The terms "primitive" and "apostolic" are used differently by Sabbatarians than in orthodox Christianity such as Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and many other denominations. These groups consider their practices primitive in that they are based on scholarship and research into the actual writings of the Church fathers and other historical documents. They call themselves "apostolic" in that they maintain a literal Apostolic Succession or historical lineage tracing back to the Apostles and the Great Commission. During the early phase of Christianity the Church was persecuted by Roman and Jewish authorities and survived underground. Thus written documents for the Church of the first century are sparse. To remedy this, the primitive church passed down its knowledge verbally and is re