Christianity

The history of Christianity concerns the, , and the with its various , from the  to the.

Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus in the 1st century Roman province of. According to the s, was a Jewish teacher and healer who proclaimed the imminent, and was crucified at c.30–33 AD. His followers believed that he was then  and exalted by God, and would return soon at the inception of God's Kingdom.

The earliest followers of were  s. Due to the inclusion of s, the developing  gradually  from  and  during the first two centuries of the.

In 313, Emperor issued the, officially legalizing Christian worship. In 380, with the put forth under, the Roman Empire officially adopted  Christianity as its state religion, and Christianity established itself as a predominantly  religion in the.

Christological debates about the human and divine nature of Jesus consumed the Christian Church for a couple of centuries, and seven eucumenical councils took place to resolve these debates. was condemned at the Council of Nicea (325), which supported the Trinitarian doctrine as expounded in the.

In the early Middle Ages, missionary activities spread Christianity towards the west among German peoples. During the High Middle Ages, eastern and western Christianity grew apart, leading to the of 1054. Growing criticism of the Roman Catholic ecclesiological structure and its behaviour, led to the Protestant movement of the 16th century and the split of western Christianity.

Since the, with western , Christianity has expanded throughout the world. Today there are more than two billion Christians worldwide, and Christianity has become the world's largest religion.

Jewish-Hellenistic background
The religious climate of 1st century Judea was quite diverse, with numerous variations of Judaic doctrine. The ancient historian noted four prominent groups in the Judaism of the time:, ,  and. This led to further unrest, and the 1st century BC and 1st century AD saw a number of charismatic religious leaders, contributing to what would become the of, including  and.

, and the Jewish messiah concept, has its in the  of the 2nd century BC to 1st century BC, promising a future "anointed" leader or  or  from the  to resurrect the Israelite "", in place of the foreign rulers of the time.

Ministry of Jesus
The main sources of information regarding Jesus' life and teachings are the four, and to a lesser extent the and the. According to the Gospels, Jesus was a Jewish teacher and healer who was crucified at c.30–33 AD. His followers believed that He was raised from death and exaltated by God due to his faithfulness.

Early Christianity (c. 31/33–324)
Early Christianity may be divided into two distinct phases: the (1st century), when the first apostles were alive and led the Church, and the, (c.100–325) when an early  structure developed.

Apostolic Age
The Apostolic Age is named after the and their missionary activities. It holds special significance in Christian tradition as the age of the direct apostles of Jesus. A for the Apostolic Age is the, but  and its coverage is partial, focusing especially from  onwards on the ministry of , and ending around 62 AD with Paul preaching in  under.

The earliest followers of were. Some groups were strictly Jewish, such as the  and the early Christian community in, led by. According to, they described themselves as 'disciples of the Lord' and [followers] 'of the Way', and according to a settled community of disciples at  were the first to be called 'Christians'.

Some of the early Christian communities also attracted gentile. The inclusion of gentiles posed a problem, as they could not fully observe the. Saul of, commonly known as , persecuted the early Jewish Christians, then and started proselytizing among the gentiles. The main concern of Paul's letters is the inclusion of gentiles into God's, deeming faith in Christ sufficient for righteousness. Due to this inclusion of gentiles, Early Christianity gradually from Judaism during the first two centuries of the ; it established itself as a predominantly gentile religion in the.

The Gospels and  contain early s and, as well as accounts of the , the empty tomb, and Resurrection appearances. Christianity spread to -speaking peoples along the and also to the inland parts of the  and beyond that into the  and the later, including , which was dominated at different times and to varying extents by these empires.

Ante-Nicene Period
The Ante-Nicene Period (literally meaning "before Nicaea") of the was the period following the Apostolic Age down to the  in 325. This period of Christian history had a significant impact on the unity of doctrine across all and the  to a greater area of the world. By the beginning of the Nicene period, the Christian faith had spread throughout and the, and to  and the East. Several trends emerged simultaneously. One unifying trend was an increasingly harsh and of.

Persecutions
According to the New Testament, Christians were subject to various from the beginning. Early Christians were thought to bring misfortune by their refusal to honour the gods, and large-scale persecutions followed at the hands of the authorities of the, beginning with the year 64, when, as reported by the historian , the  blamed them for that year's.

The last and most severe persecution organised by the imperial authorities was the, 303–311. The Roman persecution of Christians ended in AD 313 when decreed tolerance for the religion. He then called the in AD 325, beginning the period of the.

Diversity and proto-orthodoxy
The number of Christians grew by approximately 40% a decade during the first and second centuries. This phenomenal growth rate forced Christian communities to evolve in order to adapt to their changes in the nature of their communities as well as their relationship with their political and socioeconomic environment. Classical writers mistook early congregations for burial or fraternal societies which had similar characteristics like divine worship, common meals, regular meetings, initiation, rules for conduct, and their own burial grounds.

Variant Christianities
The Ante-Nicene period saw the rise of a great number of Christian s, s and with strong unifying characteristics lacking in the apostolic period. They had different interpretations of, particularly the and the nature of the. Prominent alternatives included which denied the  (God becoming human). held that Jesus had lesser status than. held that the Father,, and the were all one being with three  or persons. Many groups, such as the, held , seeing reality as having two radically opposing parts: matter, seen as evil, and spirit, seen as good. Such views sometimes led to heresies. Most scholars agree that the Bible teaches that both the material and the spiritual worlds were created by God and were therefore both good.

Proto-orthodox Christianity
The development of doctrine, the position of orthodoxy, and the relationship between the various opinions is a matter of continuing academic debate. Since most Christians today subscribe to the doctrines established by the, modern Christian theologians tend to regard the early debates as a against a minority of heretics. Other scholars, drawing upon distinctions between, , and other groups such as and , argue that  was always fragmented, with contemporaneous competing beliefs.

Church structure and the episcopacy
In the post-Apostolic church, bishops emerged as overseers of urban Christian populations, and a hierarchy of clergy gradually took on the form of ' (overseers, in-spectors; and the origin of the term ) and s (and the origin of the term ), and then ' (servants). But this emerged slowly and at different times for different locations. Clement, a 1st-century bishop of Rome, refers to the leaders of the Corinthian church in as bishops and presbyters interchangeably. The New Testament writers also use the terms overseer and elders interchangeably and as synonyms.

Post-apostolic bishops of importance include, , and. These men reportedly knew and studied under the apostles personally and are therefore called. Each Christian community also had s, as was the case with Jewish communities, who were also ordained and assisted the bishop. As Christianity spread, especially in rural areas, the presbyters exercised more responsibilities and took distinctive shape as priests. Lastly, s also performed certain duties, such as tending to the poor and sick. In the 2nd century, an episcopal structure becomes more visible, and in that century this structure was supported by teaching on, where a bishop becomes the spiritual successor of the previous bishop in a line tracing back to the apostles themselves.

The diversity of early Christianity can be documented from the New Testament record itself. The admits conflicts between Hebrews and Hellenists, and Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, and  and. The letters of Paul, Peter, John, and Jude all testify to intra-Church conflicts over both leadership and theology. In a response to the teaching,  created the first document describing what is now called.

Development of the Biblical canon
The were circulating in collected form by the end of the 1st century AD, while Justin Martyr mentions the gospels as the "memoirs of the apostles" in the early 2nd century.

By the early 3rd century, may have been using the same 27 books as in the modern New Testament, though there were still disputes over the canonicity of Hebrews, James, II Peter, II and III John, and Revelation. The shows that by 200 there existed a set of Christian writings similar to the current New Testament. By the 4th century, there existed unanimity in the West concerning the New Testament canon, and by the the East, with a few exceptions, had come to accept the Book of Revelation and thus had come into harmony on the matter of the canon.

