May 28, 2011. (Romereports.com) After the resurrection of Jesus, the group of disciples was very small. It included a few dozen people led by St. Peter and other apostles. But three and a half centuries later, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. According to historians, a key factor in all this was the way early Christians lived.
Gabriel Larrauri
Author, "Praying with the Early Christians" "They managed attract so many people because they had a desire to live happily. Also, they showed characteristics that were very unusual for that time, like looking out after one another, loving one's neighbor, forgiveness. Moral values had deteriorated, but these Christians were willing to live according to their faith. When others saw them happy and living out their life, they started following them, so they could live that way as well.”
Gabriel Larrauri is a leading expert on the life of early Christians.
He collaborates with the webstite
www.earlychristians.org.
He recently published a book in Spanish which translates to "Praying with the Early Christians.” It includes a collection of texts from early Christianity, where one can read first hand who these people were, what ideas they had and how they lived everyday life.
Gabriel Larrauri
Author, "Praying with the Early Christians" "When speaking of the early Christians we can be tempted to think they were all martyrs. There were many martyrs, but the majority of Christians were not martyred. Most were normal Christians so to speak. Fathers and mothers who lived out their faith and drew other people around them to do the same. It was a normal environment.”
The book includes writings by great theologians and blessed bishops like St. Ignatius of Antioch, Gregory of Nyssa and St. John Chrysostom. It also has texts by other writers like Minucius Felix, who was a Roman lawyer in the year 177, and philosopher Aristides of Athens. It's a fascinating journey led by Christianity's first authors, who lived out the ideas that are now preached in the Church.
