Been doing a bit of research trying to tie in together a few different strands.
Not too sure what happened to Christianity and how organised religion took hold again after the Apostles died off.
I know Jerusalem was sacked 70 ce. But lots to fill in from that point onwards to bring us to where we are today.
If a few peeps could help to condense and simplify the info down into a few bite size pieces it would give us a starting point to begin to re-educate ourselves to the truth. and fill in the blanks.
I found a site 'Relligion Facts.com' which states the following.
For the first 1,000 yrs there was no 'Roman Catholicism' as we know it today.Simply because there were no EASTERN ORTHODOX or PROTESTANTISM to distinguish it.
There was only the 'one, holy, catholic church' affirmed by the early creeds, which was the body of christian believers all over the world, untied by common traditions, beliefs, church structure and worship.
CATHOLIC - means simply, UNIVERSAL.
Thus throughout the middle ages, if you were a christian you belonged to the catholic church.
Any christianity, other than the catholic church was - A HERESY. Not a denomination.
The catholic church continues to maintain that it alone has carried on the true tradition of the apostolic church.
318 - conversion of Roman Emperor Constantine.
1440 - 461 - Roman Bishop Leo, was the first to claim ultimate authority over all of christendom.
452 - saved Rome from attila the Hun.
455 - Vandal invaders, plundered the city.
5 centuries were dominated by the struggle between C Church and Islam.
Middle ages - 5th Century ce to 15th century ce. ( the first part of the middle ages is also know as the Dark Ages.)
Dark Ages - an era of IGNORANCE, SUPERSTITION OR SOCIAL CHAOS OR REPRESSION.
1095 - crusades.
1347 - 1350- the late middle ages. were marked by difficulties and clamitites. Famine. Plague. War. the black death.
17th and 18th centuries - The times of enlightenment. many critical thinkers saw religion as antithetical to reason. Voltaire, among others were vocal in attacking the religiously dominated middle ages as a period of social regress.
1517 - Martin Luther.
King Henry 8th - Reformation.
1700's - Worship Of Mary introduced.
The Enlightenment - questioned christianity as a whole. It elevated human reason above divine revelation and down-graded religious authorities such as the papacy based on it.
1700's - French revolution - saw direct attacks on the wealth of the Church.
1870 - 1940 - Third Republic. the republicans detested the Church for its political and class affiliations