Church History

History of Christianity 

 

North Americans are familiar with Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and other modern Christian sects, but most are unfamiliar with Orthodoxy. A comprehensive study of the undivided Church of the first 1000 years of Christianity and what caused the changes and separations in the second 1000 years is necessary to understand this ancient faith. The following is only a brief overview.

 

 

An abbreviated history of Christianity

Jesus Christ established the beginnings of the Church and gave the apostles authority to represent Him and to build up His Church. The Apostles extended the authority of Jesus to others that succeeded them in teaching, worship and leadership. Their successors were called bishops. They have continued in direct apostolic inheritance to this day

 

 

The Church was persecuted initially, yet it still flourished.  From
Jerusalem it spread throughout the
Roman Empire and into
Asia and
Africa. 

In the
Roman Empire, all religious persecution had ended by 309.  Soon after, Christianity became its favored religion. To keep the growing Church organized, so it could protect the truth, five primary churches were eventually set apart. Four were in the Empire’s eastern cities of
Alexandria,
Antioch,
Constantinople and
Jerusalem and one was in its western city of
Rome. Each had exclusive territories, which together covered all of Christendom. Each was called a “Patriarchate.” Each Patriarchate had a paternal bishop. All other churches were led by other bishops or their priests and were a part of one of the five Patriarchates. No bishop was permitted to interfere in matters outside of his own jurisdiction, unless his advice was requested. The Patriarchates, which were independently governed, were completely united as Christ’s
One 
Church, but no “one” person was its absolute leader. When a major dogmatic controversy arose, bishops and others from all the Patriarchates assembled to clarify and defend the truth. The correct belief and worship was known as Orthodoxy. 

For the first thousand years, truth-believing Christians carefully guarded the Faith.  Unfortunately, a complex series of events disrupted their unity and culminated with the take over of the Church of Rome by the domineering Western European Franks in 1009. 

In 1054, the bishop of
Rome, who was called “pope”, insisted that an altered Western European concept of the Trinity, which did not conform to Christ’s Word, be a part of the Faith. He expected all Christians to accept this change without consulting the other Patriarchates. This pope, who was a Frank, no longer recognized the united bishops’ decision-making process when defining the Faith. He wanted everyone in Christendom to submit to his supreme authority as the Western Europeans had done.  These unprecedented innovations, which had actually been repudiated by previous popes of Roman heritage, were rejected in the East. According to Scripture and Apostolic Tradition, Christ’s doctrines were not to be altered. Furthermore, all bishops were equal in spiritual matters.  There was no universal head apart from Jesus Christ Himself. 

Because the Eastern Christians would not yield to the pope’s unprecedented demands, the undivided Church of the first 1000 years became separated.  Sadly, Christianity has not been united since that time. 

After the Schism of 1054, Western Europeans followed an ever-changing Franco-Latin form of Christianity.  The Christians in the East, as well as those in the
British Isles and
Ireland, continued to worship within the unblemished Apostolic Faith.  The English were eventually compelled to give their allegiance to
Rome after the papal-supported conquest of
England by the
Normans in 1066. Bishops loyal to
Rome replaced bishops in
England who had always worshipped and taught in the original, pure way.  In 1171, the converted English crossed the
Irish Sea and took control of
Ireland. These two actions detached British and Celtic Christians from the original, unadulterated Faith. 

Another Latin Christian aggression with staggering consequences would happen in the East during the 4th Crusade. In 1204, a Western Christian army would violate Eastern Christians and plunder their magnificent holy city of
Constantinople. Muslim Turks would eventually overthrow the weakened city. It would never again regain its former Christian glory. The Pope of Rome recently asked Orthodox Eastern Christians forgiveness of this and other violations. 

In the 16th century, a movement rapidly spread throughout
Western Europe.  Many Latin Catholics began to question the corruptive, excessive authority of the Papacy and its clergy.  These protesters were either excommunicated or willingly broke away from papal control.  This movement was called The Reformation.  It ultimately led its followers to freedom from the Church of Rome. The intention of the early Reformers was to bring the medieval Church of Rome “back to its original apostolic beliefs.” Instead, the movement eventually developed and splintered into a number of groups with a variety of beliefs and became known as Protestantism. 

From the 16th century to the present, the Church of Rome has continued with a changing faith. Other “Western Christians,” Protestants and additional modern Christian sects, directly or indirectly, inherited their faith from
Rome. In their zeal to reject
Rome’s authority and many of its innovations, they unknowingly pass over some of Christianity’s original foundations. Since the 16th century, Roman Catholic, Protestant and other newer Christian expressions have dominated
Western Europe and the
New World. During much of this period, Eastern Christians were overcome by oppressive non-Christian or atheistic regimes, yet they continued to worship within the unaltered Faith. The   Orthodox Faith has always been the principal Christian faith of Eastern European and
Eastern Mediterranean.

