The first Christians and their teaching additional material. The first Christians and their teaching. Checking homework

Lesson on the history of the Ancient world in grade 5 on the topic: “The first Christians and their teachings”

Goals: - introduce students to the first Christians,

Find out what the first Christians said about the life of Jesus;

Find out what Jesus Christ taught people;

Equipment : presentation, computer

During the classes.

1. Organizational start of the lesson.

2. Check homework:

verbal response

3. Communicate the topic and objectives of the lesson.

(sl. 2) Lesson plan:

1. What did the first Christians say about the life of Jesus?

2. Who were the first Christians?

3. Belief in different destinies of people after death.

(sl. 3)Lesson assignment:

Guess what could attract people to this religion?

4. Studying new material.

1) teacher's story:

- (sl. 4) The founder of the new religion was a traveling preacher named Jesus, originally from Palestine. There are stories about him from his students, in which truth and fiction are intertwined.

(sl. 5)What did the first Christians say about the life of Jesus? . Almost two thousand years ago, in the cities and villages of Palestine, Syria and Asia Minor, which were under the rule of Rome, people appeared who called themselves disciples of the Son of God - Jesus. (f. 6) They claimed that the mother of Jesus was Mary, a poor resident of the Palestinian town of Nazareth. His father was the Jewish God Yahweh. (v. 7 – 8) At the moment of the birth of Jesus, a star lit up in the sky. According to this star, simple shepherds and sages from distant eastern countries came to worship the divine child. When Jesus grew up, he learned the trade of a carpenter, but did not acquire any property. (fn. 9) He gathered his disciples around him and walked with them throughout Palestine, performing miracles: he healed the sick and crippled, and raised the dead. Jesus said: the end of the world, mired in evil and injustice, is approaching. The day of God's judgment of all people will soon come. This will be the Last Judgment: the sun will darken, the moon will not give light, and the stars will fall from the sky. People will be in fear and anticipation of disasters. All who have not repented of their evil deeds, all those who worship false gods, all villains and murderers will be punished. But for those who believed in Jesus, who suffered and were humiliated, the Kingdom of God will come on earth - the kingdom of goodness and justice.
(v. 10) Jesus had twelve closest disciples. He also had enemies. The priests of the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem were indignant that some poor carpenter declared himself the Son of God. And for the Romans, Jesus was simply a troublemaker, in whose speeches they saw an undermining of the emperor’s power in Palestine.

- (v. 11) One of the twelve disciples named Judas agreed to betray Jesus for thirty silver coins. At night, Judas led the guards to the outskirts of Jerusalem, where Jesus was with his disciples.

- (v. 12) Judas approached Jesus and kissed him as if out of love. That's why conventional sign the guards recognized Jesus in the darkness of the night. He was captured, tortured and mocked in every possible way.

- (pages 13 – 14) The Roman authorities condemned Jesus to a shameful execution - crucifixion. Jesus' friends took the dead body down from the cross and buried it. But on the third day the tomb was empty. Jesus has resurrected.

- (page 15) After a little time, the resurrected Jesus appeared to the disciples, promising them to return again to carry out the Teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount of God's judgment. He sent his disciples to spread his teachings throughout different countries and peoples. Therefore, the disciples of Jesus are called (verse 16) apostles (translated from Greek as “messengers”).

Who were the first Christians? Admirers of Jesus called him Christ (which can be translated from Greek as “chosen by God”), and themselves Christians. The poor and slaves, widows, orphans, cripples became Christians - all those for whom life was especially difficult, who were defenseless against the cruelty and arbitrariness of the Roman authorities. Jesus and his disciples were Jews, but gradually more and more people of other nationalities appeared among Christians: Greeks, Syrians, Egyptians, Romans, Gauls. Christians proclaimed that everyone is equal before God: Greeks and Jews, slaves and free, men and women. Every believer can enter the Kingdom of God if he is merciful and does good deeds. (fn. 17) The Roman authorities were hostile to Christians who did not want to worship the statues of emperors. Christians were expelled from cities, beaten with sticks, thrown into prison, and sentenced to death.

- (page 18) They were forced to gather secretly in abandoned quarries, cemeteries and other secluded places. Christians helped each other, cared for the sick and elderly, brought food to those imprisoned, and hid those persecuted by the Romans. Christians chose priests to lead their prayers. We read the gospels aloud. This is the name given to recordings of stories about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. (v. 19) The word “gospel” in Greek means “good news.”

3. Christianity about the difference in the fate of the rich and the poor after death . Christians were waiting for the second coming of Jesus, but years passed, but he did not appear and the Kingdom of God did not come on earth. Then they began to believe that they would be rewarded for all their suffering after death. Believers recalled the edifying story about Lazarus and the rich man, once told by Jesus.

There lived a rich man. He dressed in purple clothes and spent every day in feasts and fun. There also lived a beggar named Lazarus, all in rags and covered with sores. He lay at the gate of the rich man's house, picking up the pieces thrown to him from the banquet table. And stray dogs licked his sores. A beggar died and went to heaven. The rich man also died. He suffered torment in the afterlife. And Lazarus was delivered from them! The rich man raised his eyes and saw Lazarus in the distance. The rich man prayed and began to ask Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water: “Let it cool my tongue, for I am tormented in the fire!” But the rich man's answer was:

"No! Remember that you have already received good things in life, and Lazarus received evil things. Now he is consoled here, and you suffer.” Christians believed that the souls of people who suffered during life would go to heaven after death, where they would be blissful.

Additional material:

From a letter from provincial governor Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan:

Those Christians, Vladyka, who did not want to renounce Christ, I sent to execution. I released those who denied that they were Christians when they made a sacrifice in front of your image and blasphemed Christ. True Christians, they say, cannot be forced to do such things. I ask for your advice. The matter of Christians, in my opinion, deserves discussion. The infection of this superstition spread not only through the cities, but also through villages and estates.

