After the Apostles, the first generation of Christian leaders were called the Apostolic Fathers. They included Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp of Smyrna (see below). These were men who had been discipled by the Apostles. In Polycarp’s case, he had been discipled by John the Apostle at Ephesus. Ephesus was also the place that Paul had "handed over" leadership of the church to the first generation of post-Apostolic elders, and thus represents the first stage in post-Apostolic church history.
The Apostolic Fathers were leaders of churches at the end of the first century and the start of the second. By this time, there was a diaspora of Christian communities across the known world. In many ways, their form of service and organisation was similar to that of the Jewish synagogues. Both the Christian churches and Jewish synagogues were part of a larger category of "societies" (societas) which brought together people with shared interests ranging from religious faith to grass-roots firefighters. With the exception of the Jewish churches, the language of the services until the 300s was Greek, even at Rome. A key text dating back to this time is the Didache, which is basically a manual on Christian living and church life. Besides describing arrangements for Christian baptism, and an early set prayers for Communion, the Didache describes a time when each church was governed by a leadership team, which it refers to as "bishops and deacons”, elected by rank-and-file church members.
The Apostolic Fathers wrote letters to some of the churches, not dissimilar to the ones written by Paul and other Apostles. For example, Ignatius of Antioch, on his way to Rome, where he was eventually martyred in the Coliseum, wrote letters to the churches in the cities he would travel through, such as Ephesus. These, and other writings by the Apostolic Fathers, are mainly concerned with moral instruction and the unity the church. For example, they deal with divisions in churches, and appeal for unity. What is it that unites a local church? The answer the Apostolic Fathers gave was, the Lord’s supper at which the bishop presided (the leading elder of each city church came to be known as the bishop, moving away from the terminology of the Didache, see above). A local church was one that shares communion together at the Lord’s supper.
The Apostolic Fathers were concerned to uphold the reality of the incarnation ("the Word became flesh"), denied by the teaching that Jesus only "appeared" to be human ("Docetism").
This early generation of Christians also considered martyrdom the most noble way for a Christian to die. The most famous martyrdom of this period was that of Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, and disciple of the Apostle John. At the age of 86, Polycarp was required to offer worship to Caesar. His refusal led to him being taken to the local amphitheatre and eventually executed (this was approximately the year 155). Famously, in the midst of these events, Polycarp, referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, asked, "Eighty and six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I now blaspheme my king, who saved me?" This would place Polycarp's birth or conversion at around the year 70.
The New Testament describes churches being formed at Jerusalem and surrounding areas (including Samaria), then at Antioch, later in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), and then what is now Greece, and at the imperial capital at Rome. Paul refers to gospel work in Illyricum (northern Balkans), and to plans to preach in Spain. Besides the cities and places mentioned in the New Testament, at this time and later, the church also spread east, into Mesopotamia (Edessa, Arbela, Nisibis) and Parthia/Persia, south, into Egypt (Alexandria) and Libya (Cyrene), and west, into North Africa (Carthage) and Gaul. Increasingly, the Jewish contingent in the Christian church dwindled, for example after the events of 70 and 135 CE, which led to Jerusalem, renamed Aelia Capitolana, becoming a Gentile-only city. The Jewish Christian community relocated to places such as Pella (other side of the Jordan). From 135, the bishops at Jerusalem were all Gentiles.
While, in some respects, the understanding and practice of these first churches might feel distant from our own time, a brief quote from the Letter to Diognetus (approx. 130 CE or later) demonstrates the faith in the gospel we share with our brothers and sisters from the past,
"In whom was it possible for us, the lawless and ungodly, to be justified, except in the Son of God alone? O the sweet exchange, O the incomprehensible work of God, O the unexpected blessings, that the sinfulness of many should be hidden in one righteous person, while the righteousness of one should justify many sinners!"
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