St. Paul taught slaves to obey their masters and
  masters to treat their slaves with charity.
• Slaves rose to the highest position in the
  Church. Three of the first four immediate
  successors of St. Peter, Sts. Linus, Anacletus,
  and Clement I, were former slaves.

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NON-VIOLENCE

• Jesus taught non-violence and prayer in the face
  of persecution.
• While some early Christian writers forbade
  Christians to be members of the Roman army and
  participation in war, some Christians did serve
  in the Roman army.
• One soldier, St. Maurice, was a leader of a
  legion. He and his entire legion (almost 6000
  men) were executed for refusing to sacrifice to a
  pagan god.
• In time, the just war theory was developed.
• St. Augustine was one of the first theologians to
  argue that war is permitted in the case of
  self-defense.

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NON-VIOLENCE

• This doctrine was further developed by St. Thomas
  Aquinas. He stated that war is acceptable if
• It is initiated on the authority of a sovereign
  (a legitimate government or ruler)
• The cause is just
• Those waging the war have good and right
  intentions
• The war will not bring about more harm than that
  perpetrated by the enemy.
• It was later added by the Spaniard Francisco de
  Vitoria, that the war must be waged by the proper
  means.

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THE STATE

• In the early Church, Christians would not fulfill
  the laws that violated the teachings of the
  Church (e.g., participation in pagan cults,
  emperor worship, and service in the Roman army),
  although they obeyed all of the just laws issued
  by the Romans.

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MONEY MATTERS

• From the beginning, early Christians looked after
  the needs of the Christian community.
• They engaged in education, medical care, and the
  distribution of alms.
• Christians were expected to be honest in commerce
  and to avoid usury.

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SEXUAL ETHICS ABORTION AND CONTRACEPTION

• The early Christian Fathers universally rejected
  abortion and infanticide, both of which were
  prevalent in Roman society.
• These practices violently rejected the dignity of
  the human person and violated the Fifth
  Commandment, Thou shalt not kill.
• The use of contraception was also rejected. The
  Church Fathers taught that procreation within
  marriage was good and blessed, and one of the
  intrinsic purposes of the marital act.
• Many of the methods of artificial contraception
  available today were practiced in the Roman
  times. The Church opposes them today on the same
  grounds that it opposed them then.
• Even ancient Greek philosophy saw artificial
  contraception as an unnatural violation of the
  natural end of sexual relations.

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WOMEN

• While Roman and Greek cultures regarded women as
  inferior, Christianity improved the condition of
  women in society both individually and as a
  group.
• It changed the perception of women by recognizing
  them as spiritual equals.
• The Blessed Virgin Mary was honored from the
  beginning as singularly blessed by God and
  conceived without Original Sin, and instrumental
  in the salvation of all people.
• Several women were instrumental in the conversion
  of Europe.
• Several Christian wives and mothers were vital in
  the conversion of their husbands and children.
• Christian women also suffered equally for their
  faith and purity during the early persecutions of
  Christianity.

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PART II Important Writings of the Early
Christian PeriodTHE APOSTOLIC FATHERS

• The title Apostolic Father is given to a number
  of the earliest Christian writers.
• These men came immediately after the Apostles,
  and some had direct links to the Apostles or to
  the communities established by them.
• Writing about religious or moral themes, their
  writings record early Christian doctrine and
  spirituality.

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APOLOGISTS

• Apologetics (from the Greek meaning defense)
  defends and explains the Christian Faith.
• The first period of apologetics dates from the
  beginning of Christianity until the Fall of the
  Roman Empire AD 476.
• During this period the apologists faced attacks
  from Judaism, Gnostic heresies, and various pagan
  religions.
• The title apologist refers to anyone who writes
  an apologetic work.
• Due to the work of apologists, Christianity began
  to gain converts from the educated and elite
  classes in Roman society.
• For many Jews, Christianity, which rejected the
  need of circumcision and other Jewish practices,
  denigrated and desecrated the Law and the God of
  Abraham.

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APOLOGISTS

• One apologist, St. Justin Martyr defended
  Christs teachings as a fulfillment of the Jewish
  Law and prophets.
• A great deal of apologetics was addressed to the
  pagan culture of the Roman empire, carefully
  explaining Christian beliefs and practices, as
  well as the benign and benevolent existence of
  Christianity in the empire.

