THE PROBLEM OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN IDENTITY IN THE 1ST - 4TH CENTURIES CE

Abstract

The article considers early Christian identity development during the 1st - 4th centuries CE. Adversus Iudaeos treatises are the main sources of knowledge about many early Christian positions. Christian writers described both themselves and the nations surrounding them in terms ἔθνος γένος, natio , populus . The term “ethnos” was important for Christian authors for dealing with inner community problems and for external relations purposes. Universal Christian doctrine did not fit any criteria of that time. Describing Christians as a “new nation” allowed them to define their place in the sociocultural system of the Greco-Roman world and to put themselves next to Greeks, Jews, and Barbarians. In the absence of a clear definition of “ethnos”, Christian authors proclaimed open borders of their “nation” and through this approach engaged new followers. Comparing themselves to Jews and abandoning all Jewish “earthly” traditions, the writers showed what was truly Christian and formed the foundations of the orthodoxy, opposed heresies and asserted that faith is the main tenet of their identity.