50 Fun Facts About Christianity

Roughly how many followers does Christianity have, making it the world's largest religion?

That is close to 29 percent of everyone alive; the fastest growth today is in Africa and Asia.

Which is the largest single branch of Christianity, accounting for roughly half of all Christians?

Protestants number about 800 million and Eastern Orthodox about 300 million.

According to the Acts of the Apostles, in which city were followers of Jesus first called 'Christians'?

The name was apparently coined by the city's non-Jewish inhabitants; Antioch is now Antakya in southern Turkey.

Which Roman emperor issued the Edict of Milan in 313, decriminalising Christianity?

Twelve years later he chaired the Council of Nicaea, and Christianity did not become the empire's official religion until 380.

The Edict of Thessalonica in 380 made Nicene Christianity the Roman state church. Which emperor issued it?

It was issued jointly with Gratian and Valentinian II on 27 February 380.

The First Council of Nicaea, which produced the Nicene Creed, met in which year?

Around 250 to 300 bishops attended; it also fixed how the date of Easter should be calculated and condemned Arianism.

The Christian doctrine that God is one being in three persons is called what?

The word was first used by Theophilus of Antioch in the late 2nd century; the persons are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The Great Schism that split Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Christianity happened in which year?

A papal legate and the Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated each other; the anathemas were only lifted in 1965.

One of the theological disputes behind the 1054 schism was the 'Filioque'. What did it concern?

Rome had added 'and the Son' to the Nicene Creed; Constantinople objected both to the doctrine and to Rome altering the creed on its own.

Which Patriarch of Constantinople was excommunicated by papal legates in 1054 and returned the favour?

In 1965 Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I formally nullified those mutual excommunications.

Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses of 1517 attacked which church practice in particular?

Luther was reacting to Johann Tetzel's sales pitch; he was excommunicated in 1521 and the Reformation followed.

In which German university town were the Ninety-five Theses said to be nailed to the church door?

Luther also mailed them to the Archbishop of Mainz on 31 October 1517, the date now marked as Reformation Day.

The 1534 Act of Supremacy made which English king 'Supreme Head of the Church of England'?

The trigger was Pope Clement VII refusing to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon; Thomas More lost his head for denying the new title.

Which nation is credited as the first state to adopt Christianity officially, around AD 301?

King Tiridates III was converted by Gregory the Illuminator; the Armenian Apostolic Church is still headquartered at Etchmiadzin.

The Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt traces its founding to which Gospel writer?

Its leader is called the Pope of Alexandria; Copts form the largest Christian community in the Middle East.

In Eastern Orthodoxy, how is the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople ranked relative to other bishops?

Bartholomew I has held the post since 1991 from the Phanar district of Istanbul, but has no direct jurisdiction outside his own patriarchate.

Which apostle is regarded by Catholic tradition as the first pope?

A fisherman originally named Simon, he was traditionally crucified upside down in Rome under Nero, and his keys appear on the papal coat of arms.

Elected in May 2025, Pope Leo XIV is the first pope from which country?

Born Robert Prevost in Chicago, he is also the first pope from the Order of Saint Augustine and previously served as a bishop in Peru.

Pope Francis, who died in 2025, was the first pope from which religious order?

Born Jorge Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, he was also the first pope from the Americas and took his name from Francis of Assisi.

How many sacraments does the Catholic Church recognise?

Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony; most Protestant churches keep only Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Which day marks the start of Lent in Western Christianity?

The ashes are made by burning the previous year's Palm Sunday palms and are smudged on foreheads in the shape of a cross.

Lent lasts 40 days in memory of what?

In the Western count Sundays are left out, so Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday actually spans 46 days.

Pentecost, celebrated seven weeks after Easter, commemorates which event?

It is often called the birthday of the Church, and its liturgical colour is red for the tongues of fire.

What is Pentecost commonly called in Britain and Ireland?

The name probably comes from the white robes worn by those baptised on the day; Whit Monday was a bank holiday until 1971.

Advent, which opens the Western church year, begins on which day?

Its usual colour has been violet since about the 13th century, with a rose candle lit on the third Sunday, Gaudete Sunday.

The earliest record of Christmas on 25 December comes from which city, around AD 336?

