Atlas of Christian History

world.

Part 1

The Early Christians

It is incredible to see the ardour with which the people of that religion help each other in their wants. They spare nothing. Their first legislator has put into their hearts that they are all brethren

LUCIAN (AD 125–180),

ON THE EARLY CHRISTIANS

The Mission of the Twelve

There are many – not necessarily reliable – traditions and legends about the missions of the twelve apostles, who travelled widely carrying the message of the risen Christ, suffering and often meeting violent deaths for their faith.  One story claims that the apostles cast lots to decide who should go where.

Peter is variously said to have preached in Antioch, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Rome; his brother Andrew to have preached to the Scythians (modern Georgia) and Thracians (modern Bulgaria), evangelized Byzantium, and to have been crucified at Patrae, Achaia (Greece). ‘Doubting’ Thomas Didymus supposedly preached to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and Margians, and even reached India, where the Mar Thoma Christians regard him as their founder. Philip – though arguably Philip the Evangelist (see Acts 8), not the Apostle – possibly preached in Carthage, North Africa, and Phrygia (modern Turkey).

Matthew – ‘Levi’ – is said to have written his gospel in Antioch, and preached in Persia, Parthia, and Ethiopia. Bartholomew – also known as Nathanael – apparently journeyed to India with Thomas, taking Matthew’s Gospel, as well as to Armenia, Ethiopia, and Southern Arabia. James, son of Alphaeus, may have evangelized in Syria; while Simon the Zealot is said to have preached in Persia. James, son of Zebedee, preached in Judea – and, according to legend, in Spain. His brother John was banished to the Aegean island of Patmos, and alone of the Twelve is said to have died a natural death, in Ephesus. (An early tradition has it that he escaped unharmed after having been thrown into boiling oil in Rome.) Judas – also called Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus – preached in Edessa, Armenia, and Mesopotamia, and died at Berytus. Matthias – chosen by lot to replace Judas Iscariot – according to tradition travelled to Syria with Andrew.

MAP 1: THE APOSTLES AND TRADITION

Jews and Christians in Palestine

The Christian faith began in Palestine, regarded by the Jews as their ‘Promised Land’, but ruled by foreign powers for much of its history because of its favourable strategic location. Egypt and Assyria had fought over it for centuries, then Babylon conquered Assyria, and with it Palestine. The Persians allowed some Jews to return from exile to Palestine, before the Greeks under Alexander the Great conquered the land around 300 BC. There followed rule by the Seleucid dynasty and semi-autonomy under the Hasmonean dynasty before Rome captured Jerusalem in 63 BC. Palestine remained under Roman rule at the time of the birth of Jesus.

First century Judaism

Jesus, the apostles, and the earliest converts to Christianity were all Jews, and their teachings were presented in a Jewish context. The Judaism of Jesus’ time was characterized by strict monotheism, a gradual shift from temple ritual to an emphasis on personal ethics, restlessness under foreign occupation and oppression, a strong sense of community, and widespread expectation of a coming messiah.

By the time of Christ, several different Jewish groups had formed holding varying views on religious authority, theology, and the Roman occupation. They included a conservative elite called Sadducees (‘righteous ones’), the pious Pharisees (‘separated ones’), the ascetic Essene sect of Qumran, and revolutionary Zealots.

The Christian faith entered a world of great religious diversity. First-century Roman Palestine featured not only Judaism, but also the political religion of the Roman state, the Roman imperial cult, the personal religion of the mystery cults, and various schools of Greek philosophy.

Christianity spreads

After his death, Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem formed a community of believers that soon spread, first to Samaria, then to Phoenicia, Gaza, and Egypt, and later to the Syrian cities of Antioch and Damascus, and to Cyprus, as the message was carried by itinerant preachers and missionaries. At first all believers were Jews, but they were soon joined by Gentiles; they were called variously followers of ‘the Way’, ‘Christians’, and ‘Nazarenes’.

In AD 62 the death of James, leader of the Jerusalem believers, led some to leave the city, weakening its Jewish Christian community. During the First Jewish-Roman War (or Great Revolt, AD 66–73), Rome destroyed Herod’s Temple and sacked Jerusalem. According to the Romano-Jewish historian Josephus (AD 37–100), most inhabitants were killed, committed suicide, or fled. The destruction of the Temple ended the priesthood and sacrifice system, and was a lasting catastrophe for Judaism.

