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Welcome
Enjoy... But remember
"Don't give in to winning the argument
and losing one of your eternal crowns..."
God bless you...
Enjoy... But remember
"Don't give in to winning the argument
and losing one of your eternal crowns..."
God bless you...
WHAT IS THE CHURCH LIKE IN THE FIRST FEW CENTURIES ? 
House Church (again!) (Christopher Yip)
Clarifications (RTC)
NO IC IN 1ST CENTURY DUE TO GOSPEL PRIORITY AMIDST PERSECUTION
Living in the Old? (RTC)
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I am quoting some passages from Eccl Hist written by the first great ecclesiastical historian, Eusebius of Caesarea (260-340):
Eccles Hist III 37, 2-3 At that time (about the beginning of the second century) many Christians felt that their souls inspired by the holy word with a passionate desire for perfection. Their first action, in obedience to the instructions of the Saviour, was to sell their goods and to distribute them to the poor. Then, leaving their homes, they set out to fulfil the work of an evangelist, making it their ambition to preach the word of the faith to those who as yet had heard nothing of it, and to commit to them the books of the divine Gospels. There were simply content to lay the foundations of the faith among these foreign peoples: they then appointed other pastors, and committed to them the responsibility for building up those whom they had merely brought to the faith. Then they passed on to other countries and nations with the grace and help of God. Eccles Hist VI, 43 Bishop Cornelius of Rome writes to his colleague Fabius of Antioch: This vindicator of the Gospel (the schismatic Novatian) then, did not know that there should be but one bishop in a Catholic Church; yet he was not ignorant (for how could he be ?) that in it there were 46 presbyters, seven deacons, seven sub-deacons, 42 acolytes, 52 exorcists, readers and door-keepers, over 1500 widows and persons in distress, all of whom the grace and loving kindness of the Master nourish.
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