How and why does Christianity separate from Judaism? How does it develop within the Roman Empire?

The Birth of Christianity
A Time of Controversy
In the 1st century BC, Palestine is a Roman province known as Judea. The Roman governor resides in Caesarea, located in the northwest of the territory, while Jerusalem remains the religious capital of Judaism.

The Jews are increasingly struggling to accept the Roman occupation, which imposes taxes and controls their way of life. They eagerly await the Messiah, foretold in the Hebrew Bible, who is supposed to liberate them and restore the kingdom of Israel.

Jesus is a Jew from Galilee, a region controlled by the Romans, located north of Judea. This figure is mentioned in a few historical texts, such as those by Flavius Josephus. He is one of the preachers traveling through Palestine, where he gains significant popularity. Many of those who listen to him become his disciples; they see in him the long-awaited Messiah, a term translated as “Christos” in Greek.

Jesus considerably irritates the Jewish religious authorities, and to the Romans, he is just another agitator. Around 30 AD, the priests of the Temple ask the Romans to put an end to his activities. Jesus is arrested, and Governor Pontius Pilate condemns him to crucifixion.

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Christianity Becomes a Religion
The closest disciples of Jesus, the apostles, proclaim that he has risen from the dead and now sits at the right hand of God. They try to spread this message among the Jews. Paul of Tarsus, converted around 40 AD, claims that Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and he decides that it is also necessary to reach out to the Gentiles. He does not require them to undergo circumcision or to adhere to Jewish dietary laws. Thus, Christianity gradually separates from Judaism and becomes a new religion.

In the second half of the 1st century, Christians begin to write down the oral traditions about the life and teachings of Jesus: these are the Gospels. The New Testament, which forms the foundation of the Christian religion, consists of the Gospels written by Jesus’ disciples after his death: Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John, who write between 65 and 100 AD. The New Testament also includes other texts written by early Christians, such as the Epistles of Paul, James, Peter, and Jude, composed between 50 and 90 AD.

Christians in the Roman Empire
The Persecution of Christians
Born in the Eastern Roman Empire, the new religion gradually spreads throughout the Empire. It particularly attracts the lower classes of Roman society because there is a genuine sense of brotherhood among Christian communities. Furthermore, this new religion promises its followers eternal life after death.

Romans who reject Christian rites accuse them of various evils, believing they anger the gods. Because Christians refuse to submit to imperial worship and the Roman pantheon, they are persecuted by many emperors who see this as a convenient way to address the demands of certain segments of the population. Arrested Christians who remain steadfast in their faith are crucified or thrown to wild beasts, becoming martyrs, like the first among them: Stephen, who was stoned in 47 AD by Jews.

To practice their faith, Christians hide, meeting in private homes, and sometimes in the catacombs in major cities like Naples and Rome. They use symbols to recognize one another, such as the cross and the fish, as well as the chrisme.

Christianity Establishes Itself in Rome
Persecutions against Christians were particularly significant in the 3rd century. However, in 313 AD, Emperor Constantine adopts a much more tolerant policy with the Edict of Milan. He ends the persecutions and allows Christians to practice their religion. He himself converts to Christianity.

After Constantine, Roman emperors become Christians, and many Roman citizens convert as well. In 392 AD, Emperor Theodosius bans polytheism, and pagan temples are closed. Christianity becomes the only authorized religion in the Roman Empire.

The Christian Church
Christian Rites
A person is considered a Christian when they receive baptism. Through this sacrament, they enter into the Christian community in a ceremony that serves to purify the recipient.

Prayer is a common way to gather; on Sundays, Christians meet to pray, read the Bible, and sing. In memory of the Last Supper, the final meal of Christ with the apostles, Christians partake in communion: they share the bread and wine consecrated by the bishop or priest.

The calendar year is marked by religious festivals that recall key moments in the life of Jesus. The most important are Easter (the resurrection of Christ) and Christmas (the birth of Jesus).

An Organized Church
The Church is the assembly of the faithful, but it also refers to the governing structures that compose it. At the head of each Christian community is a bishop, elected by the Christians. He appoints a priest to oversee worship. Some bishops hold greater significance due to the prominence of their city or the antiquity of their Christian community, such as those in Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and in the West, Rome. It is believed that the relics of Saint Peter are located there, where Paul was executed. These bishops are referred to as patriarchs.