Early orthodox writings – Ante-Nicene Fathers
As Christianity spread, it acquired certain members from well-educated circles of the Hellenistic world; they sometimes became bishops, but not always. They produced two sorts of works: theological and "", the latter being works aimed at defending the faith by using reason to refute arguments against the veracity of Christianity. These authors are known as the, and study of them is called. Notable early Fathers include, , , , , , and.

Early art
Christian art only emerged relatively late, and the first known Christian images emerge from about 200 AD, though there is some literary evidence that small domestic images were used earlier. The oldest known Christian paintings are from the Roman, dated to about AD 200, and the oldest Christian sculptures are from , dating to the beginning of the 3rd century.

Although many Hellenised Jews seem, as at the, to have had images of religious figures, the no doubt retained some effect, although never proclaimed by theologians. This early rejection of images, and the necessity to hide Christian practise from persecution, leaves us with few archaeological records regarding early Christianity and its evolution.

Legalization
, who had previously been one of the leading figures in persecution, in 311 which ended the persecution. Galerius reigned for another 2 years and was succeeded by an emperor with distinctively pro Christian leanings,.

The Emperor was exposed to Christianity by his mother,. At the in 312, Constantine commanded his troops to adorn their shields with the  in accordance with a vision that he had had the night before. Victory allowed him to claim the emperorship of the. In 313, he and Emperor issued the, officially legalizing Christian worship.

How much Christianity Constantine adopted at this point is difficult to discern. Roman coins minted up to eight years later still bore the images of Roman gods. Nonetheless, his accession of was a turning point for the Christian Church. Constantine supported the Church financially, built various, granted privileges (e.g., exemption from certain taxes) to clergy, promoted Christians to some high offices, and returned confiscated property.

Between 324 and 330, Constantine built, virtually from scratch, a new imperial capital that came to be named for him:. It had overtly Christian architecture, contained churches within the city walls, and had no pagan temples. In accordance with a prevailing custom, Constantine was baptised on his deathbed.

Constantine also played an active role in the leadership of the Church. In 316, he acted as a judge in a North African dispute concerning the controversy. More significantly, in 325 he summoned the, the first. Constantine thus established a precedent for the emperor as responsible to for the spiritual health of their subjects, and thus with a duty to maintain. The emperor was to enforce doctrine, root out heresy, and uphold ecclesiastical unity.

Constantine's son's successor, his nephew, under the influence of his adviser , renounced Christianity and embraced a and mystical form of paganism shocking the Christian establishment. He began reopening pagan temples, modifying them to resemble Christian traditions such as the episcopal structure and public charity (previously unknown in Roman paganism). Julian's short reign ended when he died while campaigning in the East.

Later wrote volumes of theological texts, including, , , , , and others. Some, such as and, suffered exile, persecution, or martyrdom from Arian.

Arianism and the first ecumenical councils
A popular doctrine of the 4th century was, the denial of the divinity of Christ, as propounded by. Although this doctrine was condemned as and eventually eliminated by the Roman Church it remained popular underground for some time. In the late 4th century, a Roman bishop and an Arian, was appointed as the first bishop to the , the Germanic peoples in much of Europe at the borders of and within the Empire. Ulfilas spread Arian Christianity among the Goths firmly establishing the faith among many of the Germanic tribes, thus helping to keep them culturally distinct.

During this age, the first ecumenical councils were convened. They were mostly concerned with disputes. The (325) and the  (381) resulted in condemning Arian teachings as heresy and producing the.

Christianity as Roman state religion (380)
On 27 February 380, with the put forth under, , and , the Roman Empire officially adopted  Christianity as its. Prior to this date, (337–361) and  (364–378) had personally favoured Arian or  forms of Christianity, but Valens' successor Theodosius I supported the Trinitarian doctrine as expounded in the.

After its establishment, the Church adopted the same organisational boundaries as the Empire: geographical provinces, called s, corresponding to imperial governmental territorial division. The bishops, who were located in major urban centres as per pre-legalisation tradition, thus oversaw each diocese. The bishop's location was his "seat", or "". Among the sees, came to hold special eminence:, , , , and. The prestige of most of these sees depended in part on their apostolic founders, from whom the bishops were therefore the spiritual successors. Though the bishop of Rome was still held to be the, Constantinople was second in precedence as the new capital of the empire.

Theodosius I decreed that others not believing in the preserved "faithful tradition", such as the Trinity, were to be considered to be practitioners of illegal, and in 385, this resulted in the first case of capital punishment of a heretic, namely.

Nestorianism and the Sasanian Empire
During the early 5th century the had taught a Christological perspective stating that Christ's divine and human nature were distinct persons. A particular consequence of this perspective was that Mary could not be properly called the mother of God, but could only be considered the mother of Christ. The most widely known proponent of this viewpoint was the Patriarch of Constantinople. Since referring to Mary as the mother of God had become popular in many parts of the Church this became a divisive issue.

The Roman Emperor called for the  (431), with the intention of settling the issue. The councils ultimately rejected Nestorius' view. Many churches who followed the Nestorian viewpoint broke away from the Roman Church, causing a major schism. The Nestorian churches were persecuted and many followers fled to the Sasanian Empire where they were accepted.

The had many Christian converts early in its history tied closely to the  branch of Christianity. The Empire was officially and maintained a strict adherence to this faith in part to distinguish itself from the religion of the Roman Empire (originally the pagan Roman religion and then Christianity). Christianity became tolerated in the Sasanian Empire and as the Roman Empire increasingly exiled heretics during the 4th and 6th centuries, the Sasanian Christian community grew rapidly. By the end of the 5th century the Persian Church was firmly established and had become independent of the Roman Church. This church evolved into what is today known as the.

Miaphysitism
In 451 the was held to further clarify the Christological issues surrounding Nestorianism. The council ultimately stated that Christ's divine and human nature were separate but both part of a single entity, a viewpoint rejected by many churches who called themselves. The resulting schism created a communion of churches, including the Armenian, Syrian, and Egyptian churches. Though efforts were made at reconciliation in the next few centuries the schism remained permanent resulting in what is today known as.

Monasticism
is a form of whereby one renounces worldly pursuits and goes off alone as a  or joins a tightly organized community. It began early in the Church as a family of similar traditions, modelled upon Scriptural examples and ideals, and with roots in certain strands of Judaism. is seen as an archetypical monk, and monasticism was also inspired by the organisation of the Apostolic community as recorded in.

Eremetic monks, or s, live in solitude, whereas s live in communities, generally in a, under a rule (or code of practice) and are governed by an. Originally, all Christian monks were hermits, following the example of. However, the need for some form of organised spiritual guidance lead in 318 to organise his many followers in what was to become the first monastery. Soon, similar institutions were established throughout the Egyptian desert as well as the rest of the eastern half of the Roman Empire. Women were especially attracted to the movement.

Central figures in the development of monasticism were in the East and, in the West,, who created the famous , which would become the most common rule throughout the Middle Ages, and starting point for other monastic rules.

Early Middle Ages (476–799)
The transition into the Middle Ages was a gradual and localised process. Rural areas rose as power centres whilst urban areas declined. Although a greater number of Christians remained in the (Greek areas), important developments were underway in the  (Latin areas) and each took on distinctive shapes.

The, the Popes, were forced to adapt to drastically changing circumstances. Maintaining only nominal allegiance to the Emperor, they were forced to negotiate balances with the "barbarian rulers" of the former Roman provinces. In the East the Church maintained its structure and character and evolved more slowly.

Western missionary expansion
The stepwise loss of dominance, replaced with  and  kingdoms, coincided with early missionary efforts into areas not controlled by the collapsing empire. Already as early as in the 5th century, missionary activities from into the Celtic areas (current, Ireland and ) produced competing early traditions of , that was later reintegrated under the.