From Trajan's response letter to Pliny:

You acted quite correctly in carrying out an investigation into those who were reported to you as Christians. There is no need to look for them: if they are denounced and they are exposed, they should be punished. But those who deny that they are Christians and pray to our gods should be pardoned. An anonymous denunciation of any crime should not be taken into account. This would be a bad example and does not correspond to the spirit of our times.

Page 258, 260 – in blue frame

5. Summing up the lesson:

Questions on page 261

6. Homework:

Paragraph 56, questions, terms.

Our intention in writing about the early Christians is not simply to describe their way of life and view of things. The purpose of this text is to invite you to think about why they lived the way we find in the Bible and what that means for us today.

Today many people are of the opinion that it is no longer possible to live like the first Christians because the circumstances in which we live are different; and it was only because of their initial enthusiasm that they shared their lives so intensely with each other. However, we think that the life of the first Christians was a continuation of the teachings and life of their teacher Jesus. They understood that His devotion was the model of true service to God and that following him meant a willingness to devote their entire lives to God, the growth of His Kingdom and their brothers and sisters in the faith. It was so then, and it cannot be otherwise today.

In Acts 2:32–47 we find an excerpt of Peter's speech to the Jews in Jerusalem and the reaction of those who believed:

This Jesus God raised up, of which we are all witnesses. So He, having been exalted by the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into heaven; but he himself says: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool. Know therefore surely, all the house of Israel, that God hath made this Jesus, whom ye crucified, to be Lord and Christ. Hearing this, they were touched in their hearts and said to Peter and the other Apostles: What should we do, men and brethren? Peter said to them: repent and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call. And with many other words he testified and exhorted, saying: Save yourself from this corrupt generation. So those who willingly accepted his word were baptized, and about three thousand souls were added that day. And they constantly continued in the teaching of the Apostles, in fellowship and in the breaking of bread and in prayer. There was fear in every soul; and many signs and wonders were performed through the Apostles in Jerusalem. Yet the believers were together and had everything in common. And they sold estates and all kinds of property, and distributed them to everyone, depending on each person’s need. And every day they remained in the temple with one accord and, breaking bread from house to house, ate their food with joy and simplicity of heart, praising God and being in the love of all the people. The Lord daily added those who were being saved to the Church.

Peter, like Jesus, called for repentance. Turning away from the old life formed by sin became the beginning of a new life with God, already as children of God. Therefore, everyone who wanted to belong to God had to bring to light their sins, which separated them from God and other people.

And this is the gospel that we have heard from Him and proclaim to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, but walk in darkness, then we lie and do not act in the truth; if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5–7)

Only with a sincere heart can a person approach the holy God. If someone reveals his sins to God, God forgives him and makes him a new person to guide Holy Spirit,guiding him towards love. Jesus' disciples learned from their master what love means dedication of your whole life. This is what shaped the lives of believers in the early church. The love that God pours into the hearts of his children calls them to live no longer for themselves, but for Christ:

For the love of Christ embraces us, reasoning this way: if one died for all, then all died. But Christ died for all, so that those who live no longer lived for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. (2 Cor. 5:14,15)

Therefore, the first Christians abandoned everything that prevented them from loving: attachment to home, field, family members, dependence on their plans and goals... They were ready to leave everyone and everything that prevented them from serving God and saving people. They realized that, on the one hand, it is impossible to live otherwise, and on the other hand, such a life contains a promise:

And Peter began to say to Him: Behold, we have left everything and followed You. Jesus answered and said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for My sake and the gospel’s sake, and will not receive it now, in this time, in the midst of persecution, a hundred times more houses, and brothers and sisters, and fathers, and mothers, and children, and lands, and in the age to come eternal life. (Mark 10:28–30)

Willingness for self-denial, renunciation of the desire to determine one’s life, made them free for the Kingdom of God. Every day they spent time in the temple, where they spoke with many of their people and were able to testify about Jesus Christ (Jerusalem was the only temple of the Jews). In their homes they broke bread and fellowship daily. There was no program or liturgy that one could attend and remain unknown. They became each other's brothers, sisters, parents, children, even if before they were strangers. The Church was open to everyone: rich and poor, men and women, Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, old and young. Their common life was built on the apostolic teaching about the life of Jesus, his commandments, and the will and nature of God. As Jesus served people, so they served each other, supporting, comforting, correcting, warning each other.

Love cannot manifest itself in superficial and fleeting relationships, where there is no openness to share one’s love with others. private life. Christians at that time did everything with the desire to support each other: they shared joys and sorrows, confessed their sins to each other, and helped each other in the struggle for faith, so that they could live a holy life pleasing to God and together achieve the goal of faith - eternal joy with God. The importance of daily brotherly support for salvation is clearly expressed in Hebrews 3:12–14:

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil and unfaithful heart, lest you depart from the living God. But instruct one another every day, as long as you can say, “Today,” lest any of you become hardened by being deceived by sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if only we firmly preserve the life we have begun to the end.

The first Christians, thanks to their love, devotion and unanimity, became the light of the world that Jesus spoke about and this impressed those around them. However, no one dared to join them unless they had the same desire to live holy lives. (Acts 5:12-14).

Their shared faith in Jesus as Savior and confidence in the truth of his words bound them deeply together. It also meant that relationships would break down if one began to determine their own path.

In the church of God, insincere people cannot stand. If there is no sincere search for God's will, the trust necessary to serve God together is destroyed (Acts 5:1-11).

