![]() When they first appeared, they were anonymous, but in later years they were attributed to individuals who were prominent in the beginnings of the Christian movement, which gave added prestige to the documents. Although most of them have been credited either to one of the apostles or to someone closely associated with the apostles, evidence indicates that all of the documents belong to the post-apostolic period. For this reason, they have sometimes been designated as the Catholic Epistles. Because the problems with which these texts were concerned were not confined to any one local community, the documents were written for the church at large. ![]() For the purpose of helping meet this need, relatively short documents were produced and distributed among the churches. Problems constantly arose, and there was need for guidance in dealing with them. Because the early pioneers of the movement were no longer living, leadership was necessarily recruited from among newer members. ![]() It was a critical time in the history of the Christian church, for the church's membership had spread to various parts of the world, and in both size and influence the movement was growing. ![]() The era that immediately followed the death of the apostles is usually designated as the early post-apostolic period. ![]()
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