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History of Christianity


Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus in the 1st century Roman province of Judea. According to the Gospels, Jesus was a Jewish teacher and healer who proclaimed the imminent Kingdom of God, and was crucified at c.30–33 AD. His followers believed that he was then raised from the dead and exalted by God, and would return soon at the inception of God's Kingdom.

The earliest followers of Jesus were apocalyptic Jewish Christians. Due to the inclusion of gentiles, the developing early Christian Church gradually grew apart from Judaism and Jewish Christianity during the first two centuries of the Christian Era.

In 313, Emperor Constantine I issued the Edict of Milan, officially legalizing Christian worship. In 380, with the Edict of Thessalonica put forth under Theodosius I, the Roman Empire officially adopted Trinitarian Christianity as its state religion, and Christianity established itself as a predominantly gentile religion in the state church of the Roman Empire.

Christological debates about the human and divine nature of Jesus consumed the Christian Church for a couple of centuries, and seven eucumenical councils took place to resolve these debates. Arianism was condemned at the Council of Nicea (325), which supported the Trinitarian doctrine as expounded in the Nicene Creed.

In the early Middle Ages, missionary activities spread Christianity towards the west among German peoples. During the High Middle Ages, eastern and western Christianity grew apart, leading to the East-West Schism of 1054. Growing criticism of the Roman Catholic ecclesiological structure and its behaviour, led to the Protestant movement of the 16th century and the split of western Christianity.

Since the Renaissance era, with western colonialism, Christianity has expanded throughout the world.[1] Today there are more than two billion Christians worldwide, and Christianity has become the world's largest religion.[2] Within the last century, as the influence of Christianity has waned in the West, it has also rapidly grown in the East and the Global South, notably in China, South Korea and much of sub-Saharan Africa. There has been notable recent growth of Christianity in Iran.



Jewish-Hellenistic backgroundEdit

The religious climate of 1st century Judea was quite diverse, with numerous variations of Judaic doctrine. The ancient historian Josephus noted four prominent groups in the Judaism of the time: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots. This led to further unrest, and the 1st century BC and 1st century AD saw a number of charismatic religious leaders, contributing to what would become the Mishnah of rabbinic Judaism, including Yohanan ben Zakkai and Hanina ben Dosa.

Jewish messianism, and the Jewish messiah concept, has its roots in the apocalyptic literature of the 2nd century BC to 1st century BC, promising a future "anointed" leader or messiah or king from the Davidic line to resurrect the Israelite "Kingdom of God", in place of the foreign rulers of the time.

Ministry of JesusEdit

The main sources of information regarding Jesus' life and teachings are the four canonical gospels, and to a lesser extent the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline epistles. According to the Gospels, Jesus was a Jewish teacher and healer who was crucified at c.30–33 AD. His followers believed that He was raised from death and exaltated by God due to his faithfulness.

Early Christianity (c. 31/33–324)Edit

Funerary stele of Licinia Amias on marble. One of the earliest Christian inscriptions found, it comes from the early 3rd-century Vatican necropolis area in Rome.

Early Christianity may be divided into two distinct phases: the apostolic period (1st century), when the first apostles were alive and led the Church, and the Ante-Nicene Period, (c.100–325) when an early episcopal structure developed.

Apostolic AgeEdit

Spread of Christianity in the eastern Mediterranean region (by Paul the Apostle)



Some of the early Christian communities also attracted gentile God-fearers. The inclusion of gentiles posed a problem, as they could not fully observe the Halakha. Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle, persecuted the early Jewish Christians, then converted and started proselytizing among the gentiles. The main concern of Paul's letters is the inclusion of gentiles into God's New Covenant, deeming faith in Christ sufficient for righteousness. Due to this inclusion of gentiles, Early Christianity gradually grew apart from Judaism during the first two centuries of the Christian Era; it established itself as a predominantly gentile religion in the Roman Empire.

Christ Jesus,[3] the Good Shepherd, 3rd century.

The Gospels and New Testament epistles contain early creeds and hymns, as well as accounts of the Passion, the empty tomb, and Resurrection appearances.[4] Christianity spread to Aramaic-speaking peoples along the Mediterranean coast and also to the inland parts of the Roman Empire and beyond that into the Parthian Empire and the later Sasanian Empire, including Mesopotamia, which was dominated at different times and to varying extents by these empires.[5]

Ante-Nicene PeriodEdit


The Ante-Nicene Period (literally meaning "before Nicaea") of the history of early Christianity was the period following the Apostolic Age down to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. This period of Christian history had a significant impact on the unity of doctrine across all Christendom and the spreading of Christianity to a greater area of the world. By the beginning of the Nicene period, the Christian faith had spread throughout Western Europe and the Mediterranean Basin, and to North Africa and the East. Several trends emerged simultaneously. One unifying trend was an increasingly harsh rejection of Judaism, of Jewish practices, and an acceptance of what some scholars have called religious anti-semitism, however, many modern day Christian theologians reject this accusation. [6]


According to the New Testament, Christians were subject to various persecutions from the beginning. Early Christians were thought to bring misfortune by their refusal to honour the gods,[7][8] and large-scale persecutions followed at the hands of the authorities of the Roman Empire, beginning with the year 64, when, as reported by the Roman historian Tacitus, the Emperor Nero blamed them for that year's Great Fire of Rome.[note 1]

The last and most severe persecution organised by the imperial authorities was the Diocletianic Persecution, 303–311.[9] The Roman persecution of Christians ended in AD 313 when Constantine the Great decreed tolerance for the religion. He then called the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325, beginning the period of the first seven ecumenical councils.

