1.
Eucharist
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The Eucharist /ˈjuːkərɪst/ is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches. Through the Eucharistic celebration Christians remember Christs sacrifice of himself on the cross, the elements of the Eucharist, bread and wine, are consecrated on an altar and consumed thereafter. Communicants may speak of receiving the Eucharist, as well as celebrating the Eucharist, Christians generally recognize a special presence of Christ in this rite, though they differ about exactly how, where, and when Christ is present. While all agree there is no perceptible change in the elements, Catholics believe that they actually become the body. Some Protestants view the Eucharist as an ordinance in which the ceremony is not as a specific channel of divine grace. Do this in remembrance of me, the term Eucharist is that by which the rite is referred by the Didache, Ignatius of Antioch and Justin Martyr. Today, the Eucharist is the still used by Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians. Other Protestant denominations rarely use this term, preferring either Communion, one remains hungry, another gets drunk. Communion or Holy Communion are used by some groups originating in the Protestant Reformation to mean the entire Eucharistic rite. The term Communion is derived from Latin communio, which translates Greek κοινωνία in 1 Corinthians 10,16, the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ. The phrase appears five times in the New Testament in contexts which, according to some and it is the term used by the Plymouth Brethren. The Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar are common terms used by Catholics, Lutherans and some Anglicans for the consecrated elements, Sacrament of the Altar is in common use also among Lutherans. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the term The Sacrament is used of the rite. Among the many terms used in the Catholic Church are Holy Mass, the Memorial of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The term Mass is probably derived from the fact that the Roman rite celebrates the Eucharist with unleavened bread and this explains why the Eastern Catholic Liturgies are never referred to as the Mass. Eastern rite Liturgies are celebrated with leavened bread, although the prevailing theory is that it is derived from the Latin word missa, a word used in the concluding formula of Mass in Latin, Ite, missa est. The reverse is more likely. The word dismissal probably came about because the Mass signaled the time for the Catechumens to leave, thus, the term Misa came to imply a mission, because at the end of the Mass the congregation are sent out to serve Christ
2.
United Methodist Church
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The United Methodist Church is a mainline Protestant denomination, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor—the Methodist Church—was a leader in Evangelicalism and it was founded in 1968 in Dallas, Texas, United States, by union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The UMC traces its roots back to the movement of John. As such, the theological orientation is decidedly Wesleyan. It embraces both liturgical and evangelical elements and it has a connectional polity, a typical feature of a number of Methodist denominations. The United Methodist Church, with at least 12 million members as of 2014, is the largest denomination within the wider Methodist movement of approximately 80 million people across the world. In the United States, the UMC ranks as the largest mainline Protestant denomination, the largest Protestant church after the Southern Baptist Convention, and the third largest Christian denomination. In 2014, its membership was distributed as follows,7.2 million in the United States. It is a member of the World Council of Churches, the World Methodist Council, the movement which would become The United Methodist Church began in the mid-18th century within the Church of England. A small group of students, including John Wesley, Charles Wesley and George Whitefield and they focused on Bible study, methodical study of scripture and living a holy life. Other students mocked them, saying they were the Holy Club, eventually, the so-called Methodists started individual societies or classes for members of the Church of England who wanted to live a more religious life. In 1735, John and Charles Wesley went to America, hoping to teach the gospel to the American Indians in the colony of Georgia, instead, John became vicar of the church in Savannah. His preaching was very legalistic and full of rules. After two years in America, he returned to England dejected and confused, Peter believed a person is saved solely through the grace of God and not by works, and John had many conversations with Peter about this topic. On May 25,1738, after listening to a reading of Martin Luthers preface to Romans, John finally understood that his works could not save him. For the first time in his life, he felt complete peace, in less than two years, the Holy Club disbanded. John Wesley met with a group of clergy, the ministers retained their membership in the Church of England. Though not always emphasized or appreciated in the Anglican churches of their day, their teaching emphasized salvation by Gods grace, three teachings they saw as the foundation of Christian faith were, People are all by nature dead in sin and consequently, children of wrath
3.
