The Church of the First Days
After Pentecost, the Acts paint the face of the very first Christian community. These believers live united, sharing their goods, devoted to the teaching of the apostles and to the breaking of bread. But very soon persecution breaks out, and the Church knows its first martyr, Stephen, who dies forgiving his executioners, like his Master. From its beginnings, the Church bears the two marks of its life: fraternal communion and the cross.
One heart and one soul
Luke describes the life of the first community as an ideal made real. The believers hold together, united by one same faith and one same love: “The whole company of believers was of one heart and one soul.” Acts 4:32 This unity is not only affective: it is translated into the sharing of goods, each giving according to his means so that none may lack. This detachment is not imposed, it springs from the charity the Spirit has poured into hearts. The first Church thus gives the model of what the Christian community is called to be: a people of brothers, where the common faith is verified in the care of the poorest. This ideal is no passing utopia: through the centuries, monks, religious orders, and many communities will return to it as to their source, seeking to relive this first fervor. Luke does not, however, hide the shadows, such as the lie of Ananias and Sapphira, which recalls that the holiness of the Church dwells from the origin alongside the weakness of men.
Faithful to the breaking of bread
Luke sums up in one sentence the pillars of Christian life: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship of the brothers, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.” Acts 2:42 Four supports are drawn there, which remain those of the Church of every age. The teaching of the apostles is the faith handed on, the doctrine received and kept. The fellowship of the brothers is the shared life among brothers. The breaking of bread, this discreet name designates the Eucharist, already at the heart of Christian life. And the prayers are life turned toward God. Doctrine, communion, Eucharist, prayer: from the first days, the Church has its frame, the one it will keep through the centuries. Luke shows these believers still faithful to the Temple, going up to pray there at the Jewish hours, and at the same time breaking bread in their homes: the Church is born from the bosom of Israel, it keeps its Scriptures and its prayer, but it adds the new gesture of Christ, the breaking of bread. Thus the old and the new meet: what the prophets announced, a worship in spirit and in truth, begins to take shape in these first assemblies, humble and fervent.
The growth and the trial
Carried by the apostles, filled with the Spirit, the community grows each day. Peter and John heal a cripple at the gate of the Temple, and Peter boldly announces the risen Christ. But this growth worries the authorities, who have them arrested and order them to be silent. The apostles answer that one must obey God rather than men, and set off again to announce the Gospel, glad to have been judged worthy to suffer for the Name. The Church thus discovers that fidelity to Christ passes through contradiction, and that persecution, far from extinguishing the faith, spreads it. The blood that flows becomes a seed. The authorities think to smother the movement by striking its leaders, but each blow strengthens it and spreads it further. A wise man of the Sanhedrin, Gamaliel, senses this and warns his colleagues: if this work comes from men, it will destroy itself; but if it comes from God, none will be able to stop it, and one would risk finding oneself at war against God himself.
Stephen, the first martyr
The trial reaches its summit with Stephen, one of the seven deacons chosen to serve. Filled with the Spirit, he bears witness to Christ before the tribunal, and he is condemned to be stoned. His death reproduces that of Jesus, trait for trait. As Christ handed over his spirit to his Father, Stephen prays: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Acts 7:59 And as Christ forgave his executioners, he cries out: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Acts 7:60 The first Christian martyr dies forgiving, united to his Master even in death. At his feet stands a young man approving the killing, named Saul: the very one whom Christ will soon seize to make him the apostle of the nations. Before dying, Stephen delivers a long discourse that rereads the whole of sacred history, from Abraham to Solomon. He shows in it a constant: at every stage, the people resisted God and persecuted his envoys, and the prophets who announced the Righteous One were put to death by the very ones who awaited them. In rejecting Christ, Jerusalem only brings to its height this age-old refusal. The first martyr thus dies fulfilling the word of the prophets, and his blood, far from stopping the Gospel, opens the time of mission, for it is from the persecution that follows his death that the Church will spring outward.