The Lord Jesus grew up under the parental care of His Mother Mary and foster Father Joseph, and scripture tells us that He was completely obedient to them (LK 2:51-52). At thirty, the Lord Jesus started his public ministry calling first the twelve apostles and later the seventy-two disciples and these came under his training for the next three years as the nucleus of the early Christian community. Jesus used the word Church to refer to this new community He had started. Knowing that He would one day leave this world , He appointed Simon peter to succeed Him as the leader of his flock. note that truth comes only and only from the Lord Jesus and no other. According to Jesus,...."everyone who is on the side of truth listens to me." (Jn.18:37). Jesus, could not have left His sheep scattered without a shepherd. Here are presented the uncontestable evidence that Jesus entrusted his church to Simon peter:a) Lk 5:10-but Jesus said to Simon ," Do not be afraid, from now on I will make you fishers of men."
b)Jn.1:42 "...3 You are Simon, son of John; you will be called Cephas-which means rock "
c) Matt.16:18-20: ..."And I tell you that you are Peter and on this i will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bound on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you lose on earth will be lose in heaven".
d) Jn.21:15-17 : Again, "Simon feed my lambs , look after my sheep, feed my sheep ".
e) Lk.22:31 "Simon Simon! look, Satan has got his wish to sift you all as wheat; but i have prayed for you Simon, that your faith may not fail, and once you have recovered, you in turn must strengthen your brothers"
f) The promise of Christ that peter is the one upon whom he would have found his church which is confirmed in the acts of the apostles, chapters 1-5 where peter becomes the leader and the chief spokesman immediately and after the inauguration of the church on Pentecost Day. The church is, then, an extension of the holy family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
g) Gal. 1:18: After His conversation, St Paul had to get acquainted with Peter, the head of the church, "Only after three years did I go up to Jerusalem to meet with cephas. i stayed fifteen days with him.
h) Gal.2:1-2; Here again St Paul went before Peter and the authority of the church; " It was not until fourteen years had gone by that, I traveled up to Jerusalem, again with Barnabas and i took Titus with me too. My journey was inspired by a revelation and there, in a private session with the recognized leaders, I expounded the whole gospel that i preach to the gentiles, to make quite sure that the efforts I was making and already made should not be fruitless."
Before His departure, Jesus prayed earnestly that all those who shall come to believe in Him through the massage of His Apostles should be one without any division (Jn.17:20,23). Fifty days after His resurrection, He returned as promised, to commission them to preach to the whole world by the outpouring by the Holy Spirit (Act2:1-13) upon them.
The church was severely persecuted in the first 300 years of Christianity. The Apostle James the elder, brother of John, son of Zabedee, was beheaded in 41 AD. James the less, brother of Joseph and Judas was martyred in 62 AD St, Paul was beheaded on the outskirt of Rome and St, Peter was crucified on the orders of the Roman Emperor Nero at Nero's Circus in Rome, both in 64 AD. St Mark took the gospel massage to Alexandria in Egypt while St, Thomas travel to far away India.
The first christian community were Jerusalem, Antioch in Syria, Rome in Italy and Alexandria in Egypt. In the church of Rome, both in 64 AD. St Mark took the gospel message to Alexandria in Egypt while St Thomas traveled to far away India.
The first christian communities were Jerusalem, Antioch in Syria, Rome in ital and Alexandria in Egypt. In the church of Rome, Linus was chosen to succeed Peter, and Cletus later was to succeed Linus. At about 88 AD, Clement was elected to succeed Cletus. In the church of Antioch, Evodius succeeded Peter and on the death of Evodius in 69 AD, Ignatius was appointed the apostle John as Bishop of Antioch. This Ignatius was martyred in 110 AD. It was in Antioch that the followers of Christ were first called Christians (Acts.11:26). It was also in the same Antioch that the church was first described as Catholic (Epistle of Ignatius to the church at Smyrna,8).
By the end of the 1st century AD, just before the death of the Apostle John, we find evidence that the pattern of bishops, priests and deacons was fully established. About 170 AD, Pope Soter was said to have sent material help to the church of Corinth during a famine.
Strongly opposed by pagan philosophers as well as factions within, the church founder schools to teach and aid the spread of the faith- one in Rome headed by St Clement about 198 AD . God answered the prayers of the Christians in 312 AD when Constantine became the first Roman Emperor to be converted to Christianity. In 313 AD, he declared Christianity the official religion by the Edict of Milan. After his death, his son continued his attack on Paganism. By 341 AD, pagan cults were banned and in 356 AD, their temples were closed through out the Roman empire. In 494 AD, pope Gelasius I abolished the pagan feast of Lupercalia. pope Innocent I, about 409AD ordered the dismissal of priests who had begotten children while still serving as priests.
At least in the first 300 years after Christ, the Church continued as one united family with minimal factions. It was not until the Trinitarian controversy of the 3rd and 4th centuries AD that the first serious break in the church would occur.
The Church began when Jesus gathered his flock and taught them a new way of living and a prayer of their own. But it was at his death upon the cross that there came forth the wondrous sacrament of the whole church symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Christ,-A concise Catholic catechism.
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