A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH

Church history, or the history of the Christian Faith, began about 30 A.D. in Palestine with a small number of Jews and Jewish Proselytes, about 120 according to Acts 1:15, following the resurrection of Jesus Christ. By the third century A.D, Christianity had grown to become the dominant religion of the northern Mediterranean world. It also gained important extensions to the east and south of the Mediterranean. Christianity spread initially from Jerusalem throughout the Near East, into places such as Aram, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Asia Minor, Jordan and Egypt.

Early Christianity may be divided into 2 distinct phases: the apostolic period, when the first apostles were alive and led the Church, and the post-apostolic period, when an early episcopal structure developed, and persecution was periodically intense. 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 a new period in Church History.

In the 4th century it was successively adopted as the state religion by Armenia in AD-301, Georgia in AD-319, the Aksumite Empire in AD-325, and the Roman Empire in AD-380. After the Council of Ephesus in AD-431 the Nestorian Schism created the Church of the East.

The Council of Chalcedon in AD-451 further divided Christianity into Oriental Orthodoxy and Chalcedonian Christianity.

Chalcedonian Christianity divided into the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church in the Great Schism of 1054. The Protestant Reformation which began in the 1500’s created new Christian communities that separated from the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches and have evolved into many different denominations.

The Oriental Orthodox Churches
The Oriental Orthodox Churches represents a communion of six churches within Christianity: The Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Eritrean Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox (Antioch), Malankara Orthodox (India), and Armenian Apostolic churches. The head of each church is called a “Patriarch” or “Catholicos” or “Pope”.” Although these six churches are still in full communion with one another and have similar theologies and doctrines, they are hierarchically autonomous from each other. Because of this independence, the churches have established their own unique forms of literature, ritual, art, and liturgy. Not surprisingly, they use various languages and even have different versions of scripture due to language differences. Each of the six churches traces its heritage back to the missionary efforts of the first century C.E. The Oriental Orthodox Churches were unified with the Christian Church universal until the 5th century C.E. when they split from the Roman and Byzantine (Eastern Orthodox) Churches at the Fourth Ecumenical Council (at Chalcedon in 451 C.E.), thus being termed “non-Chalcedonian” or “pre-Chalcedonian.” The split occurred over the doctrine of the “two natures” of Christ, of which the Oriental Orthodox claimed Christ only had one nature, at once both human and divine. The Oriental Orthodox churches, which are all members of the World Council of Churches, represent some 60 million Christians.

Nestorianism
Nestorianism is basically the doctrine that Jesus existed as two persons, the man Jesus and the divine Son of God, rather than as a unified person. This doctrine is identified with Nestorius (c.386-451), Patriarch of Constantinople, although he himself denied holding this belief.
Nestorius and his teachings were eventually condemned as heretical at the Council of Ephesus in 431 and the Council of Chalcedon in 451, which led to the Nestorian Schism; churches supporting Nestorius broke with the rest of the Christian Church. Following that, many of Nestorius’s supporters relocated to the Sasanian Empire, where they affiliated with the local Christian community, known as the Church of the East. Over the next decades the Church of the East became increasingly Nestorian in doctrine, leading to it becoming known alternatively as the Nestorian Church.

The Eastern Orthodox Churches
The Eastern Orthodox Church is not a single church but rather a family of 13 self-governing bodies, denominated by the nation in which they are located (e.g., the Greek Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church). They are united in their understanding of the sacraments, doctrine, liturgy, and church government, but each administers its own affairs. The Orthodox Church claims to be the one true church of Christ, and seeks to trace its origin back to the original apostles through an unbroken chain of apostolic succession.

The Eastern Orthodox Church is a communion of autocephalous churches, each typically governed by a Holy Synod. The head of each Orthodox church is called a “patriarch” or “metropolitan.” The patriarch of Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey) is considered the ecumenical—or universal—patriarch. He enjoys special honor, but he has no power to interfere with the 12 other Orthodox communions.

The Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that all bishops are equal by virtue of their ordination, and has no central governing structure analogous to the Papacy in the Roman Catholic Church. The contemporary Orthodox Church had shared communion with the Roman Catholic Church until the East–West Schism starting around AD 1054, which had been triggered by disputes over doctrine, especially the authority of the Pope. Prior to the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, the Eastern Orthodox had also shared communion with the Oriental Orthodox churches, separating primarily over differences in Christology. The Orthodox Church (Eastern) numbers its membership at 300 million worldwide.

Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity spread to all of Europe in the Middle Ages.

The Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.27 billion members. The Roman Catholic Church traces its history to Jesus Christ and the Apostles. Over the course of centuries it developed a highly sophisticated theology and an elaborate organizational structure headed by the papacy, the oldest continuing absolute monarchy in the world.

Was the Roman Catholic Church a part of the Orthodox Church?
Yes, the Roman Catholic Church was a part of the Orthodox Church, believing and teaching the same doctrines and Sacred Tradition, until 1054. It was the Roman Catholic Church that broke away from the Orthodox Church. In that year the Patriarch of Rome, or the bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope of Rome broke away from the original Church by making unacceptable claims of authority over the entire Christian Church. Since then, the Roman Catholic Church has added new teachings, which the ancient Christian Church above rejects.

Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising the Church of England and churches which are historically tied to it or hold similar beliefs, worship practices and church structures. Anglicanism, one of the major branches of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation and a form of Christianity that includes features of both Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. Anglicanism is loosely organised in the Anglican Communion, a worldwide family of religious bodies that represents the offspring of the Church of England and recognises the archbishop of Canterbury as its nominal head.

From the time of the Reformation, the Church of England expanded, following the routes of British exploration and colonization. The American Revolution compelled the organization of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA), which completed its structure by 1789. The Anglican Church of Canada established its own separate organization in 1893 , as did the Anglican Church of Australia in 1962. Vigorous missionary work in the British colonies produced strong churches in such diverse places as Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, India, and Australia.

Protestant Reformation.
The Protestant Reformation was a major 16th century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, initiated by Martin Luther and continued by other early Protestant Reformers in 16th century Europe.

The term Protestant was not initially applied to the reformers, but later was used to describe all groups protesting Roman Catholic orthodoxy

• Martin Luther founded the Lutheran Church, in 1522.
• King Henry VIII founded the Anglican Church of England, in 1534.
• John Knox of Scotland founded the Presbyterian Church, in 1580.
• The Congregational Church was founded by Robert Brown in Holland, in 1582.
• John Smith in Amsterdam founded the Baptist Church, in 1606.
• Michelis Jones in New York founded the Dutch Reformed Church, in 1628.
• The Protestant Episcopal Church is an offshoot of the Church of England, and was founded by Samuel Seabury in the American Colonies in the 18th Century.
• The Methodist Church, was founded by John & Charles Wesley in England in 1774.
• The Unitarian Church was founded by Theophilus Lindley in London in 1774.
• The Mormon Church (Latter Day Saints) was founded by Joseph Smith in 1829.
• The Salvation Army was founded by William Booth in London in 1888.

Anabaptism
Anabaptism is a Christian movement which traces its origins to the Radical Reformation in Europe. Some consider this movement to be an offshoot of European Protestantism, while others see it as distinct. Anabaptists are Christians who believe in delaying baptism until the candidate confesses his or her faith in Christ, as opposed to being baptized as an infant.

Restorationism:
The term “Restorationism” or “Restorationist Movement” refers to a group of largely unrelated Christian denominations who share one important belief in common, that Christianity went terribly astray early in its history. It experienced the Great Apostasy during which Christians abandoned many of the original teachings of Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus Christ), Paul and other apostles.

“Restorationist” denominations include: The Christadelphians, The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Churches of Christ, The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), Independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, International Churches of Christ, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons), etc.