Sheep among wolves

The initial respect of Christians by the people of Jerusalem soon turned into the fulfillment of what Jesus foretold in the following words:

Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves: therefore be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves. Beware of people, for they will hand you over to the courts, and in their synagogues they will beat you, and they will bring you before governors and kings for My sake, to testify before them and the pagans. When they betray you, do not worry about how or what to say; for in that hour it will be given to you what to say, for it is not you who will speak, but the Spirit of your Father who will speak in you. Brother will betray brother to death, and father his son; and children will rise up against their parents and kill them; and you will be hated by everyone because of My name; he who endures to the end will be saved. (Matthew 10:16–22)

From the very beginning, Jewish religious leaders tried to prevent the spread of this new “sect.” They were afraid of the influence of Christians on people, of losing their honor, and they also did not want to hear the truth about their lives. They forbade the apostles to speak, beat them and locked them up. (Acts 5:18,40). But the disciples, “every day in the temple and from house to house did not cease teaching and preaching the gospel about Jesus Christ” (Acts 5:42). When Stephen showed the members of the Sanhedrin their guilt in killing Jesus and how much they were resisting God, he was stoned to death and became the first to follow his master in martyrdom. We also know about the Apostle Paul that he often suffered persecution from Jews and pagans because of his evangelistic activities. The first Christians were not attuned to the worldly spirit of the times, but as members of God's family, they saw it as their responsibility to uphold and defend the truth of the Gospel. With their lives they showed the will of God for all people. Paul called on Christians to be lights in heaven among a crooked and corrupt generation. (Phil.2:14-15). They knew that friendship with the world is enmity against God. Their values and actions looked different from the people around them, who wanted to live their own individual lives and according to their own desires. To whom the life of Christians was not evidence of God's action, it became an accusation and led to a violent rejection of the Gospel and those who preached it. Back in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, those who professed their faith in Jesus were strangers to society. They separated themselves from the worldly pleasures in which most people sought joy. Christians did not take part in public holidays and religious rituals, but called on people to renounce sinful lives. So they became enemies of society and ominous rumors quickly spread about them. As a result of this, many of them were sentenced to death, although no one could prove their guilt.

What does this mean for us?

The life of the first Christians was not a form that they established for themselves, but in every way they helped each other to remain faithful to God. They shared their free time, gifts, abilities, joys, sorrows, money and everything that concerned their daily life. As disciples of Jesus, they followed the example of their Lord's self-giving:

We have come to know love in the fact that He laid down His life for us: and we must lay down our lives for our brothers. (1 John 3:16)

Loving each other, as is usual between brothers and sisters, was an expression of their love for God. John writes clearly and simply:

Let us love Him because He first loved us. He who says: “I love God,” but hates his brother, is a liar: for he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see. And we have this commandment from Him, that he who loves God should also love his brother. (1 John 4:19–21)

This applies to every person today who follows Jesus. People often deceive themselves into thinking that Christianity consists of a “Me and God” attitude that results in rare attendance at religious events. However, the bride of Christ is the entire church, not the individual Christian. In the Bible, the church represents the body of Jesus, and Jesus represents its head. This means that through the head all members are connected to each other and it controls the body in joint service to God. In our lives we want to follow the example of the first Christians and we invite you to do this too. We're going to different places and in different cities. We willingly overcome long distances in order to come into contact with people who seek to seriously follow Jesus. Not only from the words of Jesus (Luke 13:22-24), but also from human history and our own experience, we know that most did not want to walk in God's ways. Through our life in the community, we want to testify to the changing power of God and encourage you not to be of little faith and doubt that you can live like this today. We see how blessed and also necessary this life is for the growth and development of virtues: in humility and selflessness, in self-denial and self-giving, in meekness and patience...

Beloved! Let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, because God is love. God's love for us was revealed in the fact that God sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we could receive life through Him. This is love, that we did not love God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved! If God loved us so much, then we should love each other. No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, then God abides in us, and His love is perfect in us. (1 John 4:7–12)

Lesson 59. The first Christians and their teachings
Subject: history.

Date: 05/07/2012

Teacher: Khamatgaleev E. R.

Goal: to introduce students to the process of the birth and development of a new religion, to trace the dependence of religious ideas on specific historical conditions.
During the classes
Current control of knowledge and skills.

The task is a retelling.

Tell us about the reign of Nero.

Plan for learning new material

The first Christians.
Persecution of Christians by Roman authorities.

Studying the first question of the plan. The first Christians.

Teacher's explanation

Faith in Christ originated in the eastern province of the Roman Empire - in Palestine, and then spread throughout the Roman Empire. Christianity arose in the 1st century. n. e. The first Christians were poor people and slaves whose lives were hard and joyless. There were many uprisings in the Roman state, but they ended in defeat, the death of the leaders, and the execution of the vanquished. This led to the fact that the poor and slaves lost faith in their own strength; they began to rely not on themselves, but on the help of the “good God.” The hope of the coming of a savior god encouraged the poor and slaves to give up the struggle to improve their lives. In many cities and villages of the Roman Empire, they were waiting for the coming of the good god. But God the Savior still did not appear, and then they began to speak differently: “Probably, God had already come to earth and lived among us in the guise of a man, but not all people knew about it.” A legend was told about God the Savior.
Working from the textbook
Task 1. Read aloud the section “What the first Christians said about the life of Jesus.”

Task 2. Answer the questions:

What was the name of Jesus' hometown?
What were the names of Jesus' father and mother?
What was the purpose of God's judgment?
Explain the expressions that have become popular: “thirty pieces of silver”, “kiss of Judas”. In what cases can these expressions be used today?

Textbook material

The founder of the new religion was a traveling preacher named Jesus originally from Palestine. There are stories about him from his students, in which truth and fiction are intertwined.

What did the first Christians say about the life of Jesus? Almost two thousand years ago, in the cities and villages of Palestine, Syria and Asia Minor, which were under the rule of Rome, people appeared who called themselves disciples of the Son of God - Jesus. They argued that Jesus' father was God Yahweh, whom the Jews worshiped, and his mother was Maria, poor woman in a Palestinian town Nazare ta. When the time came for Mary to give birth, she was not at home, but in the city Viflee meh. At the moment of Jesus' birth, a star lit up in the sky. Along this star, sages from distant countries and simple shepherds came to worship the divine child.

When Jesus grew up, he did not stay in Nazareth. Jesus gathered his disciples around him and walked with them throughout Palestine, performing miracles: he healed the sick and crippled, raised the dead, fed thousands of people with five loaves. Jesus said: the end of the world, mired in evil and injustice, is approaching. The day of God's judgment of all people will soon come. It will be Last Judgment: the sun will darken, the moon will not give light, and the stars will fall from the sky. All who have not repented of their bad deeds, all who worship false gods, all evildoers will be punished. But for those who believed in Jesus, who suffered and were humiliated, there will come Kingdom of God on earth - the kingdom of goodness and justice.