Bishops also seek to spread Christianity while clarifying and defining Christian beliefs. This is the purpose of the Council of Nicaea, which convened in 325 at the initiative of Emperor Constantine. Christian beliefs are outlined in a Latin text, the language of the Church: The Creed.

Starting in the 3rd century, some Christians wish to withdraw from the world to dedicate themselves entirely to God through a life of prayer; these are the monks. The first appear in the East, and then from the 4th century in the West. When they live alone, they are called hermits or anchorites; when they live together in a community in a monastery, they are referred to as cenobites.

Conclusion
Emerging from Judaism, Christianity is born in the East. It gradually spreads around the Mediterranean basin and becomes another major monotheistic religion. The message of Jesus, the central figure of this religion, is conveyed by a Church that begins to structure and organize itself progressively from the 3rd century after his death.

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The division between Orthodoxy and Catholicism has a rich history. It began with events that took place in 1054. It was then that the legates of Pope Leo IX ruling at the time drew up an act of excommunication against Patriarch Michael Kerullarius of Constantinople and the entire Eastern Church. During the liturgy in the Cathedral of St. Sophia, they placed it on the throne and withdrew. Patriarch Michael responded by convening a council, at which, in turn, he excommunicated the papal ambassadors from the Church. The Pope took their side and since then, the Orthodox Churches have ceased to commemorate the popes in their services, and the Latins have been considered schismatic.

Catholicism has more than a billion followers around the world. At the head of the Catholic Church is the Pope, not the Patriarch, as in Orthodoxy. The Pope is the supreme ruler of the Holy See. Earlier in the Catholic Church, all bishops were so called. Contrary to popular belief about the total infallibility of the Pope, Catholics consider only the Pope’s doctrinal statements and decisions to be infallible. At the moment, Pope Francis is at the head of the Catholic Church. He was elected on March 13, 2013, and is the first Pope in many years to meet with the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church. In 2016, Pope Francis met with Patriarch Kirill to discuss the most important issues for Catholicism and Orthodoxy. In particular, the problem of persecution of Christians, which exists in some regions even today.

Dogmas of the Catholic Church
A number of dogmas of the Catholic Church differ from the corresponding understanding of Gospel truth in Orthodoxy.

Filioque is the dogma that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both God the Father and God the Son.
Celibacy is the dogma of clergy celibacy.
Catholic Sacred Tradition includes the decisions made after the seven Ecumenical Councils and the Papal Epistles.
Purgatory is the dogma of an intermediate “station” between hell and heaven, where one can atone for his sins.
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary and her bodily ascension.
Communion of the laity with the body of Christ only, of the clergy with the body and blood.

Of course, these are not all the differences from Orthodoxy, but Catholicism recognizes those dogmas that Orthodoxy does not regard as true.

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Sunnism emerged as a movement as early as the first century of Islam as a result of a power struggle between supporters and relatives of the Prophet Muhammad-the relatives of the murdered third caliph Osman (644-656) of the Meccan Omeya family and supporters of the fourth caliph Ali (656-661), the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. Ali’s followers defended the special right of his descendants, the Alids, to power, to imamat – mediation between God and men, spiritual and political leadership of the community, and formed another direction in Islam – Shiism.

Sunnis recognized the caliph as the supreme head of the “community of believers” with spiritual and secular power as the successor of the Prophet Muhammad. Since the 10th century, the caliph became a Muslim high priest, almost completely losing political power.

The development of Muslim society required the development of jurisprudence – fiqh. The followers of Sunnism recognized the Quran, Sunna, ijma and qiyas as its basis. Ijma provides the consensus opinion of the theologians-legal scholars on certain religious, legal and everyday issues not mentioned in the Quran or Sunnah, and expresses the opinion of the entire Sunni Muslim community; qiyas means a judgment on provisions not stipulated in the Quran and Sunnah by analogy with the stipulated provisions.

On the basis of the Qur’an and the Sunnah, the jurists-faqihs developed a code of Muslim law, the Shariah (late eighth and early ninth centuries). The Sunnis divided into followers of the four orthodox madhhabs (schools of law) – Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali. After them, the doors of ijtihad were closed and the application of Muslim law to new social and political phenomena began to be carried out with the help of “fatwas” – conclusions of the highest authoritative clerics made on the basis of the Koran, the Sunna, the Sharia and previously issued “fatwas”.

