The Apostolic Age

c. AD 30–10026 eventsShow on the timeline

From Pentecost to the death of the last apostles: the gospel spreads from Jerusalem to Rome, Gentiles are admitted, and the New Testament is written.

Acts and the letters of Paul are the chief sources, anchored by a few fixed points: the death of Herod Agrippa in AD 44, Gallio’s term in Corinth in 51–52, the fire of Rome in 64 and the fall of Jerusalem in 70. By the end of the century there are Christian communities from Syria to Italy.

Events of this era

AD 30 or 33, estimated date
Pentecost
At the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem, Acts says, the Holy Spirit comes on the followers of Jesus, Peter preaches that God has raised Jesus and made him Lord and Christ, and about three thousand people are baptised.
about AD 34, estimated date
The Martyrdom of Stephen
Acts tells how Stephen, one of seven men chosen to serve the Jerusalem church, is accused before the council of speaking against the temple and the law and is stoned to death. The persecution that follows scatters the believers beyond Jerusalem.
about AD 34, estimated date
The Gospel Reaches Samaria and an Ethiopian Official
Acts tells how Philip, driven from Jerusalem by persecution, preaches in Samaria, where Peter and John follow him, and then baptises an official of the Ethiopian queen on the road to Gaza. In Acts the message here first passes beyond Judea.
c. AD 31–36, estimated date
The Conversion of Paul
Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who is persecuting the followers of Jesus, becomes one of them near Damascus. Acts tells the story three times, and Paul’s own letters speak of it as a revelation of God’s Son and a call to preach to the Gentiles.
about AD 40, estimated date
The Baptism of the Gentile Cornelius
Acts tells how Peter, after a vision at Joppa, enters the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius at Caesarea, preaches there, and has him and his household baptised without circumcision, and how the church in Jerusalem accepts what he has done.
about AD 43, estimated date
The Church at Antioch, Where Believers Were First Called Christians
Acts tells how believers scattered from Jerusalem begin to preach to non-Jews at Antioch in Syria. Barnabas is sent to them and brings Saul from Tarsus. Acts says that the disciples were first called Christians there and that the church sent famine relief to Judea.
AD 44, firm date
Herod Agrippa Kills James and Dies at Caesarea
Acts says that King Herod Agrippa I had the apostle James, son of Zebedee, put to death and imprisoned Peter, who escaped. The king died suddenly at Caesarea. Acts and Josephus both describe his death, and the figures Josephus gives put it in AD 44.
about AD 46 to AD 48, estimated date
Paul’s First Missionary Journey
Acts tells how Barnabas and Paul, sent out by the church at Antioch, preach in Cyprus and in the cities of southern Asia Minor, first in the synagogues and then to Gentiles, and found churches there before returning to Antioch.
about AD 49, estimated date
The Council of Jerusalem
Acts tells how Paul and Barnabas go up from Antioch to Jerusalem to settle whether Gentile believers must be circumcised, and how the apostles and elders decide that they need not be. Whether the meeting Paul describes in Galatians is the same one is disputed.
about AD 49, estimated date
Claudius Expels Jews from Rome
The emperor Claudius orders Jews to leave Rome after disturbances that Suetonius links to one “Chrestus”. Acts names Aquila and Priscilla, whom Paul meets at Corinth, among those who left. Whether “Chrestus” means Christ is disputed.
about AD 49, estimated date
Paul Opposes Peter at Antioch
Paul tells the Galatians how Cephas, who had been eating with Gentile believers at Antioch, withdrew when people came from James, and how he rebuked him in front of everyone. Whether this came before or after the council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 is disputed.
about AD 49 to AD 52, estimated date
Paul Carries the Gospel into Europe
With Silas and Timothy, Paul crosses from Asia Minor to Macedonia and founds churches at Philippi, Thessalonica and Corinth. Acts brings him before the proconsul Gallio at Corinth, whose year of office an inscription at Delphi puts at about AD 51–52.
about AD 50 to AD 60, estimated date
The Letters of Paul
In the course of his missions Paul writes letters to the churches he has founded and to others. On the usual dating they are older than the Gospels. They came to be collected and read alongside the Scriptures.
AD 52, traditional date
The Apostle Thomas and the Christians of India
Tradition holds that the apostle Thomas preached in India and died there. The oldest account cited, the Acts of Thomas, sets him at the court of a King Gundaphoros; the tradition of Kerala and Mylapore is attested later. Cosmas reports churches in India about AD 547.
about AD 53 to AD 57, estimated date
Paul in Ephesus and the Collection for Jerusalem
Paul works for some three years at Ephesus, then travels through Macedonia and Greece gathering money from his Gentile churches for the poor of Jerusalem, and sets out to deliver it in spite of warnings.
about AD 57 to AD 59, estimated date
Paul’s Arrest and Imprisonment at Caesarea
A riot in the temple puts Paul into Roman custody. He is held for two years at Caesarea under the governor Felix, defends himself before Festus and King Agrippa, and appeals to the emperor.
about AD 59 to AD 62, estimated date
Paul’s Voyage to Rome
Sent to Italy as a prisoner, Paul is shipwrecked on Malta, winters there and reaches Rome, where he lives for two years under guard and teaches all who come to him. There the book of Acts ends.
AD 62, firm date
The Death of James, the Brother of the Lord
While Judaea is between Roman governors, the high priest Ananus has James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, condemned and stoned. Josephus records it within a generation; Christian writers a century later tell a fuller story.
AD 64, firm date
The Great Fire of Rome and Nero’s Persecution
Fire destroys much of Rome in July of AD 64. To turn suspicion from himself, the historian Tacitus says, Nero blames the Christians of the city and has them put to death with public cruelty.
c. AD 64–68, traditional date
The Martyrdoms of Peter and Paul
The New Testament does not tell how Peter and Paul died. A letter from Rome, usually dated about AD 96, says that both suffered and died for their witness; writers from about AD 170 onwards place their deaths at Rome, and later ones under Nero.
about AD 65 to AD 100, estimated date
The Four Gospels Are Written
Four accounts of the words, deeds, death and resurrection of Jesus are written, on the usual dating, in the later first century. None names its author; the names Matthew, Mark, Luke and John come from second-century testimony.
AD 66 to AD 70, firm date
The Jewish Revolt and the Destruction of the Temple
Judaea rises against Rome in AD 66. After four years of war Titus takes Jerusalem; the temple is burned, the city is razed, and the daily sacrifice comes to an end.
AD 73 or 74, estimated date
The Fall of Masada
Three or four years after Jerusalem fell, the Roman governor Flavius Silva besieges Masada, a rock fortress by the Dead Sea still held by rebels. Josephus says that the defenders killed their families and themselves, 960 dead in all, the night before the Romans entered.
c. AD 50–120, estimated date
The Didache, an Early Church Manual
An anonymous handbook, “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”, sets out for one early community how to live, how to baptize, fast and pray, what to say over the cup and the bread, and how to treat travelling prophets and local leaders.
about AD 95, estimated date
John’s Revelation on Patmos
A Christian prophet named John, on the island of Patmos, writes down visions addressed to seven churches of Asia. They show Christ in glory, the fall of the city the book calls Babylon and a new Jerusalem, and become the last book of the New Testament.
about AD 96, estimated date
The Roman Church Writes to Corinth (1 Clement)
The church of Rome sends a long letter to the church of Corinth, where presbyters have been removed from office, and tells those responsible to submit to them. It appeals to an order handed down from the apostles and is linked from the second century with the name of Clement.