Diversity and proto-orthodoxyEdit

The number of Christians grew by approximately 40% a decade during the first and second centuries.[10] This phenomenal growth rate forced Christian communities to evolve in order to adapt to their changes in the nature of their communities as well as their relationship with their political and socioeconomic environment. Classical writers mistook early congregations for burial or fraternal societies which had similar characteristics like divine worship, common meals, regular meetings, initiation, rules for conduct, and their own burial grounds.[11]

Variant ChristianitiesEdit

The Ante-Nicene period saw the rise of a great number of Christian sects, cults and movements with strong unifying characteristics lacking in the apostolic period.[citation needed] They had different interpretations of Scripture, particularly the divinity of Jesus and the nature of the Trinity.[citation needed] Prominent alternatives included Docetism which denied the Incarnation (God becoming human). Arianism held that Jesus had lesser status than the Father.[12][failed verification] Trinitarianism held that the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit were all one being with three hypostases or persons. Many groups, such as the Gnostics, held dualistic beliefs, seeing reality as having two radically opposing parts: matter, seen as evil, and spirit, seen as good. Such views sometimes led to heresies. Most scholars agree that the Bible teaches that both the material and the spiritual worlds were created by God and were therefore both good.[13]

Proto-orthodox ChristianityEdit

The development of doctrine, the position of orthodoxy, and the relationship between the various opinions is a matter of continuing academic debate. Since most Christians today subscribe to the doctrines established by the Nicene Creed, modern Christian theologians tend to regard the early debates as a unified orthodox position against a minority of heretics. Other scholars, drawing upon distinctions between Jewish Christians, Pauline Christianity, and other groups such as Marcionites and Montanists, argue that early Christianity was always fragmented, with contemporaneous competing beliefs.[14]

Church structure and the episcopacyEdit


Post-apostolic bishops of importance include Polycarp of Smyrna, Clement of Rome, and Ignatius of Antioch. These men reportedly knew and studied under the apostles personally and are therefore called Apostolic Fathers. Each Christian community also had presbyters, as was the case with Jewish communities, who were also ordained and assisted the bishop. As Christianity spread, especially in rural areas, the presbyters exercised more responsibilities and took distinctive shape as priests. Lastly, deacons also performed certain duties, such as tending to the poor and sick. In the 2nd century, an episcopal structure becomes more visible, and in that century this structure was supported by teaching on apostolic succession, where a bishop becomes the spiritual successor of the previous bishop in a line tracing back to the apostles themselves.

The diversity of early Christianity can be documented from the New Testament record itself. The Book of Acts admits conflicts between Hebrews and Hellenists, and Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, and Aramaic speakers and Greek speakers. The letters of Paul, Peter, John, and Jude all testify to intra-Church conflicts over both leadership and theology. In a response to the Gnostic teaching, Irenaeus created the first document describing what is now called apostolic succession.[16]

Development of the Biblical canonEdit

A folio from P46, an early-3rd-century collection of Pauline epistles.

The Pauline epistles were circulating in collected form by the end of the 1st century AD, while Justin Martyr mentions the gospels as the "memoirs of the apostles" in the early 2nd century.[17]

By the early 3rd century, Origen of Alexandria may have been using the same 27 books as in the modern New Testament, though there were still disputes over the canonicity of Hebrews, James, II Peter, II and III John, and Revelation.[18] The Muratorian fragment shows that by 200 there existed a set of Christian writings similar to the current New Testament.[19] By the 4th century, there existed unanimity in the West concerning the New Testament canon,[20] and by the 5th century the East, with a few exceptions, had come to accept the Book of Revelation and thus had come into harmony on the matter of the canon.[21]

Early orthodox writings – Ante-Nicene FathersEdit


Early artEdit


Christian art only emerged relatively late, and the first known Christian images emerge from about 200 AD,[22] though there is some literary evidence that small domestic images were used earlier. The oldest known Christian paintings are from the Roman Catacombs, dated to about AD 200, and the oldest Christian sculptures are from sarcophagi, dating to the beginning of the 3rd century.[23]


Christianity during late antiquity (313–476)Edit

  Spread of Christianity to AD 325
  Spread of Christianity to AD 600


Galerius, who had previously been one of the leading figures in persecution, in 311 issued an edict which ended the persecution.[24] Galerius reigned for another 2 years and was succeeded by an emperor with distinctively pro Christian leanings, Constantine the Great.

The Emperor Constantine I was exposed to Christianity by his mother, Helena.[25] At the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, Constantine commanded his troops to adorn their shields with the Chi Rho in accordance with a vision that he had had the night before. Victory allowed him to claim the emperorship of the Western Roman Empire.[26] In 313, he and Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, officially legalizing Christian worship.

