Church History & Patrology Course
• Course Overview
+ Church History by the century
+ Meaning and importance of “Patrology”
• Course References
+ Church historians
+ Anti-/Post-Nicene and Nicene Fathers
• Course Operation
L1: The Church in the 1st Century
1) The Coptic Church is an
Apostolic Church
2) The Apostolic Churches of the
1st century
3) Famous Persons of the
Apostolic Era
1) The Coptic Church is Apostolic
+ The Apostolic Era and Church
+ The 1st Christian Church
+ Who are the Copts?
+ Egypt before St Mark
+ The See of St. Mark
The Apostolic Era and Church
• The Apostolic Era
30 to 100 AD
• What is an Apostolic Church?
Unbroken historical connection to
the first Church (founded by the
Holy Spirit on the Pentecost Day)
The 1st Christian Church
• Birth: Pentecost; Acts 2:1-4, 14-36
• Challenges: Jews and Pagans
• Spread: Europe, Asia and Africa
• Success: Holy Spirit, Acts 4:7-12,
8:26-29, 39-40, 13:2, 9-11, 15:28
Who are the Copts?
• Copts: from Greek “Aigyptos”
• Sons of Pharaohs:
+ Religious beyond any other race
+ Scientific background was
subjected to religion
+ Religious dogmas (triads, one
supreme being, 2nd life, cross)
Egypt before St Mark
• Egypt in the Holy Bible:
+ Refuge: Abraham (Gen 12,
Moses (Exodus), Jer 41, 43
+ Blessed: Hos 11:1, Isa 19:1
• The Holy Family in Egypt:
+ Called by God to Joseph (Mt
2:13-15)
+ Well documented in references
The See of St. Mark
• Christianity in Egypt:
+ Christian Jews before St. Mark,
Acts 2:10, 18:24-28, Theopilus (Lk)
• St. Mark the Founder:
+ One of the 70 Apostles
+ Born at 3 AD, Gospel at 60 AD,
Egypt at 61 AD, martyred at 68AD
2) The Apostolic Churches
(of the 1st century)
• Jerusalem
• Antioch
• Alexandria
• Rome
The Church of Jerusalem
(mother of all Christian Churches)
• St James is the 1st bishop, then
his brother St Simon the son of
Kolb after his martyrdom in 62 AD
• Martyrdom of St. Stephen => the
spread of Christianity to Judea and
Samaria; Acts 8:1, 14&15, 11:22
The Church of Antioch (Syria)
(1st Gentile Church)
• Sts Paul & Barnabas ministered
in Antioch (Acts 11:22-26) before
St. Peter went to it (Gal 2:11). He
is considered the 1st bishop.
• The 1st Church to call the
believers Christians and was the
base of St Paul’s trips
The Church of Alexandria (Egypt)
(1st Theologian School)
• St Mark is regarded as the first
of unbroken 117 patriarchs and the
1st of a stream of Egyptian martyrs
• He founded the 1st Christian
theologian school to replace the
pagan school
The Church of Rome (Italy)
• Founded by St Paul (Acts 23:11,
Rom 1:7/13, 15:20, Gal 2:7-9)
• The Catholic Church regards St.
Peter as the 1st patriarch of 265
patriarchs
3) Famous Persons
of the Apostolic Era
a) The Twelve Disciples
b) The Seventy Apostles
c) The Church Father
The Twelve Disciples
•
The original disciples (Mt 10:2-4)
•
St Matthias was one of the 70
Apostles and was chosen to
replace Judas the Iscariot (Acts
1:15-26)
The Seventy Apostles
•
The calling and sending of the
70 Apostles (Luke 10:1-16)
•
Famous among the 70 Apostles
are Sts Barnabas, Luke, Mark
•
St Paul was chosen by God
after His Ascension (Acts9:1-22)
Famous Church Fathers
(of the 1st Century)
•
Clement of Rome
•
Ignatius Bishop of Antioch
•
Polycarp bishop of Smyrna
•
Ref=> http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/
Saint Clement of Rome
+ 3rd bishop of Rome; 93-101AD
+ St Paul mentions him in Phil 4:3
+ Among his writings, the epistle
to the Church of Corinth is the
oldest authentic Christian doc
outside the N.T.
Saint Ignatius
(Theophorus = God Bearer)
+ 3rd bishop of Antioch; 98-117AD
+ He was a disciple to St. John
+ En route to martyrdom, he wrote
epistles that preserved the early
Christian theology
Saint Polycarp
+ 1st bishop of Smyrna; 69-155AD
+ He was a disciple to St. John
and was the angel praised by
Christ in Rev 2:8-11
+ Among his famous writings is
the epistle to the Philippians