Exploring The Earliest Roots Of Christianity

The oldest Christian faith is a complex question. While the birth of Jesus of Nazareth is dated to 0 A.D., the religion of Christianity is considered to have begun with the death and resurrection of Christ in A.D. 30. The early followers of Jesus were mostly Jews, and the religion has roots in Judaism. The oldest form of Christianity still practised today is likely one of the apostolic churches, such as the Assyrian Church of the East, the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The Assyrian Church of the East

The ACOE belongs to the eastern branch of Syriac Christianity and employs the Divine Liturgy of Saints Addai and Mari of the East Syriac Rite. Classical Syriac, a dialect of Eastern Aramaic, is the main liturgical language of the church. The church's hierarchy is structured similarly to other apostolic churches, with a Catholicos-Patriarch at the top, followed by metropolitan and diocesan bishops, and priests and deacons serving in parishes.

The ACOE considers itself a continuation of the Church of the East and does not commune with the Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, or Eastern Orthodox churches. However, it has engaged in theological dialogues and signed a Common Christological Declaration with the Catholic Church in 1994, improving relations with the Chaldean Catholic Church, a pro-Catholic faction of the original Church of the East.

Historically, the Church of the East faced persecution from the Persians due to the conflict between the Persian Empire and the Roman-Byzantine Empire. This led to its expansion eastward, with missionaries spreading the gospel to Asia, Mongolia, and even China in the 7th century. The Muslim conquest in the same century brought further persecution, and the church retreated to the Hakkari mountains, remaining isolated for centuries.

In modern times, the Assyrian Church of the East has a presence in various countries, including Iraq, Iran, Syria, India, North America, Australia, and Europe. It has archdioceses and dioceses in these regions and is estimated to have around 380,000 to 500,000 members. The church follows trinitarian doctrines expressed in the Nicene Creed and adheres to the traditional Christology often labelled as Nestorian, although this nature of Assyrian Christianity is still debated.

The Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church has played a significant role in the religious, cultural, and political life of Europe and the wider world for centuries. It has shaped the lives of countless individuals and communities through its teachings, sacraments, and social services. The Church has also been a source of controversy and criticism throughout its history, with various theological and political disputes leading to schisms and reforms.

The Catholic faith is centred around the seven sacraments, which are believed to be channels of God's grace to all people. These sacraments include Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. The Church also places great emphasis on the veneration of saints, who are believed to intercede for the faithful in heaven, and on the Virgin Mary, who is revered as the Mother of God.

The Eastern Orthodox Churches

The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially known as the Orthodox Catholic Church, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. It is the second-largest Christian church in the world, with approximately 220-230 million baptised members. The Eastern Orthodox Church operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via local synods.

The Eastern Orthodox Church is defined as the Eastern Christians which recognise the seven ecumenical councils and are usually in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Patriarchate of Antioch, and the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The Eastern Orthodox churches are defined positively by their adherence to the dogmatic definitions of the seven ecumenical councils, and by their strong sense of not being a sect or a denomination, but simply continuing the Christian church. They are also defined by their rejection of papal immediate and universal supremacy.

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the primary religious denomination in Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Greece, Belarus, Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Cyprus, and Montenegro. It is also one of the main religious sects in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Lebanon, and Syria. Roughly half of Eastern Orthodox Christians live in the post-Eastern Bloc countries, mostly in Russia. The Eastern Orthodox Church is characterised by its continuity with the apostolic church, its liturgy, and its territorial churches.

The Eastern Orthodox Church is a separate tradition from the churches of the so-called Oriental Orthodox Communion, which includes the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church, the Eritrean Tewahedo Orthodox Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, and the Malankara Orthodox Church of India. From the time of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 until the late 20th century, the Oriental Orthodox churches were out of communion with the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church due to a perceived difference in doctrine regarding the divine and human natures of Jesus.

The Eastern Orthodox Church holds that it practises the original Christian faith, as passed down by holy tradition. It teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church established by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, and that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles. It maintains that Jesus Christ is the head of the Church and that the Church is his body. It is believed that Church authority and the grace of God are directly passed down to Orthodox bishops and other clergy through the laying on of hands, a practice started by the New Testament apostles.

The Eastern Orthodox Church is a fellowship of autocephalous (meaning "self-headed") churches, with the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople recognised as having primus inter pares status. The patriarch of Constantinople has the honour of primacy, but his title is only "first among equals", and he has no real authority over churches other than the Constantinopolitan church. The number of autocephalous churches has varied throughout history. In the early 21st century, there were many, including the Church of Constantinople (Istanbul), the Church of Alexandria (Africa), the Church of Antioch (headquartered in Damascus, Syria), and the churches of Jerusalem, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Albania, Poland, the Czech and Slovak Republics, and America.

The Eastern Orthodox Church considers itself to be both orthodox and catholic. The doctrine of the Catholicity of the Church, as derived from the Nicene Creed, is

The Oriental Orthodox Churches

• The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
• The Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch and its constituent autonomous Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church
• The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
• The Armenian Apostolic Church
• The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
• The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church

The Malabar Independent Syrian Church in India and the British Orthodox Church in the UK are independent Oriental Orthodox churches.

Oriental Orthodox Christians consider themselves to be the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, and its bishops as the successors of Christ's apostles. They shared communion with the imperial Roman church before the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, separating primarily over differences in Christology.

Theology and ecclesiastical traditions are shared between the Oriental Orthodox and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, including similar doctrines of salvation and a tradition of collegiality between bishops. The primary theological difference is their Christology. The Oriental Orthodox adopt the miaphysite formula, believing that Christ's human and divine natures are united in one Incarnate Nature.

The majority of Oriental Orthodox Christians live in Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, India, Syria, Turkey, and Armenia, with smaller Syriac communities in Western Asia decreasing due to persecution. They are present in other parts of the world through diaspora, conversions, and missionary activity.

The Ancient Church of the East

In terms of theology and liturgy, the Ancient Church of the East continues to follow the traditional practices of the mother church, the Church of the East. This church traces its origins to Mesopotamia during the time of the Parthian Empire and developed its own unique form of Christian theology and liturgy.

The Church of the East, of which the Ancient Church of the East is a part, is one of three major branches of Nicene Eastern Christianity that arose from the Christological controversies in the 5th and 6th centuries. The other two branches are Miaphysitism (later known as the Oriental Orthodox Churches) and the Chalcedonian Church (which gave rise to Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism).

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