The Christian community may have left Jerusalem just before the siege, taking refuge at Pella, beyond the Jordan, though some believers later returned. Christian communities founded by the apostles near the Mediterranean coast survived, as did those at Capernaum and Rimmon, in Galilee, and Cochaba, in Gaulanitis.

After the failure of the Bar Kokhba Revolt (or Second Jewish Revolt, AD 132–35), the highest Jewish court, Sanhedrin, moved to Jamnia (Javneh), Galilee. Many Jews were killed, expelled, or sold into slavery after the two rebellions against Rome; this, combined with the conversion of pagans, Samaritans, and Jews, gradually resulted in a Christian majority in Palestine.

Christianity separated from Judaism gradually over several generations, the destruction of the Temple and disaster of the two Jewish Wars accelerating this mutual estrangement.

MAP 2: EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN PALESTINE

Christianity by AD 100

Paul and his fellow Jewish apostles carried the Christian message to regions beyond Palestine. With the express purpose of evangelizing Gentiles, they travelled extensively in Asia Minor and Greece, visiting synagogues in the Jewish Diaspora – where their teaching often provoked opposition – but also speaking with Gentiles in the marketplaces. They left behind small, uncertain groups of Jewish and Gentile Christians whose faith was built up by subsequent visits and by letters such as those we know in the New Testament.

By the end of the first century, Christianity was still confined virtually to the eastern Roman Empire, possibly concentrated in Asia Minor – where Jewish communities were long established and had created around them many semi-proselytized ‘God-fearing’ Gentiles. There were also believing communities in Italy in Rome itself, Puteoli, around the Bay of Naples, and possibly also in Spain. The only church known outside the Empire was at Edessa, beyond the River Euphrates.

Names of towns and cities with Christians are given in the New Testament – for instance the seven churches of Revelation chapters 1–3 – and in contemporary correspondence. The Christian Father Ignatius of Antioch (c. AD 35/50–98/117) writes of churches at Magnesia and Tralles, and later writers mention Alexandria, home of one of Paul’s several helpers, Apollos.

The first significant persecution of Christians, under the Emperor Nero (r. 54–68), was short-lived and concentrated in Rome but did not hinder the growth of the church.

MAP 3: DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIANITY BY AD 100

Christianity by AD 300

The second century, particularly the period following the Bar Kokhba revolt, saw a decisive split between Christianity and Judaism. The destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, the exile of the Jews from Judea after the revolt, and the appointment of a Gentile – Mark (or Mahalia) – rather than a Jew as Bishop of Jerusalem all helped widen the breach. By this time the majority of Christians were of Gentile origin.

During the second century Christian communities spread west and north, as far as Gaul and Germany. Also many groups were established in North Africa, laying the foundations for a strong church there in the third century. In Egypt, Christianity began to extend beyond the great city of Alexandria into surrounding rural areas. Further Christian communities were founded in Mesopotamia, and in Asia Minor the church spread both north and east.

Christians were largely left in peace, unmolested by the authorities, during the period of the Antonine emperors – Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, and Commodus (AD 96–192) – which greatly helped the growth of Christianity throughout the empire.

By the end of the third century the complexion of the Christian world looked quite different. With the westward expansion of the church, as far as Roman Britain, Rome – as well as Alexandria and Antioch – had become an important centre.

MAP 4: DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIANITY BY AD 300

Constantine the Great

In AD 312 Constantine the Great (274–337) won the decisive battle of the Milvian Bridge, outside Rome, having invoked the ‘God of the Christians’ and having put the new Christian ‘chi-rho’ symbol on his shield. This victory put him on a path to supreme power.

The Empire was collapsing: despotism, endless wars, and civil strife had already destroyed its traditional values. For at least a century the emperors had been either rough barbarians or corrupt tyrants, sustained by the legions. As the political, economic, and military situation deteriorated, invasions by barbarian tribes from both the north and east became increasingly successful.