Christian worship
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In Christianity, worship is reverent honor and homage paid to God. In the New Testament various words are used for worship, the word proskuneo to worship means to bow down to God or kings. In Evangelicalism, worship is viewed like an act of adoration of God, the term liturgy is derived from the Greek leitourgia meaning public service and is formed by two words, laos and ergon, literally work of the people. Responsorial prayers are a series of petitions read or sung by a leader with responses made by the congregation, according to this view, alterations in the patterns and content of worship would necessarily reflect a change in the faith itself. Each time a heresy arose in the Church, it was accompanied by a shift in worship for the heretical group. Orthodoxy in faith also meant orthodoxy in worship, and vice versa, thus, unity in Christian worship was understood to be a fulfillment of Jesus words that the time was at hand when true worshipers would worship in spirit and in truth. The theme of worship is taken up by many of the Church Fathers including Justin Martyr, the Holy Eucharist was the central act of worship in early Christianity. The early Christian use of incense in worship seemed first to originate in Christian funeral rites, Worship as singing underwent great changes for some Christians within the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther, a lover, composed hymns that are still sung today. John Calvin, in Geneva, argued that instrumental music had its time with the Levites of the Old Testament. This was expanded upon by John Knox, only Psalms were sung, furthermore, in the Genevan and Scottish Reformed tradition, man-made hymns are not sung, being seen inferior to the God-inspired psalms of the Bible. The Calvinist Regulative Principle of Worship distinguishes traditional Presbyterian and Reformed churches from the Lutheran or other Protestant churches, current Christian worship practices are diverse in modern Christianity, with a range of customs and theological views. Three broad groupings can be identified, and whilst some elements are universal, style and content varies greatly due to the history, in many Christian traditions, regular public worship is complemented by worship in private and small groups, such as meditation, prayer and study. While differing considerably in form, the following items characterise the worship of virtually all Christian churches and it also includes the Oriental Orthodox churches, the Eastern Orthodox churches, the Lutheran churches, and most branches of the Anglican Communion. Churches in this group understand worship as a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ, through which they are united with him. Services are structured according to a liturgy and typically include elements such as prayers, psalms, hymns, choral music the reading of Scripture. In the theology of the Catholic Church, the Mass takes on another dimension, that of a sacrifice, which is a ritualistic re-presentation of the Body and Blood of Christ to God the Father. The liturgy is led by a priest who wears vestments, a form of sacred clothing, and includes the usage of sacred liturgical vessels, incense, candles
4.
Christianity
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Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
5.
Sabbath in seventh-day churches
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The seventh-day Sabbath, observed from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, is an important part of the beliefs and practices of seventh-day churches. They hold that the Old and New Testament show no variation in the doctrine of the Sabbath on the seventh day, Saturday, or the seventh day in the weekly cycle, is the only day in all of scripture designated using the term Sabbath. The seventh day of the week is recognized as Sabbath in many languages, calendars and it is still observed in modern Judaism in relation to Mosaic Law. Catholic, Orthodox, and most Protestant denominations believe the Mosaic Law to be superseded, Seventh-day Sabbatarians are Christians who seek to reestablish the practice of some early Christians who kept the sabbath according to normal Jewish practice. The sabbath was first described in the account of the seventh day of creation. Observation and remembrance of the sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments and this rule also applies to strangers within their gates, a sign in respect for the day during which God rested after having completed creation in six days. According to Justin Martyr, Christians also worshiped on Sunday because it possessed a certain mysterious import, According to R. J. Bauckham, the post-apostolic church contained diverse practices regarding the sabbath. Emperor Aurelian began a new Sun cult in 274 A. D and pagan ordinances were instituted in order to transform the old Roman idolatry, emperor Constantine then enacted the first Sunday Laws, for the venerable Day of the Sun in 321 A. D. So that the advantage given by heavenly providence may not for the occasion of a short time perish, early Christian observance of both the spiritual seventh-day sabbath and a Lords Day assembly is evidenced in Ignatiuss letter to the Magnesians ca. The Pseudo-Ignatian additions amplified this point by combining weekly observance of spiritual seventh-day sabbath with the Lords assembly, if Pseudo-Ignatius dates as early as 140, its admonition must be considered important evidence on 2nd-century sabbath and Lords Day observance. According to classical sources, widespread seventh-day sabbath rest by gentile Christians was also the mode in the 3rd. But while many God-fearing Christians were gradually led to regard Sunday as possessing a degree of sacredness, Bauckham also states some church authorities continued to oppose this as a judaizing tendency. In the 5th century, Sozomen, referencing Socrates Scholasticus, added to his description, Assemblies are not held in all churches on the same time or manner. The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria. The Sabbath in Africa Study Group, founded by Charles E. Bradford in 1991, taddesse Tamrat has argued that this practice predates Saint Ewostatewoss advocacy of observing both Saturday and Sunday as days of sabbath, which led to his eventual exile from Ethiopia around 1337. Emperor Zara Yaqob convened a synod at Tegulet in 1450 to discuss the sabbath question, in Bohemia, as much as one quarter of the population kept seventh-day the sabbath in 1310. This practice continued until at least the 16th century, when Erasmus wrote about the practice, the Unitarian Church condemned Sabbatarianism as innovation in 1618. Sabbatarianism also expanded into Russia, where its adherents were called Subbotniks, and, from there, some of the Russian Subbotniks maintained a Christian identity doctrinally, while others formally converted to Judaism and assimilated within the Jewish communities of Russia
6.
