early churches
First Christian assemblies
Early churches are Christian congregations or their buildings from the first centuries after Christ, roughly through the fifth or sixth century.
The term encompasses both the organizational bodies and their physical structures: The early churches met in private homes.
In religious and historical contexts, early church (singular) often refers to Christianity's formative period as a whole: practices of the early church.
- catacombsUnderground cemetery passages
- basilicaColonnaded church with apse
- Edict of MilanAncient tolerance proclamation
- baptisteryChurch's initiation chamber
- iconographyAnalysis of artistic symbols
liturgy · nave · Eucharist · Roman Empire · apse · transept · catechumen · laying on hands · holy orders · Council of Nicaea · martyrdom · breaking bread · psalmody · clerestory · oral traditions · theological debates · sacraments · homily
- Early Venicelagoons, doges, salt production, salt trade, ancient canals
- Germanic AntiquityGermanic tribes, Franks, Saxons, tribal lands, tribal chiefs
- LombardsLombardy, Rosamund, duchies
- Polish prehistoryBronze Age, Iron Age, flint tools, bronze tools, burial mounds
early churchesmegachurches
Very large Protestant congregations
cathedrals · established churches · basilicas · Vatican · state churches
early, earlier, earliest, church, churches, churched, churchly, churchman, churchmen