Western Civilization

The Rise of Christianity    page 2 of 3

THE EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES

4. The Organization of Christianity, AD 33-313

After the Jewish rebellion in 89-90, the Jews were scattered throughout the empire in what is called the diaspora. As a Jewish reform movement, early Christianity first spread through the Jewish communities in the cities of the empire. The Jews made their way at the less attractive industries such as tanning, leather tent making, "bottling" olive oil and similar things, shoe and sandal-making, and the like. They lived in crowded and smelly industrial sections of the city, and that is where the first Christian communities arose. Christianity was more than just an urban religion (residents of the surrounding countryside, or pagus were called "pagans"), it was a ghetto religion. Its members were of the lowest classes, and today's college students would probably not have wanted to sit next to Peter, James, or any of the early Christians because of their smell, if for no other reason.

The early Christians were quite intolerant. They believed that their God was the only God and that their Savior was the only savior. "Except through me you shall not see my Father," as they believed Jesus had said. More than that, they also believed that Jesus had commanded them to spread the faith by converting others. As a consequence, Christians were not willing to let others follow their own faiths, but condemned the beliefs of others and tried to convert them to their own belief. This was quite contrary to Roman imperial policy, which attempted to respect all other religions and even to integrate them into official state religious observances. The Christians refused to accept this attitude and so were continually flouting imperial authority. The faith was illegal, and its members often persecuted by the government.

In order to steer as clear as possible of the government, they formed inner city groups (ecclesiae) with their own internal governments under spiritual and secular overseers (episkopos > piscop > biscop > bishop), aided by the heads of households. The bishops stayed in touch with each other through letters (epistles), secret meetings (councils), and by keeping the records of the faith in secret books (bible means simply "book"). The members developed secret signs and symbols by which to recognize each other, the cross in various forms, the outline of a fish, variations on the Roman numeral three, and so forth. Christianity grew slowly, and even began to penetrate the urban middle class and some elements of the army.