Historically, the facts that founded Christianity occurred during the Roman Empire, in the last centuries of the Ancient Age, which extended from approximately 3,500 BC to 476 AD.
The descendants of the apostles, who began to spread Christianity around the world, were called patriarchs. Thus, the communities constituted by the apostles were perpetuated even after their death, making Christianity stronger as a church. "Church" comes from the Greek word "ecclesia", which means assembly, thus representing the meeting of men who share the same ideas and practices. Persecuted by the Romans for centuries, Christians suffered a series of tortures. They were accused of burning Rome at the time of Emperor Nero (54 to 68). In general, it was common to burn alive Christians or make them devoured by beasts, in the sight of all.
From the moment the Empire decided to make the Christian religion official for the Romans and all the peoples dominated by them in the 4th century, the Christian Church began to gain strength, as a powerful institution. The patriarchs or bishops of Christianity were scattered throughout the Roman Empire in several cities: Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch, Constantinople and Rome. As ordered by the emperor in 455, the patriarch of Rome became, from then on, the highest authority of the Church, under the name of pope.
However, the definitive consolidation of the power of this Church would take place in the following centuries, starting in the Middle Ages, which begins in the 5th century. The Carolingian Empire (8th to 9th centuries) and feudalism (mainly 8th to 11th centuries) would provide economic space and political power for the Catholic Church to become the main medieval institution.
