The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, Christendom, and the Church with its various denominations, from the 1st century to the present. Christianity emerged in the Levant in the mid-1st century AD. Christianity spread initially from Jerusalem throughout the Near East, into places such as Aram, Ethiopia, Assyria , Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Asia Minor, Jordan and Egypt. In the 4th century it was successively adopted as the state religion by Armenia in 301, Georgia in 319, the Aksumite Empire in 325, and the Roman Empire in 380. After the Council of Ephesus in 431 the Nestorian Schism created the Church of the East. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 further divided Christianity into Oriental Orthodoxy and Chalcedonian Christianity. Chalcedonian Christianity divided into the