Between 306 and 323 Constantine strove to halt this decline and to rally Christian support in his struggle for power. Although still tolerant of the old faiths, his grant of toleration for Christianity at Milan in 313 inaugurated a new era for the long-persecuted Christians, who were now for the first time allowed to worship in public and to build churches. When Constantine moved his capital to Byzantium – renaming it Constantinople – he even erected a number of new churches at public expense.

Despite Constantine’s hope that Christianity would serve as an integrating force, theological disputes continued to divide. One important split was that by the Donatists in Carthage, stubbornly standing for ritual holiness and total separation of church and state, which caused a major Christian schism.

MAP 5: CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Part 2

The Church under Siege

The church, by its connection with Christian princes,  gained in power and riches, but lost in virtues.

JEROME (347–420)

The Arian Challenge

Around 318 a particularly divisive dispute flared between Arius (c. 250–c. 336), a presbyter in Alexandria, and the Patriarch Alexander (r. 313–26). Arius was teaching that, if the Son of God had been crucified, he suffered – as the supreme deity cannot do. He argued that Jesus Christ was therefore not eternal, but made by the Father to do his creative work. By dividing off the Son from God the Father, Arius undermined Christ’s status as God’s revelation and as the saviour of humankind.

The controversy led Constantine to call a major synod of several hundred bishops to Nicaea, Asia Minor, in 325, including representatives of many Greek provinces, but also two presbyters representing Si(y)lvester, Bishop of Rome (r. 314–35). The Emperor Constantine presided in person at the opening session of this First Council of Nicaea, the earliest worldwide (‘ecumenical’) council. Its agreed creed rejected Arius’ hypotheses and affirmed that Son and Father are ‘of one substance’ (homoousios, consubstantial).

Arguments over this wording led to fifty years’ further controversy. While Western bishops largely upheld Nicea, confident that the creed maintained the Son’s equality with the Father while maintaining a proper distinction between persons, many Eastern bishops worried that it collapsed Father and Son together into a single entity (modalism). Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria (r. 328–73), was chief theological champion of what finally became orthodox teaching on the deity of God the Son, as defined in the Creed of Nicaea, revised at the Council of Constantinople (381), and decreed by the Emperor Theodosius I (r. 378–95). This marked the end of Arianism within the Empire. But the barbarian Gothic, Visigothic, Frankish, and Vandal kingdoms all adopted Arianism in opposition to Rome and Constantinople.

MAP 6: THE SPREAD OF ARIANISM

Monophysite Christianity

From the outset, Christians were people with certain beliefs – especially about Jesus Christ – seen as fundamental to the existence of the church. The fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries were marked by lengthy controversies – particularly in the Eastern Church – about how Christ, the Son of God, was himself God (the doctrine of the Trinity); and how he was both man and God (the doctrine of the person of Christ, or Christology).

This was a period of great importance in the formation of orthodox Christian theology. Deliberations in councils were often influenced by power struggles between the Bishop of Rome and the Emperor, by the rival claims of the five major patriarchates, and by the need of the imperial administration to maintain unity against the threats of the Persian Empire, the empire of Attila, and the barbarian kingdoms pressing in from the north.

This was an age of domination by emperors, of abrasive personalities, and of rancorous conflict between leading bishops. Technical terms with no biblical origin were made key words in statements of belief. Usage of such words contributed to misunderstandings and misrepresentations between the Latin-speaking West and the Greek-speaking East – and even between different sections within the Greek Church. Such disputes contributed to major divisions in the Christian world.

Numerous councils of bishops were held during this period. Four of the most important – Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381), Ephesus (431), and Chalcedon (451) – came to be regarded as ecumenical councils, binding on the whole church, although some parts of the Eastern church rejected decisions made at Ephesus and/or Chalcedon.

Nestorius

While the fourth century church often dealt with questions about the Trinity (in the Arian debates), in the fifth century disputes erupted over equally difficult questions about the nature of Christ. How could Christ be both human and divine, without the divine swallowing up the human? A theologian named Nestorius (d. c. 451) arguably attributed distinct personhood to each nature; while the third ecumenical council, in Ephesus, maintained the integrity of each nature and the singularity of Christ’s person.

In AD 449 a theologian named Eutyches (c. 380–c. 456) was