The organization of life in the first Christian community.

Those who converted or believed in Christ lived together as one family. "And they continued continually in the teaching of the apostles, in fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42). This means that the first believers tried to understand the beginnings of Christian teaching, drawn from the sermon of the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost, constantly remaining "in the teaching of the apostles." Τη διδαχη των αποστόλων, i.e. through the zealous and prolonged edification of the preaching of the apostles (all, and not only Peter), with their complete submission to apostolic authority.

From this proceeded κοινωνία as the inner unity of believers with one another, which had its source in the one faith received from the apostles. Other characteristic signs of inner unity are κλάσις του άρτου, by which we must understand the Christian Eucharist (and not the supper of love), and prayers. Inner spiritual unity (cf. κοινωνία) and harmonious mood were correspondingly expressed in the external organization of life—in the communion of good things, in self-sacrificing help to the poor and needy. Without any compulsion, they established a communion of property at a common treasury, which was replenished by rich people.

The writer Luke speaks of this in two places: the first time in 2:44-45, when depicting the life of those who were baptized on the day of Pentecost, and the second time at the end of 4:34-37, telling about the increase in the community of believers to 5000, after the healing of a lame man. These two descriptions of the life of the Jerusalem community do not refer to the same time, but to points separated by a duration of several months.

Marxism (Engels, K. Kautsky) thinks to see communism here not in the sense of production, but in the consumption of goods, giving the communion of property in the period of the Christian community a legally binding, compulsory character. But this contradicts reality: in the first place, against the coercive nature of the word Ap. Peter, addressed to Ananias: "What you possessed, was it not yours, and what you gained by sale was not in your power?" (Acts 5:4). Secondly, the Christians of Jerusalem retained their property even after the cases of what seemed to be a general forced sale. For example, John Mark's mother, Mary, had her own house in Jerusalem (12:12), and Mnason was also a Cypriot (21:16), and perhaps Philip (21:8).

The First Persecution of the Church of Jerusalem. The beginning of the Christian mission among the pagans.

The gradual growth of the young Christian community and some misunderstandings and confusion, almost inevitable in a large society composed of various elements and not yet cohabited, led to the need to introduce into the communities some ministries to help the apostles (Acts 6:1-6).

For this purpose were chosen Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas, the stranger of Antioch. They were placed before the apostles and, having prayed, laid their hands on them. They were all Hellenists, i.e., they came from the Jews of the Diaspora. The immediate task of their formulation is "διακονειν τραπέζαις". From ancient times, they began to be seen as "deacons" as the last hierarchical degree. But they had no right to do this, as, for example, to call the apostles "deacons", for whom the ministry of the word διακονία του λόγου remained under v. 4. Can they be called "deacons" in the sense of assistants to the apostles, as in the first centuries deacons were the closest assistants of the apostles? In the book of Acts. 21:8 they are simply called επτά (seven). The quiet life of the community was facilitated by the fact that those who believed in Jesus Christ as the Messiah did not renounce the fulfillment of the Mosaic Law and Jewish customs in general. Dissonance was introduced into life by free-thinking Hellenists. The subject of the dispute was the temple and its cult, the termination of which, with the advent of Christ, was spoken of by the Hellenists. Meanwhile, the Jews, on the basis of tradition, defended its infinite existence. The spokesman for these views was Stephen on the part of the Hellenists. On the part of some fanatical natives, there were complaints about Stephen before the Sanhedrin, that he pronounced "blasphemous words against Moses and against God... to this holy place and to the law... that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us" (6:11, 12 and 15). Stephen did not dispute the divine origin of the temple and the law, but asserted the need to abolish them with the coming of Jesus Christ. He did not demand a pagan mission. But he helped to substantiate it through his fearless word, sealed with a martyr's death.

Initially, Christianity spread among the Jews outside of Jerusalem. As a result, several Christian communities of Jews arose in the land of Judea (Gal. 1:22; 1 Thess. 2:14), also in Galilee and Samaria (Acts 1:8; 8:1; 9:31; 15:3), and in the coastal strip (9:32). In order for the mission to move to pagan soil, it was necessary to smash Jewish prejudices. This was largely done by the Hellenists, who took representative places with the reform of the Jerusalem church. True, speeches with bold words, "blasphemous verbs" cost the life of their representative Stephen.

But the consequences of his martyrdom were soon felt. The persecution raised against the like-minded people of Stephen (Acts 8:1-3) forced them to leave Jerusalem. Having dispersed from Jerusalem, they naturally acted as missionaries (Acts 8:4). Among them was the most prominent guardian of the tables, Philip. He preached in Samaria and along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea (8:40). Philip enlightened and baptized an Ethiopian dignitary, a eunuch. This is described in great detail in the Book of Acts. (8:26). And this is understandable – why. The eunuch was not a Jew, but only a proselyte "fearing God." Consequently, his baptism testified to the fall of a strong wall between Jews and Gentiles. However, this case did not solve the matter; nor did another similar one, the baptism of St. Paul. Peter the proselyte, the centurion Cornelius (Acts 10) in Caesarea.

The next decisive step took place in Antioch, where Christianity was preached to pure pagans. The first missionaries in Antioch are not named exactly. But they seem to be seen in Simon Niger, Lucius the Cyrenean, Manaim, Barnabas, and Saul (Acts 13:1). The last two came later (Acts 11:23-25). For the Antiochian community, which was formed mainly from former pagans, the name "Christians" or "Christians" was invented and imprinted (Acts 11:26).

This designation in itself proves that the new community in Antioch had deviated greatly from Judaism. It is remarkable that the Judeo-Christians coexisted peacefully with the linguist-Christians in Antioch. Only those who came from Jerusalem brought discord between them (Acts 15:1; Gal. 2:11-13). It is not surprising that now the enmity against Christianity began, when the preaching of the Gospel passed to pagan soil. Now Herod also, in order to please the Jews, began a persecution against the 12: he killed James Zebedee and put in prison the Apostle Paul. Peter (Acts 12). After this, none of the apostles remained in Jerusalem, and the administration of the Jerusalem church was entrusted to the Lord's brother James with a college of elders.

The Apostle Paul.

The development of Christian preaching with inner necessity led to the removal of the restrictive framework of Judaism, although the Palestinian Judeo-Christians looked upon the Jewish shell as something obligatory and confused it with the essence of Christianity. In order to bring about the full development of the universalism of the Christian religion, only the atmosphere and free soil of the Diaspora are suitable for this. In Antioch, in fact, the germ of a new majestic development was given for the first time. In the sense of liberating Christianity from the restrictive framework of Judaism and imparting to it the character of a universal religion, the world-historical significance will forever remain with Saul of the notorious city of Tarsus, i.e. the Apostle Paul.