The Bible gives no date for the birth of Jesus; churches on the Julian calendar keep Christmas on 7 January.

The early Christian fish symbol, the ichthys, works as an acrostic in which language?

ΙΧΘΥΣ spells out 'Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour'; believers used it to mark meeting places during Roman persecutions.

Saint Jerome's late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible is known by what name?

Pope Damasus I commissioned it in 382; the Council of Trent later declared it the Catholic Church's authentic Latin text.

The Gutenberg Bible, printed in Mainz around 1455, was an edition of which text?

About 49 copies survive, 21 of them complete; a full copy is valued at $25 to 35 million.

The King James Bible was published in which year?

James I commissioned it in 1604; about 47 scholars in six committees at Oxford, Cambridge and Westminster did the work.

Which pope launched the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont in 1095?

The crusaders took Jerusalem in July 1099 and held it for 88 years until Saladin's victory at Hattin.

Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first what, at Greccio in 1223?

He founded the Franciscans, received the stigmata in 1224 and has been patron saint of ecology since 1979.

The Second Vatican Council of 1962-65 famously allowed Catholic Mass to be celebrated in what?

Nearly 2,500 bishops attended; John XXIII opened it and Paul VI closed it after John's death in 1963.

Which Constantinople church, completed in 537, was reclassified as a mosque in 2020?

It became a mosque in 1453, a museum in 1935, and was reclassified as a mosque in 2020.

Which church, not St Peter's, is the pope's cathedral?

St Peter's took 120 years to build, from 1506 to 1626, and its Michelangelo-designed dome is the tallest in the world.

The 1906 Azusa Street Revival, the launch of modern Pentecostalism, was in which city?

William J. Seymour led it from a former stable; by the 2020s there were more than 500 million Pentecostal and charismatic Christians.

John Wesley, whose 'heart strangely warmed' experience came in 1738, founded which movement?

He pioneered open-air preaching and used lay preachers, women included, to spread the movement across Britain and America.

Baptists are distinguished by baptising only believers, and by which method?

The first Baptist church was formed by John Smyth in Amsterdam in 1609; the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Baptist body.

In which US state did Joseph Smith found the Latter-day Saints church in 1830?

After Smith's death, Brigham Young led the Mormon pioneers west to Utah in 1847; the church reported nearly 18 million members as of 2025.

The Amish take their name from Jakob Ammann, who led a 1693 split from which group?

Most Amish speak Pennsylvania Dutch at home and their population doubles roughly every 20 years.

The Religious Society of Friends, founded in 17th-century England by George Fox, is better known by what name?

Quaker families founded Cadbury and Barclays, and Quaker William Penn founded Pennsylvania.

The Salvation Army, founded in London in 1865 by William Booth, uses which unusual structure?

Its ministers are officers and members are soldiers; unusually, it does not practise baptism or communion.

Jehovah's Witnesses grew out of the Bible Student movement founded in the 1870s by whom?

The name Jehovah's Witnesses was adopted in 1931; members are known for refusing blood transfusions and not celebrating birthdays.

The evangelist Billy Graham preached in person to roughly how many people during his career?

He held 417 crusades in more than 185 countries and advised 12 consecutive US presidents.

How had John Newton, who wrote 'Amazing Grace' in 1772, earlier made his living?

He later became an abolitionist; the familiar tune 'New Britain' was not paired with his words until 1835.

The 30-metre statue of Christ the Redeemer, completed in 1931, overlooks which city?

It stands on Corcovado mountain and was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.

Which council of 451 did the Coptic and Armenian churches reject, splitting from the rest of Christianity?

They hold a 'miaphysite' view of Christ's one united nature, which they insist is not the monophysitism condemned by others.

The Council of Nicaea in 325 mainly settled a dispute named for which Alexandrian priest?

The creed's answer was that the Son is 'of one substance with the Father', the Greek term being homoousios.

The Christian symbol of a fish, the ichthys, first appears in Christian art and writing in which century?

It became popular again in the 1970s and now rides on car bumpers around the world.

The Catholic Church formally fixed its list of seven sacraments at which 1215 council?

Peter Lombard had drawn up the list a century earlier; the Council of Trent reaffirmed it in the 1500s against the Reformers.