The Dew From Heaven
Jesus ordained 12 apostles and gave them power to heal the sick and the lame, and cast out devils. While he was yet alive, he planned for his eventual death, and selected Peter to govern the church, to be the head of the quorum of 12 apostles, after his death. He told the apostles that all authority in heaven and earth had been given to him, meaning that they , the apostles, had authority to do all that Jesus commanded them to do. Later, Jesus them out into the world to preach repentance and baptism. After his death and resurrection, he continued to communicate with them, governing his church, through the Holy Ghost, which acted as an intermediary. Other offices were also created to nuture the new members, and to solidify their faith through prayer, song and sacraments. Men were also called to see after the needs of the widows. The sacraments were refered to collectively as mysteries. A Greek mystery was a play or drama. Baptism, for example, is a mini-play where the initiate pretends to die and be born again, a ritual reincarnation. The water represents the grave. Baptism was done by immersion, representing the lowering of the person into the grave. The supper of bread and wine was no less ghoulish with the ceremonial cannabalism. The stark portrayal of the role of life and death was central to the initial Christian Mysteries.
At first, new apostles were called to fill the vacancies. But after a while, no new apostles were called. The church had a change in government, from apostles led by revelation, to bishops who taught whatever they wanted to teach. The office of a bishop was glorified, and the bishops wore costly robes, and were given money, and anyone could apply to be a bishop. The office designed to care for widows, now became an office of theives.
J.N.D. Kelly, a professor at Oxford, and Anglican Patristic Scholar, said "there is an extraordinary contrast... between the version of the Church's teaching, given by the 2nd century apostolic fathers, and by an accomplished fifth-century theologian like Cyril of Alexandria." Pastristic scholar David W. Bercot noted that the Christianity [of the first and second centuries] is unknown to most westerners". Too much had changed.
The first real work on the subject of the influence of the Greek culture on Christianity was Le Platonisme devoile ou essai touchant le verbe Platonicien, which was written anonymously, was eventually traced to Matthieu Souverain, a reformed minister of the Province of Poitou. Souverain believed that the church lost its integrity during the 2nd century. He believed that all the scholars after Ignacious were guilty of teaching Greek philosophical ideology, and passing it off as Christian. "They breathed hellenism; in fact, they were all semi-pagans." (The Hellenization of Christianity, pg.27) Graduates of the Platonic schools sought to interpret Christianity from their perspective, and they were successful; their ideologies were accepted by the church at large.
Johann Wilhelm Zierold, the author of Grundliche Kirchen-Historie, argued against Souverain's claim, with the claim that the Greek philosophers were greatly influenced by Hebrew thought through the common ancestry of Noah, and also the works of Moses. Such a claim however, is far from an endorsement.
The Loss of the Spiritual Gifts