One of the real joys of spending time reading and studying the writings of the earliest Christians (aka the Early Church Fathers) is gaining a bit of insight into what life was like those who professed to be Christian.Posted on 01/15/2012 2:36:04 PM PST by narses
One of the real joys of spending time reading and studying the writings of the earliest Christians (aka the Early Church Fathers) is gaining a bit of insight into what life was like those who professed to be Christian.
One of the real surprises (at least to me) was how early the term “Catholic” came to be used to refer to all Christians.
How early? How about the year 107 … maybe even earlier!
From the Letter to the Smyrnaeans by St. Ignatius of Antioch:
Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful to baptize or give communion without the consent of the bishop. On the other hand, whatever has his approval is pleasing to God. Thus, whatever is done will be safe and valid.
Note that St. Ignatius is a real hero of the early Church – both a bishop and a martyr at the hands of the Romans, he left an awesome written legacy of letters to local churches … primarily encouragement as he marched to his martyrdom.
The current wiki article presents a good overview of the life of St. Ignatius of Antioch. From that article comes this paragraph:
It is from the word katholikos that the word “catholic” comes. When Ignatius wrote the Letter to the Smyrnaeans in about the year 107 and used the word “catholic”, he used it as if it were a word already in use to describe the Church. This has led many scholars to conclude that the appellation “Catholic Church” with its ecclesial connotation may have been in use as early as the last quarter of the first century.
While this may seem like a small point, I think it’s rather significant – the sense of universality, of all Christians belonging to the church that they themselves called katholikos … this gives us some real insight into what Christians thought important.
An Opposing View
Notice it is in direct contrast to the probably well-intentioned, but definitely historically inaccurate perspective of those who oppose the reality of the one Church founded by Jesus Christ. Typical of this perspective is a recent post by Thomas H., who writes from a Baptist perspective:
The application of the word “catholic” was not used in reference to all supposed Christians until the Council of Trent. This word was used by catholics to beat over the heads of non catholics in the sence of saying you do not belong to the true church. This resulted in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Christians who were not Roman Catholics by the emissaries of Rome.
I think you get the idea … the only real problem with all that is it doesn’t square with the historical record on any level, starting with the word catholic.
The Historical Reality
I can empathize with folks like Thomas – when you have spent your whole life being told bits and pieces of what happened, along with stuff that’s simply not true by folks who spent their lives in the same circumstances, it must be hard to be open to the reality that contradicts what you believe.
Yet, the historical record is clear, and provides an eloquent testimony to the truth … from its earliest days the Church understood that unity and universality were basic marks of the Church founded by Jesus Christ.
It began calling itself katholikos around the end of the first century, at most a few years after the death of the last apostle (John). It did not begin with the Council of Trent (late 16th century – nearly 1500 years later) or any other time. In fact, by the time the canon of Scripture – what we call the Bible – was settled Christians had been calling themselves Catholics for almost 300 years … longer than the United States has even been a country!
That Church remains Catholic to this day, and will remain so until the end of time (Matthew 16:18+).
An Invitation
If this does not seem right to you, please investigate on your own. Look into the historical record – pagan, Jewish, or Christian – and see what evidence supports each side. What you’ll find is exactly what the Church has always understood … it is katholikos, and has been so from the beginning.
The writings of the Early Church Fathers are widely available, with treatments ranging from the easily-accessible to the more in-depth, scholarly works. A good place to start for most folks is Four Witnesses by Rod Bennett – a very readable account, well-grounded in current scholarship,
Remember their are more Coptic Christians in Chicago & Detroit then in Egypt.
>>Wrong. There are about 15 million Coptic Christians in Egypt and maybe 100,000 Copts in the U.S.
“roman” Catholic is a term never used before the Great Schism in 1054ad.
I never said the term Roman Catholic was not used before 1054. I was talking about the divergence of the early church into the Latin Roman church and the Greek Orthodox church which was a long drawn out process culminating in the Great Schism.
amorePerfectUnion;
Where did I deny that Chris was a Jew? Good grief, can you read? I stated that CHrist became Incarnate in the context of Roman-Greek Culture and yes Jewish but ultimately Christianity developed, theologically, Liturgically, etc, in the context of Roman-Greco world.
