The post-apostolic church
The spine · 100–325 · Mediterranean world
The organized church after the apostles: bishops, councils and a shared rule of faith from the end of the first century to Nicaea in 325. It is the first institutional node on this tree and the point every line runs back to. The church at Pentecost above it is a pattern, not an institution, and no body on this tree descends from it.
The post-apostolic church was formed between 100 and 325, as a process rather than a single event. The post-apostolic church is a segment of the spine, a drawing convenience rather than a body that ended.
The post-apostolic church stands at the institutional root of the tree.
At a glance
- Formed
- Between 100 and 325, as a process rather than a single event
- Family
- The spine
- Region
- Mediterranean world
- Ended
- It ended as a separate body in 431, entering The conciliar church.
- Also known as
- The organized church after the apostles
What it was organized out of
Bodies organized out of it or separated from it: Church of the East, The conciliar church.
On the tree
Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2.
Sources
- spine.md §1 (Nicaea 325 and Constantinople 381 as trunk annotations); owner decision Sep 22, 2026
Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-10.