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History of Christianity

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For the magazine, see Christianity Today#Christian History.

"Church historian" redirects here. For LDS official church historian, see Church Historian and Recorder.

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The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, its followers and the Church with its various denominations, from the first century to the present.
Christianity emerged in the Levant (now Palestine and Israel) in the mid-1st century AD. Christianity spread initially from Jerusalem throughout the Near East, into places such as Syria, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Asia Minor, Jordan and Egypt. In the 4th century it was successively adopted as the state religion by Armenia in 301, Georgia in 319,^[1][2] the Aksumite Empire in 325,^[3][4] and the Roman Empire in 380. It became common to all of Europe in the Middle Ages and expanded throughout the world during Europe's Age of Exploration from the Renaissance onwards to become the world's largest religion.^[5] Today there are 2 billion Christians, one third of humanity.^[6] Christianity divided into the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church in the Great Schism of 1054. The Protestant Reformation split the Catholic Church into many different denominations. Getting all the facts Click these link now  Link Now 
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Christianity and Paganism

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Part of seventh century casket, depicting the pan-Germanic legend of Weyland Smith, which was apparently also a part of Anglo-Saxon pagan mythology.

Early Christianity developed in an era of the Roman Empire during which many religions were practiced, that are, due to the lack of a better term, labeled paganism. Paganism, in spite of its etymological meaning of rural, has a number of distinct meanings. It refers to the Greco-Roman religions of the Roman Empire period, including the Roman imperial cult, the various mystery religions, as well as philosophic monotheistic religions such as Neoplatonism and Gnosticism and the tribal religions practiced on the fringes of the Empire.
From the point of view of the early Christians these religions all qualified as ethnic (or gentile, ethnikos, gentilis, the term translating goyim, later rendered as paganus) in contrast with Judaism. Since the Council of Jerusalem, the Christian apostles accepted both Jewish and pagan converts, and there was a precarious balance between the Jewish believers, insisting on the obedience to the Torah Laws by all Christians, on one hand, and Gentile Christians, developed in the gentile missionary context, on the other.
Christianity during the Middle Ages stood in opposition to the pagan ethnic religions of the peoples outside the former Roman Empire, i.e. Germanic paganism, Slavic paganism etc.

Contents

• 1 Pagan influences on Christianity
  • 1.1 Influence on early Christian theology
• 2 Antiquity
  • 2.1 Origins of Christianity
  • 2.2 Persecution of early Christians in the Roman Empire
    • 2.2.1 Persecution under Nero, 64–68 AD
    • 2.2.2 Persecution from the 2nd century to Constantine
    • 2.2.3 The Diocletianic Persecution
  • 2.3 Prohibition and persecution of Paganism in the Roman Empire
• 3 Christianization during the European Middle Ages
  • 3.1 Saxons
  • 3.2 Anglo-Saxon
  • 3.3 Scandinavia
• 4 See also
• 5 References
• 6 Further reading

Pagan influences on Christianity

Further information: Hellenic philosophy and Christianity

Pythagorean mysticism influenced Christianity.

In the course of the Christianisation of Europe in the Early Middle Ages, the Christian churches adopted many elements of national cult and folk religion, resulting in national churches like Latin, Germanic, Russian, Armenian, Greek and so on. Some Pagan ceremonies were brought in and the festivals became modern holidays as pagans joined the early church. The Pagan vernal equinox celebration was 'Christianized' and then referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord and celebrated as the Feast of the Annunciation. The Germanic Pagan solstice celebrations (Midsummer festivals) are also sometimes referred to by Neopagans and others as Litha, stemming from Bede's De temporum ratione and the fire festival or Lith- Summer solstice was a tradition for many pagans. This pagan holiday was basically brought in and given a name change, and in Christianity was then associated with the nativity of John the Baptist, which now is observed on the same day, June 24, in the Catholic, Orthodox and some Protestant churches. It is six months before Christmas because Luke 1:26 and Luke 1.36 imply that John the Baptist was born six months earlier than Jesus, although the Bible does not say at which time of the year this happened.^[1]
The practices were allowed or supported by some such as Clement of Alexandria, (c. AD 150-215) who explains that "prayers are offered while looking toward sunrise in the East" because the Orient represents the birth of light that "dispels the darkness of the night" and because of the orientation of "the ancient temples."^[2] or Origen (c. AD 185-254), according to whom with the East symbolizes the soul that looks to the source of light.^[3]
One goal of the Reformation was to return the Christian churches to the state of early Christianity. Restorationists such as Jehovah's Witnesses continue to argue that mainstream Christianity has departed from Apostolic Christianity due, in part, to such Pagan influences.^{[citation needed]} See also Great Apostasy.
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