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50 free Christian trivia questions with answers. This Christianity trivia quiz is about the religion itself rather than Bible stories (those have their own quizzes on the site). It starts with the big picture: how many Christians there are, the branches they belong to, where the word 'Christian' was first used and what the Trinity means. Then it follows the story through history: Constantine and Nicaea, the Great Schism of 1054, Jerome's Vulgate and Gutenberg's Bible, Luther at Wittenberg, Henry VIII, the Crusades, Vatican II and the popes of the 2020s. Along the way it covers the calendar and the customs, from Advent and Ash Wednesday to Lent, Pentecost and why Christmas is on 25 December, plus the family tree of denominations: Coptic and Armenian, Orthodox and Catholic, Baptists, Methodists, Quakers, Amish, Latter-day Saints, Pentecostals and the Salvation Army. It suits youth groups, RE classes, church quiz nights and Christian trivia games, and anyone curious about how the faith took shape. About a third of the questions are easy, a third medium and the rest genuinely hard. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and reference sources, and each question shows the sentence that confirms it once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Roughly how many followers does Christianity have, making it the world's largest religion?
2.3 billion
That is close to 29 percent of everyone alive; the fastest growth today is in Africa and Asia.
Q 02Which is the largest single branch of Christianity, accounting for roughly half of all Christians?
Catholicism
Protestants number about 800 million and Eastern Orthodox about 300 million.
Q 03According to the Acts of the Apostles, in which city were followers of Jesus first called 'Christians'?
Antioch
The name was apparently coined by the city's non-Jewish inhabitants; Antioch is now Antakya in southern Turkey.
Q 04Which Roman emperor issued the Edict of Milan in 313, decriminalising Christianity?
Constantine
Twelve years later he chaired the Council of Nicaea, and Christianity did not become the empire's official religion until 380.
Q 05The Edict of Thessalonica in 380 made Nicene Christianity the Roman state church. Which emperor issued it?
Theodosius I
It was issued jointly with Gratian and Valentinian II on 27 February 380.
Q 06The First Council of Nicaea, which produced the Nicene Creed, met in which year?
325
Around 250 to 300 bishops attended; it also fixed how the date of Easter should be calculated and condemned Arianism.
Q 07The Christian doctrine that God is one being in three persons is called what?
The Trinity
The word was first used by Theophilus of Antioch in the late 2nd century; the persons are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Q 08The Great Schism that split Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Christianity happened in which year?
1054
A papal legate and the Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated each other; the anathemas were only lifted in 1965.
Q 09One of the theological disputes behind the 1054 schism was the 'Filioque'. What did it concern?
Whether the Spirit proceeds from the Son too
Rome had added 'and the Son' to the Nicene Creed; Constantinople objected both to the doctrine and to Rome altering the creed on its own.
Q 10Which Patriarch of Constantinople was excommunicated by papal legates in 1054 and returned the favour?
Michael Cerularius
In 1965 Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I formally nullified those mutual excommunications.
Q 11Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses of 1517 attacked which church practice in particular?
The sale of indulgences
Luther was reacting to Johann Tetzel's sales pitch; he was excommunicated in 1521 and the Reformation followed.
Q 12In which German university town were the Ninety-five Theses said to be nailed to the church door?
Wittenberg
Luther also mailed them to the Archbishop of Mainz on 31 October 1517, the date now marked as Reformation Day.
Q 13The 1534 Act of Supremacy made which English king 'Supreme Head of the Church of England'?
Henry VIII
The trigger was Pope Clement VII refusing to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon; Thomas More lost his head for denying the new title.
Q 21Which day marks the start of Lent in Western Christianity?
Ash Wednesday
The ashes are made by burning the previous year's Palm Sunday palms and are smudged on foreheads in the shape of a cross.
Q 22Lent lasts 40 days in memory of what?
Jesus fasting in the desert
In the Western count Sundays are left out, so Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday actually spans 46 days.
Q 23Pentecost, celebrated seven weeks after Easter, commemorates which event?
The Holy Spirit descending on the Apostles
Q 14Which nation is credited as the first state to adopt Christianity officially, around AD 301?
Armenia
King Tiridates III was converted by Gregory the Illuminator; the Armenian Apostolic Church is still headquartered at Etchmiadzin.
Q 15The Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt traces its founding to which Gospel writer?
Mark
Its leader is called the Pope of Alexandria; Copts form the largest Christian community in the Middle East.
Q 16In Eastern Orthodoxy, how is the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople ranked relative to other bishops?
First among equals
Bartholomew I has held the post since 1991 from the Phanar district of Istanbul, but has no direct jurisdiction outside his own patriarchate.
Q 17Which apostle is regarded by Catholic tradition as the first pope?
Peter
A fisherman originally named Simon, he was traditionally crucified upside down in Rome under Nero, and his keys appear on the papal coat of arms.
Q 18Elected in May 2025, Pope Leo XIV is the first pope from which country?
United States
Born Robert Prevost in Chicago, he is also the first pope from the Order of Saint Augustine and previously served as a bishop in Peru.
Q 19Pope Francis, who died in 2025, was the first pope from which religious order?
The Jesuits
Born Jorge Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, he was also the first pope from the Americas and took his name from Francis of Assisi.
Q 20How many sacraments does the Catholic Church recognise?
Seven
Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony; most Protestant churches keep only Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
It is often called the birthday of the Church, and its liturgical colour is red for the tongues of fire.
Q 24What is Pentecost commonly called in Britain and Ireland?
Whitsunday
The name probably comes from the white robes worn by those baptised on the day; Whit Monday was a bank holiday until 1971.
Q 25Advent, which opens the Western church year, begins on which day?
The fourth Sunday before Christmas
Its usual colour has been violet since about the 13th century, with a rose candle lit on the third Sunday, Gaudete Sunday.
Q 26The earliest record of Christmas on 25 December comes from which city, around AD 336?
Rome
The Bible gives no date for the birth of Jesus; churches on the Julian calendar keep Christmas on 7 January.
Q 27The early Christian fish symbol, the ichthys, works as an acrostic in which language?
Greek
ΙΧΘΥΣ spells out 'Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour'; believers used it to mark meeting places during Roman persecutions.
Q 28Saint Jerome's late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible is known by what name?
The Vulgate
Pope Damasus I commissioned it in 382; the Council of Trent later declared it the Catholic Church's authentic Latin text.
Q 29The Gutenberg Bible, printed in Mainz around 1455, was an edition of which text?
The Latin Vulgate
About 49 copies survive, 21 of them complete; a full copy is valued at $25 to 35 million.
Q 30The King James Bible was published in which year?
1611
James I commissioned it in 1604; about 47 scholars in six committees at Oxford, Cambridge and Westminster did the work.