Jesus had twelve closest disciples. He also had enemies. The priests of the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem were indignant at the fact that some beggar was called the Son of God. And for the Romans, Jesus was just a troublemaker, in whose speeches they saw an undermining of the emperor's power. One of the twelve disciples named Judas agreed to betray Jesus for thirty silver coins. At night ANDat Yes brought the guards to the outskirts of Jerusalem, where Jesus was with his disciples. Judas approached the teacher and kissed him as if out of love. By this conventional sign, the guards identified Jesus in the darkness of the night. He was captured, tortured and mocked in every possible way. The Roman authorities condemned Jesus to a shameful execution - crucifixion. Friends of Jesus filmed dead body from the cross and buried him. But on the third day the tomb was empty. After a while resurrected(that is, made alive again) Jesus appeared to the disciples. He sent them to spread his teachings to different countries. Therefore, Jesus' disciples began to be called upO tables(translated from Greek - messengers). The apostles believed that Jesus had ascended into heaven and that the day would come when he would return to accomplish Last Judgment.

Stories about Jesus were written down by the early Christians, these records are called EvA angels. The word "gospel" in Greek means "good news."

Who were the first Christians? Jesus' worshipers called him ChristO With(this word meant God’s chosen one), and himself Christians. The poor and slaves, widows, orphans, cripples - all those for whom life was especially difficult - became Christians.

Jesus and his disciples were Jews, but gradually more and more people of other nationalities appeared among Christians: Greeks, Syrians, Egyptians, Romans, Gauls. Christians proclaimed that everyone is equal before God: Greeks and Jews, slaves and free, men and women.

Every believer can enter the Kingdom of God if he is merciful, forgives his offenders and does good deeds.

The Roman authorities were hostile to Christians who did not want to worship the statues of emperors. Christians were expelled from cities, beaten with sticks, thrown into prison, and sentenced to death. Christians helped each other, brought food to those imprisoned, hid those persecuted by the Romans, and cared for the sick and elderly. Christians gathered in the houses of fellow believers, in abandoned quarries, and in cemeteries. There they read the Gospels aloud, chose priests who guided their prayers.

Belief in different destinies of people after death. The Christians were waiting Second Coming Jesus, but the years passed, and the Kingdom of God did not come on earth. They were imbued with the belief that even before the Last Judgment they would be rewarded for all their suffering after death. Christians recalled the edifying story about Lazarus and the rich man, once told by Jesus.

A beggar died and went to heaven. The rich man also died. He was tortured in hell. And Lazarus was delivered from them! The rich man raised his eyes and saw Lazarus in the distance, and next to him the ancestor Abraham. The rich man prayed and began to ask Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water: “Let it cool my tongue, for I am tormented in the fire!” But Abraham answered the rich man: “No! Remember that you have already received good things in life, and Lazarus received evil things. Now he is consoled here, and you suffer.”

Christians believed that the souls of people who suffered during life would go to heaven after death, where they would be blissful.

"Sons of Light" from Qumran
Long before the birth of Jesus, people appeared in Palestine who also expected the establishment of a kingdom of goodness and justice on earth. They went into the desert near Dead Sea and founded a settlement there. These people had common property, called themselves “poor” and “sons of light”, and everyone else - “sons of darkness”. They called for hatred of the “sons of darkness” and believed that a worldwide battle would soon break out in which the “sons of light” would triumph over evil. They kept their teachings secret. The settlement of the “sons of light” was excavated by archaeologists in an area now called KumrA n.

Jesus knew about the “sons of light,” but his teaching did not call for hatred. It was addressed to all people. “What I tell you in the dark,” he inspired his disciples, “speak in the light, and what you hear in your ear, proclaim to everyone from the rooftops.”

Jesus' Teachings in the Sermon on the Mount
Christians hold the four Gospels sacred. According to legend, their authors were: Matte th And And aboutA NN – disciples of Jesus, Mark – companion on the apostle's journeys PeterA And OnionA – companion of the apostle PA vla. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says:

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Give to the one who asks from you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

You have heard that it was said: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you: do not resist evil. But whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other also to him.

Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

If you forgive people their sins, then your Heavenly Father asks you too.

Judge not lest ye be judged.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

And in everything that you want people to do to you, do so to them.”
From the stories of Christians about the Apostle Paul
Paul was at first an enemy of Christians, he argued fiercely with them and even participated in their beating by a hostile crowd.

One day Paul went to the city of Damascus to massacre the Christians living there. Suddenly he saw a blinding light, lost his sight, fell and heard a voice: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Get up and go to the city." In Damascus, one of the Christians healed Paul and restored his sight. From that time on, Paul believed in Christ and told everywhere that Jesus was the Son of God. Opponents of the Christians plotted to kill Paul and began to guard him at the city gates so that he would not escape. Then Paul's friends put him in a basket and secretly lowered him from the defensive walls on ropes.

Paul died in Rome during the execution of Christians under Nero.
From a letter from provincial governor Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan
Those Christians, Vladyka, who did not want to renounce Christ, I sent to execution. I released those who denied that they were Christians when they made a sacrifice in front of your image and blasphemed Christ. True Christians, they say, cannot be forced to do such things.
From Emperor Trajan's reply to Pliny
You did the right thing by investigating those who were reported as Christians. There is no need to look for them: if they are denounced and they are exposed, they should be punished. But those who deny that they are Christians and pray to our gods should be pardoned.

An unnamed denunciation is not O should not be taken into account.

Study of the second question of the plan. Persecution of Christians by Roman authorities.

Teacher's explanation

The Christian faith demanded to patiently endure adversity and wait for help from the “good God”, and not to fight to improve one’s life. Therefore, the emperor and his officials had nothing to fear from Christians. But who were the first Christians? Poor people and slaves, dissatisfied with their situation, ready to join any uprising against the empire. Therefore, their actions were closely monitored by Roman governors and military leaders.

