The First 150 Years of Christianity | Early Church Animated

This is the first known image of Jesus a scratched  graffiti of a man with a donkey's head nailed to   a cross it was etched into the wall of a school  building on Rome's Palatine Hill around 200 AD   the writing scroll beside it mocks a Christian  called Alexamenos for worshiping his God when   Christianity first appeared on the scene the Roman  world didn't know what to make of it it started   with the birth of a Jewish boy in Bethlehem  many today know the story the son of God born   to a virgin who a master following taught people  to love God and love one another and was crucified   as a criminal christians today as then believe he  rose from death after 3 days in the tomb and that   he even ascended into heaven in many ways this  was not such a strange story for the ancient world   romans were familiar with divine beings walking  the earth among the heroic sons of the god Zeus   Perseus had been born to a virgin Ascelapius  had been a miraculous healer and Hercules had   suffered and died and ascended to heaven as a god  in their own day too it seemed that in the Roman   emperors the sons of God again walked among them  but the idea of worshiping a crucified criminal   was deeply unsettling and so were the worship  practices of the people associated with this   the Christians they were destabilizing the social  order meeting in secret and gaining converts fast   today this once disconcerting Jewish sect is  one of the most recognizable and widespread   faiths in the world but it wasn't always like  that join us in this video as we explore the   first 150 years of Christianity who were these  first Christians why did they make the Romans   so nervous and what were they really like in 112  AD the Roman governor Pliny the Younger sat down   to write a letter to the Emperor Trajan asking  for advice he'd been receiving complaints from   across the province people were coming forwards  and denouncing the members of a peculiar new   Jewish sect to be tried in court Pliny the younger  was the governor of the Roman province of Bithynia   Pontus today's northern Turkey he'd been brought  up by his uncle the famous natural historian Pliny  the Elder who had been killed while investigating  the eruption at Vesuvius after a high-flying legal   and political career in Rome Pliny the younger had  taken up the governorship of the province he was   more than capable of handling things but he felt  that these reports of this strange religious group   needed special advice from the emperor himself you  see Christians were refusing to participate in key   elements of Roman life the Roman world was filled  with gods they ensured the empire's prosperity   and protection their temples and shrines and  the public sacrifices in their honour were   part of everyday life binding communities  together and maintaining the god's favour   but Christians wouldn't offer sacrifices or salute  shrines or even attend public festivals they were   never seen at the theatre or the games and they  would turn down public office and even decline   dinner invitations because all of these involved  worship and sacrifices to the Roman gods to Roman   officials this wasn't just antisocial it was  dangerous the Roman historian Tacitus a close   friend of Pliny's who governed the neighbouring  province accused Christians of a hatred of   humanity to the Romans they were atheists whose  refusal to worship any of the Roman gods risked   divine punishment for everyone and worse still  they seemed to be everywhere and growing while   Christianity had begun as a small Jewish  movement in Jerusalem it hadn't stayed there   Jesus' disciples known as the apostles had been  spreading Jesus' message across the Roman Empire   and beyond we'll talk about where the apostles  went and what happened to them in another episode   christianity didn't stay Jewish either non-jews  Gentiles were also converting in large numbers   christians could be anyone anywhere and  that really meant anyone as Pliny began   interrogating Christians he came face to face  with a striking range of people people from the   city and the countryside men and women slaves and  Roman citizens for one Roman philosopher they were   the lowest dregs of society but there were also  Christians among the wealthy and highly educated   in the book of Acts we see Roman centurions and  wealthy merchants converting the Apostle Paul   even met believers in Emperor Nero's household  later in the second century they were classically   trained philosophers and Roman lawyers like Justin  Martyr and Minucius Felix who wrote intellectual   defenses of their Christian faith the diversity  of these Christian communities made the Romans   very nervous Rome was a highly stratified society  the hierarchies between masters and slaves social   classes and genders were rigidly observed  but Christians called each other brothers   and sisters there were two female slaves that  Pliny interrogated who were apparently leaders   in the community christians were replacing  the natural social order and real family   relationships with new religious ones and it  was threatening the very fabric of Roman society   so Christians were suddenly everywhere threatening  the wrath of the Roman gods subverting normal   family relationships and they were also meeting  in secret terrifying rumours spread about what   they got up to in the shadows there was suspicion  that they were conspiring against the emperor one   Roman philosopher even described how Christians  would trick new members into eating children   disguised as bread and licking up their blood  for all these crimes they deserved death and   so as the accusations rolled in Pliny was  keen to piece together what the Christians   were getting up to and he began to investigate so  what were Christians actually doing well with the   help of Pliny's letter as well as early Christian  documents we can get a glimpse into the meetings   of some of the very first Christians picture this  it's early Sunday morning just before dawn and the   people are starting to gather one week they meet  at a home in the city other times in the open air   in the country the overseer of the church known  as the Episcopos starts the meeting with a prayer   taught by Jesus the Episcopos would have been  someone handpicked by one of the apostles or one   of their followers then as dawn breaks everyone  turns to face the sun and they begin singing this   is a Jewish practice but the song also sounds  a lot like a Greek song honoring a god called a   hymnos they sing about Jesus honoring him as their  Lord and their God afterwards someone stands to   read to the gathering sometimes they read passages  from the Jewish scriptures our Old Testament in   which they identify prophecies about Jesus other  times they read from the stories told by the   apostles