The Early Church 0-500 AD The time of the Mustard Seed, Persecution, Conversion, & Councils

Pentecost The first main event of the beginning of the Church is Pentecost (33 AD) The Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles to give the courage to proclaim the Gospel

Early Christian Martyrs The Beheading of St. James the Greater (the 1st Apostle to be martyred) The Stoning of St. Stephen (the 1st martyr in Church history)

St. Paul the Apostle Paul was the greatest missionary for the Church St. Paul went on three great missionary journeys (45—58 AD). The three main effects of Paul’s mission journeys are: Paul spread the faith throughout the known Roman empire Paul mentored and built up the Christian communities Paul wrote letters to the communities, which make up 14 of the 27 books of the New Testament

Council of Jerusalem The first big question that the Church dealt with was, “What do we do with the Gentiles (non-Jewish people) who are converting to the Catholic faith?” Do they have to follow Jewish dietary laws or not? The Decision: Gentiles did not need to follow Jewish dietary laws

Roman Destruction Roman Army Destroys the Jerusalem Temple (70 AD) Nero Burns Rome (64 AD; blamed it on the Christians) Roman Army Destroys the Jerusalem Temple (70 AD)

The Apologists: men who God called forth to defend the Church & her teachings; they tried to make the teachings of the Church accessible to the Greco-Roman world Origen Tertullian St. Justin Martyr

Christian Persecution The Roman emperors wanted the Christians to worship the false pagan gods They said everyone in the empire must make a public sacrifice before the pagan gods If someone refused to do so, they were put to death Many Christians lost their lives when they refused to worship the false gods

Famous Martyrs-Saints St. Sebastian St. Lucy St. Agnes

Diocletian’s Division of the Roman Empire Diocletian recognized that the empire was too big/large for one man to rule He formed the tetrarchy by dividing the empire in half, the Western part, which was centered in Rome, and the Eastern part After Diocletian died, a civil war broke out in the West between Constantine & Maxentius as to who was going to be the Emperor in the Western half of the Empire

Chi Rho: The Greek Monogram for Christ On his way to Rome, Constantine & his army saw a miraculous vision in the sky—a Cross with the following words around the Cross: In hoc signo vinces (“In this sign, you shall conquer”) Even though Constantine was not a Christian, he knew of the Christian faith & understood that this was a sign from God Constantine had his soldiers paint on their shields the Greek monogram for Christ, the Chi Rho, as they marched into battle against Maxentius Constantine was victorious!

The Edict of Milan Soon after Constantine became Emperor, he pass an edict of toleration for the Christians—known as the Edict of Milan (313 AD) The persecution against the Christians that was enacted by Nero in the year 64 AD was completely eradicated—it was perfectly legal to be a Christian in the Roman Empire The Edict of Milan legalized the Catholic faith, but he allowed the pagan faith to remain

The Heresy (false teaching) of Arianism Soon after, a priest named Arius was teaching that Jesus was not God; rather, Jesus was just a creature of God This heresy was known as Arianism (named its founder) The Bishops of the Church met in for the Council Nicaea in 325 AD and did two things… They condemn Arius’ teachings; Arius was wrong & Jesus was God, co-eternal with the Father The Council Fathers formulated a creed—a written statement of what the Church actually believed, which we recite at Mass to this very day (i.e., the Nicene Creed)

Arius & the Council of Nicaea Arius…yeah, he was wrong… Council of Nicaea Nicene Creed taught that Jesus was God

St. Augustine! One of the most influential persons in Church & all of western civilization was St. Augustine (354—430 AD) He has been described as the bridge between the old world (i.e., the Roman world) & the new world (i.e., the Catholic world) He was an unmatched thinker & theologian for the next 800 years

St. Monica (Mother of St. Augustine) In his early life, St. Augustine led a very immoral life & one away from the teachings of the Church, much to the chagrin of his mother, St. Monica She prayed constantly during his life that one day the light of Christ would come into her son’s soul & would embrace the faith Augustine converted to the faith & became bishop of the city of Hippo in North Africa in the year 395 AD

More Church Councils Council of Constantinople I (381 AD): Taught the Holy Spirit, the Person of the Trinity, was fully God Council of Ephesus (431 AD): Taught that since Jesus was fully God, Mary was the Mother of God

Last Church Council…we promise! Council of Chalcedon Pope St. Leo the Great Called this council…

Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) The Council taught the hypostatic union Jesus Christ is one divine person who has a human nature & a divine nature His human nature & divine nature exist in the unity of his personhood, his one divine person