How much Christianity Constantine adopted at this point is difficult to discern. Roman coins minted up to eight years later still bore the images of Roman gods.[25] Nonetheless, his accession of was a turning point for the Christian Church. Constantine supported the Church financially, built various basilicas, granted privileges (e.g., exemption from certain taxes) to clergy, promoted Christians to some high offices, and returned confiscated property.[27]

Between 324 and 330, Constantine built, virtually from scratch, a new imperial capital that came to be named for him: Constantinople. It had overtly Christian architecture, contained churches within the city walls, and had no pagan temples.[28] In accordance with a prevailing custom, Constantine was baptised on his deathbed.[citation needed]


Constantine's son's successor, his nephew Julian, under the influence of his adviser Mardonius, renounced Christianity and embraced a Neo-platonic and mystical form of paganism shocking the Christian establishment.[30] He began reopening pagan temples, modifying them to resemble Christian traditions such as the episcopal structure and public charity (previously unknown in Roman paganism). Julian's short reign ended when he died while campaigning in the East.


Arianism and the first ecumenical councilsEdit

Spread of Arianism in the Western Europe

A popular doctrine of the 4th century was Arianism, the denial of the divinity of Christ, as propounded by Arius. Although this doctrine was condemned as heresy and eventually eliminated by the Roman Church it remained popular underground for some time. In the late 4th century Ulfilas, a Roman bishop and an Arian, was appointed as the first bishop to the Goths, the Germanic peoples in much of Europe at the borders of and within the Empire. Ulfilas spread Arian Christianity among the Goths firmly establishing the faith among many of the Germanic tribes, thus helping to keep them culturally distinct.[31]


Christianity as Roman state religion (380)Edit

An Eastern Roman mosaic showing a basilica with towers, mounted with Christian crosses, 5th century AD, Louvre

On 27 February 380, with the Edict of Thessalonica put forth under Theodosius I, Gratian, and Valentinian II, the Roman Empire officially adopted Trinitarian Christianity as its state religion. Prior to this date, Constantius II (337–361) and Valens (364–378) had personally favoured Arian or Semi-Arian forms of Christianity, but Valens' successor Theodosius I supported the Trinitarian doctrine as expounded in the Nicene Creed.


Theodosius I decreed that others not believing in the preserved "faithful tradition", such as the Trinity, were to be considered to be practitioners of illegal heresy,[32] and in 385, this resulted in the first case of capital punishment of a heretic, namely Priscillian.[33][34]

Nestorianism and the Sasanian EmpireEdit

Largely extinct Church of the East and its largest extent during the Middle Ages.

During the early 5th century the School of Edessa had taught a Christological perspective stating that Christ's divine and human nature were distinct persons. A particular consequence of this perspective was that Mary could not be properly called the mother of God, but could only be considered the mother of Christ. The most widely known proponent of this viewpoint was the Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius. Since referring to Mary as the mother of God had become popular in many parts of the Church this became a divisive issue.

The Roman Emperor Theodosius II called for the Council of Ephesus (431), with the intention of settling the issue. The councils ultimately rejected Nestorius' view. Many churches who followed the Nestorian viewpoint broke away from the Roman Church, causing a major schism. The Nestorian churches were persecuted and many followers fled to the Sasanian Empire where they were accepted.

The Sasanian (Persian) Empire had many Christian converts early in its history tied closely to the Syriac branch of Christianity. The Empire was officially Zoroastrian and maintained a strict adherence to this faith in part to distinguish itself from the religion of the Roman Empire (originally the pagan Roman religion and then Christianity). Christianity became tolerated in the Sasanian Empire and as the Roman Empire increasingly exiled heretics during the 4th and 6th centuries, the Sasanian Christian community grew rapidly.[35] By the end of the 5th century the Persian Church was firmly established and had become independent of the Roman Church. This church evolved into what is today known as the Church of the East.


In 451 the Council of Chalcedon was held to further clarify the Christological issues surrounding Nestorianism. The council ultimately stated that Christ's divine and human nature were separate but both part of a single entity, a viewpoint rejected by many churches who called themselves miaphysites. The resulting schism created a communion of churches, including the Armenian, Syrian, and Egyptian churches.[36] Though efforts were made at reconciliation in the next few centuries the schism remained permanent resulting in what is today known as Oriental Orthodoxy.





Early Middle Ages (476–799)Edit



The Bishops of Rome, the Popes, were forced to adapt to drastically changing circumstances. Maintaining only nominal allegiance to the Emperor, they were forced to negotiate balances with the "barbarian rulers" of the former Roman provinces. In the East the Church maintained its structure and character and evolved more slowly.

Western missionary expansionEdit

The stepwise loss of Western Roman Empire dominance, replaced with foederati and Germanic kingdoms, coincided with early missionary efforts into areas not controlled by the collapsing empire.[39] Already as early as in the 5th century, missionary activities from Roman Britain into the Celtic areas (current Scotland, Ireland and Wales) produced competing early traditions of Celtic Christianity, that was later reintegrated under the Church in Rome.

Prominent missionaries were Saints Patrick, Columba and Columbanus. The Anglo-Saxon tribes that invaded southern Britain some time after the Roman abandonment, were initially pagan, but converted to Christianity by Augustine of Canterbury on the mission of Pope Gregory the Great. Soon becoming a missionary centre, missionaries such as Wilfrid, Willibrord, Lullus and Boniface would begin converting their Saxon relatives in Germania.

