Early Christianity

Introduction
The first Christians were Hebrews.  Several councils that changed the shape of the Christian world. Diversity was heavy early on, like today.   There was Christians that believed Jesus had one nature.  Another category Christians believed he had 2 natures.  These 2 groups battled each other.  There were 5 major cities of Christianity.   

Prominent Early Christians
James the Just: He was Jesus oldest brother.  He was the 2nd leader of the 1st Christian Church in Jerusalem and followed Jewish laws.  Paul and James came to an agreement about which Jewish law gentiles didn't have to fellow.  It was decided gentile men didn't have to be circumcised.  He was put to death in 62 CE, because Sanhedrin had stoned.  They didn't like Christianity; that why they had Jesus killed.  Paul became the leader of Christianity.  Many gentile churches were founded by him.         

St. Peter: 1st leader of the Christian Church in Jerusalem.  He founded the church in Antioch.  He encouraged Jews and gentiles to eat together.  Catholics see him as the founder of their church.  Nero blamed Christians 4 the fire in Rome, so he had Peter crucified.  He told them to crucify him upside down.  Nero caused the fire.         

Paul:  His real name was Saul, but gentiles called him Paul.  He murdered Christians until he converted, because he was a Pharisee.  A laser beam hit him in the eye and he went blind for 3 days.  After that he became a Christian.  He spreaded Christianity to gentiles.  What he said was in direct opposition to what Jesus said.  Something to think about.  A lot of the New testament was written by him.  Nero had him beheaded.

Cerinthus: He was a Gnostic Christian.  A lot of church fathers didn't agree with is views.  He believed the holy spirit came to Jesus when he got baptised and left him when he was crucified.  He saw Jesus as completely human, like the first Christians.  Jesus was a child of Mary and Joseph.   He saw Yahweh as the demiurge:(created the physical universe).  It wasn't evil.  Jewish law was very important to him.  He wanted gentile men circumcised.  Cerinthus was probably an Egyptian.       

Marcion: He was something like a pastor.  He believed Yahweh was evil and Jesus was son of the supreme god.  He also Yahweh is the demiurge and Jesus was a spirit never incarnating on earth.  He was the first person to create the New Testament.   

Basilides: He was a Gnostic Christian teacher in Alexandria, Egypt.  Yahweh was a evil demiurge.  Knowledge saves us, not faith.  Hell does not exist.  His disciples had to be silent 4 five years.     

Origen: He was a Christian leader and wrote over 2,000 books!!!  The Romans threw his father in jail 4 being a Christian.  He was going to turn himself in, but his mom stopped him.  He may have got himself castrated.  The jury out on that.  He became a philosopher and created his own school.  He Socratic reasoning, cosmology, natural history, and theology.  Jesus died so human souls can be free of sin and go to heaven.  We all have free will.  Biblical scriptures are divinely inspired.  The Christian god is a trinity.  The Father is greater than the Son.  The Son is greater that the holy spirit.  He made Christianity intellectual.  Prior to him it was a savage beast.       

Helena:  She was Constantine's mom.  2 churches were built because of her.   She made a pilgrimage to Palestine to relics of Jesus.  There was a Venus temple built on top of the tomb of Jesus.  Helena had it torn down.  She found Jesus tunic, rope, parts of the cross, and nails.  She is now a saint.   
                                         
St. Augustine: He was born Numidia, later he became a Christian.  Humans are combination of body and soul.   He was against abortion and he was sure if a fetus has a soul.  Yahweh/El created all things @ once, not in 6 days.  'The fate of our souls are determined @ death.'  Purgatory burn out the impurities of the unrighteous faithful.  He believed Mary was a perpetual virgin, but we know that's not true.  Joseph had sex with her often, because he was her husband.  He knew the bible was metaphorical.  Freewill and destiny exist side by side.  He was against slavery; Jews will become Christians @ the end of time.  Lust is a sin a because it lacks love, unless you're married.  He wrote over a 100 books!!!  He was a great genius that got mixed up in the wrong religion.         

Cyril: He was the Patriarch of Alexandria.  He knocked of Nestorius crown.  Jews and a sect of Christians were kicked out of Alexandria because of him.  Hypatia was killed by a mob of Christians led by Cyril.  Mary is the Mother of God!  Not really, but that's what he thought.  Jesus existed as the Word of God b4 he incarnated.  Greeks called the world the logos.  He wrote about 20 books and he's a saint.         

John Chrysostom: He was the archbishop of Constantinople.  He didn't want Christians  to practice Jewish rituals nor celebrate Jewish holidays.  He was homophobic, he thought it was the worst sin.  "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind.  It is an abomination."  Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed because of homosexuality.  Something to think about!!!!           

First 7 Ecumenical Councils (debates on trinity than nature)
Nicean(2 councils): @ the first council it was decided Jesus is divine.  They determined the trinity is real and the Son and Father are equal.  Arius was denounced because he saw the Father as greater than the Son.  @ the 2nd council they decided icons should be venerated but not worshipped.  This was the last ecumenical council.  Alexandria and Jerusalem had the most authority @ this time.         

