In the earliest period of their existence, members of Christian communities gathered for prayer meetings at night or early in the morning. Often these meetings were held in sheltered from foreign locations: country houses, barns, sometimes in underground cemeteries, the catacombs. The congregation sang hymns in honor of Christ in chorus, listened to the teachings and sermons of anyone who considered himself “an instrument of the spirit of God”, read the stories about Christ. The meetings ended with a modest communal meal of white bread and watered-down red wine. The meeting was presided over by a community – chosen elder – presbyter, assisted by Ministers and Ministers-deacons and deaconesses. Over time, the community began to appear special economic leaders – bishops.

If during the first century of existence of Christian communities all their members were considered equal, there was no special apparatus of management, then from the middle of the second century there is a complication of the organization. There are metropolitans – heads of separate churches, and already in IV-V centuries – patriarchs, heads of extensive Church associations. Wealthy Christians acquire considerable influence, it is from their midst began to be selected elders. The bishops become the sole leaders of the congregations, relying on the presbyters and deacons. At this time, the female deaconesses disappear. Special white robes are installed for clerics, as elders and priests have come to be called. Only clerics could hold prayer meetings and perform divine services. If at the end of the first century. the only way to replenish the funds of the communities were voluntary contributions of its members, in the third century. many of the communities owned land, houses and slaves received by the wills of wealthy believers.

The spread of Christianity was facilitated by the fact that it offered its supporters not only a worldview, but also a cohesive Church organization. Belonging to it was not safe, but it provided the parishioners with moral and material support, United them into a collective. The bishops of the individual communities supported each other, which helped to unite them in the struggle with other religions for supremacy.