The largely Christian Gallo-Roman inhabitants of Gaul (modern France) were overrun by the Franks in the early 5th century. The native inhabitants were persecuted until the Frankish king Clovis I converted from paganism to Roman Catholicism in 496. Clovis insisted that his fellow nobles follow suit, strengthening his newly established kingdom by uniting the faith of the rulers with that of the ruled.[40]


Byzantine iconoclasmEdit

Following a series of heavy military reverses against the Muslims, the Iconoclasm emerged in the early 8th century. In the 720s the Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian banned the pictorial representation of Christ, saints, and biblical scenes. In the West, Pope Gregory III held two synods at Rome and condemned Leo's actions. The Byzantine Iconoclast Council, held at Hieria in 754, ruled that holy portraits were heretical.[41]

The movement destroyed much of the Christian church's early artistic history. The iconoclastic movement itself was later defined as heretical in 787 under the Second Council of Nicaea (the seventh ecumenical council), but enjoyed a brief resurgence between 815 and 842.

High Middle Ages (800–1299)Edit

Carolingian RenaissanceEdit


Monastic reformEdit

A view of the Abbey of Cluny.






Mendicant ordersEdit


Investiture ControversyEdit




Pope Gregory VII issued the Dictatus Papae, which declared that the pope alone could appoint bishops. Henry IV's rejection of the decree led to his excommunication and a ducal revolt. Eventually Henry received absolution after dramatic public penance (see Road to Canossa), though the Great Saxon Revolt and conflict of investiture continued.



Medieval InquisitionEdit


Conversion of the ScandinaviansEdit



Conversion of the SlavsEdit

The ruins of Korsun (Chersonesos) Crimea, a place where Russian historiography claims that East Slavic Christianity was born.

Although by 800 Western Europe was ruled entirely by Christian kings, East and Central Europe remained an area of missionary activity. For example, in the 9th century Cyril and Methodius had extensive missionary success in the region among the Slavic peoples, translating the Bible and liturgy into Slavonic. The Baptism of Kiev in 988 spread Christianity throughout Kievan Rus', establishing Christianity among Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

In the 9th and 10th centuries, Christianity made great inroads into Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria and Kievan Rus'. The evangelisation, or Christianisation, of the Slavs was initiated by one of Byzantium's most learned churchmen—the Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople (Photius). The Byzantine emperor Michael III chose Cyril and Methodius in response to a request from Rastislav, the king of Moravia who wanted missionaries that could minister to the Moravians in their own language.

The two brothers spoke the local Slavonic vernacular and translated the Bible and many of the prayer books.[43] As the translations prepared by them were copied by speakers of other dialects, the hybrid literary language Old Church Slavonic was created.

Methodius later went on to convert the Serbs.[44] Some of the disciples returned to Bulgaria where they were welcomed by the Bulgarian Knyaz Boris I who viewed the Slavonic liturgy as a way to counteract Byzantine influence in the country. In a short time the disciples of Cyril and Methodius managed to prepare and instruct the future Slavic clergy into the Glagolitic alphabet and the biblical texts.



Mission to Great MoraviaEdit

Church of St. Margaret of Antioch, Kopčany (Kopčany, Slovakia, 9th–10th century) – the only preserved building from the time of Great Moravia.
Conversion of Moravia (under Ratislav)



Conversion of BulgariaEdit

Bulgaria was a pagan country since its establishment in 681 until 864 when Boris I (852–889) converted to Christianity. The reasons for that decision were complex; the most important factors were that Bulgaria was situated between two powerful Christian empires, Byzantium and East Francia; Christian doctrine particularly favoured the position of the monarch as God's representative on Earth, while Boris also saw it as a way to overcome the differences between Bulgars and Slavs.[45][46]

In 885 some of the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, including Clement of Ohrid, Naum of Preslav and Angelaruis, returned to Bulgaria where they were welcomed by Boris I who viewed the Slavonic liturgy as a way to counteract Byzantine influence in the country. In a short time they managed to prepare and instruct the future Bulgarian clergy into the Glagolitic alphabet and the biblical texts. As a result of the Council of Preslav in AD 893, Bulgaria expelled its Greek clergy and proclaimed the Old Bulgarian language as the official language of the church and the state.

Conversion of the Rus'Edit

The Baptism of Vladimir.

The success of the conversion of the Bulgarians facilitated the conversion of other East Slavic peoples, most notably the Rus', predecessors of Belarusians, Russians, and Ukrainians, as well as Rusyns. By the beginning of the 11th century most of the pagan Slavic world, including Rus', Bulgaria and Serbia, had been converted to Byzantine Christianity. The traditional event associated with the conversion of Rus' is the baptism of Vladimir of Kiev in 989. However, Christianity is documented to have predated this event in the city of Kiev and in Georgia. Today the Russian Orthodox Church is the largest of the Orthodox Churches.

Controversy and Crusades dividing East and WestEdit

Growing tensions between East and WestEdit

The cracks and fissures in Christian unity which led to the East-West Schism started to become evident as early as the 4th century. Cultural, political, and linguistic differences were often mixed with the theological, leading to schism.


Two basic problems were involved: the nature of the primacy of the bishop of Rome and the theological implications of adding a clause to the Nicene Creed, known as the Filioque clause. These doctrinal issues were first openly discussed in Photius's patriarchate.





Photian schismEdit




East-West Schism (1054)Edit

The East-West Schism




The Orthodox East perceived the Papacy as taking on monarchical characteristics that were not in line with the church's tradition and violating the First Council of Constantinople of 381 which recognized the sees of Rome and Constantinople as being equal in authority.