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Protestantism is one of the movements in Christianity, along with Orthodoxy and Catholicism, that emerged in Europe in the 16th century; Protestants are often referred to as movements in other religions that offer simplifications of doctrine and worship. For example, the Karaites are sometimes called Protestants in Judaism. Nietzsche has been called a Protestant in philosophy.

To the question of what Protestantism is, the easiest answer is a stereotypical one: Protestantism emerges as a protest against the domination and monopoly of the Catholic Church in the spiritual and intellectual life of Europe at that time. In this context one necessarily thinks of the Middle Ages: it was during this period that the hegemony of the Catholic Church was absolute, and “therefore the ages are Middle Ages” because they are between “light antiquity” and “light revival”, which brings us back to the light ideas of the ancient period. “The Middle Ages,” on the other hand, were perceived as times dark and impenetrable. What did it mean to return to antiquity? In fact, it was a return to the ideals of pagan culture.

The ideals of the Renaissance were embraced, including by the clergy, moreover, by the higher clergy. What exactly was embraced? Sensuality and its extreme manifestation, hedonism (the pursuit of sensual pleasures). The official church view of sensual pleasure did not change, it continued to be considered a sin, and when John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, and Girolamo Savonarola protested against total depravity, and called for repentance, they were not only heard, but they received wide support, both among the general masses of people and among the clergy, including the highest.

The English thinker John Wycliffe (1320-1384) was the first to radically raise the issue of church reform and theology. The church, Wycliffe believed, must be as poor as it was in the days of the apostles. It is first of all an assembly of believers, who are all equal before God, and consequently the church hierarchy has no special spiritual status. Wycliffe also opposed monasteries and the monastic way of life because he considered monasteries a breeding ground for vice.

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This disagreement arose in the second half of the seventh century, when the struggle for power in the Caliphate intensified and the question of Muhammad’s successor became acute. The Shiites insisted on the transfer of power to Ali, who was the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law. The Sunnis were of the opinion that the leader was chosen and did not share the thesis about the divine nature of Ali and his descendants.

The result of this confrontation was the de facto military defeat of the Shiites, which put them on the margins of political life. In the middle of the eighth century, Shiism split into two currents – extreme and moderate. The first included the “extreme” (Gulat) and the Ismailis; the second included the Zeidites and the Imamites. Other, less mainstream directions of Shiism are also known: Druzes, Alawites, and Qaisanites.

Followers of Shiism are found practically in all Islamic countries, but most of them are found in Iran and Azerbaijan. A significant part of the population is Shiite in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain.

Shiism has played a large role as a banner for various popular movements using its ideas during uprisings. The common people were close to the postulate of Shiism about the infallibility of the Imam, with whose arrival the kingdom of justice is to be established.

According to Shiite legend, the last 12th Imam disappeared at the age of 9, this event happened no later than 878. There is a version that he did not die but is under the patronage of Allah and must return. The Shiites call the last Imam – “The Hidden Imam” or Sahib azzaman (the lord of time, muntazar (the expected Mahdi Messiah)). It should be noted that in Shiism, unlike Sunnism, the Imam is a mediator between God and man, a kind of bearer of divine substance. Shiites believe that the Imam is infallible, has supernatural abilities and possesses occult knowledge.

Supporters of Shiism adhere to a certain hierarchy of religious figures, at the head of which stands the ayatollah. He is subordinated to the mujtahids, who may express their opinions on religious matters.

It is important to note that there have been recent attempts to reduce tensions between Sunnis and Shiites. This is facilitated by providing Muslims with reliable information about adherents of the opposite direction. For example, among Sunnis there are many erroneous views of Shiites, that they supposedly have a different Koran, worship Ali as God (in Islam worship of anyone except Allah is not allowed), do not recognize the first three caliphs (who ruled before Ali), replace the five obligatory daily prayers (namaz) with one, do not pay zakat (2.5% of savings for the poor), etc. It is easy to see that these perceptions are untrue, and debunking them will make it possible to establish a dialogue between Shiites and Sunnis within the framework of their common faith in Islam.

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