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THE DIDACHE

• The Didache was a short exposition of Christian
  morals, doctrine, and customs that was composed
  in the first century.
• Its sixteen chapters cover Christian moral life,
  Baptism, fasting, prayer, the Eucharist, and
  Church hierarchy.

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TERTULLIAN

• Tertullian (AD 160AD 225) received an education
  in Roman law. Converting to Christianity, he
  wrote numerous works demonstrating that
  Christianity formed no threat to the Roman
  Empire, but rather was an asset.
• His works won him the title, Father of Latin
  Theology.
• Tertullian later joined a heretical Montanist
  sect and broke from the Church.

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ST. HIPPOLYTUS AND THE APOSTOLIC TRADITION

• St. Hippolytus (AD 170- AD 236) was possibly the
  most important theologian of his time. He wrote
  and spoke against many heresies, but he himself
  broke from the Church. Later, before dying a
  martyrs death, he was reconciled with Pope St.
  Pontian and the Church.
• His two most important works The Refutation of
  Heresies and The Apostolic Tradition have
  survived.
• The latter work describes the passing down of the
  faith from one generation to the next and
  provides insight into the rites of ordination,
  Baptism, and the Eucharist of the third century.
• This work is also the source of the second
  Eucharist Prayer used in the Mass.

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PART III Martyrdom as the Greatest Testimony to
Christianity

• Early Christians found that they had to be
  prepared to die for Christ.
• Those who did lose their lives quickly became the
  most venerated of all Saints.
• The word martyr comes from the Greek meaning
  witness.
• Their lives, actions, and words strengthened and
  edified other Christians, and even their deaths
  deeply affected those who witnessed them.
• Christians understood martyrdom as an honor and a
  privilege as it was a direct participation in the
  sufferings of Christ.

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CONCLUSION

• The early Christians, by their tremendous faith,
  transformed the Roman culture and its values.
• Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church grew as an
  institution and as a community of believers.

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THE CATACOMBS

• A Catacomb is an underground series of tunnels,
  chambers, and tomb which served as burial places,
  shrines, and places of worship in the earliest
  church.
• They have been discovered in Rome and throughout
  Italy, France, and Northern Africa.
• In Rome alone there are over sixty catacombs and
  they account for hundreds of miles of tunnels.
  The catacombs of St. Callixtus are four stories
  deep, include four miles of galleries, and
  contain the remains of sixteen Popes and dozens
  of Christian martyrs.
• The tombs are often adorned with religious
  inscriptions and Christian art.
• Large rooms called crypts, where prominent
  figures such as Popes or martyrs were buried,
  were converted into small churches.

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THE CATACOMBS

• Catacombs were used for the celebration of
  Baptism and the Eucharist.
• Shunning the Roman practice of cremation and
  showing their belief in the resurrection of the
  body, early Christians showed their strong sense
  of community by preferring to be buried together.
• The tombs of martyrs became popular places of
  prayers and inscriptions show that these Saints
  were asked to intercede for the believers.
• Eventually these catacombs were abandoned and
  forgotten only to be rediscovered in the
  sixteenth century. The information gained from
  the catacombs serves to give us a clear idea of
  everyday Christian beliefs and practices in the
  early Church.

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THE EARLY GROWTH OF CHRISTIANITY

• Because of its large Jewish populations, Asia
  Minor became the first great area of growth in
  Christianity.
• Many Jews converted to Christianity due to the
  missionary efforts of St. Paul and the Apostles.
• By the end of the first century, the first
  Christian churches were confined to the Easter
  Roman Empire, with the exception of Christian
  communities found in Rome and in other parts of
  Italy.
• By the end of the third century, Christianity and
  Judaism had officially separated and Christianity
  became largely a religion of the Gentiles. Its
  informal center had shifted from Jerusalem to
  Rome, and the scene was set for the Constantine
  (AD 312) and the embrace of Christianity as the
  official religion of the Roman Empire.

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CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS

• The cross was one of the earliest and most
  widespread Christian symbols.
• By the third century, the Sign of the Cross was
  deeply rooted in the Christian people.
• Another ancient symbol is that of the fish. It
  recalls the multiplication of the loaves and
  fishes, as well as Christs appearance to seven
  of his disciples after the Resurrection.
• The Greek word for fish is ichthys and is an
  acrostic for the Greek phrase Iesous CHristos
  THeou Yios Soter which means Jesus Christ, Son
  of God, Savior.

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The End