1. The Early Christian Church
Use the following information to fill in the handout.

2. What helped Christianity spread?
Most areas spoke Latin or Greek
Language
Travel was much easier.
Roads
Most everyone played nice
Peaceful Territory…mostly

3. Why did Romans mistreat Christians?
1. Refusal to sacrifice to the Emperor
2. Pacifism
3. Criticized Roman Festivals
4.  Buried dead outside of Rome (underground)

4. Constantine Asked God for help going into battle.
Had a vision of a flaming cross that said “In this sign, you will conquer”
Painted the cross on his shield…won the battle

5. Constantine Edict of Milan—313AD….Freedom of Religion
325AD….Council of Nicea—first of many Ecumenical councils. Church Doctrine was agreed upon

6. Theodosius Banned Greek and Roman religions
AD 392 Made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire

7. Organizing the Church
After the apostles, separate Christian groups began to practice Christianity differently.
Early Christian leaders began to write down beliefs.

8. Church Leadership Used Roman Empire as model of the church
Based on a hierarchy of Roman Empire
Clergy & laity had different roles

9. Clergy called bishops supervised the dioceses, or several churches grouped together.
Bishops explained Christian beliefs to other clergy and laity and managed regional church affairs.
A bishop who was in charge of an entire region was known as an archbishop.
The five leading archbishops—in charge of the cities of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem—were known as patriarchs

10. The bishops met together in councils to define the teachings of the Church.
They wanted to make sure that Christians practiced the same beliefs.
The decisions they reached at these councils were accepted as doctrine.
Rejected ideas were heresies or teaching that didn’t support the faith.

11. What writings shaped Christianity?
By A.D. 300, four accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus were widely known.
Christians believed that four apostles of Jesus—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—wrote these accounts.
Each account of Jesus' life was called a gospel, which means "good news."
Christians later included the four gospels with the writings of Paul and other early Christian leaders.
Together, these works became known as the New Testament.
The New Testament was added to the Greek version of the Jewish sacred writings, which Christians called the Old Testament.
These works formed the Christian Bible.

12. In his writings, Augustine defended Christianity against its critics.
Augustine wrote The City of God.
This was one of the first history books written from the viewpoint of a Christian.

13. The Bishop of Rome
The bishop of Rome claimed power over the other bishops.
He believed that he had received the authority of the apostle Peter.
His diocese was in Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire.
By A.D. 600, people began to call the bishop of Rome by a special title— pope. The title is from a Latin word, meaning "father."
Latin speaking Christians in the western part of the empire accepted the pope as head of all the churches.
The Latin churches as a group became known as the Roman Catholic Church.
The Eastern Church became the Orthodox Church- They didn’t accept the pope as head of the church.