When the Church Was Young

Bishop Youannis of Gharbia tells the story of the Christian Church during its first seventy years, from the days of waiting and Pentecost to the end of the first century. He begins with the Jewish and pagan worlds, the Roman Empire, the roads and languages through which the Gospel travelled, and the sources needed to study a Church whose earliest life was shaped by both proclamation and persecution.

The book follows the Church of Jerusalem through conflict, martyrdom, deliverance and the destruction of the city, then traces the Gospel beyond Jerusalem. Paul’s missionary fields, the churches of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria and Rome, relations with the state and the factors that carried the preaching forward show how a small community became a wide communion without losing its apostolic centre.

The later sections move inside the life of believers: spiritual power, prayer, fasting, the Lord’s Day, assemblies, agape, ministry, women and deaconesses, widows, marriage, celibacy, social care and moral teaching. Bishop Youannis sets out the faith of the apostolic Church in the incarnation, redemption, Trinity, resurrection, sacraments, Scripture, tradition, worship and the hope of judgement.

He also examines heresies, the four Gospels, Acts, the epistles, Revelation, apocryphal writings, the Apostolic Fathers and the theological schools. The final portraits remember the apostles, their helpers and women such as Phoebe, Priscilla and Thecla. For readers seeking to understand how Christian belief, worship and community first took shape, this history joins careful structure with the spiritual weight of beginnings.

Bishop Youannis (1923–1987), Bishop of Gharbia, was a Coptic Orthodox monk, teacher and pastor. This work belongs to his twentieth-century ministry of preaching and Christian formation.

Faith, worship and community during the Church’s first seventy years, from Pentecost to the end of the apostolic age.

Generative artificial intelligence assisted the English translation and preparation of this edition. This accessible edition does not replace primary texts, printed editions or surviving manuscripts. Scholars should verify quotations, textual readings and academic conclusions against those sources.