Prominent missionaries were Saints, and. The tribes that invaded southern Britain some time after the Roman abandonment, were initially pagan, but converted to Christianity by  on the mission of. Soon becoming a missionary centre, missionaries such as, , and  would begin converting their  relatives in.

The largely Christian Gallo-Roman inhabitants of (modern France) were overrun by the  in the early 5th century. The native inhabitants were persecuted until the Frankish king converted from paganism to ism in 496. Clovis insisted that his fellow nobles follow suit, strengthening his newly established kingdom by uniting the faith of the rulers with that of the ruled.

After the rise of the and the stabilizing political conditions, the Western part of the Church increased the missionary activities, supported by the  kingdom as a means to pacify troublesome neighbour peoples. After the foundation of a church in by, backlashes occurred when the pagan  king  destroyed many Christian centres between 716 and 719. In 717, the English missionary was sent to aid Willibrord, re-establishing churches in Frisia continuing missions in Germany.

Byzantine iconoclasm
Following a series of heavy military reverses against the, the emerged in the early 8th century. In the 720s the Byzantine Emperor banned the pictorial representation of Christ, saints, and biblical scenes. In the West, held two synods at Rome and condemned Leo's actions. The Byzantine, held at in 754, ruled that holy portraits were heretical.

The movement destroyed much of the Christian church's early artistic history. The iconoclastic movement itself was later defined as heretical in 787 under the (the seventh ecumenical council), but enjoyed a brief resurgence between 815 and 842.

Carolingian Renaissance
The was a period of intellectual and cultural revival of literature, arts, and scriptural studies during the late  and, mostly during the reigns of  and ,  rulers. To address the problems of illiteracy among clergy and court scribes, Charlemagne founded schools and attracted the most learned men from all of Europe to his court.

Cluny
From the onward most of the monasteries in the West were of the. Owing to the stricter adherence to a reformed, the abbey of became the acknowledged leader of western monasticism from the later 10th century. Cluny created a large, federated order in which the administrators of subsidiary houses served as deputies of the abbot of Cluny and answered to him. The Cluniac spirit was a revitalising influence on the Norman church, at its height from the second half of the through the early.

Cîteaux
The next wave of monastic reform came with the. The first Cistercian was founded in 1098, at. The keynote of Cistercian life was a return to a literal observance of the, rejecting the developments of the. The most striking feature in the reform was the return to manual labour, and especially to field-work.

Inspired by, the primary builder of the Cistercians, they became the main force of technological diffusion in medieval Europe. By the end of the the Cistercian houses numbered 500, and at its height in the  the order claimed to have close to 750 houses. Most of these were built in wilderness areas, and played a major part in bringing such isolated parts of Europe into economic cultivation

Mendicant orders
A third level of monastic reform was provided by the establishment of the. Commonly known as friars, mendicants live under a monastic rule with traditional vows of, but they emphasise preaching, missionary activity, and education, in a secluded monastery. Beginning in the, the order was instituted by the followers of , and thereafter the  was begun by.

Investiture Controversy
The, or Lay investiture controversy, was the most significant powers in. It began as a dispute in the 11th century between the, and  concerning who would appoint bishops. The end of lay investiture threatened to undercut the power of the Empire and the ambitions of noblemen.

Bishoprics being merely lifetime appointments, a king could better control their powers and revenues than those of hereditary noblemen. Even better, he could leave the post vacant and collect the revenues, theoretically in trust for the new bishop, or give a bishopric to pay a helpful noble. The Church wanted to end lay investiture to end this and other abuses, to reform the episcopate and provide better.

Pope Gregory VII issued the , which declared that the pope alone could appoint bishops. Henry IV's rejection of the decree led to his excommunication and a ducal revolt. Eventually Henry received absolution after dramatic public penance (see ), though the and conflict of investiture continued.

A similar controversy occurred in England between and, Archbishop of Canterbury, over investiture and episcopal vacancy. The English dispute was resolved by the Concordat of London, 1107, where the king renounced his claim to invest bishops but continued to require an oath of fealty.

This was a partial model for the (Pactum Calixtinum), which resolved the Imperial investiture controversy with a compromise that allowed secular authorities some measure of control but granted the selection of bishops to their. As a symbol of the compromise, both ecclesiastical and lay authorities invested bishops with respectively, the and the.

Medieval Inquisition
The Medieval Inquisition is a series of Inquisitions ( Church bodies charged with suppressing ) from around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisition (1184–1230s) and later the Papal Inquisition (1230s). It was in response to movements within Europe considered or  to, in particular the  and the  in southern France and northern Italy. These were the first inquisition movements of many that would follow. The inquisitions in combination with the were fairly successful in ending heresy. Historian Thomas F. Madden has written about popular myths regarding the Inquisition.

Conversion of the Scandinavians
Early evangelisation in Scandinavia was begun by, , "Apostle of the North". Ansgar, a native of, was sent with a group of monks to Jutland Denmark in around 820 at the time of the pro-Christian Jutish king Harald Klak. The mission was only partially successful, and Ansgar returned two years later to Germany, after Harald had been driven out of his kingdom.

In 829 Ansgar went to on, Sweden, with his aide friar Witmar, and a small congregation was formed in 831 which included the king's own steward Hergeir. Conversion was slow, however, and most Scandinavian lands were only completely Christianised at the time of rulers such as of Denmark and  in the years following AD 1000.

Conversion of the Slavs
Although by 800 Western Europe was ruled entirely by Christian kings, East and Central Europe remained an area of missionary activity. For example, in the 9th century had extensive missionary success in the region among the, translating the Bible and liturgy into. The in 988 spread Christianity throughout, establishing Christianity among ,  and Russia.

In the 9th and 10th centuries, Christianity made great inroads into, including Bulgaria and Kievan Rus'. The evangelisation, or Christianisation, of the Slavs was initiated by one of Byzantium's most learned churchmen—the Patriarch (Photius). The Byzantine emperor chose Cyril and Methodius in response to a request from, the king of Moravia who wanted missionaries that could minister to the Moravians in their own language.

The two brothers spoke the local vernacular and translated the Bible and many of the prayer books. As the translations prepared by them were copied by speakers of other dialects, the hybrid literary language was created.

Methodius later went on to convert the. Some of the disciples returned to Bulgaria where they were welcomed by the Bulgarian  who viewed the Slavonic liturgy as a way to counteract Byzantine influence in the country. In a short time the disciples of Cyril and Methodius managed to prepare and instruct the future Slavic clergy into the and the biblical texts.

Bulgaria was officially recognised as a patriarchate by Constantinople in 927, Serbia in 1346, and Russia in 1589. All these nations, however, had been converted long before these dates.

The missionaries to the East and South Slavs had great success in part because they used the people's native language rather than as the Roman priests did, or Greek.

Mission to Great Moravia
When king asked Byzantium for teachers who could minister to the Moravians in their own language, Byzantine emperor Michael III chose two brothers,. As their mother was a Slav from the hinterlands of Thessaloniki, the two brothers had been raised speaking the local vernacular. Once commissioned, they immediately set about creating an alphabet, the. They then translated the Scripture and the liturgy into Slavonic.

This Slavic dialect became the basis of which later evolved into  which is the common liturgical language still used by the Russian Orthodox Church and other Slavic Orthodox Christians.

Conversion of Bulgaria
Bulgaria was a pagan country since its establishment in 681 until 864 when (852–889) converted to Christianity. The reasons for that decision were complex; the most important factors were that Bulgaria was situated between two powerful Christian empires, Byzantium and ; Christian doctrine particularly favoured the position of the monarch as God's representative on Earth, while Boris also saw it as a way to overcome the differences between Bulgars and Slavs.