Christians gathered in groups, created organizations, and elected priest leaders. Christians boldly declared that they did not recognize the emperor as a god and refused to worship him. They argued that not today or tomorrow the power of cruel Rome will collapse, fair retribution awaits all oppressors of the people.

Without thinking about the meaning of Christian teachings, without understanding that the new religion would help keep slaves in obedience, the Romans began to persecute Christians. A particularly strong persecution began under Diocletian, when, on his orders, Christian prayer houses were destroyed, their books were burned, and many Christians were executed.

Consolidation of the studied material.

Questions for the class:

Where and when did Christianity originate?
Who were the first Christians?
What were the reasons for the emergence of Christianity?
How did Christians expect to find a happy life?
What was the attitude of the Romans towards the first Christians?

Self-control questions and tasks.

Why did the Christian religion attract poor people, slaves and other disadvantaged people?
How did the Roman authorities treat Christians?
Get acquainted with the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: have they retained their significance for the people of our time? If yes, which ones exactly?
How did the expressions “thirty pieces of silver” and “kiss of Judas” come about? In what cases can these expressions be used today?

Events world history are divided into two chronological periods - BC and AD. History is divided into these periods by the most important event - the Nativity of Christ, which became the beginning of the spread of a new world religion. The events of Roman history in the first centuries of our era are inextricably linked with the history of Christianity. Where and when was Jesus Christ born? What did Jesus Christ and the apostles preach? How did life in Rome change under the influence of the new creed? You will learn about this in our lesson today.

Background

Christianity arose among the Jews of Palestine in the 1st century. AD During this period, Judea became a province of Rome, ruled by King Herod the Great. According to the evangelists, Jesus Christ was born in Galilee, which opposed the pro-Roman policies of Herod.

Events

I century- the emergence of Christianity, which began to spread throughout the Roman Empire.

313- persecution of Christians in Rome stopped. They received the right to freely assemble and pray.

325- The Council of Nicea, at which the Creed was formulated (a short text expressing the fundamentals of the doctrine).

Participants

Herod the Great- ruler of Judea, appointed by Rome.

Herod Antipas- son of Herod the Great, ruler of Galilee and Perea.

Apostles- (from the Greek “messengers”) disciples and followers of Christ, preaching Christian teaching. 12 apostles - 12 direct disciples of Christ, whom he sent to spread his teachings to different countries.

Conclusion

The foundations of Christian teaching are set out in the New Testament, which includes the texts of the four canonical gospels. The gospel texts tell how Jesus Christ, the Son of God, sacrificed himself to atone for original sin.

Thanks to the preaching of the apostles, Christianity began to spread among the peoples of the Roman Empire. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Christianity became the basis of a new culture that united medieval Europe (see lesson).

Palestine (Fig. 1) is the homeland of the Jewish tribes. In the 6th century. BC e. Palestine was captured by the Babylonians, and the Jews were resettled in Babylon. The Persian king Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Palestine. After the conquests of Alexander the Great, Jews settled throughout the ancient world. What distinguished the Jews from the rest of the population of the Hellenic world was their reluctance to worship pagan gods. They worshiped one creator god, Yahweh. Jews were persecuted for their faith, but there were people who became followers of monotheism.

Rice. 1. Palestine in the 1st century. BC e. ()

In the 1st century BC, the small state of Judea became a province of Rome. King Herod ruled there. After the death of Herod, the province was divided into two parts: Galilee came under the rule of Herod's son Antipas, and Judea began to be ruled by Roman governors - procurators. Internal affairs The Jews were governed by the Sanhedrin - a council of elders and priests. During this period, the teachings of the Pharisees, who strictly observed the Old Testament commandments, constantly fasted and prayed, spread among the Jews.

At this time, according to the testimony of four evangelists - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - Jesus Christ was born in Galilee. According to legend, the Roman authorities announced a population census, Mary - the mother of Jesus - and her husband Joseph went to the city of Bethlehem, but not finding room in any hotel, they were forced to spend the night in a den (a cave where shepherds drove cattle at night). The Savior of the world Jesus Christ was born here. A miraculous event occurred at the moment of His birth - a bright star appeared in the sky, showing the way to three shepherds and three wise men who came to worship the baby. Until the age of 30, Jesus helped Joseph in his carpentry, and after receiving baptism from John the Baptist (Fig. 2), he set out to preach a new teaching. Jesus taught to do good, not to return evil for evil, and not to cause offense. Everywhere he preached and performed miracles, he gained followers, and his twelve closest disciples began to be called apostles.

Rice. 2. Baptism of Jesus Christ ()

A week before the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Passover, Christ and his disciples came to Jerusalem. The people greeted him like a king. However, not everyone was happy to accept the new teaching. The Pharisees, who sat in the Sanhedrin, bribed one of Christ’s disciples, Judas, who betrayed his teacher for thirty pieces of silver. By order of the Sanhedrin, approved by the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, Jesus Christ was crucified on Mount Golgotha. After he died in terrible agony on the cross, his body was given to his disciples. On the third day after the execution, the women accompanying Christ came to the tomb and saw that the heavy stone that covered the entrance to the cave had been rolled away, and an Angel was sitting in the place where the Savior’s body lay. An angel announced to Christ's disciples about his resurrection. For forty days Jesus appeared to his disciples, and on the fortieth day he ascended into heaven.

The disciples of Christ, who received special grace, began to spread the Christian faith throughout the world. In Rome, the Apostle Paul became famous, who during the life of Christ was not his disciple. Paul was a zealous persecutor of Christians, but one day Christ appeared to him and reproached him for his unbelief. Paul, having believed, went to preach Christianity among the pagans.

In addition to oral preaching, written works by Christian authors began to spread. The basis of Christian doctrine was New Testament, which included such works as the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (Fig. 3); the acts and epistles of the apostles, the Apocalypse written by John the Theologian and telling about the second coming of Jesus Christ and the Last Judgment.