who met Jesus sometimes there may even be  an older member of the community who retells the   stories they remember hearing from the apostles  when they used to come and speak to them in person   these stories might go on for hours the community  is eager to hear everything they can about Jesus   then one of the leaders of the community gives  practical teaching based on Jesus's commands   taking especially seriously the command to love  your enemies and give to everyone who asks the   meeting finishes with a collection for widows and  orphans the sick prisoners and visitors staying   among them these morning meetings would be open  to everyone but for those people who wanted it   the early church would baptize them outside  in running water pronouncing the name of the   Father Son and Holy Spirit over them the morning  gathering disperses and then a smaller meeting   gathers later in the day this one was only for  baptized believers it was these smaller meetings   that all those rumors were about so Pliny was  anxious to discover what horrifying mysteries   were performed at these meetings but through  all his interrogations all he discovered was   that Christians were having a meal which they  called a thanksgiving meal which also involved   a ritual with bread and wine which they called  the body and the blood of Jesus so no children   hiding in the bread not at all in fact Christians  were known to rescue and raise abandoned Roman   babies as they rejected the Roman practice  of killing or abandoning unwanted children   the way Christians lived flowed from what they  were taught in their meetings they went around   talking about a loving God who loved the world and  demanded love between people even between enemies   in their meetings they were taught to reject magic  and violence and they were known for caring for   the sick as well as their very restrained sexual  ethic all this was highly countercultural in Roman   society roman authors like the philosopher Galen  and the satirist Lucian both pitied and admired   Christians for how they really lived out these  ideals all this made Christians seem like a scary   and a mysterious community but also kind of an  attractive and a beautiful one let's go back to   Pliny's letter one of his main questions to the  emperor was whether he could have a Christian   killed just for the name Christian without finding  evidence of any other crimes the emperor replied   saying that he shouldn't actively seek out  Christians in line with Roman law Christians   should only be charged if they were publicly  denounced as Christian by an accuser willing   to face them in court but if this did happen it  was enough to execute someone for the name alone   while there was no empire-wide persecution of  Christians during the first two centuries it   did happen locally and it was brutal some of the  most notable public executions in this period were   during the reign of the emperor Nero in Rome  around 64 AD Nero had some Christians burned   alive others torn apart by the dogs in public  arenas and others crucified whatever the case   these efforts to suppress the movement often  backfired their suffering drew sympathy from   spectators and strengthened the resolve of  Christian communities christianity presented   a challenge to the usual Roman methods of social  control not only had their so-called god died but   he had returned from the dead and promised that  Christians too would rise again this meant the   threat of death usually such an effective tool  for discipline had lost its sting for the average   Roman citizen this was unthinkable the idea of  life after death was inconceivable except for   the greatest emperors and warriors the threat of  death usually held weight because this life was   the only possible existence for Romans but these  Christians confidently believed in a resurrected   life after death in fact by the end of the second  century their courage in the face of death was one   of their most noted qualities by Roman authors  and remember where Pliny is Bithynia Pontus   this was where Christians had received a letter  in the previous generation that letter is one   Peter which is in the Bible today in it Christians  are encouraged to persevere and rejoice through   suffering especially when suffering because  of the name of Christ we don't know how the   Christians of Bithynia responded to the deaths  of the members of their community at the hands   of Pliny Pliny encountered several people who  said they had already stopped being Christians   more may have left feeling the pressure but others  might well have held on to the words of 1 Peter   but if you had to suffer even just for the name of  Christ why was anyone choosing to convert even if   you weren't killed it often meant losing friends  and family well for Jewish believers they were   convinced that Jesus was the long promised Messiah  of their people gentile intellectuals like Justin   were drawn to the philosophical depth of Christian  teachings they saw Greek and Roman trends in   philosophy like Plato's belief in a single good  creator God leading up to the person of Jesus   for some it was perhaps the radical inclusivity of  Christian communities where they found dignity and   purpose and for many it was the promise of hope of  a God who loved them and offered them forgiveness   and a life beyond death the backdrops to many of  these spiritual and intellectual transformations   were close personal relationships and what shines  through many of the surviving writings of early   Christians is that they were convinced that they  had had an individual encounter with the divine   living Jesus so people converted for all sorts of  reasons and for many Christians the suffering they   would endure was all worth it they saw Jesus's  crucifixion not as a defeat but as an act of   ultimate love and his resurrection as a proof of  his divinity they believed they were following   a God who had entered into human suffering and  conquered death offering them forgiveness and   eternal life this image this God that the  Christians claimed to encounter was more   enduring than Pliny or Trajan could ever have  predicted by the year 200 there were probably   around 200,000 Christians across the Roman Empire  and even more throughout the Parthian Empire from   Mesopotamia to Persia France Ethiopia and even  possibly to India in the next episode we look   at the following 125 years it's a story of how  imperial wide persecution did eventually break   out the story of how Christianity continued  to spread throughout the Persian Empire North   Africa and even to Britain and it's the story  of how we went from having a Roman emperor who   allowed the execution of Christians simply for  the name alone to a Roman Emperor who took on   the name Christian himself and even convened  the first global council of Christian leaders.