In 885 some of the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, including, and Angelaruis, returned to Bulgaria where they were welcomed by Boris I who viewed the Slavonic liturgy as a way to counteract Byzantine influence in the country. In a short time they managed to prepare and instruct the future Bulgarian clergy into the and the biblical texts. As a result of the in AD 893, Bulgaria expelled its Greek clergy and proclaimed the  as the official language of the church and the state.

Conversion of the Rus'
The success of the conversion of the Bulgarians facilitated the conversion of other East, most notably the , predecessors of , Russians, and Ukrainians, as well as. By the beginning of the 11th century most of the pagan Slavic world, including Rus', Bulgaria and Serbia, had been converted to Byzantine Christianity. The traditional event associated with the conversion of Rus' is the baptism of Vladimir of Kiev in 989. However, Christianity is documented to have predated this event in the city of Kiev and in Georgia. Today the is the largest of the Orthodox Churches.

Growing tensions between East and West
The cracks and fissures in Christian unity which led to the started to become evident as early as the. Cultural, political, and linguistic differences were often mixed with the theological, leading to schism.

The transfer of the Roman capital to Constantinople inevitably brought mistrust, rivalry, and even jealousy to the relations of the two great sees, Rome and Constantinople. It was easy for Rome to be jealous of Constantinople at a time when it was rapidly losing its political prominence. Estrangement was also helped along by the German invasions in the West, which effectively weakened contacts. The rise of Islam with its conquest of most of the Mediterranean coastline (not to mention the arrival of the pagan Slavs in the Balkans at the same time) further intensified this separation by driving a physical wedge between the two worlds. The once homogeneous unified world of the Mediterranean was fast vanishing. Communication between the by the 7th century had become dangerous and practically ceased.

Two basic problems were involved: the nature of the and the theological implications of adding a clause to the, known as the  clause. These doctrinal issues were first openly discussed in Photius's patriarchate.

By the 5th century, Christendom was divided into a pentarchy of five sees with Rome accorded a primacy. The four Eastern sees of the pentarchy considered this determined by canonical decision and not entailing hegemony of any one local church or patriarchate over the others. However, Rome began to interpret her primacy in terms of sovereignty, as a God-given right involving universal jurisdiction in the Church. The collegial and conciliar nature of the Church, in effect, was gradually abandoned in favour of supremacy of unlimited papal power over the entire Church. These ideas were finally given systematic expression in the West during the movement of the 11th century.

The Eastern churches viewed Rome's understanding of the nature of episcopal power as being in direct opposition to the Church's essentially conciliar structure and thus saw the two ecclesiologies as mutually antithetical. For them, specifically, could never be the exclusive prerogative of any one bishop. All bishops must, like St. Peter, confess Jesus as the Christ and, as such, all are Peter's successors. The churches of the East gave the Roman See primacy but not supremacy, the Pope being the first among equals but not infallible and not with absolute authority.

The other major irritant to Eastern Christendom was the Western use of the Filioque clause—meaning "and the Son"—in the Nicene Creed. This too developed gradually and entered the Creed over time. The issue was the addition by the West of the Latin clause Filioque to the Creed, as in "the Holy Spirit... who proceeds from the Father and the Son", where the original Creed, sanctioned by the councils and still used today by the Eastern Orthodox simply states "the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father." The Eastern Church argued that the phrase had been added unilaterally, and therefore illegitimately, since the East had never been consulted.

In the final analysis, only another ecumenical council could introduce such an alteration. Indeed, the councils, which drew up the original Creed, had expressly forbidden any subtraction or addition to the text. In addition to this ecclesiological issue, the Eastern Church also considered the Filioque clause unacceptable on dogmatic grounds. Theologically, the Latin interpolation was unacceptable since it implied that the Spirit now had two sources of origin and procession, the Father and the Son, rather than the Father alone.

Photian schism
In the 9th century AD, a controversy arose between Eastern (Byzantine, Greek Orthodox) and Western (Latin, Roman Catholic) Christianity that was precipitated by the opposition of the Roman to the appointment by the Byzantine  of  to the position of patriarch of Constantinople. Photios was refused an apology by the pope for previous points of dispute between the East and West. Photios refused to accept the supremacy of the pope in Eastern matters or accept the Filioque clause. The Latin delegation at the council of his consecration pressed him to accept the clause in order to secure their support.

The controversy also involved Eastern and Western ecclesiastical jurisdictional rights in the Bulgarian church, as well as a doctrinal dispute over the Filioque ("and from the Son") clause. That had been added to the by the Latin church, which was later the theological breaking point in the ultimate Great  in the 11th century.

Photios did provide concession on the issue of jurisdictional rights concerning Bulgaria and the papal legates made do with his return of Bulgaria to Rome. This concession, however, was purely nominal, as Bulgaria's return to the Byzantine rite in 870 had already secured for it an autocephalous church. Without the consent of, the papacy was unable to enforce any of its claims.

East-West Schism (1054)
The, or Great Schism, separated the Church into Western (Latin) and Eastern (Greek) branches, i.e., Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. It was the first major division since certain groups in the East rejected the decrees of the (see ), and was far more significant. Though normally dated to 1054, the East-West Schism was actually the result of an extended period of estrangement between Latin and Greek Christendom over the nature of papal primacy and certain doctrinal matters like the Filioque, but intensified by cultural and linguistic differences.

The "official" schism in 1054 was the excommunication of Patriarch of Constantinople, followed by his excommunication of papal legates. Attempts at reconciliation were made in 1274 (by the ) and in 1439 (by the ), but in each case the eastern hierarchs who consented to the unions were repudiated by the Orthodox as a whole, though reconciliation was achieved between the West and what are now called the "". More recently, in 1965 by the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople, though schism remains.

Both groups are descended from the Early Church, both acknowledge the of each other's bishops, and the validity of each other's s. Though both acknowledge the primacy of the Bishop of Rome, Eastern Orthodoxy understands this as a primacy of honour with limited or no ecclesiastical authority in other dioceses.

The Orthodox East perceived the Papacy as taking on monarchical characteristics that were not in line with the church's tradition and violating the of 381 which recognized the sees of Rome and Constantinople as being equal in authority.

The final breach is often considered to have arisen after the capture and sacking of Constantinople by the in 1204. Crusades against Christians in the East by Roman Catholic crusaders was not exclusive to the Mediterranean though (see also the and the ). The sacking of and the  and establishment of the  as a seeming attempt to supplant the Orthodox  in 1204 is viewed with some rancour to the present day.

Many in the East saw the actions of the West as a prime determining factor in the weakening of Byzantium. This led to the Empire's eventual conquest and fall to Islam. In 2004, extended a formal apology for the sacking of Constantinople in 1204; the apology was formally accepted by. Many things that were stolen during this time: holy s, riches, and many other items, are still held in various Western European cities, particularly, Italy.

Crusades
Generally, the Crusades refer to the campaigns in the Holy Land against Muslim forces sponsored by the Papacy. There were other crusades against Islamic forces in southern Spain, southern Italy, and Sicily, as well as the campaigns of against pagan strongholds in North-eastern Europe (see ). A few crusades were waged within Christendom against groups that were considered heretical and schismatic (also see the and the ).

The Holy Land had been part of the Roman Empire, and thus Byzantine Empire, until the Islamic conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries. Thereafter, Christians had generally been permitted to visit the sacred places in the Holy Land until 1071, when the closed Christian pilgrimages and assailed the Byzantines, defeating them at the.

Emperor asked for aid from  (1088–1099) for help against Islamic aggression. He probably expected money from the pope for the hiring of mercenaries. Instead, Urban II called upon the knights of Christendom in a speech made at the on 27 November 1095, combining the idea of pilgrimage to the Holy Land with that of waging a holy war against infidels.

The captured Antioch in 1099 and then Jerusalem. The occurred in 1145 when  was retaken by Islamic forces. Jerusalem would be held until 1187 and the, famous for the battles between and.