Orthodox History

 

Historically, the Orthodox Church is the first Christian Church. It was founded by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and is the Church described in the pages of the New Testament…the Church by which and for which these holy scriptures were written and eventually compiled. The Apostles of Christ carried His Gospel message throughout the known world during the first century A.D. and established the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ wherever they went. 

The Christian Church was essentially one for the first one thousand years or so. The five great patriarchal centers, established in the cultural centers of the
Roman Empire, (
Rome,
Constantinople,
Alexandria,
Antioch and
Jerusalem), formed a cohesive whole -- one Church united in belief, but allowing for minor regional differences in form and practice. In response to the occasional heretical or schismatic group, the Church fully developed its conciliar approach to defining doctrine and solidifying its unification. It was during this time that the seven Great (Ecumenical) Councils of the Church were held. These councils, guided by the All-Holy Spirit, based their decisions on the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers of the Church. Thus, the basic tenets of the Church....Her doctrine, worship and common practices....were defined for all time. 

Unfortunately, the unity and cohesiveness established by the councils began to be jeopardized beginning in the eighth and ninth centuries through a dispute between
Rome and the other great Patriarchates regarding the supremacy of the Pope of Rome. This concept of papal supremacy, which threatened the conciliar nature of the Church, became more of an issue in the ensuing centuries and resulted in the unilateral addition of new and strange doctrines by
Rome to those approved by the great councils. It also involved the addition of practices and customs which exceeded the normal bounds of discretion given to any one bishop and his diocese. These issues culminated in the so called Great Schism, which occurred during the 11th and 12th Centuries. Meaningful relations between
Rome and the other four patriarchates gradually ceased to exist during this time. Hence, the Pope of Rome, standing alone, pursued his developing claim of universal headship of the Church in the West. 

In the East, the other four patriarchates remained intact. Today, nearly a thousand years later, the
Great 
Church of the East remains whole and united. To be sure, other patriarchates have been added as the Church has expanded into the world, most notably those of
Russia and
Eastern Europe. Regardless of devastating wars (including the Crusades), the Muslim conquest of many Orthodox lands, and even ruthless suppression by atheistic communist regimes, the
Great 
Church -- the Holy Orthodox Church -- has continued in Her undiminished and unaltered faith and practice received from Christ and His Apostles.
 

The Church in
North America

The influence of the Christian colonists in the
Eastern United States is well-known among students of American history. With this colonial Christianity, however, came a certain set of assumptions based on the religious environment and convictions of
Western Europe, with its dependence on Roman Catholic and Protestant thinking. 

The Orthodox were latecomers to the American shores. In fact, the first Orthodox Christians came not to the eastern seaboard of the
U.S., but to what is now its largest state,
Alaska. In 1794, ten missionary monks from the Valaam Monastery located west of St. Petersburg, Russia, (close to present day Finland), arrived on Kodiak Island, Alaska. Two of the missionaries, the Monk Herman and the Priest-Monk Juvenaly, were later to become Saints of the Orthodox Church. 

After many initial difficulties, the mission prospered for the next century. This prosperity occurred within the twin goals of Orthodox mission: the Incarnation of the Word of God within the language and customs of a particular country and the growth of an indigenous Church to sanctify and endorse the identity of the people of that country. By the time of the sale of
Alaska to the
United States in 1867, the whole territory was considered to be firmly Orthodox Christian. 

When the Orthodox Christian latecomers finally arrived on the Eastern shores of
North America, mostly during the first two decades of the 20th Century, they were often ignored as a foreign minority. The Western European based religious and cultural climate of the
New World was already deeply entrenched. Thus, rather than mingle with the culture on a religious basis, Orthodox Christians tended to maintain their
Old World ethnic identity. They imported priests and bishops from the old country and retained their native languages for the various worship services. Thus, they effectively closed their churches to outsiders who were unable to understand what was being said or done. 

But times have changed. Today, the Orthodox Church is being taken seriously in
North America. Many people, distressed and frustrated by the direction being taken in various churches and religious circles (and desiring a fuller worship and spiritual life), are turning to the changeless Orthodox Church of the East. New Orthodox churches are being planted in cities and towns from coast to coast. Entire congregations of mainstream and evangelical Protestants are turning to Eastern Orthodoxy. Within the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America alone, the number of churches has increased from 40 to over 400 within a very short period of time. 

Although we still hear the terms “Greek Orthodox”, “Russian Orthodox”, “Serbian Orthodox”, “Antiochian Orthodox”, etc., the Orthodox Church remains one Church…unified in belief and practice, yet recognizing individual cultural differences. This life of diversity within complete unity has been the hallmark of the Orthodox Christian Church for two thousand years. In fact,
North America is one of the few regions in the world where there are Orthodox communities affiliated with different ethnic Patriarchates throughout the world. This would suggest to the outsider a disunity of some sort. The seeming disunity, however, exists only on the administrative level because THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IS ONE! By the Grace of God, even this administrative disunity will soon disappear and there can be a single North American Orthodox Church....completely unified in Jesus Christ and transfiguring all culture and earthly division.