Rice. 3. Evangelists ()

In the 1st century AD e. Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire. Christians were subjected to severe persecution for their preaching about the One God. Under Emperor Nero, they were poisoned with wild animals; under Emperor Diocletian, thousands of followers of Christ were executed. But the Christian faith continued to spread, and in 313 Emperor Constantine issued an edict allowing Christians to freely practice their religion.

Having emerged in the ancient world, Christianity determined the further history of many peoples and states.

Bibliography

A.A. Vigasin, G.I. Goder, I.S. Sventsitskaya. Ancient world history. 5th grade. - M.: Education, 2006.
Nemirovsky A.I. History reading book ancient world. - M.: Education, 1991.
Ancient Rome. Book for reading /Ed. D.P. Kallistova, S.L. Utchenko. - M.: Uchpedgiz, 1953.

Zakonbozhiy.ru ().
Azbyka.ru ().
Wco.ru ().

Homework

Where did the Christian faith originate?
What did Jesus Christ teach?
Why were the first Christians persecuted?
Who are the apostles?

Christianity, apparently, began to spread especially quickly after the defeat of the first Jewish uprising, when among the Jews resettled and sold into slavery there could have been followers of Christ, abandoned by the will of the victors to various corners of the empire. We know that the Qumran sectarians took part in the uprising: archaeologists have discovered traces of military operations in the area of their settlement. It was during the offensive of the Romans that they hid their manuscripts, which lay in the caves for almost one thousand nine hundred years. Josephus, a participant and historiographer of this uprising (he wrote the book "The Jewish War"), talks about the resilience of the Essenes who fell into the hands of the Romans. No amount of torture could force them to abandon their teachings. It is possible that members of the Qumran community and followers of Jesus close to them in teaching in the new conditions, cut off from their surroundings, united and mutually influenced each other. It is also possible that their sermons were perceived by their listeners as identical or similar. This unification of Qumranites and Christians (the preachers themselves or their sermons) in the minds of others, on the one hand, should have contributed to expanding the number of admirers of the new teaching (i.e. Christianity), and on the other, to increase the differences in the details of this teaching.

According to the earliest New Testament writings, at the end of the 1st century. Christian groups existed in the cities of Asia Minor. The Acts of the Apostles says, for example, that the name “Christians” * first appeared in the Syrian city of Antioch. The historian Tacitus talks about the executions of Christians in Rome under Emperor Nero as the culprits of a grandiose fire in the capital in 64 **. Christianity probably appeared quite early in Egypt (papyrus fragments of Christian writings found on Egyptian territory date back to the beginning of the 2nd century). The reign of Emperor Trajan (98-117) dates back to a letter from his close associate Pliny the Younger (so named in contrast to his uncle, the scientist Pliny the Elder), who was sent to one of the provinces of Asia Minor and discovered there (both in cities and villages) groups of Christians.

* (Christians are followers of Christ; Christ is the literal translation of the Hebrew word "machinach" - the anointed one, in the Greek translation - messias, where the word "messiah" comes from.)

** (Some scholars believe that there could not have been many Christians in Rome in 64 and that Tacitus, writing at the beginning of the 2nd century, called adherents of various Eastern cults Christians.)

However, this geography of distribution of Christian communities does not at all indicate their mass character. In the 1st - beginning of the 2nd century. in each of the cities and rural settlements where Christians preached, they were a small isolated group, which was treated with hostility not only by the authorities, but also by ordinary people. Although ideas about the hardships of life, about the world as evil, hope for savior gods, being truly mass phenomena social psychology of that time, can be considered as prerequisites for the adoption of Christianity, but they coexisted with the remnants of the old communal and civic ideology: with devotion to their city (even if in reality such devotion no longer existed); the need for public meetings, festivals, and veneration of local deities - the patrons of a given city or village (the cults of these deities played a huge role throughout ancient history); the desire to acquire at least a small property, preferably a plot of land; contempt for people who do not have a home and family. Early Christianity rejected this entire familiar system of values: Christians are people without a homeland, aliens and wanderers on earth; they addressed primarily those who found themselves outside existing social ties - the poor, slaves, all sinners (i.e., people who had committed crimes or acts condemned by existing norms of behavior), harlots, widows, orphans (i.e. . to people deprived of family ties), and finally, to the crippled. The inclusion of people suffering from some kind of physical disability into the communities is clear evidence that Christians did not accept not only the social inequality that dominated the world around them, but also the entire system of social ideals.

In the ancient worldview, admiration for the physical perfection of man played a large role. In the classical city-states of Greece, the ideal citizen was a harmoniously developed, "fair and noble" person, strong in mind and body. And although, under the conditions of the empire, the city policies had long ago lost their independence and the need for powerful, dexterous citizens loyal to their city - defenders from an external enemy - had disappeared, but this ideal continued to exist.

Reflecting the traditional ancient attitude towards physical beauty, the critic of Christianity Celsus wrote that if the spirit of God had truly incarnated in a person, he would have chosen a stately, handsome, strong person with eloquence. One of the arguments put forward by Celsus against the divinity of Jesus was that, according to the stories, Jesus was ugly and short in stature (True Word, III, 4, 84).

The lame, the blind, the physically deformed were despised not only in the Greek world; the Qumranites, as already noted, also considered them “unclean.” In the ancient system public relations Women also occupied a lower position. Although in the first centuries of the empire women entered into various religious unions and there were even isolated cases when they became members of semi-official public associations, for example, unions of the oldest citizens, women did not take part in any governing bodies. They were also excluded from some festivities. In particular, women could not attend the Olympic Games as spectators. Life was especially difficult for women from poorer backgrounds, deprived of family connections. Suffice it to recall the famous episode with the sinner from the Gospel of John: the crowd wanted to stone a woman who had committed adultery. Jesus said, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her (8:7).” And the Gospel of Luke tells how a harlot washed Jesus’ feet with myrrh (aromatic oil), and those around him were indignant that he allowed the sinner to touch him. Jesus, according to this story, forgave the woman’s sins “because she loved much” (7:37-47). These episodes reflect both public opinion about such women and the attitude of Christians towards them.

