Ecc514 - Orthodox Ukrainian jurisdictions

Lesson 1: Early Church Jurisdictions

REVIEW: The church spread out from Jerusalem as the good news about the hope of salvation, repentance, the kingdom of heaven, the cross and the resurrection life was received - first by a remnant of Jews and afterwards by the nations. By the time Jerusalem was obliterated by the Romans in 70 AD, the good news had already spread to Antioch to the north and was making its way to Alexandria, in Egypt to the south. Meanwhile, progress was already being made to reach Rome for Christ, as we know from Paul's Epistles and the letter of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians. Rome was the dominant political power. Then at the turn of the fourth century, when Emperor Constantine rose to power, he expanded Roman influence to the East, setting up his headquarters in what he called "New Rome" in modern day Istanbul. He named the city after himself - Constantinople, in an area known as Byzantium.

The church expanded throughout the Roman Empire during times of persecution before the rise of Constantine with the help of the Roman built roads and there was very little centralized control in terms of church hierarchy. There was, as a result and as might be expected, a great deal of variety in the way the church expressed itself in worship. The problem of false doctrine, and questions of authority also rose up at a very early date, even before the New Testament was completed.

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