During the first three centuries of Christianity, Christians faced many dangers and difficulties, enduring persecutions from both Jewish and Roman leaders. As “men and women who belonged to the Way” (Acts 9:2), they expected suffering. And despite Stephen’s death (Acts 7), ongoing persecution, and the scattering of the Church, the disciples remained untroubled, baffling their persecutors by the way they approached life.
We are given a firsthand glimpse of this life in the Letter to Diognetus, an early Christian apologetic work. The author details the lives of the early Christians, who relied on the power of the Holy Spirit, devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles, and went forth to proclaim the good news of Jesus as the Messiah and Savior. They taught a new way of life to those who welcomed them, practiced charity and temperance, lived in community, served and supported each other, and spent time in prayer and fasting (much like Acts 2:42-47):
They marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives. They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh…Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law. Christians love all men, but all men persecute them…They live in poverty, but enrich many; they are totally destitute, but possess an abundance of everything. They suffer dishonor, but that is their glory (LD).
Fast forward to today. What can we learn from the early Church?
The early Christians evangelized. They were focused and never stopped preaching the gospel. Even when strictly charged not to teach in the name of Jesus they said, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:28-29). Ironically, persecution was intended to extinguish the spread of Christianity, but by persecuting the early Christians, it only served to spread it even more (Acts 8:1). As a result, “the Lord added to their number those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).
The early Church lived out the great commission (Matt. 28:19-20). May this be said of us, that we filled the whole world with this teaching about Jesus, seeing in each moment an opportunity to bring the light of the gospel — to “add a supernatural motive to [our] ordinary work,” as St. Josemaría Escriva writes in The Way (359) — and sanctify it. May we see in our daily lives “a means of sanctification and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2427).
The early Christians also faced backsliding. It is not easy to constantly rebut the challenges of the secular world — i.e., media, academia, and government. The response of some disciples is opposite to Jesus’ teaching. They choose to remain silent in the face of evil — or worse, are complicit with the secular culture, sharing in its values and causing grave harm to themselves and others. We must pray for our brothers and sisters in this situation and, by being models of faith, strive for their conversion and spiritual renewal.
The early disciples persevered. We know that humanity can only find fulfillment in the gospel, and only Jesus liberates us from the bondage of sin, allowing us to live as the people God created us to be (Gen. 1:27). Like those who have gone before us in faith, let us set our gaze on the Lord, drawing strength from His words: “Do not be afraid” (Mark 6:50); “I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).