Such a sharp opposition of one’s faith and one’s moral code to all norms of behavior, aspirations and ideals, sanctified by tradition and seemingly reasonable, could not but restrain the influx of new adherents into Christian communities. The “unreasonableness” of Christians caused indignation among their first critics. Celsus wrote that Christians “never join the assembly of rational people and do not dare to reveal their views among them.” He clearly grasped the difference between unions of worshipers of ancient deities and Christianity. The first turn to those, he wrote, “whose hands are clean and speech is reasonable” or “whose soul is free from evil, who has lived well and justly.” Christians, according to Celsus, act differently: “Whoever is a sinner, they say, whoever is unreasonable, whoever is underdeveloped, simply put, whoever is a scoundrel, the kingdom of God awaits him.”

The Christian religion had to go through a difficult path of adaptation to the surrounding society, and society had to survive and understand the collapse of the ancient world order, so that this religion could become dominant and state.

So, in the second half of the 1st century. In certain regions of the Roman Empire, small associations of Christians arose. We know little about them because the evidence of Christian literature concerns doctrine rather than the organization of Christian communities. But you can still say something about them. The form of organization of people from the lower social classes in the Roman Empire was various colleges (we have already mentioned them); There were also meetings of Jewish believers - synagogues (the Greek word "synagogue" means "gathering", "meeting"). Pagan religious unions were called differently (fias, koinon). Perhaps Christians used these forms of association, but called them differently - ekklesia (then this word came to mean “church”; this is how it is translated in the Russian version of the New Testament). Literally, “ekklesia” means “assembly” - this is how the people’s assembly, one of the main bodies of self-government, was called in Greek cities. It was not a religious, but a political term. The fact that Christians in the Greek-speaking environment began to call their community not a collegium, not a fias, not a union, but an assembly, was an expression of the internal opposition between their ecclesia, the ecclesia of believers, an earthly ecclesia, the city of God - an earthly city (polis).

Christians accepted everyone who came to them; they did not hide their belonging to the new religion. When one of them was in trouble, they immediately came to the rescue. Lucian says that the philosopher Peregrinus, who was at one time the leader of the Christian community in Syria, ended up in prison. The rest of the Christians tried their best to express their solidarity with him.

“From the very morning one could see some old women, widows, and orphans near the prison. The leaders of the Christians even spent their nights... in prison, bribing the guards...” writes Lucian. But despite all the “openness” of their communities, Christians did not perform public services and did not take part in city celebrations. Their religious meetings were for them a sacrament that could not be performed in front of the uninitiated. They internally separated themselves from the world around them; This was precisely the secret of their teaching, which worried the authorities and caused condemnation from many educated people of that time. When the governor of one of the provinces banned any secret societies, the Christians of that province stopped meeting. They did not oppose the ruler’s order, but they also could not gather openly: their teaching was too different from the cults of the pagan world, it required other forms of communication than festivals in honor of the city gods. The charge of secrecy therefore became one of the common accusations hurled at Christians by their opponents. Celsus wrote with indignation that Christians do not build “altars, statues and temples; instead, a sign of a common cult is their agreement about a hidden secret society.” Even at the beginning of the 3rd century, when Christianity was already quite widespread, its adherents avoided publicity. One of the critics of Christianity, whose words are quoted by Minucius Felix, exclaimed indignantly: “Indeed, why do they try in every possible way to hide and make secret for others what they honor, when praiseworthy deeds are usually performed openly and only criminal deeds are hidden? "Why don't they dare to speak openly and organize their meetings freely?.."

Within the first Christian communities there was a continuous struggle to various issues behavior and relations with the outside world. The Apocalypse of John mentions the prophets Balaam and Balak, who led the “sons of Israel” into temptation in Pergamum and taught them to eat “things sacrificed to idols” and “to commit fornication.” The prophetess Jezebel did the same in Thyatira. At first glance, it seems not entirely clear why so much attention is paid to the problem of “sacrifice to idols” (this question also arises in the letters of Paul). Meanwhile, refusal to eat “things sacrificed to idols” was not just an expression of contempt for pagan rituals, but also a more significant problem in relations with the outside world. The fact is that during public celebrations, animals were sacrificed to the deities, and then public meals were held at which the meat of the sacrificial animals was eaten. A variety of segments of the population took part in these meals. From inscriptions from Roman times we know that there were festivals in which even people living in a given city, but not its citizens, and slaves were allowed to participate. These festivities were intended to serve as a means of uniting the city's population. They also provided an opportunity to feed the poorest segments of the population. For many poor people and slaves, eating “sacrificed to idols” was the only opportunity to taste meat food. But at the same time, eating it meant joining the ritual action of a “pagan” religion. Probably, Jezebel and Balaam allowed Christians to eat sacrificial meat, expressing the interests of the poor part of the community members. Their “fornication” may have been due to the lack of family among many slaves and poor vagabonds who were part of Christian communities. This could also be a way of expressing rejection of traditional forms family relations. But for the author of the Apocalypse John, both “fornication” as an earthly sin and eating “sacrificed to idols” are completely unacceptable actions.

In Paul's letters the question of "sacrificial things to idols" is resolved differently. If a Christian comes home to a pagan, then he can eat any meat without asking about its origin. But if the owner says that the meat is from a sacrificial animal, then the Christian must refuse to eat it, and not for fear of being defiled, but so as not to give offense “neither to the Jews, nor to the Greeks, nor to the church of God” (I Corinthians, 10 :32). In other words, what is important is only non-participation in the ritual actions of pagans, which can be regarded as a renunciation of Christianity. Here, as in the issue of marriage (Paul considered it acceptable to remain married to a pagan) and many others, Paul is trying to determine the most difficult thing - the relationship of Christians with the outside world, and if not to include them in this world, then at least to find the possibility of coexistence.