The, begun by in 1202, intended to retake the Holy Land but was soon subverted by Venetians who used the forces to sack the Christian city of. When the crusaders arrived in Constantinople, they sacked the city and other parts of Asia Minor and established the of Constantinople in Greece and Asia Minor. This was effectively the last crusade sponsored by the papacy, with later crusades being sponsored by individuals.

Jerusalem was held by the crusaders for nearly a century, and other strongholds in the Near East would remain in Christian possession much longer. The crusades in the Holy Land ultimately failed to establish permanent Christian kingdoms. Islamic expansion into Europe would renew and remain a threat for centuries culminating in the campaigns of in the 16th century.

Crusades in southern Spain, southern Italy, and Sicily eventually lead to the demise of Islamic power in Europe. expanded Christian domains in Eastern Europe, and the much less frequent crusades within Christendom, such as the, achieved their goal of maintaining doctrinal unity.

Hesychast Controversy
In 1337 —a mystical teaching at came under attack from, an abbot in Constantinople. Barlaam propounded a more intellectual and propositional approach to the knowledge of God than the Hesychasts taught. Hesychasm is a form of constant purposeful prayer or experiential prayer, explicitly referred to as focusing on the idea of stillness and the characteristic mystical idea of light as the vehicle for knowing God.

, afterwards Archbishop of, defended Hesychasm. Several synods took one position or the other until in 1351 at a synod under the presidency of the Emperor, Hesychast doctrine was established as the doctrine of the Orthodox Church. the theology was especially attractive in the East because it validated the use of icons as a vehicle for contemplation of divine light.

Fall of Constantinople
In 1453, Constantinople fell to the. By this time Egypt had been under Muslim control for some seven centuries, but Orthodoxy was very strong in Russia which had recently acquired an status; and thus Moscow called itself the, as the cultural heir of Constantinople.

Under Ottoman rule, the acquired substantial power as an autonomous . The ecumenical patriarch was the religious and administrative ruler of the entire "Greek Orthodox nation" (Ottoman administrative unit), which encompassed all the Eastern Orthodox subjects of the Empire.

Eastern Christians fleeing Constantinople, and the Greek manuscripts they carried with them, is one of the factors that prompted the literary in the West at about this time.

Isolation from the West
As a result of the Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, and the, the entire Orthodox communion of the Balkans and the Near East became suddenly isolated from the West. For the next four hundred years, it would be confined within a hostile Islamic world, with which it had little in common religiously or culturally. The was the only part of the Orthodox communion which remained outside the control of the Ottoman Empire.

It is, in part, due to this geographical and intellectual confinement that the voice of Eastern Orthodoxy was not heard during the in 16th-century Europe. As a result, this important theological debate often seems strange and distorted to the Orthodox. They never took part in it and thus neither Reformation nor is part of their theological framework.

Religious rights under the Ottoman Empire
The new that conquered the Byzantine Empire followed Islamic law when dealing with the conquered Christian population. Christians were officially tolerated as. As such, the Church's canonical and hierarchical organisation were not significantly disrupted and its administration continued to function. One of the first things that did was to allow the Church to elect a new patriarch,.

Because makes no distinction between nationality and religion, all Christians, regardless of their language or nationality, were considered a single, or nation. The patriarch, as the highest-ranking hierarch, was thus invested with civil and religious authority and made, head of the entire Christian Orthodox population. This meant that all Orthodox Churches within Ottoman territory were under the control of Constantinople. However, these rights and privileges, including freedom of worship and religious organisation, were often established in principle but seldom corresponded to reality. Christians were viewed as, and the legal protections they depended upon were subject to the whims of the and the.

Under Ottoman occupation the Church could no longer bear witness to Christ. Christian missionary work among Muslims was illegal and dangerous, whereas conversion to Islam was entirely legal and permissible. Converts to Islam who returned to Orthodoxy were put to death as apostates. No new churches could be built and even the ringing of church bells was prohibited. The and the, which had been Christian churches for nearly a millennium, were converted into mosques. Education of the clergy and the Christian population either ceased altogether or was reduced to the most rudimentary elements. Violent persecutions of Christians were common, and reached their climax in the, , and genocides.

Corruption
The Orthodox Church found itself subject to the Turkish system of corruption. The patriarchal throne was frequently sold to the highest bidder, while new patriarchal investiture was accompanied by heavy payment to the government. In order to recoup their losses, patriarchs and bishops taxed the local parishes and their clergy.

Few patriarchs between the 15th and the 19th centuries died a natural death while in office. The forced abdications, exiles, hangings, drownings, and poisonings of patriarchs are well documented. The hierarchy's positions were often dangerous as well. The hanging of patriarch from the gate of the patriarchate on Easter Sunday 1821 was accompanied by the execution of two metropolitans and twelve bishops.

Avignon Papacy (1309–1378)
The, sometimes referred to as the Babylonian Captivity, was a period from 1309 to 1378 during which seven s resided in , in modern-day France. The period was one of conflict and controversy during which French Kings held considerable sway over the Papacy and rulers across Europe felt sidelined by the new French-centric papacy.

Troubles reached their peak in 1378 when, died while visiting Rome. A met in Rome and elected, an Italian. Urban soon alienated the French cardinals, and they held a second conclave electing to succeed Gregory XI, beginning the Western Schism.

Western Schism (1378–1416)
The, or Papal Schism, was a prolonged crisis with two or more claimants to the See of Rome. The conflict was political rather than doctrinal.

In 1309, moved to  in southern France. For sixty-nine years popes resided in Avignon rather than Rome. Confusion and of political animosity waxed, as the prestige and influence of Rome waned without a resident pontiff. Though, a Frenchman, returned to Rome in 1378, the strife between Italian and French factions intensified.

In 1378 the conclave elected an Italian from Naples,. He soon alienated the French cardinals, who asserted that the previous election was invalid, and elected one of their own, Robert of Geneva, who took the name. By 1379, he was back in the in Avignon, while Urban VI remained in Rome.

For nearly forty years, there were two papal and two sets of cardinals, each electing a new pope for Rome or Avignon when death created a vacancy. Each pope lobbied for support among kings and princes who played them off against each other. In 1409, declared both existing popes to be schismatic (Gregory XII from Rome, Benedict XIII from Avignon) and appointed a new one, Alexander V. The existing popes refused to resign; thus there were three papal claimants. Another council was convened in 1414, the.

In March 1415 the Pisan pope John XXIII fled from Constance. He was brought back a prisoner and deposed in May. The Roman pope, Gregory XII, resigned voluntarily in July. The Avignon pope, Benedict XIII, refused to come to Constance, nor to resign. The council deposed him in July 1417 and elected as pope in November, having finally cleared the field of popes and s.

John Wycliff and Jan Hus
(or Wyclif) (1330–1384) was an English scholar and heretic best known for denouncing the corruptions of the Church, and his sponsoring the first translation of the Bible from Latin into English. He was a precursor of the Protestant Reformation. He emphasized the supremacy of the Bible, and called for a direct relationship between man and God, without interference by priests and bishops. His followers, called, faced persecution by the Church of England. They went underground for over a century and played a role in the English Reformation.

(or Huss) (1369?–1415) a Czech theologian in Prague, was influenced by Wycliffe and spoke out against the corruptions he saw in the Church; his continued defiance led to his excommunication and condemnation by the, which also condemned. Hus was executed in 1415, but his followers organized a peasants' war, 1419–1436, that was put down by the Empire with great brutality. Hus was a forerunner of the Protestant Reformation and his memory has become a powerful symbol of Czech culture in Bohemia.

Italian Renaissance (c. 1375 – 1520)
The was a period of great cultural change and achievement, marked in Italy by a classical orientation and an increase of wealth through mercantile trade. The City of Rome, the Papacy, and the Papal States were all affected by the Renaissance. On the one hand, it was a time of great artistic patronage and architectural magnificence, where the Church patroned such artists as, , , , , , and. On the other hand, wealthy Italian families often secured episcopal offices, including the papacy, for their own members, some of whom were known for immorality, such as and.

