The church as established in the Middle East was done so under the concept of unity i.e. catholic and or ecumenical. For the earliest Christian communities the concept of unity was one where the church communities agreed on a doctrinal understanding of Christianity. Such an understanding was based on the tradition of unity within the different ancient Christian communities. One such tradition is the biblical texts used by each of the ancient communities or churches. Unity was established in what was taught to the communities by Christ and then his apostles which was doctrinal in its expression. When various persons or groups within the many ancient Christian communities began to come at odds with innovations or interpretations of the traditions of Christianity, the communities set out to clarify the validity of the variation in the comparison to traditional understanding. To establish why this change was to be accepted or rejected. As such was the case of the first council in Jerusalem. The later councils where prompted to clarify tradition and address what was proper and what was improper. Proper being what was established by Jesus Christ and then his apostles, then the Seventy and the clergy of the churches and the Patristic text, that take their lineage directly back to the Apostolic era. Innovations being that which changed the understanding that Christian communities had as the basis for the understanding and definition of their religion. Such innovations, whereas the community believe, at the expense of tradition.