The Crusader states of Jerusalem

Generally, the Crusades refer to the campaigns in the Holy Land against Muslim forces sponsored by the Papacy. There were other crusades against Islamic forces in southern Spain, southern Italy, and Sicily, as well as the campaigns of Teutonic Knights against pagan strongholds in North-eastern Europe (see Northern Crusades). A few crusades were waged within Christendom against groups that were considered heretical and schismatic (also see the Battle of the Ice and the Albigensian Crusade).






Jerusalem was held by the crusaders for nearly a century, and other strongholds in the Near East would remain in Christian possession much longer. The crusades in the Holy Land ultimately failed to establish permanent Christian kingdoms. Islamic expansion into Europe would renew and remain a threat for centuries culminating in the campaigns of Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century.[51]

Crusades in southern Spain, southern Italy, and Sicily eventually lead to the demise of Islamic power in Europe.[51] Teutonic Knights expanded Christian domains in Eastern Europe, and the much less frequent crusades within Christendom, such as the Albigensian Crusade, achieved their goal of maintaining doctrinal unity.[51]

Hesychast ControversyEdit

Gregory Palamas.

In 1337 Hesychasm—a mystical teaching at Mount Athos came under attack from Barlaam of Calabria, an abbot in Constantinople. Barlaam propounded a more intellectual and propositional approach to the knowledge of God than the Hesychasts taught. Hesychasm is a form of constant purposeful prayer or experiential prayer, explicitly referred to as contemplation focusing on the idea of stillness and the characteristic mystical idea of light as the vehicle for knowing God.

Gregory Palamas, afterwards Archbishop of Thessalonica, defended Hesychasm. Several synods took one position or the other until in 1351 at a synod under the presidency of the Emperor John VI Cantacuzenus, Hesychast doctrine was established as the doctrine of the Orthodox Church. the theology was especially attractive in the East because it validated the use of icons as a vehicle for contemplation of divine light.[52]

Eastern Orthodox captivity (1453–1850)Edit

Fall of ConstantinopleEdit




Isolation from the WestEdit


It is, in part, due to this geographical and intellectual confinement that the voice of Eastern Orthodoxy was not heard during the Reformation in 16th-century Europe. As a result, this important theological debate often seems strange and distorted to the Orthodox. They never took part in it and thus neither Reformation nor Counter-Reformation is part of their theological framework.

Religious rights under the Ottoman EmpireEdit

The new Ottoman government that conquered the Byzantine Empire followed Islamic law when dealing with the conquered Christian population. Christians were officially tolerated as People of the Book. As such, the Church's canonical and hierarchical organisation were not significantly disrupted and its administration continued to function. One of the first things that Mehmet the Conqueror did was to allow the Church to elect a new patriarch, Gennadius Scholarius.

Because Islamic law makes no distinction between nationality and religion, all Christians, regardless of their language or nationality, were considered a single millet, or nation. The patriarch, as the highest-ranking hierarch, was thus invested with civil and religious authority and made ethnarch, head of the entire Christian Orthodox population. This meant that all Orthodox Churches within Ottoman territory were under the control of Constantinople. However, these rights and privileges, including freedom of worship and religious organisation, were often established in principle but seldom corresponded to reality. Christians were viewed as second-class citizens, and the legal protections they depended upon were subject to the whims of the Sultan and the Sublime Porte.[53][54]

Under Ottoman occupation the Church could no longer bear witness to Christ. Christian missionary work among Muslims was illegal and dangerous, whereas conversion to Islam was entirely legal and permissible. Converts to Islam who returned to Orthodoxy were put to death as apostates. No new churches could be built and even the ringing of church bells was prohibited. The Hagia Sophia and the Parthenon, which had been Christian churches for nearly a millennium, were converted into mosques. Education of the clergy and the Christian population either ceased altogether or was reduced to the most rudimentary elements. Violent persecutions of Christians were common, and reached their climax in the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek genocides.



Few patriarchs between the 15th and the 19th centuries died a natural death while in office. The forced abdications, exiles, hangings, drownings, and poisonings of patriarchs are well documented. The hierarchy's positions were often dangerous as well. The hanging of patriarch Gregory V from the gate of the patriarchate on Easter Sunday 1821 was accompanied by the execution of two metropolitans and twelve bishops.


Avignon Papacy (1309–1378)Edit

The Avignon Papacy, sometimes referred to as the Babylonian Captivity, was a period from 1309 to 1378 during which seven Popes resided in Avignon, in modern-day France.[55] The period was one of conflict and controversy during which French Kings held considerable sway over the Papacy and rulers across Europe felt sidelined by the new French-centric papacy.[citation needed]


Western Schism (1378–1416)Edit


The Western Schism, or Papal Schism, was a prolonged crisis with two or more claimants to the See of Rome. The conflict was political rather than doctrinal.

In 1309, Pope Clement V moved to Avignon in southern France. For sixty-nine years popes resided in Avignon rather than Rome. Confusion and of political animosity waxed, as the prestige and influence of Rome waned without a resident pontiff. Though Pope Gregory XI, a Frenchman, returned to Rome in 1378, the strife between Italian and French factions intensified.

In 1378 the conclave elected an Italian from Naples, Pope Urban VI. He soon alienated the French cardinals, who asserted that the previous election was invalid, and elected one of their own, Robert of Geneva, who took the name Pope Clement VII. By 1379, he was back in the palace of popes in Avignon, while Urban VI remained in Rome.

