The apostolic communities

From

30 AD

Origin

Jerusalem and the eastern Mediterranean

The first Christian congregations, Jewish in membership and setting, spreading through the synagogues and cities of the empire. Every later tradition traces itself here.

What marks it out

Worship in homes and in the synagogue alongside it, since the first believers did not understand themselves to have left Judaism. The breaking of bread as a shared meal rather than a rite set apart from one. Goods held loosely and often in common. No canon yet, no creed, and no building — the letters that became the New Testament were written to these congregations as occasional correspondence, not as scripture.

Bodies that grew from it

• Eastern Orthodox
• Roman Catholic
• Church of the East (431 AD)
• Oriental Orthodox (451 AD)

Figures

• Ignatius of Antioch c. 35–c. 108

  Seven letters written on the road to his execution

• Polycarp of Smyrna c. 69–c. 155

  The link between the apostles and the second century

• Justin Martyr c. 100–c. 165

  Arguing for Christianity in the terms of philosophy

• Irenaeus of Lyon c. 130–c. 202

  Against Heresies, and the case for a single scripture

• Tertullian c. 155–c. 220

  The first great Christian writer in Latin

• Perpetua and Felicity c. 182–203

  A martyr's prison diary, in her own hand

• Origen of Alexandria c. 185–c. 253

  The first systematic theologian, and the first great biblical scholar

• Cyprian of Carthage c. 210–258

  What to do with those who failed under persecution

• Antony of Egypt c. 251–356

  The desert as a way of life

• Athanasius of Alexandria c. 296–373

  Holding the Nicene faith through five exiles

• Gregory of Nazianzus c. 329–390

  The five orations that settled the doctrine of the Trinity

• Macrina the Younger c. 330–379

  The household that produced the Cappadocian theology

• Basil of Caesarea c. 330–379

  Monastic rule, and a hospital city outside Caesarea

• Gregory of Nyssa c. 335–c. 395

  Mystical theology, and an outright attack on slavery

• Ambrose of Milan c. 339–397

  A bishop who made an emperor do penance

• Jerome c. 342–420

  The Vulgate

• John Chrysostom c. 347–407

  Preaching that got him exiled twice

• Augustine of Hippo 354–430

  Confessions, The City of God, and the shape of western theology

• Cyril of Alexandria c. 376–444

  The christology behind Ephesus, and the methods behind it

• Patrick c. 385–c. 461

  The mission to Ireland, described by the missionary

• Leo the Great c. 400–461

  The Tome that Chalcedon adopted, and a meeting with Attila

• Benedict of Nursia c. 480–c. 547

  The Rule that organised western monasticism

• Gregory the Great c. 540–604

  Administering a city, and sending a mission to England

• Maximus the Confessor c. 580–662

  Two wills in Christ, argued at the cost of his hand and tongue

• Bede c. 673–735

  The Ecclesiastical History of the English People

• John of Damascus c. 675–c. 749

  The defence of icons, written from outside the empire

• Cyril and Methodius c. 826–885

  An alphabet made so the Slavs could have scripture

In the record

1. 30–33 AD Founding

   The first communities

   Followers of Jesus form a distinct movement within Judaism, meeting in homes and synagogues.

2. 49 AD Council

   The council at Jerusalem

   The apostles and elders settled that Gentile believers need not be circumcised or keep the whole law of Moses.

This body appears in the history but does not carry recorded doctrinal positions here, so it is absent from the comparison panels.