The new century begins without those who lived with Jesus, the apostles and many others.

In this century, two emperors ruled Rome: Domitian, who began persecuting the Christians, and the second Trajan. Domitian was the one who sent John, the only apostle of Jesus who was not martyred, into exile on the island of Patmos, in Greece. While there, John was inspired to write the Book of Revelation.

Then appeared those who learned from the apostles, very important figures for the birth of Christianity, such as Ignatius of Antioch. One hypothesis from historians and researchers is that Ignatius may have been the child whom Jesus held in his arms when he said: “Let the little children come to me.” He was a direct disciple of John the Evangelist and bishop of Antioch.

In this century, deacons and bishops already existed, but not as they are today. They were established as reference positions of the time to highlight certain people. Ignatius of Antioch also wrote letters like Paul of Tarsus. He wrote seven letters that are structural documents of Christianity.

Ignatius was one of the first martyrs, killed in the circus and eaten by lions. When entering the arena, he said: “I am the wheat of God and I wish to be eaten by the lions so that I may become pure bread for those who will come after me.” This information is found in the book “Wheat of God” by Amelia Rodrigues.

He was an apologist, a defender of the faith, as were many others who did not fear death or martyrdom, which left the Romans unable to understand what made them so fearless. There were about one million Christians sacrificed, according to what is known. The belief of the apologists was faith in Jesus, who resurrected, and the grace of God, which would save them.

Another figure who appears is Polycarp of Smyrna, the fearless one, another apologist and also a disciple of John the Evangelist, along with Papias of Hierapolis. Polycarp was also bishop of the city of Smyrna, located in present day Turkey.

Polycarp was captured by the Romans and forced to renounce what they called the heresy that Christians defended by following Jesus. He reversed their accusation, saying that the heresy was theirs, not the Christians. According to tradition, they tried to burn Polycarp, but the flames created a kind of void and did not burn him. In the end, mercilessly, a soldier thrust a spear into Polycarp and killed him. He died for bearing witness to Jesus. Polycarp was eighty six years old.

Another important figure is Irenaeus of Lyon, a disciple of Polycarp of Smyrna. He believed it was necessary to combat the heresies that were growing, so that Christianity could move forward. This was his work, and he wrote a book about it.

Irenaeus of Lyon also fought against gnosticism. At that time there were more than sixty gnostic sects. The belief of gnosticism was that what frees a person is the knowledge of spiritual things and self knowledge. They believed that one must detach from matter to reach spirituality. Salvation of the human being would come through the person themself. Gnosticism was a secret doctrine supported by the knowledge of the ancient Egyptians. The word gnosticism means gnosis equals knowledge and ism equals affiliation to something. At the time it was a mystical almost esoteric belief. Eventually it was fought by the Church as heresy.

Irenaeus of Lyon, also an apologist, defended the concept of consubstantiation which held that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are three persons in one, simultaneously. For a protestant or a catholic, Jesus and God are one, from that century to the present. This begins to change with the gnostics and later with Spiritism and other groups.

When the Christian Community began to be formed, it was based on the apologists, those who defended the faith. There was much divergence of opinion, so it was necessary to create a line of conduct, a set of rules to be practiced and defended by all. They created orthodoxy with the following principles: Canon, meaning rule to be followed, creed, meaning the set of beliefs to follow, and Apostolicity, meaning agreement with the apostles. The early Church worked in these three directions. Those who disagreed were considered heretics. Over time heresies began to be persecuted, not tolerated.

Other important apologists were Papias of Hierapolis, Tertullian of Carthage and Justin Martyr. The latter was also martyred and beheaded, because he placed Jesus as the Divine Logos, Jesus the Word made flesh. He said that the true philosophy was Christianity.

Two major gnostic figures who were also Christians were Marcion of Sinope and Valentinus of Egypt. Valentinus taught that the world had not been created by God, but by Demiurges, that is, extremely evolved Spirits who created the planet at the command of God. But since they are not perfect, the Earth would be an imperfect place. This is exactly what Jewish Kabbalah says.

Marcion of Sinope taught that the God of the Jewish Old Testament was a God who created Heaven and Earth but was severe and harsh. The God of Jesus was a good God and His coming inaugurated a new phase, the phase of feeling and direct connection with a God who was an essence. But by excluding the Old Testament he excluded the fact that Jesus was Jewish. He ended up losing his way, since for him only the Gospel of Luke and the letters of Paul were valid, and he disregarded the other three.

There are four Gospels accepted by the Church that form part of the Canon and narrate the life of Jesus: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But there are more than one hundred texts from that time that also speak of the life of Christ. These are the apocryphal texts, which the Church does not recognize as authentic. This led to the rise of several movements at the time, each with different opinions.

All the structure of the emerging Church, the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church and later, in the sixteenth century, the protestant Churches, agrees that salvation comes through the person of Jesus Christ, who died for all on the cross, resurrected, and that it is through faith in Him that we receive the grace of God. For them this is an article of faith, the same article of faith held by the apologists of this century. Anything distant from that needed to be fought.

Two other heresies of the time were Docetism, which arose without a leader and gained strength gradually. They did not form churches or groups but mixed among people inside the early Christian churches, causing much trouble to be removed from the community. According to this heresy, Jesus did not have a body of flesh but was an apparition or a phantom, since they lacked the concept of fluidic body or spirit. According to this heresy, it would explain the virginity of Mary and the absence of Jesus body in the tomb.

The other heresy that arose in this century was Adoptionism. This heresy taught that Jesus and God were not the same person. Jesus became the most perfect type because He was adopted, adoptionism, by God at the baptism performed by John the Baptist, becoming the Messiah. This created the need for baptism, very important for early Christianity. In the Catholic Church baptism is performed on infants by sprinkling. In the protestant Church, by immersion, only when one is an adult and chooses the faith consciously as Jesus did.

Within this heresy a branch arose called the Mandaean heresy, which said that Jesus was not the Messiah. John the Baptist was, because he baptized Jesus. The Messiah for them was John the Baptist. These groups still exist today in Iraq and in France. To become an adoptionist or a Mandaean one simply needs to be baptized to become a child of God.

In ancient Greece the word heresy meant a school or a line of thought. Over time the meaning changed. Today heresy means holding a belief contrary to what is considered correct.

Christianity owes much to these brave apologists and to the early Christians for enduring so many martyrdoms and cruel deaths out of love for the message of the Master and for ensuring that it would cross the centuries and become a light placed on a lampstand to enlighten all who wish to know it.

The second century was marked by martyrdoms and heresies.