For nearly forty years, there were two papal curias and two sets of cardinals, each electing a new pope for Rome or Avignon when death created a vacancy. Each pope lobbied for support among kings and princes who played them off against each other. In 1409, a council at Pisa declared both existing popes to be schismatic (Gregory XII from Rome, Benedict XIII from Avignon) and appointed a new one, Alexander V. The existing popes refused to resign; thus there were three papal claimants. Another council was convened in 1414, the Council of Constance.

In March 1415 the Pisan pope John XXIII fled from Constance. He was brought back a prisoner and deposed in May. The Roman pope, Gregory XII, resigned voluntarily in July. The Avignon pope, Benedict XIII, refused to come to Constance, nor to resign. The council deposed him in July 1417 and elected Pope Martin V as pope in November, having finally cleared the field of popes and antipopes.

John Wycliff and Jan HusEdit

Painting of Jan Hus in Council of Constance by Václav Brožík.
Evolution of the Hussite movements

John Wycliffe (or Wyclif) (1330–1384) was an English scholar and alleged heretic best known for denouncing the corruptions of the Church, and his sponsoring the first translation of the Bible from Latin into English. He was a precursor of the Protestant Reformation. He emphasized the supremacy of the Bible, and called for a direct relationship between man and God, without interference by priests and bishops. His followers, called Lollards, faced persecution by the Church of England. They went underground for over a century and played a role in the English Reformation.[56][57]

Jan Hus (or Huss) (1369?–1415) a Czech theologian in Prague, was influenced by Wycliffe and spoke out against the corruptions he saw in the Church; his continued defiance led to his excommunication and condemnation by the Council of Constance, which also condemned John Wycliff. Hus was executed in 1415, but his followers organized a peasants' war, 1419–1436, that was put down by the Empire with great brutality. Hus was a forerunner of the Protestant Reformation and his memory has become a powerful symbol of Czech culture in Bohemia.[58]

Italian Renaissance (c. 1375 – 1520)Edit

Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City



From 1505 to 1626, St. Peter's Basilica, perhaps the most recognised Christian church, was built on the site of the old Constantinian basilica. It was also a time of increased contact with Greek culture, opening up new avenues of learning, especially in the fields of philosophy, poetry, classics, rhetoric, and political science, fostering a spirit of humanism–all of which would influence the Church.

Reformation and Counter-ReformationEdit

Protestant Reformation (1521–1610)Edit

Approximate spread of Protestantism after the Reformation, and following the Counter-Reformation.

the Reformation is usually considered to have started with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Martin Luther in 1517, there was no schism until the 1521 Edict of Worms. The edicts of the Diet condemned Luther and officially banned citizens of the Holy Roman Empire from defending or propagating his ideas.[59]

In the early 16th century, attempts were made by the theologians Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli along with many others who aimed to reform the Church. Along with some of the previous ones, they considered the root of corruptions to be doctrinal (rather than simply a matter of moral weakness or lack of ecclesiastical discipline) and thus advocated for monergism against voluntaristic notions that salvation could be earned by people. The word Protestant is derived from the Latin protestatio meaning declaration which refers to the letter of protestation by Lutheran princes against the decision of the Diet of Speyer in 1529, which reaffirmed the edict of the Diet of Worms ordering the seizure of all property owned by persons guilty of advocating Lutheranism.[60] Since that time, the term has been used in many different senses, but most often as a general term refers to Western Christianity that is not subject to papal authority.[60] The term "Protestant" was not originally used by Reformation era leaders; instead, they called themselves "evangelical", emphasising the "return to the true gospel (Greek: euangelion)."[61]

The beginning of the Protestant Reformation is generally identified with Martin Luther and the posting of the Ninety-five Theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. Early protest was against corruptions such as simony, the holding of multiple church offices by one person at the same time, episcopal vacancies, and the sale of indulgences.


The Protestant Reformation may be divided into two distinct but basically simultaneous movements, the Magisterial Reformation and the Radical Reformation. The Magisterial Reformation involved the alliance of certain theological teachers (Latin: magistri) such as Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Cranmer, etc. with secular magistrates who cooperated in the reformation of Christendom. Radical Reformers, many who were Anabaptists, besides forming communities outside state sanction, often employed more extreme doctrinal change, with some rejecting tenants of the Councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon.

Churches with Reformation confessions of faith spread almost entirely within the confines of Northern Europe, but this was checked by the Catholic response to the Reformation. This is known as the Counter-Reformation. Although Protestants were excommunicated in an attempt to reduce their influence within the Catholic Church, at the same time they were also persecuted during the Counter-Reformation, prompting some to live as crypto-Protestants (also termed Nicodemites, against the urging of John Calvin who urged them to live their faith openly.[62] Crypto-Protestants were documented as late as the 19th century in Latin America.[63]

Martin LutherEdit

Martin Luther, by Lucas Cranach the Elder

Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk and later priest who was professor at the University of Wittenberg. In 1517, he nailed a list of Ninety-five Theses, or points to be debated on the door of the church in Wittenberg and also mailed a copy to his archbishop. These points concerned the illicitness of selling indulgences. They were translated from Latin into German and distributed.