Constantinople(3 councils): The first council went ain't several forms of Christianity.  Different rules were created 4 clergy.  They decided the Holy Spirit is equal to the Father and Son.  Constantinople became more important than Rome.  Not much known about the second council.  @ the 3rd council it was decided Jesus human nature is a slave to his divine nature.     

Ephesus: Nestorius became a heretic @ this council.  Anyone that didn't accept the decrees were excommunicated.  Christians from different sects battled each other.  It was a battle royale.   

Chalcedon: 30 rules was created @ this council.  Most of these rules were 4 clergy.  The rules from previous councils still applied.  The bishop of Constantinople became has powerful as Pope. 

Types of Christians
Original Christianity: They are known as Ebionites and/or Nazarenes.  Nazarenes were a Jewish cult similar to the Essenes, but they could marry.  Jesus may have been a member of this cult.  Ebionites were Jews who believed Jesus was the messiah.  They still followed Jewish laws.  They didn't believe in the virgin birth and the trinity.  Those are gentile beliefs.         

Gnosticism: This was a mixture of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Greek Philosophy, etc.  It was created in Alexandria.  Some Gnostic sects saw Jesus as good and Yahweh as evil.  This group was very diverse.  Sum of them saw the physical universe as evil and the spiritual universe as good.  They believed Yahweh created the physical universe because he was unconscious of the spiritual universe.  His mother Sophia (goddess of wisdom) gave birth to him when she was confused about the all Father.  Because of this he is cut off from the true reality, so he created a false one: phenomenal universe.  There are other sects of Gnosticism that had other beliefs.   

Manichaeism: This religion was created by Mani.  He mixed Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Christianity.  There was 3 types of Jesus in this religion.  He was the reincarnation of various religious figures.  They are as followed: Krishna, Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus.  Knowledge is salvation.  Augustine was into this religion b4 he became a Christian.  It seems like he converted because he was afraid.  Theodosius made Manichaeism illegal right b4 Augustine converted.  This religion died out because Roman, Arab, and Chinese people persecuted it.           

Arianism: This form of Christianity was created by Arius.  He believed Jesus was inferior to the Father.  He didn't believe in the trinity.  There were different forms of Arianism.  Germanic tribes embraced this form of Christianity.  Mormons and Jehovah Witness have Arian views.   

Nestorianism: Nestorius created this form of Christianity.  He didn't want Mary to called the mother of god, because Mary was a human.  She should be called the Christ bearer.  Humans can't give birth to gods.  Jesus represents the Logos.

There were many other groups but this will suffice.  The various christian groups broke up into 2 camps.  The ones who believed Jesus had one (monophysite) nature and those who believed he had 2 (dynophysite).  They battled each other.

Jesus Wars (mention the book)
There is a book with the same name as this section.  It explains in detail the wars between the monophysites and dynophysites.  Monophysites started the wars, but the dynophysites finished it.  They shouldn't have fought each other.  They should have accepted difference in opinion.  The monophysites became the Coptic and Ethiopian churches.  The dynophsites became the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches. 

5 Cities of Christendom
Jerusalem: The first church was built there.  The 1st bishop of this church was James the Just, Jesus brother.  Christianity started out as a Messianic Jewish cult.  Than later became its own religion. 

Antioch: The first gentile church was there.  Monophysitism was popular here. 

Alexandria: The the Old Testament was translated into Greek there.  This city ruled over all the Christian cities in Africa.  The Coptic Church was found in Cairo by St. Mark.  Ethiopians and Nubians were members of the Coptic Church. 

Constantinople: This city got a patriarchate in 381 BCE.  The patriarchate was the liaison between bishops and the emperor.  This city later became Istanbul. 

Rome: This is the city of the Pope.  It became uber powerful because all those other cities were taken over by Muslims; and it was the capital of the Roman empire.  There were several priesthood in this city.  They severed different Greco-Roman deities.  I believe those priesthoods became Christian after Christianity became the state religion.  4 example vestal virgins became nuns. 

Conclusion
Christianity has a very colorful history and a lot of misguided souls.  There were many prominent early Christians and councils.  There were a lot of different forms of Christianity.  It came from a melting pot of ideas.  There were 5 major Christian cities.  Christianity is the most popular religion in the world because of European imperialism.  If you are a victim of European imperialism, yo are following a religion that was forced on your ancestors.  That's why I gave it up when I was a freshman in college.

References
http://mainsailministries.org/index.php/q-a-a-god-bible-theology-culture/105-what-is-the-difference-between-dyophysitism-and-miaphysitism.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_early_Christianity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_the_Catholic_ecumenical_councils
Jesus Wars Download
http://www.gospel-mysteries.net/james-the-just.html
https://www.biblica.com/articles/7-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-apostle-paul/
www.britannica.com
http://www.essene.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversity_in_early_Christian_theology
http://www.atlantaserbs.com/learnmore/history/Jerusalem-church.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecumenical_Patriarchate_of_Constantinople#The_Great_Church_of_Christ