Early Christianity
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50 free Early Christianity trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Christianity began as a small movement inside the Roman Empire, with no buildings of its own, no legal standing and no agreed list of sacred books. Within four centuries it had bishops in every major city, emperors among its members and a set of beliefs hammered out in fierce public argument. How that happened is one of the great stories of the ancient world. This quiz follows the story from the apostles and their journeys through the age of persecution, the turn of the emperors towards the new faith, and the councils that tried to settle what Christians believed. It also covers the writers, hermits, heretics and translators who shaped the early church, along with some of its stranger corners: secret signs, hostile rumours, unusual saints and archaeological finds. It suits students of church history, Bible study groups, confirmation and seminary classes, and anyone curious about how a persecuted sect became the religion of an empire. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which symbol of early Christians has a Greek name, ichthys, that forms an acrostic for Jesus Christ?
A fish
A fish, ichthys in Greek, spells out the initials of the phrase Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour. The sign appears in early Christian burial sites in Rome.
Q 02Which bishop of Myra, in what is now Turkey, gave rise to the folklore of Santa Claus?
Nicholas
Nicholas is said to have dropped gold through a poor man's window on three nights so that his daughters could afford dowries. The Dutch form of his name, Sinterklaas, did the rest.
Q 03The Syrian ascetic Simeon Stylites spent more than thirty years living on top of what near Aleppo?
A pillar
A pillar was his home for 36 years, a refuge from the crowds who came for his prayers and advice. Visitors climbed a ladder to get within speaking distance.
Q 04By early tradition, how was the apostle Peter crucified in Rome, at his own request?
Upside down
Upside down is how the apocryphal Acts of Peter first tells it. Jerome later wrote that Peter felt unworthy to die the same way as Jesus, and the inverted Cross of Saint Peter recalls the story.
Q 05The Alexamenos graffito, scratched in Rome to mock a Christian, shows a crucified figure with which animal's head?
A donkey
A donkey head tops the crucified figure, beside a Greek caption saying that Alexamenos worships his god. Scratched around the year 200, it is often said to be the earliest depiction of Jesus.
Q 06Which day of the week did Constantine declare an official Roman day of rest in March 321?
Sunday
Sunday suited two audiences at once: Christians kept it as the day of the resurrection, while pagans held it sacred to the sun god Sol Invictus. Farm work was still allowed.
Q 07Which emperor did the historian Tacitus say blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome in 64?
Nero
Nero made Christians his scapegoats and began the empire's first persecution of them. Tacitus wrote that some were torn apart by dogs and others burned to light the night.
Q 08In which tunnel networks outside Rome's walls did early Christians bury their dead, including several popes?
Catacombs
Catacombs held Christian, Jewish and pagan burials alike, because Roman law banned burials inside the city. Historians reject the old story that Christians hid in them from persecution.
Q 09On the road to which city did Saul of Tarsus see the blinding light that made him the apostle Paul?
Damascus
Damascus was where Saul was heading to arrest followers of Jesus when, Acts says, a light from heaven flashed around him. He was left blind for three days.
Q 10Garbled rumours about the Eucharist led pagan Romans to suspect early Christians of which crime?
Cannibalism
Cannibalism was the rumour, a garbled version of talk about eating the body and blood of Christ. Calling one another brother and sister brought whispers of incest too.
Q 11According to Acts, in which great city of Roman Syria were the followers of Jesus first called Christians?
Antioch
Antioch gave the movement its name, Acts 11 records, and grew into a chief centre of the early faith. Its site lies beside Antakya in modern Turkey.
Q 12Which festival, often called the birthday of the Church, marks the Holy Spirit descending on the apostles?
Pentecost
Pentecost found the apostles in Jerusalem for the Jewish Feast of Weeks. Acts describes a rushing wind and tongues of fire, after which they began to speak in other languages.
Q 13Which deacon, stoned to death in Jerusalem as Saul of Tarsus looked on, is honoured as the first Christian martyr?
Stephen
Q 21Before which battle near Rome in 312 is Constantine said to have seen a vision promising him victory?
Milvian Bridge
Milvian Bridge carried a main road over the Tiber, where Constantine's rival Maxentius drowned in the rout. A Christian biographer wrote that a heavenly sign had foretold the win.