In 1520, he was asked to issue a blanked recantation of his works for heresy and lesser offenses by the papal bull Exsurge Domine. Although the bull demanded Luther burn his own works, instead he burned the papal bull Wittenberg during an incident when others had gathered together books of canon law and were burning them.[64] In particular, Exsurge Domine drew out forty-one specific statements from Luther's Ninety-five Theses, his 1519 Leipzig Debate with John Eck, and other sources for censure.

Specifically targeted in the forty one condemned statements included Luther's support for conciliarism against papal primacy, his opposition to the burning of heretics, his partial support for the teaching of Jan Hus who was burned at the stake, his anti-war stance with respect to the Ottoman Turks, his rejection of indulgences, that original sin remains after baptism, his statements against a three-part formula of repentance, the possibility of knowing and enumerating each and every one of your mortal sins for purposes of confession, his support for communion under both kinds, his rejection of the treasury of merit and purgatory, his position on free will, and a statement he made about the role of money in corruption of the church.[65]

For most of his career, Luther tactically avoided complete identification with either Thomistic scholarship (sometimes termed the "schola antiqua" or "old school")[66] or the "schola moderna" or "new school," which especially relied on Scotist and Franciscan epistemology. Instead, when debating he tactically took positions allying himself with one camp or the other on issues as it suited his overall purpose during debates. It was especially his intention to guard against the threat he feared the voluntarism of the increasingly popular schola moderna posed to the doctrine of justification. Justification in the theological sense is the process by which one is "made right" (righteous) in the eyes of God.

Ulrich ZwingliEdit

Ulrich Zwingli, wearing the scholar's cap.

Ulrich Zwingli was a Swiss scholar and parish priest who was likewise influential in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation. Zwingli claimed that his theology owed nothing to Luther, and that he had developed it in 1516, before Luther's famous protest, though his doctrine of justification was remarkably similar to that of the German priest.[67] In 1518, Zwingli was given a post at the wealthy collegiate church of the Grossmünster in Zürich, where he would remain until his death at a relatively young age. Soon he had risen to prominence in the city, and when political tension developed between most of Switzerland and the Catholic Habsburg Emperor Charles V. In this environment, Zwingli began preaching his version of reform, with certain points as the aforementioned doctrine of justification, but others (with which Luther vehemently disagreed) such as the position that veneration of icons was actually idolatry and thus a violation of the first commandment, and the denial of the real presence in the Eucharist.[68] Soon the city council had accepted Zwingli's doctrines and Zurich became a focal point of more radical reforming movements, and certain admirers and followers of Zwingli pushed his message and reforms far further than even he had intended, such as rejecting infant baptism.[69] This split between Luther and Zwingli formed the essence of the Protestant division between Lutheran and Reformed theology. Meanwhile, political tensions increased; Zwingli and the Zurich leadership imposed an economic blockade on the inner Catholic states of Switzerland, which led to a battle in which Zwingli, in full armor, was slain along with his troops.

John CalvinEdit

John Calvin was a French cleric and doctor of law turned Protestant reformer. He belonged to the second generation of the Reformation, publishing his theological tome, the Institutes of the Christian Religion, in 1536 (later revised), and establishing himself as a leader of the Reformed church in Geneva, which became a center of Reformed Christianity in the second half of the 16th century. He exerted a remarkable amount of authority in the city and over the city council, such that he has (rather ignominiously) been called a "Protestant pope." Calvin established an eldership together with a "consistory", where pastors and the elders established matters of religious discipline for the Genevan population.[70] Calvin's theology is best known for his doctrine of (double) predestination, which held that God had, from all eternity, providentially foreordained who would be saved (the elect) and likewise who would be damned (the reprobate), although predestination was not the dominant idea in Calvin's works.[71]

English ReformationEdit



Counter-Reformation (1545–1837)Edit


The Counter-Reformation also included the Catholic Reformation, which aimed at improving the Church from within.

The Council of TrentEdit



Catholic ReformationEdit




Church and the Enlightenment (1610–1800)Edit

Trial of GalileoEdit





Puritans in North AmericaEdit


Early Modern eraEdit

This is the period from the Industrial revolution and the French Revolution until the mid 19th century. See the French Republican Calendar and anti-clerical measures. See also the Holy League, the Battle of Vienna, Cardinal Richelieu, and Louis XIV of France.

Revivalism (1720–1906)Edit


Great AwakeningsEdit

Philipp Spener the founder of Pietism



Restorationism refers to the belief that a purer form of Christianity should be restored using the early church as a model.[76]:635[77]:217 In many cases, restorationist groups believed that contemporary Christianity, in all its forms, had deviated from the true, original Christianity, which they then attempted to "Reconstruct", often using the Book of Acts as a "guidebook" of sorts. Restorationists do not usually describe themselves as "reforming" a Christian church continuously existing from the time of Jesus, but as restoring the Church that they believe was lost at some point. "Restorationism" is often used to describe the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement.

Jehovah's WitnessesEdit

The term "Restorationist" is also used to describe the Jehovah's Witness Movement, founded in the late 1870s by Charles Taze Russell

Latter Day Saint movementEdit


Late Modern eraEdit

The history of the Church from the mid 19th century around period of the revolutions of 1848 to today.

Modern Eastern OrthodoxyEdit

Russian Orthodox Church in the Russian EmpireEdit

Churches of the Moscow Kremlin, as seen from the Balchug

The Russian Orthodox Church held a privileged position in the Russian Empire, expressed in the motto of the late Empire from 1833: Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Populism. Nevertheless, the Church reform of Peter I in the early 18th century had placed the Orthodox authorities under the control of the Tsar. An Ober-Procurator appointed by the Tsar himself ran the committee which governed the Church between 1721 and 1918: the Most Holy Synod.

