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.

Saul, a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, brought up in Phariseeism, as a Hellenist, who knew the Greek language well, not even alien to Greek education, but who had not actually gone through the school of Hellenistic education, was guided by Rabbi Gamaliel in a serious study of the law, as destined to become a scribe-rabbi; and with all his soul, with ardent zeal, he immersed himself in the law and the traditions of the fathers (Gal. 1:14). Hence his zealous participation in the murder of Stephen (Acts 8:1, cf. 7:58), as well as in the persecution of the Christian sect, which allegedly threatened the state of the Jewish faith, the destruction of the temple and the customs of Moses. Energetically engaged in the persecution of the Christians who had fled from Jerusalem, he was shocked by the appearance of the Risen One on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). Stricken with physical blindness, inwardly regaining his sight, he again, after three days, received miraculous sight through the Christian disciple Ananias and was baptized. After which he preached for a short time in the synagogues of Damascus about Jesus as the Son of God. From here he went to Arabia in order to recognize himself in a new position in solitude and to prepare for his high calling. When he returned to Damascus again, he found his life threatened by the embittered Jews. Believers helped him escape from Damascus at night. Now he went for the first time, after his conversion, to Jerusalem, in order to see Ap. Peter (and James), to whom he was introduced to Barnabas (Gal. 1:17-18; cf. Acts 9:27). After a 15-day stay there, Saul went to Tara, his homeland, from where he was soon summoned by Barnabas to Antioch (Acts 9:25). Here, by special revelation, Barnabas and Saul were chosen through prayer and the laying on of hands for a special ministry and, endowed with all the necessary gifts of grace, were sent out to the work of mission (Acts 14:3-4). The first evangelistic journey (44-45) of Saul, Barnabas with John Mark, who accompanied them at first, began with Antioch of Syria, continued through Pamphylia (where John Mark left them), Pisidia and Lycaonia. They preached in synagogues and, first of all, addressed the Jews, and then the Gentiles. "You (the Jews) should have been the first to be preached the word of God, but because you reject it and make yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:46). And many pagans believed and entered into the Church of Christ. Having ascended to Iconium, Ap. Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch to the provinces and cities, where they were already preaching the Gospel, while confirming the disciples in the faith and ordaining elders into communities (Acts 14:22-23).

Apostolic Council of Jerusalem (49 AD).

As if having given an account of his mission to the Antiochian community, Ap. Paul and Barnabas rested quietly from their labors for some time (14:27-28). Their peace was disturbed by the Judeo-Christians who came from Judea, of course. They raised the still unresolved question of the conditions under which Gentiles could enter the Christian Church, and prejudged it in a narrowly Jewish sense: under the condition of circumcision and the observance of the Mosaic Law in general (15:1). Meanwhile, the missionaries tacito modo assumed that the Mosaic Law was not obligatory for Gentile Christians, as they were understood by the pagans who converted to the Church. Naturally, an argument flared up. In order to put an end to the disagreements in the Antiochian community, it was decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders (Acts 15:2). Coming to Jerusalem with Barnabas and accompanied by the still newly-converted Hellenist Titus, Ap. Paul "offered (to the apostles) the gospel ... especially famous," i.e., Peter, James, John, with the thought that confused him: "Am I not struggling in vain, or have I struggled?" He saw the work of his gospel in great danger. The Apostles, having learned about the missionary work of Paul and Barnabas, saw in their work a clear blessing (grace) of God and "gave me and Barnabas the hand of fellowship, that we might go to the Gentiles, and them to the circumcised, only that we might remember the poor." That is, Paul was entrusted with "the gospel of uncircumcision, and Peter with circumcision" (Gal. 2:1-10). This agreement was adopted in the close circle of the apostles; the meeting in the church is described by Luke in Acts 15. Long discourses took place here, speeches were spoken, from which Luke mentions the speech of St. Paul. Peter and the general meaning of the speeches of Paul and Barnabas. The conclusion or summary of the reasoning was summed up and formulated by St. Paul. James, having issued the so-called decree of the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem on the abstinence of pagan Christians "from things sacrificed to idols, and blood, and strangled, and fornication," "And not to do to others what they do not want to do to themselves" (Acts 15:29). This decree represented the minimum of public decency required for symbiosis by Christian linguists, a requirement of what the Talmud presents as the commandments of Noah. This decree applies only to Christian linguists. As for the Judeo-Christians, it was assumed that they would continue to obey the law of Moses. For after the above definition, it is immediately said: "The law of Moses from the generations of old in all the cities has those who preach it, and is read in the synagogues every Sabbath" (Acts 15:21). "Through this, the point of view is affirmed for the primitive church that the Judeo-Christians remain obliged to a legalistic life" (W. Müller, Lehrbuch, 1. S., 62).

Such a decree of the Jerusalem Council was sent through the envoys of Antioch, reinforced by those sent from the Council – Judas, Barnabas and Silas – of the Church of Antioch. It began with the words: "Apostles and elders, brethren, who are in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, to rejoice among the brethren of the Gentiles."

The activity of Ap. Paul after the Apostolic Council. His arrival in Rome.

Of course, the practical difficulties that arose from the cohabitation of linguistic Christians with Judeo-Christians were not eliminated by the apostolic decree, and this very soon manifested itself in life. For the Judeo-Christians, who, as has been said, apparently still had to observe the Mosaic Law, there were great inconveniences in associating with the Christian tongues, and most importantly, such intercourse violated the Levitical laws of purity. If this circumstance is to be borne in mind, then it is necessary to renounce such a serious, important, fraternal expression of mutual love as communication in evening meals, agapes. Silently, it was assumed that the apostles and Judeo-Christians would prefer fraternal fellowship at love supper to observance of ritual laws. But this could be expected somewhere in Syria, in Antioch, and not in Judea, and this is not the case for everyone and not in all cases. Even Ap. Peter and Barnabas could not always hold on to that lofty point of view. They, for example, who were in Antioch after the Apostolic Council, first had communion with the linguist-Christians at meals; but when the Judeo-Christians came from Jerusalem, who considered the Levitical laws of purity binding on all Jews, Peter and Barnabas deviated from the Christian tongues and joined the Judeo-Christians. The Apostle Paul proceeded from the proposition that God united the Gentiles to the Church through faith, just as by faith alone the Jews are saved; This means that conventional partitions must fall between them and the ritual law must lose its significance. That is why he openly denounced Peter and Barnabas, who had betrayed their principle, and who had put the Christian tongues in an offensive and even dangerous position (Gal. 2:11). After this incident, Ap. Paul soon left Syria and continued his evangelistic journeys, revealing in his epistles the lofty liberal point of view completely independently (see, e.g., 1 Cor. 8-10; Rom. 14, Heb. 5-6), so that it is impossible to point out parallels in the writings of other apostles or evangelists in their writings.

Having enlightened the East as far as Illyricum (Rom. 15:19), Paul intended to move his missionary work westward, through Rome and Spain (Rom. 15:24, 28; 1:13). But in Rom. Paul came not as a free missionary, but as a defendant to the Roman authorities. However, according to the writer Luke (Acts 28:31), he preached Christianity in Rome "without hindrance," for "the word of God does not fit."