Bible
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The Bible is a collection of sacred texts or scriptures that Jews and Christians consider to be a product of divine inspiration and a record of the relationship between God and humans. Many different authors contributed to the Bible, what is regarded as canonical text differs depending on traditions and groups, a number of Bible canons have evolved, with overlapping and diverging contents. The Christian Old Testament overlaps with the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Septuagint, the New Testament is a collection of writings by early Christians, believed to be mostly Jewish disciples of Christ, written in first-century Koine Greek. These early Christian Greek writings consist of narratives, letters, among Christian denominations there is some disagreement about the contents of the canon, primarily the Apocrypha, a list of works that are regarded with varying levels of respect. Attitudes towards the Bible also differ amongst Christian groups and this concept arose during the Protestant Reformation, and many denominations today support the use of the Bible as the only source of Christian teaching. With estimated total sales of over 5 billion copies, the Bible is widely considered to be the book of all time. It has estimated sales of 100 million copies, and has been a major influence on literature and history, especially in the West. The English word Bible is from the Latin biblia, from the word in Medieval Latin and Late Latin. Medieval Latin biblia is short for biblia sacra holy book, while biblia in Greek and it gradually came to be regarded as a feminine singular noun in medieval Latin, and so the word was loaned as a singular into the vernaculars of Western Europe. Latin biblia sacra holy books translates Greek τὰ βιβλία τὰ ἅγια ta biblia ta hagia, the word βιβλίον itself had the literal meaning of paper or scroll and came to be used as the ordinary word for book. It is the diminutive of βύβλος byblos, Egyptian papyrus, possibly so called from the name of the Phoenician sea port Byblos from whence Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece, the Greek ta biblia was an expression Hellenistic Jews used to describe their sacred books. Christian use of the term can be traced to c.223 CE, bruce notes that Chrysostom appears to be the first writer to use the Greek phrase ta biblia to describe both the Old and New Testaments together. The division of the Hebrew Bible into verses is based on the sof passuk cantillation mark used by the 10th-century Masoretes to record the verse divisions used in oral traditions. The oldest extant copy of a complete Bible is an early 4th-century parchment book preserved in the Vatican Library, the oldest copy of the Tanakh in Hebrew and Aramaic dates from the 10th century CE. The oldest copy of a complete Latin Bible is the Codex Amiatinus and he states that it is not a magical book, nor was it literally written by God and passed to mankind. In Christian Bibles, the New Testament Gospels were derived from traditions in the second half of the first century CE. Riches says that, Scholars have attempted to reconstruct something of the history of the oral traditions behind the Gospels, the period of transmission is short, less than 40 years passed between the death of Jesus and the writing of Marks Gospel. This means that there was time for oral traditions to assume fixed form
7.