Q 22Which scholar, commissioned by Pope Damasus I, completed in Bethlehem the Latin Bible later known as the Vulgate?
Jerome
Jerome finished the work in a monastery beside the Church of the Nativity. Earlier Latin Old Testaments had been made from a Greek version, but his went back to the Hebrew.
Q 23Around the year 50, the Council of Jerusalem ruled that Gentile converts need not undergo which Jewish rite?
Circumcision
Stephen was accused of blasphemy and stoned after a speech denouncing his judges. The men throwing stones laid their coats at the feet of Saul, the future apostle Paul.
Q 14In the deserts of which country did Anthony the Great, called the Father of All Monks, live as a hermit?
Egypt
Egypt was home to Anthony and the Desert Fathers who followed his example. A biography written by a bishop of Alexandria carried the idea of monastic life into western Europe.
Q 15To which country does early tradition send the apostle Thomas, where a community still bears his name?
India
India is where tradition places his landing, at or near the ancient port of Muziris. The Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala trace their church back to him.
Q 16According to Acts, which trade did the apostle Paul share with Priscilla and Aquila, his hosts in Corinth?
Tentmaking
Tentmaking let Paul earn his keep while he preached, and it first brought him together with Priscilla and Aquila. The couple later became his fellow missionaries.
Q 17In which city did the apostle Paul preach before the court of the Areopagus, having found it full of idols?
Athens
Athens is where Paul was taken to the Areopagus, the city's high court, to explain his teaching. He had been waiting there for his companions Silas and Timothy.
Q 18On which Mediterranean island does Acts say Paul was shipwrecked while sailing to Rome to appeal to Caesar?
Malta
Malta, called Melita in Acts, is where the islanders lit a fire for the survivors in the cold and rain. The island still marks the shipwreck every 10 February.
Q 19Which bishop of Hippo in North Africa wrote Confessions, sometimes called the first Western autobiography?
Augustine
Augustine recalls in Confessions how stealing pears as a boy first showed him the nature of sin. He later wrote The City of God as the Western Roman Empire was falling.
Q 20In which city, now İznik in Turkey, did Constantine convene the first ecumenical council of bishops in 325?
Nicaea
Nicaea drew at least 200 bishops, nearly all of them from the eastern half of the empire. Besides debating the nature of Christ, the council set one rule for the date of Easter.
Circumcision was not required of Gentiles, the council decided, nor was most of the law of Moses. They were told only to avoid idol offerings, blood, strangled meat and sexual immorality.
Q 24On which Aegean island does the Book of Revelation say its author, John, received his visions?
Patmos
Patmos still draws pilgrims to the Cave of the Apocalypse, where John is said to have received the visions. Several monasteries on the island are dedicated to him.
Q 25Which kingdom, under King Tiridates III, is traditionally held to be the first state to adopt Christianity, in 301?
Armenia
Armenia took the step, the traditional story goes, after Gregory the Illuminator was freed from years in a dungeon pit and cured King Tiridates of an illness.
Q 26Which empress, whose son Constantine ruled Rome, is said by tradition to have found the True Cross in Jerusalem?
Helena
Helena toured the Holy Land in the 320s and is also credited with building or adorning the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. A town in Palestine was later named after her.
Q 27Which 313 agreement between Constantine and Licinius gave Christianity legal status and a reprieve from persecution?
Edict of Milan
The Edict of Milan is named after the city where the two emperors met. It made the faith legal but not official, a step that came only in 380.
Q 28Constantine built his new capital, dedicated in 330, on the site of which older Greek city on the Bosporus?
Byzantium
Byzantium began as a Greek colony in the seventh century BC. Constantine first styled his refounded city New Rome, though it came to be known by his own name.
Q 29Which emperor opened the Great Persecution of 303, the last and most severe Roman campaign against Christians?
Diocletian
Diocletian and his co-rulers stripped Christians of their legal rights and demanded that they follow traditional religious practices. Enforcement was weakest in Gaul and Britain.
Q 30The preacher John Chrysostom, an archbishop of Constantinople, is known by a Greek nickname meaning what?
Golden-mouthed
Golden-mouthed was the tribute paid to his preaching, which first drew crowds in Syria. He died in 407 on the road to a remote place of exile.