Thus, Jewish Motheism, Roman Law and Order and Greek Philosophy and synthesis of these 3 are what Christianity devleoped in. that is the realility.
amorePerfectUnion;
Where did I deny that Chris was a Jew? Good grief, can you read? I stated that CHrist became Incarnate in the context of Roman-Greek Culture and yes Jewish but ultimately Christianity developed, theologically, Liturgically, etc, in the context of Roman-Greco world.
Thus, Jewish Motheism, Roman Law and Order and Greek Philosophy and synthesis of these 3 are what Christianity devleoped in. that is the realility.
amorePerfectUnion;
Where did I deny that Chris was a Jew? Good grief, can you read? I stated that CHrist became Incarnate in the context of Roman-Greek Culture and yes Jewish but ultimately Christianity developed, theologically, Liturgically, etc, in the context of Roman-Greco world.
Thus, Jewish Motheism, Roman Law and Order and Greek Philosophy and synthesis of these 3 are what Christianity devleoped in. that is the realility.
“do you agree with Joseph Smith that the Church went apostate in the late 1st century”
Nope, first of all he was wrong. The Roman catholic church as supposed head of all things Christian didn’t exist yet. Second he was a nutty cult leader who claimed Jesus came and spent some time in the Amnericas with the indians.
Thats just plain nutty,,, why, that’d be as silly as seeing Jesus in piece of toast,,or like claiming Mary popped down in a cave in Mexico City and told Jaun Diego that all Mexicans should be catholic. (a GREAT scam,, but please,, tricking the natives is dirty pool.)
That’s exactly what I am saying.
Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
If Catholics would not destroy those objects for fear of reprisal or lack of protection they are indeed idols and have replaced Gods protection.
Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Any of those “icons and statues” supposed to represent God that are in “an image made like to the corruptible man”?
And you think that God commanded the brazen serpent which was a “graven image” but let’s see what happened to that.
2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
Would Catholics crush the statues of Mary or any of the Saints into dust or have they become idols?
>>We have built magnificent churches in honor of God.<<
Where in scripture was anything like that advised? Or is that a “doctrine of man”?
“The Roman catholic church as supposed head of all things Christian didn’t exist “
when in your estimation did the Roman Catholic Church begin and who started it?
when it did start, what was the reaction by the “true” Christians?
Just stating the facts. It’s so wrong as to be comical to assert that the Roman church resembles ANYTHING Christ ever hinted that he wanted to create.
>>So you had a personal conversation with Jesus mano y mano?
What’s comical is that Evangelicals think their American Evangelicalism is akin to the early Christians.
Any study of early Christian culture, belief, and practice will show that white American Protestism has virtually nothing in common with them.
Perhaps the liturgies might be different from what the early Christians believed, but they would recognize far more in Catholic teaching than they would in Evangelicalism.
CT,
Since you posted to me three times, I will take that as meaning you really, really, really include Christ
being a Jew as important.
Carry on, but watch that bandwidth!
ampu
I’ll take those graven images in your bank account. LOL
http://yhvh.name/?w=1527
There are two types of Christians in the world. Those who are Catholic and those who want to be Catholic. Stop denying yourself. Become Catholic and begin your walk with God!
“...white American Protestism”
Jeremiah Wright? Is that you?
>you are trying to equate early worship of statues and trinkets dedicated to Diana on the same scale as Christians decorating their churches with icons and statues of Christ or Saints.<<
That’s exactly what I am saying.
Well if this is the mainstay of your argument, no amount of typed words will bridge that gulf.
Christ.
Not organizations or bylaws or official statements or hierarchies (and that is for both Protestant and Catholic).
Hoy cow! You are nasty!!!!
The Ark is where the ACTUAL Spirit of the Living God resided on earth while he was amoung His people.
Show some respect.
that was an accident.
when in your estimation did the Roman Catholic Church begin and who started it?
It was a concept that developed when the early Bishops of Rome, felt they should be the final arbiter of church disputes and therefore the leaders of the church, claiming the heritage of Peter and Paul.
Yes there is a lot of history that is under reported and not understood about the whole Eastern church, both Orthodox and Catholic. I hope they can get back together some time. It will be an advantage to Christianity.
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