Did early Christians believe the world was about to end?

> Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who > will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His > kingdom. (Matthew 16:28, NIV ) **Edit: adding another verse in order to make sense of the answer linked below.** > Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until > all these things have happened. (Mark 13:30, NIV ) **End of edit** One interpretation of this is that Jesus believed the end of the world would happen within a few decades. If that's what Jesus meant, was it a new suggestion or were there precedents? What evidence is there that Christians in the first century subscribed to this belief? Other interpretations have been suggested, like the ones summarised in this answer: https://christianity.stackexchange.com/a/4310/45084 What are the earliest sources we have for such interpretations? What sources show us how ideas about the apocalypse changed over the course of the first hundred years or so of Christianity? I'd sort of expect there to have been a big crisis in the religion when it started to become clear that the first generation was all dead and the end of the world hadn't come, but as far as I can gather that didn't really happen. There were new sects and theological disputes as the faith spread, but the date of the apocalypse doesn't seem to have been a central factor. Is that right?