In addition to being the head of the Church, the Pope became one of Italy's most important secular rulers, and pontiffs such as often waged campaigns to protect and expand their temporal domains. Furthermore, the popes, in a spirit of refined competition with other Italian lords, spent lavishly both on private luxuries but also on public works, repairing or building churches, bridges, and a magnificent system of that still function today.

From 1505 to 1626,, perhaps the most recognised Christian church, was built on the site of the old Constantinian basilica. It was also a time of increased contact with Greek culture, opening up new avenues of learning, especially in the fields of, poetry, , , and , fostering a spirit of –all of which would influence the Church.

Protestant Reformation (1521–1610)
the Reformation is usually considered to have started with the publication of the  by Martin Luther in 1517, there was no until the 1521. The edicts of the Diet condemned Luther and officially banned citizens of the from defending or propagating his ideas.

In the early 16th century, attempts were made by the theologians and  along with  who aimed to reform the Church. Along with some of the previous ones, they considered the root of corruptions to be doctrinal (rather than simply a matter of moral weakness or lack of ecclesiastical discipline) and thus advocated for against  notions that salvation could be earned by people. The word Protestant is derived from the Latin protestatio meaning declaration which refers to the by  princes against the decision of the  in 1529, which reaffirmed the edict of the  ordering the seizure of all property owned by persons guilty of advocating Lutheranism. Since that time, the term has been used in many different senses, but most often as a general term refers to that is not subject to papal authority. The term "Protestant" was not originally used by Reformation era leaders; instead, they called themselves "evangelical", emphasising the "return to the true gospel (Greek: euangelion)."

The beginning of the Protestant Reformation is generally identified with and the posting of the  on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. Early protest was against corruptions such as, the holding of multiple church offices by one person at the same time, episcopal vacancies, and the sale of s.

The Protestant position also included, , the , , and the. The three most important traditions to emerge directly from the Protestant Reformation were the, (, , etc.), and  traditions, though the latter group identifies as both "Reformed" and "Catholic", and some subgroups reject the classification as "Protestant."

The Protestant Reformation may be divided into two distinct but basically simultaneous movements, the and the. The Magisterial Reformation involved the alliance of certain theological teachers (Latin: magistri) such as Luther, Zwingli,, , etc. with secular magistrates who cooperated in the reformation of Christendom. Radical Reformers, many who were, besides forming communities outside state sanction, often employed more extreme doctrinal change, with some rejecting tenants of the Councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon.

Churches with Reformation confessions of faith spread almost entirely within the confines of Northern Europe, but this was checked by the Catholic response to the Reformation. This is known as the. Although Protestants were excommunicated in an attempt to reduce their influence within the Catholic Church, at the same time they were also persecuted during the Counter-Reformation, prompting some to live as (also termed s, against the urging of John Calvin who urged them to live their faith openly. Crypto-Protestants were documented as late as the 19th century in Latin America.

Martin Luther
Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk and later priest who was professor at the. In 1517, he nailed a list of , or points to be debated on the door of the church in Wittenberg and also mailed a copy to his archbishop. These points concerned the illicitness of selling indulgences. They were translated from Latin into German and.

In 1520, he was asked to issue a blanked recantation of his works for heresy and lesser offenses by the papal bull . Although the bull demanded Luther burn his own works, instead he burned the papal bull Wittenberg during an incident when others had gathered together books of and were burning them. In particular, Exsurge Domine drew out forty-one specific statements from Luther's Ninety-five Theses, his 1519 with, and other sources for censure.

Specifically targeted in the forty one condemned statements included Luther's support for against, his opposition to the , his partial support for the teaching of  who was burned at the stake, his anti-war stance with respect to the , his rejection of indulgences, that  remains after , his statements against a three-part formula of , the possibility of knowing and enumerating each and every one of your  for purposes of confession, his support for , his rejection of the  and , his position on , and a statement he made about the role of money in corruption of the church.

For most of his career, Luther tactically avoided complete identification with either scholarship (sometimes termed the "schola antiqua" or "old school") or the "schola moderna" or "new school," which especially relied on  and  epistemology. Instead, when debating he tactically took positions allying himself with one camp or the other on issues as it suited his overall purpose during debates. It was especially his intention to guard against the threat he feared the of the increasingly popular schola moderna posed to the doctrine of. Justification in the theological sense is the process by which one is "made right" (righteous) in the eyes of God.

Ulrich Zwingli
Ulrich Zwingli was a Swiss scholar and parish priest who was likewise influential in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation. Zwingli claimed that his theology owed nothing to Luther, and that he had developed it in 1516, before Luther's famous protest, though his doctrine of justification was remarkably similar to that of the German priest. In 1518, Zwingli was given a post at the wealthy collegiate church of the in, where he would remain until his death at a relatively young age. Soon he had risen to prominence in the city, and when political tension developed between most of Switzerland and the Catholic. In this environment, Zwingli began preaching his version of reform, with certain points as the aforementioned doctrine of justification, but others (with which Luther vehemently disagreed) such as the position that veneration of icons was actually idolatry and thus a violation of the first commandment, and the denial of the in the. Soon the city council had accepted Zwingli's doctrines and Zurich became a focal point of more radical reforming movements, and certain admirers and followers of Zwingli pushed his message and reforms far further than even he had intended, such as rejecting infant baptism. This split between Luther and Zwingli formed the essence of the Protestant division between Lutheran and Reformed theology. Meanwhile, political tensions increased; Zwingli and the Zurich leadership imposed an economic blockade on the inner Catholic states of Switzerland, which led to a in which Zwingli, in full armor, was slain along with his troops.

John Calvin
John Calvin was a French cleric and doctor of law turned Protestant reformer. He belonged to the second generation of the Reformation, publishing his theological tome, the , in 1536 (later revised), and establishing himself as a leader of the Reformed church in, which became a center of Reformed Christianity in the second half of the 16th century. He exerted a remarkable amount of authority in the city and over the city council, such that he has (rather ignominiously) been called a "Protestant pope." Calvin established an eldership together with a "", where pastors and the elders established matters of religious discipline for the Genevan population. is best known for his doctrine of, which held that God had, from all eternity, foreordained who would be saved  and likewise who would be damned , although predestination was not the dominant idea in Calvin's works.

English Reformation
Unlike other reform movements, the began by royal influence. considered himself a thoroughly Catholic King, and in 1521 he defended the papacy against Luther in a book he commissioned entitled, ', for which awarded him the title ' (Defender of the Faith). However, the king came into conflict with the papacy when he wished to annul his marriage with, for which he needed papal sanction. Catherine, among many other noble relations, was the aunt of, the papacy's most significant secular supporter. The ensuing dispute eventually lead to a break from Rome and the declaration of the King of England as head of the. England would later experience periods of reform and also Counter-Reformation. Monarchs such as, , , , and such as  and  pushed the Church of England in different directions over the course of only a few generations. What emerged was the and a state church that considered itself both "Reformed" and "Catholic" but not "Roman" (and hesitated from the title "Protestant"), and other "unofficial" more radical movements such as the s. In terms of politics, the English Reformation included heresy trials, the exiling of Catholic populations to Spain and other Catholic lands, censorship and prohibition of books, etc.

Counter-Reformation (1545–1837)
The Counter-Reformation was the response of the Catholic Church to the Protestant Reformation. In terms of meetings and documents, it consisted of the ', the, the ', and the . In terms of politics, the Counter-Reformation included heresy trials, the populations from Catholic lands, the  from their Protestant parents for institutionalized Catholic upbringing, a series of, the  (the list of prohibited books), and the.

