Christian History · Timeline

The Early Church Timeline

The early church spans from Pentecost, around AD 30, to the Edict of Milan in 313. For nearly three centuries the faith grew without power or protection, often under persecution, held together by the witness of the apostles, the teaching of the church fathers, and the courage of ordinary believers who would not deny Christ. By the time Rome granted toleration, the church had already spread across the empire and beyond it.

This is the church before it had cathedrals, emperors, or legal standing, and in many ways it is the church at its purest. The fathers whose letters survive, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin, Irenaeus, confessed Jesus as God and worshipped him long before the Council of Nicaea, which is worth remembering whenever someone claims his divinity was a later invention. The martyrs did not die for a theory. They died for a Person they were sure was alive.

It is also striking how quickly the faith outran the empire. By 301 Armenia had become the first Christian nation, and the gospel had reached North Africa, Ethiopia, Persia, and, by tradition, India. Christianity was global long before it was European.

The timeline

• c. AD 30 to 33
  The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus
  In Jerusalem, Jesus is crucified under Pontius Pilate and, Christians confess, raised on the third day. This is the event the whole faith rests upon. Scholars date it to either AD 30 or AD 33.
• c. AD 30 to 33
  Pentecost and the birth of the church
  Fifty days after the resurrection the Holy Spirit falls on the disciples, and about three thousand believe (Acts 2). The church is born in a single morning.
• c. AD 34 to 36
  The conversion of Saul of Tarsus
  The church’s fiercest persecutor meets the risen Christ on the Damascus road and becomes Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.
• c. AD 48 to 49
  The Council of Jerusalem
  The apostles decide that Gentiles need not become Jews to follow Jesus (Acts 15). From the start, the gospel is for all nations.
• c. AD 48 to 64
  Paul’s missionary journeys and letters
  Paul plants churches across Asia Minor and Greece. His letters, written in the 50s, are the earliest Christian writings we possess, older than the written Gospels.
• c. AD 52 (tradition)
  The apostle Thomas said to reach India
  Ancient tradition holds that Thomas carried the gospel to India, where the Saint Thomas Christians trace their origin. Historians debate the details, but the community is very old.
• AD 64 to 67
  The fire of Rome and the deaths of Peter and Paul
  Nero blames Christians for Rome’s great fire. By early tradition Peter and Paul are martyred in the city during these years.
• AD 70
  The destruction of the Jerusalem Temple
  Rome razes the Temple, ending the sacrificial system and scattering the Jerusalem church. Christianity’s center begins to shift outward.
• c. AD 65 to 100
  The four Gospels are written
  Mark is usually dated around AD 65 to 70, then Matthew, Luke, and John by about AD 100. The exact dating is debated among scholars, but all fall within living memory of Jesus.
• c. AD 95
  Revelation and the close of the apostolic age
  The aged apostle John, exiled on Patmos, writes Revelation. His death around AD 100 ends the age of the apostles.
• c. AD 107
  The martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch
  On his way to die in Rome, Ignatius writes seven letters that already call Jesus ‘our God’, more than two centuries before the Council of Nicaea.
• c. AD 112
  Pliny’s letter to Trajan
  A Roman governor describes Christians meeting before dawn to sing to Christ ‘as to a god’, a hostile but priceless outside witness to early worship.
• c. AD 155 to 160
  The martyrdom of Polycarp
  A disciple of the apostle John refuses to deny Christ: ‘Eighty and six years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong.’
• c. AD 180
  Irenaeus writes Against Heresies
  Defending the apostolic faith and the four Gospels against Gnostic distortions, Irenaeus anchors the mainstream of the church.
• c. AD 200
  Tertullian and the word Trinity
  The North African writer is the first to use the Latin word trinitas for Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• AD 250
  The Decian persecution
  The emperor Decius orders everyone in the empire to sacrifice to the gods, the first coordinated, empire-wide persecution of Christians.
• c. AD 301
  Armenia becomes the first Christian nation
  King Tiridates III, converted through Gregory the Illuminator, makes Christianity the state faith, more than a decade before Rome grants toleration.
• AD 303 to 311
  Diocletian’s Great Persecution
  The last and most severe Roman persecution sets out to destroy the church, and fails.
• AD 313
  The Edict of Milan
  Constantine and Licinius grant Christians legal toleration across the empire. Three centuries of persecution give way to freedom.

The thread through it all

Read the whole story and one thing becomes plain: through every century, every council and controversy, every rise and fall of empires, one Person holds it together. The church has been divided, persecuted, corrupted, and renewed, and yet it has never once disappeared, because it was never finally ours to keep. Jesus said he would build it, and he has.

Frequently asked questions

When did the early church period end?

It is usually reckoned to close with the Edict of Milan in 313, when the emperors Constantine and Licinius granted Christians legal toleration, ending the era of Roman persecution.

Did the early church believe Jesus was God before Nicaea?

Yes. Church fathers such as Ignatius of Antioch (around AD 107), Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian confessed Christ’s deity long before the Council of Nicaea in 325. Nicaea defended this belief; it did not create it.

How were early Christians persecuted?

Persecution was often local and sporadic, but at times empire-wide and severe, as under Decius (250) and Diocletian (303 to 311). Many Christians were killed rather than deny Christ, until toleration came in 313.