We can determine the social composition of the first communities only approximately: there were slaves (the question of how to deal with slaves and with slaves is discussed in the letters of the apostles), the poor (“I know your deeds, and sorrow, and poverty,” writes the author of the Apocalypse to Christians Smyrna); but there were also wealthy people who, for one reason or another, were rejected by the surrounding society (cripples, harlots...). Nevertheless, people from the lower social classes prevailed in the communities of the 1st century. This is reflected in the first letter to the Corinthians, where Paul reprimands the community that during meetings, “every one hastens before others to eat his food, so that some are hungry, and others are drunk” (11:21). Probably, eating together was the only way for some Christians to satisfy their hunger.

Already at the end of the 1st century. Christian communities varied in ethnic composition. The Apocalypse is addressed to Christians of Jewish origin who lived in the cities of Asia Minor. The author of this work calls those who “say that they are Jews, but they are not” (i.e., do not adhere to the basic requirements of the Jewish religion), a synagogue of Satan. Both the New Testament letter to the Hebrews and fragments of early Judeo-Christian literature indicate that there were a significant number of Christians of Jewish origin. But christian sermon attracted people from other nationalities; No wonder Paul actively opposed the observance of Jewish rituals and emphasized the need to preach among the pagans. In the messages written on his behalf, quite a few different names of Christians are mentioned, among which clearly predominate greek names; there are slave names, names of freedmen. It is curious that one nickname also appears - “philologist”. (Romans 16:15). Such nicknames were usually given to representatives of the slave intelligentsia. The author of the letter to the Colossians specifically stipulates in relation to the two persons he mentions that they are both “of the circumcision” (Mark, nephew of Barnabas, and Jesus, called Justus), that is, from the Jews. In the circle of Christians from which the epistles came, there were few Jews. It should also be noted that in the letter to the Romans, where quite a lot of names are mentioned, there are few Roman names, and not all those that appear refer to the native Romans (Junia is a relative of the author of the letter; a certain Julia, most likely, a freedwoman). Apparently, in Rome (and perhaps in other cities) it was mainly strangers, immigrants who were not associated with Roman traditions and customs that became Christians.

IN scientific literature It is widely believed that the urban population predominated among Christians. However, we must not forget that when in ancient times they said “Smyrna”, “Ephesus” or “Antioch”, they meant a polis, that is, a city with an agricultural district, an integral part of this city. Therefore, when we talk about the “Ephesian” ekklesia or the letter to the Thessalonians, it can mean not only the inhabitants of the city itself, but also the adjacent rural areas: farm laborers, tenants, small farmers. Pliny the Younger wrote at the beginning of the 2nd century. to Emperor Trajan about Christians: “The infection of this superstition spread not only through the cities, but also through villages and estates...” Even if we assume that in his letter Pliny exaggerates the prevalence of Christianity in order to attract the attention of the emperor to it, it is difficult to assume that his the mention of Christians in the villages is simply a fiction.

One of the important questions that confronts historians of early Christianity is whether Christians had a community of property. The idea of such a community is based on two passages from the Acts of the Apostles, which describe the Christian community in Jerusalem shortly after the crucifixion of Jesus. One of these passages says, “And all those who believed were together and had all things in common...” (2:44). Another passage indicates that people who owned lands or houses, upon joining the community, sold them and brought the money received from the sale to the general treasury. Immediately following this statement is the story of Ananias and Sapphira, who withheld part of the money received for the sold estate, and were punished for this by death.

To determine the degree of reliability of these testimonies, it must be borne in mind that they relate to a community in Jerusalem founded, according to tradition, by the closest disciples of Jesus. This community was to serve as a model for other Christian ecclesias. The entire description of the community - its large numbers, the envy of the high priests, the miracles performed by the apostles - is clearly designed to capture the imagination of listeners and readers, to show an ideal community where there were no needy, where the slightest deception was punished by God himself, where everyone voluntarily gave into the common use of your property. Meanwhile, only one specific example of donation is given in Acts: Josiah, called Barnabas, sold the land and gave the money to the apostles (4:36-37). When it comes to real communities, the remarks scattered throughout the messages create a completely different picture. Most of these communities were poor. The author of Paul's epistles, who moved from community to community, appears as a man in need: few communities had the opportunity to help him. The letter to the Philippians expresses gratitude for their help. The author writes that when he left Macedonia, not a single community helped him with “alms and acceptance”; The Christians of the city of Philippi sent him alms even to another city.

The lack of community of property at the time the epistles were written is clearly seen from the fact that in the first letter to the Corinthians it is recommended to eat at home before eating together (“Have you not houses to eat and drink?”), and from how, according to that same epistle, contributions are collected for general needs (“When collecting for the saints, do as I prescribed in the churches of Galatia. On the first day of the week, let each of you set aside and save for himself, as much as his fortune will allow..." (16: 1-2).By the way, the alms about which we're talking about, according to the author of the message, will be delivered to Jerusalem. Apparently, those few Christians who lived in Jerusalem before its defeat by the Romans needed alms from extra-Palestinian Christians. The Jerusalem community was thus not as prosperous as depicted in the Acts of the Apostles.

The diverse composition of the early Christian communities in all respects did not allow the creation of an organization as cohesive as the Qumranite community. Living in different places, serving different masters, Christians could, apparently, only gather in fits and starts to listen to their prophets and take common meals at the expense of irregular collections - from each according to his condition. Contributions, in all likelihood, were made by everyone - in money, in kind, by labor (the requirement to work runs through all early Christian works).

Religious activity in the first ecclesias was limited to general meetings, often at night, outside the city, in cemeteries, and in Rome - in dungeons. The first rites that we can talk about with certainty are baptism and eating wine and bread (in the first letter to the Corinthians, the author thoroughly explains to believers the mystical meaning of this eating). Pliny the Younger writes that, according to the testimony of Christians, they usually gathered on certain days before dawn, sang Christ, swore an oath to abstain from theft, robbery, adultery, etc.; then they dispersed and came again to eat food - “ordinary and innocent.”

The absence of Christians in communities at the end of the 1st century. A clear economic organization and complex rituals corresponded to the absence of a clearly defined apparatus for managing communities.