The Counter-Reformation also included the Catholic Reformation, which aimed at improving the Church from within.

The Council of Trent
The (1545–1563), initiated by  (1534–1549) addressed issues of certain ecclesiastical corruptions such as, , , the holding of multiple church offices by one person, and other abuses, as well as the reassertion of traditional practices and the dogmatic articulation of the traditional doctrines of the Church, such as the episcopal structure, , the ,  (the belief that during mass the consecrated bread and wine truly become the body and blood of Christ), the veneration of relics, icons, and saints (especially the ), the necessity of both faith and good works for salvation, the existence of purgatory and the issuance (but not the sale) of indulgences, etc. In other words, all Protestant doctrinal objections and changes were uncompromisingly rejected. The Council also fostered an interest in education for parish priests to increase pastoral care. 's Archbishop (1538–1584) set an example by visiting the remotest parishes and instilling high standards.

Catholic Reformation
Also part of this general effort, the simultaneous consisted of improvements in art and culture, anti-corruption measures, the founding of the, the establishment of , a reassertion of traditional doctrines and the emergence of new religious orders aimed at both moral reform and new missionary activity. Also part of this was the development of new yet orthodox forms of spirituality, such as that of the and the.

The Papacy of (1566–1572) was known not only for its focus on halting heresy and worldly abuses within the Church, but also for its focus on improving popular piety in a determined effort to stem the appeal of Protestantism. Pius began his pontificate by giving large alms to the poor, charity, and hospitals, and the pontiff was known for consoling the poor and sick, and supporting missionaries. The activities of these pontiffs coincided with a rediscovery of the ancient Christian catacombs in Rome. As stated, "Just as these ancient martyrs were revealed once more, Catholics were beginning to be martyred afresh, both in mission fields overseas and in the struggle to win back Protestant northern Europe: the catacombs proved to be an inspiration for many to action and to heroism."

Catholic missions were carried to new places beginning with the new, and the established a number of  in the Americas and other colonies in order to spread Christianity in the New World and to convert the. At the same time, missionaries such as as well as other, ,  and  were moving into Asia and the Far East. The Portuguese sent missions into Africa. While some of these missions were associated with imperialism and oppression, others (notably 's mission to China) were relatively peaceful and focused on integration rather than.

Trial of Galileo
The, in which came into conflict with the  over his support of , is often considered a defining moment in the history of the.

In 1610, published his  (Starry Messenger), describing the surprising observations that he had made with the new. These and other discoveries exposed major difficulties with the understanding of the s that had been held since antiquity, and raised new interest in radical teachings such as the theory of.

In reaction, many scholars maintained that the motion of the Earth and immobility of the Sun were, as they contradicted some accounts given in the as understood at that time. Galileo's part in the controversies over, astronomy and philosophy culminated in his trial and sentencing in 1633, on a grave suspicion of heresy.

Puritans in North America
The most famous colonisation by Protestants in the New World was that of English s in North America. Unlike the Spanish or French, the English colonists made surprisingly little effort to evangelise the native peoples. The Puritans, or, left England so that they could live in an area with Puritanism as the exclusive civic religion. Though they had left England because of the suppression of their religious practice, most Puritans had thereafter originally settled in the but found the licentiousness there, where the state hesitated from enforcing religious practice, as unacceptable, and thus they set out for the New World and the hopes of a Puritan utopia.

Early Modern era
This is the period from the and the  until the mid 19th century. See the and  measures. See also the Holy League, the, , and.

Revivalism (1720–1906)
Revivalism refers to the and Wesleyan revival, called the, in North America which saw the development of evangelical , , , and new  churches.

Great Awakenings
The was a wave of religious enthusiasm among Protestants in the American colonies c. 1730–1740, emphasising the traditional Reformed virtues of Godly preaching, rudimentary liturgy, and a deep sense of personal guilt and redemption by Christ Jesus. Historian Sydney E. Ahlstrom saw it as part of a "great international Protestant upheaval" that also created in Germany, the, and  in England. It centred on reviving the spirituality of established congregations, and mostly affected, , , German Reformed, , and churches, while also spreading within the slave population. The Second Great Awakening (1800–1830s), unlike the first, focused on the unchurched and sought to instil in them a deep sense of personal salvation as experienced in revival meetings. It also sparked the beginnings of groups such as the, the and the. The began from 1857 and was most notable for taking the movement throughout the world, especially in English speaking countries. The final group to emerge from the "great awakenings" in North America was, which had its roots in the Methodist, Wesleyan, and Holiness movements, and began in 1906 on , in Los Angeles. Pentecostalism would later lead to the.

Restorationism
Restorationism refers to the belief that a purer form of Christianity should be restored using the as a model. In many cases, restorationist groups believed that contemporary Christianity, in all its forms, had deviated from the true, original Christianity, which they then attempted to "Reconstruct", often using the as a "guidebook" of sorts. Restorationists do not usually describe themselves as "reforming" a Christian church continuously existing from the time of Jesus, but as restoring the Church that they believe was lost at some point. "Restorationism" is often used to describe the.

Jehovah's Witnesses
The term "Restorationist" is also used to describe the, founded in the late 1870s by

Latter Day Saint movement
The term "Restorationist" is also used to describe the, including (LDS Church), the  and numerous other. , also known as Mormons, believe that was chosen to restore the original organization established by Jesus, now "in its fullness", rather than to reform the church.

Late Modern era
The history of the Church from the mid 19th century around period of the to today.

Russian Orthodox Church in the Russian Empire
The Russian Orthodox Church held a privileged position in the, expressed in the motto of the late Empire from 1833:. Nevertheless, the in the early 18th century had placed the Orthodox authorities under the control of the. An appointed by the Tsar himself ran the committee which governed the Church between 1721 and 1918: the.

The Church became involved in the various campaigns of, and was accused of involvement in. despite the lack of an official position on Judaism as such.

The and other Russian revolutionaries saw the Church, like the Tsarist state, as an.

Russian Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union
The Russian Orthodox Church collaborated with the in the  (see ) after the October Revolution. This may have further strengthened the Bolshevik animus against the church.

After the October Revolution of 7 November 1917 (25 October Old Calendar) there was a movement within the Soviet Union to unite all of the people of the world under Communist rule (see ). This included the Eastern European bloc countries as well as the Balkan States. Since some of these Slavic states tied their ethnic heritage to their ethnic churches, both the peoples and their church where targeted by the Soviet. Criticism of atheism was strictly forbidden and sometimes lead to imprisonment.

The Soviet Union was the first state to have as an ideological objective the elimination of religion. Toward that end, the Communist regime confiscated church property, ridiculed religion, harassed believers, and propagated atheistic propaganda in the schools. Actions toward particular religions, however, were determined by State interests, and most organised religions were never outlawed. Some actions against Orthodox priests and believers along with included torture being sent to,  or. The result of was to transform the Church into a persecuted and martyred Church. In the first five years after the Bolshevik revolution, 28 bishops and 1,200 priests were executed. This included people like the who was at this point a monastic. Along with her murder was Romanov; the Princes, ,  and ; Grand Duke Sergei's secretary, Fyodor Remez; and , a sister from the Grand Duchess Elizabeth's convent. They were herded into the forest, pushed into an abandoned mineshaft and grenades were then hurled into the mineshaft. Her remains were buried in, in the.

The main target of the anti-religious campaign in the 1920s and 1930s was the Russian Orthodox Church, which had the largest number of faithful. Nearly its entire clergy, and many of its believers, were shot or sent to labor camps. Theological schools were closed, and church publications were prohibited. In the period between 1927 and 1940, the number of Orthodox Churches in the Russian Republic fell from 29,584 to fewer than 500. Between 1917 and 1940, 130,000 Orthodox priests were arrested. Father was one of the s of this particular period.

After Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, Joseph Stalin revived the Russian Orthodox Church to intensify patriotic support for the war effort. By 1957 about 22,000 Russian Orthodox churches had become active. But in 1959 Nikita Khrushchev initiated his own campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church and forced the closure of about 12,000 churches. By 1985 fewer than 7,000 churches remained active.

In the Soviet Union, in addition to the methodical closing and destruction of churches, the charitable and social work formerly done by ecclesiastical authorities was taken over by the state. As with all private property, Church owned property was confiscated into public use. The few places of worship left to the Church were legally viewed as state property which the government permitted the church to use. After the advent of state funded universal education, the Church was not permitted to carry on educational, instructional activity for children. For adults, only training for church-related occupations was allowed. Outside of sermons during the celebration of the divine liturgy it could not instruct or evangelise to the faithful or its youth. Catechism classes, religious schools, study groups, Sunday schools and religious publications were all banned. This persecution continued, even after the death of Stalin until the in 1991. This caused many religious tracts to be circulated as illegal literature or. Since the fall of the Soviet Union there have been many s added as Saints from the yoke.

Diaspora emigration to the West
One of the most striking developments in modern historical Orthodoxy is the dispersion of Orthodox Christians to the West. Emigration from Greece and the Near East in the last hundred years has created a sizable Orthodox diaspora in Western Europe, North and South America, and Australia. In addition, the Bolshevik Revolution forced thousands of Russian exiles westward. As a result, Orthodoxy's traditional frontiers have been profoundly modified. Millions of Orthodox are no longer geographically "eastern" since they live permanently in their newly adopted countries in the West. Nonetheless, they remain Eastern Orthodox in their faith and practice.

Modernism and liberal Christianity
, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically informed religious movements and moods within late 18th, 19th and 20th-century Christianity. The word "liberal" in liberal Christianity does not refer to a political agenda or set of beliefs, but rather to the freedom of  process associated with  and other philosophical and religious paradigms developed during the.

Fundamentalism
Fundamentalist Christianity, is a movement that arose mainly within British and American in the late 19th century and early 20th century in reaction to  and certain liberal Protestant groups that denied doctrines considered fundamental to Christianity yet still called themselves "Christian." Thus, fundamentalism sought to re-establish tenets that could not be denied without relinquishing a Christian identity, the "": of the, , the , the doctrine of , the bodily  of Jesus, and the imminent.

Under/During Nazism
The position of Christians affected by Nazism is highly complex. Regarding the matter, historian Derek Holmes wrote, "There is no doubt that the Catholic districts, resisted the lure of National Socialism [Nazism] far better than the Protestant ones." declared –  – that Fascist governments had hidden "pagan intentions" and expressed the irreconcilability of the Catholic position and Fascist State Worship, which placed the nation above God, fundamental  and dignity. His declaration that "Spiritually, [Christians] are all Semites" prompted the Nazis to give him the title "Chief Rabbi of the Christian World."

Catholic priests were executed in concentration camps alongside Jews; for example, 2,600 Catholic Priests were imprisoned in, and 2,000 of them were executed. A further 2,700 Polish priests were executed (a quarter of all Polish priests), and 5,350 Polish nuns were either displaced, imprisoned, or executed. Many Catholic laymen and clergy played notable roles in sheltering s during, including (1876–1958). The head rabbi of Rome became a Catholic in 1945 and, in honour of the actions the Pope undertook to save Jewish lives, he took the name Eugenio (the pope's first name). A former Israeli consul in Italy claimed: "The Catholic Church saved more Jewish lives during the war than all the other churches, religious institutions, and rescue organisations put together."

The relationship between Nazism and Protestantism, especially the, was complex. Though many Protestant church leaders in Germany supported the Nazis' growing anti-Jewish activities, some, such as (a Lutheran pastor) were strongly opposed to the Nazis. Bonhoeffer was later found guilty in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler and executed.

Second Vatican Council
On 11 October 1962, opened the, the 21st  of the Catholic Church. The council was "pastoral" in nature, emphasising and clarifying already defined dogma, revising liturgical practices, and providing guidance for articulating traditional Church teachings in contemporary times. The council is perhaps best known for its instructions that the Mass may be celebrated in the vernacular as well as in Latin.

Ecumenism
Ecumenism broadly refers to movements between Christian groups to establish a degree of unity through dialogue. "Ecumenism" is derived from Greek οἰκουμένη, which means "the inhabited world", but more figuratively something like "universal oneness." The movement can be distinguished into Catholic and Protestant movements, with the latter characterised by a redefined ecclesiology of "denominationalism" (which the Catholic Church, among others, rejects).

Catholic ecumenism
Over the last century, a number of moves have been made to reconcile the. Although progress has been made, concerns over papal primacy and the independence of the smaller Orthodox churches has blocked a final resolution of the schism.

On 30 November 1894, published the Apostolic Letter Orientalium Dignitas (On the Churches of the East) safeguarding the importance and continuance of the Eastern traditions for the whole Church. On 7 December 1965, a Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration of Pope Paul VI and the was issued lifting the mutual excommunications of 1054.

Some of the most difficult questions in relations with the ancient concern some doctrine (i.e. Filioque,, functional purposes of asceticism, the  of God, , , establishment of the ,  to note but a few) as well as practical matters such as the concrete exercise of the claim to papal primacy and how to ensure that ecclesiastical union would not mean mere absorption of the smaller Churches by the Latin component of the much larger Catholic Church (the most numerous single religious denomination in the world), and the stifling or abandonment of their own rich theological, liturgical and cultural heritage.

With respect to Catholic relations with Protestant communities, certain commissions were established to foster dialogue and documents have been produced aimed at identifying points of doctrinal unity, such as the produced with the  in 1999.

Pentecostal movement
The (1904 onwards) had its roots in the Holiness movement which had developed in the late 19th century. The Pentecostal revival movement began, out of a passion for more power and a greater outpouring of the Spirit. In 1902, the American evangelists Reuben Archer Torrey and Charles M. Alexander conducted meetings in Melbourne, Australia, resulting in more than 8,000 converts. News of this revival travelled fast, igniting a passion for prayer and an expectation that God would work in similar ways elsewhere.

Torrey and Alexander were involved in the beginnings of the great Welsh revival (1904) which led Jessie Penn-Lewis to witness the working of Satan during times of revival, and write her book "War on the Saints". In 1906, the modern Pentecostal Movement was born on in Los Angeles. Pentecostalism in turn inspired the movement within already established denominations.

In reaction to these developments, was a movement to reject the radical influences of philosophical humanism, as this was affecting the Christian religion. Especially targeting critical approaches to the interpretation of the Bible, and trying to blockade the inroads made into their churches by atheistic scientific assumptions, the fundamentalists began to appear in various denominations as numerous independent movements of resistance to the drift away from historic Christianity. Over time, the Fundamentalist Evangelical movement has divided into two main wings, with the label Fundamentalist following one branch, while has become the preferred banner of the more moderate movement. Although both movements primarily originated in the English-speaking world, the majority of Evangelicals now live elsewhere in the world.

Ecumenism within Protestantism
movements within Protestantism have focused on determining a list of doctrines and practices essential to being Christian and thus extending to all groups which fulfil these basic criteria a (more or less) co-equal status, with perhaps one's own group still retaining a "first among equal" standing. This process involved a redefinition of the idea of "the Church" from traditional theology. This ecclesiology, known as denominationalism, contends that each group (which fulfils the essential criteria of "being Christian") is a sub-group of a greater "Christian Church", itself a purely abstract concept with no direct representation, i.e., no group, or "denomination", claims to be "the Church." This is at variance with other groups that indeed consider themselves to be "the Church." The "essential criteria" generally consist of belief in the, belief that Jesus Christ is the only way to have forgiveness and , and that He died and rose again bodily.