Christianity

(kris-te-an'e-te.) [Fr. Chrétienté; Gr. Christian is mos, from Christos, the Anointed One.] The religion profe ed by the followers of Jesus Christ, to whom the term Christian was first applied in Antioch. (Acts xi. 26.) After the death and resurrection of the Saviour, 33, his 12 apostles preached the gospel to the Jews and Gentiles. St. Peter established communities of Christians at Jerusalem, Antioch, and other cities of Asia; after which he repaired to Rome, of which city he became the first bishop. On his part, St. Paul made, chiefly among the heathen, so great a number of converts as to have received the title of Apostle of the Gentiles. After having visited Asia Minor and Greece, he resorted to Rome, where he suffered martyrdom under Nero, 67. Other apostles spread the doctrines of C. over the several pro vs. of the Roman empire. The progre of the new faith raised against it the hatred of the pagans, and the Christians had, accordingly, to suffer numberle persecutions. Ten of the latter are recorded: under Nero, 62-68; Domitian, 95; Trajan, 106; Marcus Aurelius, 166-177; Septimus Severus, 199204; Maximin, 235-238; Decius, 250-252; Valerian, 253260; Aurelian, 275; Diocletian, 303-313. The reign of the last of these persecutors has been called the Era of Martyrs. Sophists and impostors (Simon the Magician, A poll on i us of Tyana, Menander, .) pretended to equal the miracles of the new religion. Numerous heretics (the Gnostics in the 2d century, Manes and the Sabellians in the 3d cent., Arrius, Donatus, Pelagius, Nestor, Eutyches, and Maro from the 4th to the 6th cent.) endeavored to corrupt the purity of the apostolic faith. But C. triumphed over all its enemies by the constancy of its martyrs, and by the eloquence of its apologists, and of the fathers of the church, such as Lac tanti us, Tertullian, Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil, John Chrysostom, A than as i us, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, . Lastly, the emperor Const an tine, by the celebrated Edict of Milan, 313, made the Christian religion the religion of the empire, and the Catholic faith was solemnly formulated in the Symbol of the Council of Nicene, 325. From that time forward C. had three great works to accomplish to convert the barbarians; to fight against heresy; and to spread the light of civilization. The Goths, the Burgundians, the Suevians, the Vandals, the Visigoths, the Lombards, became, in turn, Christian i zed after the end of the 4th cent., but they embrace dAri an ism. The Franks were converted under Clovis, 496; the Irish and the Anglo-Saxons, at the end of the 6th cent.; the Germans in the 8th cent.; while the northern peoples - Danes, Swedes, Poles, Ru ians, as well as the Hungarians and Bulgarians adopted the faith from the 9th to the 15th cent. C. gained le ground in Asia; it prevailed in Armenia, where it still subsists; but it was almost extinguished in Persia by persecution, and the victories of the Moslems dispo e ed it, in the 7th cent., from the greater part of Asiatic and African countries. Besides, the Church had become torn in the 9th cont. by the schism of Photius, who, 858, separated the Greek Church from the Latin. The principal heresies that C. had to overcome in the Middle Ages were,besides Arianism, those of the Iconoclasts, who agitated the empire of the East during the 8th and 9th cent.; of the Vaudois and Albigenses in France, in the 12th cent.; of the English Reformers, and of Jerome of Prague, and John Hu , in the 15th cent.; besides, intestinal divisions, known under the name of the Western Schism, or Great Schism, troubled the peace of the church during 71 years, 13781449, by opposing pope against pope. It was, neverthele , during the Middle Ages, that the ecclesiastical authority attained the height of its influence; the spiritual power sustained in that epoch long struggles against the temporal power, and, for a time, held the upper hand. But soon abuses crept in which the Council of Con stance, 1414, and that of Basle, 1431, were unsucce ful in removing. Finally, celebrated monastic orders - as those of the Benedictines, in the 6th cent.; Bernardines, 1098; Trappists, 1140; Carmelites, 1205; Francis cans (or Cordeliers), 1208; Do mini cans (or Jacobins), 1215; Celestines, 1244; Aug us tines, 1256, & c. - exercised a powerful influence upon civilization by forming mi ions for the conversion of pagans and infidels, broke new ground for the di emination of that religious knowledge of which they were the deposit aries. Other orders, such as the Hospitallers, 1100; Templars, 1118; Teutonic Knights, in Syria; the Knights of Alcantara, Calatrava, Santiago, Christ, and Avis, in Spain and Portugal, were established for waging war against the Infidels. In modern times, the discovery of America has spread over a new world the empire of C., and the zeal of its mi ionaries brought to many heathen tribes the light of the Christian faith. But in the 16th cent., Catholicism saw the rise of wonderful heresies. Luther gave the signal in 1517; he preached of a reform which caused the sece ion from the Church of Rome of several Christian nations; Zwinglius, in 1519, and Calvin, in 1536, became chiefs of sects whose tenets spread rapidly, and which, notwithstanding the measures of reformation ordered by the Council of Trent, 1563, completed the separation of Protestant ism from Roman Catholicism. Since the times of those great reformers, the sects they founded have multiplied so greatly as to be almost beyond numeration. The Catholic powers, after having for a long period sought to overthrow the so-called heresies, both by persuasion and force (see ALBIGENSES, BARTHOLOMEW, ST., (MASSACRE OF), INQUISITION, .), have at last granted in succe ion, in our own times, to the worshippers of the several Protestant sects, peaceful existence, and a more or le extended toleration of their religious faith. The principal Christian sects are referred to, [s. 184]