The Church became involved in the various campaigns of russification,[80] and was accused of involvement in Russian anti-semitism.[81] despite the lack of an official position on Judaism as such.[82]

The Bolsheviks and other Russian revolutionaries saw the Church, like the Tsarist state, as an enemy of the people.

Russian Orthodox Church in the Soviet UnionEdit


After the October Revolution of 7 November 1917 (25 October Old Calendar) there was a movement within the Soviet Union to unite all of the people of the world under Communist rule (see Communist International). This included the Eastern European bloc countries as well as the Balkan States. Since some of these Slavic states tied their ethnic heritage to their ethnic churches, both the peoples and their church where targeted by the Soviet.[83][84] Criticism of atheism was strictly forbidden and sometimes lead to imprisonment.[85]


The main target of the anti-religious campaign in the 1920s and 1930s was the Russian Orthodox Church, which had the largest number of faithful. Nearly its entire clergy, and many of its believers, were shot or sent to labor camps. Theological schools were closed, and church publications were prohibited. In the period between 1927 and 1940, the number of Orthodox Churches in the Russian Republic fell from 29,584 to fewer than 500. Between 1917 and 1940, 130,000 Orthodox priests were arrested. Father Pavel Florensky was one of the New-martyrs of this particular period.



Diaspora emigration to the WestEdit


Modern trends in Christian theologyEdit

Modernism and liberal ChristianityEdit




Under/During NazismEdit

Pope Pius XI

The position of Christians affected by Nazism is highly complex. Regarding the matter, historian Derek Holmes wrote, "There is no doubt that the Catholic districts, resisted the lure of National Socialism [Nazism] far better than the Protestant ones."[90] Pope Pius XI declared – Mit brennender Sorge – that Fascist governments had hidden "pagan intentions" and expressed the irreconcilability of the Catholic position and Totalitarian Fascist State Worship, which placed the nation above God, fundamental human rights and dignity. His declaration that "Spiritually, [Christians] are all Semites" prompted the Nazis to give him the title "Chief Rabbi of the Christian World."[91]


The relationship between Nazism and Protestantism, especially the German Lutheran Church, was complex. Though many[95] Protestant church leaders in Germany supported the Nazis' growing anti-Jewish activities, some, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer (a Lutheran pastor) were strongly opposed to the Nazis. Bonhoeffer was later found guilty in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler and executed.

Second Vatican CouncilEdit




Catholic ecumenismEdit





Pentecostal movementEdit



Torrey and Alexander were involved in the beginnings of the great Welsh revival (1904) which led Jessie Penn-Lewis to witness the working of Satan during times of revival, and write her book "War on the Saints". In 1906, the modern Pentecostal Movement was born on Azusa Street in Los Angeles. Pentecostalism in turn inspired the Charismatic movement within already established denominations.


Ecumenism within ProtestantismEdit


See alsoEdit


  1. ^ According to Church tradition, it was under Nero's persecution that Peter and Paul were each martyred in Rome.


  1. ^, Religions by Adherents
  8. ^ de Ste. Croix, Geoffrey Ernest Maurice. "Why Were Early Christians Persecuted?". Past & Present, No. 26 (Nov. 1963), pp. 105–52.
  11. ^ Wilken, Robert L. (1984). The Christians as the Romans saw them. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 44 ISBN 0-300-03066-5.
  12. ^ John 14:28
  16. ^ Langan, The Catholic Tradition (1998), p. 107/
  17. ^ Everett Ferguson, "Factors leading to the Selection and Closure of the New Testament Canon", in The Canon Debate. eds. L. M. McDonald & J. A. Sanders (Hendrickson, 2002) pp. 302–03; cf. Justin Martyr, First Apology 67.3
  23. ^ a b Andre Grabar, p. 7
  24. ^ Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum "On the Deaths of the Persecutors" ch. 35–34
  30. ^ Ricciotti 1999
  31. ^ Padberg 1998, 26
  35. ^ Culture and customs of Iran, p. 61
  36. ^ Bussell (1910), p. 346.
  41. ^ Epitome, Iconoclast Council at Hieria, 754
  47. ^ The Great Schism: The Estrangement of Eastern and Western Christendom
  52. ^ Diarmaid MacCulloch, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (2010) pp. 486–91
  54. ^
  57. ^ Shannon McSheffrey, Lollards of Coventry, 1486–1522 (2003)
  60. ^ a b Definition of Protestantism at the Episcopal Church website Archived 15 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  65. ^ Exsurge Domine Condemning the Errors of Martin Luther Pope Leo X – 1520
  67. ^ MacCulloch, Diarmaid, The Reformation: A History (New York: Penguin Books, 2004) pp. 137–38
  82. ^ "Jewish-Christian Relations", by the International Council of Christians and Jews
  89. ^ Ostling, Richard. "Cross meets Kremlin" Time Magazine, 24 June 2001.,9171,150718,00.html
  90. ^ Derek Holmes, History of the Papacy, p. 102.
  91. ^ Derek Holmes, History of the Papacy, p. 116.
  94. ^ Derek Holmes, History of the Papacy, p. 158.
  95. ^

Further readingEdit

External linksEdit