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The Early Christians were the early followers of Jesus of Nazareth before the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century. The term largely refers to the Christians of the early period of Christianity who were baptized by the apostles and their immediate successors.
Emperor Constantine I issued the Edict of Milan in 312 AD and the Christian faith became tolerated throughout the Roman Empire. The faith became the official religion of the empire in the reign of Theodosius I in 392.
Among those writers commonly referred to as Early Christian are:
- Paul of Tarsus
- Clement of Rome
- Ignatius of Antioch
- Papias
- Polycarp of Smyrna
- Justin Martyr
- Tatian
- Athenagoras of Athens
- Irenaeus
- Clement of Alexandria
- Tertullian
- Hippolytus
- Origen
- Cyprian
- Dionysius of Alexandria
- Arnobius
- Lactantius
- Didache
- Apostolic Constitutions
The term is less often, but with equal validity, applied to the authors of the books of the New Testament.
Origins
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The early Christians heavily relied on the Koine Greek Alexandrine text of the Hebrew Bible commonly refered to in the west as the Septuagint.
Christianity grew out of Judaism, with which it shares the Old Testamtent.
See also
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