Faith in Christianity
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Faith in Christianity is a central notion taught by Jesus himself in reference to the gospel. Since the Protestant Reformation the meaning of this term has been an object of theological disagreement in Western Christianity. The differences have been overcome in the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. Some of the definitions in the history of Christian theology have followed the formulation in Hebrews 11,1, the assurance of things hoped for. Christianity differs from other Abrahamic religions in that it focuses on the teachings of Jesus and it also includes a belief in the New Covenant. According to most Christian traditions, Christian faith requires a belief in Jesus resurrection from the dead, the precise understanding of the term faith differs among the various Christian traditions. Despite these differences, Christians generally agree that faith in Jesus lies at the core of the Christian tradition, the verb form of pistis is pisteuo, which is often translated into English versions of the New Testament as believe. The adjectival form, pistos, is almost always translated as faithful, the New Testament writers, following the translators of the Septuagint rendered words in the Hebrew scriptures that concerned faithfulness using pistis-group words. The pistis-group words are most appropriately translated into English by a range of words, the appropriate English translation is often evident from the relationship between the two entities connected by pistis. The pistis-group words in the New Testament can thus be interpreted as relating to ideas of faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty, commitment, trust, belief, in the Protestant tradition, faith is generally understood to be closely associated with ideas of belief, trust, and reliance. This understanding is founded in the statements of the Reformers. One of their confessional statements explains, the acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification. The Reformers contrasted faith with human efforts to do good works as a means of justification and this understanding of saving faith has remained within the Protestant tradition. Saving faith is generally understood in terms of a belief of, trust in, in a more everyday sense, faith is often discussed in terms of believing Gods promises, trusting in his faithfulness, and relying on Gods character and faithfulness to act. Hence, having faith in Jesus is generally understood to lead to changes in how one thinks. In recent decades, scholars have researched what pistis meant in the context of the New Testament writers. Such an understanding of faith can be integrated well with the moral theory of atonement. Hebrews 11,1, Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and this passage concerning the function of faith in relation to the covenant of God is often used as a definition of faith
8.
Church (building)
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A church building, often simply called a church, is a building used for Christian religious activities, particularly worship services. The term in its sense is most often used by Christians to refer to their religious buildings. In traditional Christian architecture, the church is arranged in the shape of a Christian cross. When viewed from plan view the longest part of a cross is represented by the aisle, towers or domes are often added with the intention of directing the eye of the viewer towards the heavens and inspiring church visitors. The earliest identified Christian church was a church founded between 233 and 256. During the 11th through 14th centuries, a wave of building of cathedrals, a cathedral is a church, usually Roman Catholic, Anglican, Oriental Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox, housing the seat of a bishop. In standard Greek usage, the word ecclesia was retained to signify both a specific edifice of Christian worship, and the overall community of the faithful. This usage was retained in Latin and the languages derived from Latin, as well as in the Celtic languages. In the Germanic and some Slavic languages, the word kyriak-ós/-ē/-ón was adopted instead, in Old English the sequence of derivation started as cirice, then churche, and eventually church in its current pronunciation. German Kirche, Scottish kirk, Russian церковь, etc. are all similarly derived, according to the New Testament, the earliest Christians did not build church buildings. Instead, they gathered in homes or in Jewish worship places like the Second Temple or synagogues, the earliest archeologically identified Christian church is a house church, the Dura-Europos church, founded between 233 and 256. During the 11th through 14th centuries, a wave of building of cathedrals, in addition to being a place of worship, the cathedral or parish church was used by the community in other ways. It could serve as a place for guilds or a hall for banquets. Mystery plays were performed in cathedrals, and cathedrals might also be used for fairs. The church could be used as a place to thresh and store grain, a common architecture for churches is the shape of a cross. These churches also often have a dome or other large vaulted space in the interior to represent or draw attention to the heavens. Other common shapes for churches include a circle, to represent eternity, or an octagon or similar star shape, another common feature is the spire, a tall tower on the west end of the church or over the crossing. The Latin word basilica was used to describe a Roman public building
9.
Clergy
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Clergy are some of the main and important formal leaders within certain religions. The roles and functions of clergy vary in different religious traditions but these usually involve presiding over specific rituals, some of the terms used for individual clergy are cleric, clergyman, clergywoman, clergyperson and churchman. In Islam, a leader is often known formally or informally as an imam, mufti. In Jewish tradition, a leader is often a rabbi or hazzan. Cleric comes from the ecclesiastical Latin clericus, for belonging to the priestly class. This is from the Ecclesiastical Greek clericus, meaning appertaining to an inheritance, Clergy is from two Old French words, clergié and clergie, which refer to those with learning and derive from Medieval Latin clericatus, from Late Latin clericus. Clerk, which used to mean one ordained to the ministry, in the Middle Ages, reading and writing were almost exclusively the domain of the priestly class, and this is the reason for the close relationship of these words. Now, the state is tied to reception of the diaconate. Minor Orders are still given in the Eastern Catholic Churches, and it is in this sense that the word entered the Arabic language, most commonly in Lebanon from the French, as kleriki meaning seminarian. This is all in keeping with Eastern Orthodox concepts of clergy, which include those who have not yet received, or do not plan to receive. A priesthood is a body of priests, shamans, or oracles who have religious authority or function. Buddhist clergy are often referred to as the Sangha. This diversity of monastic orders and styles was originally one community founded by Gautama Buddha during the 5th century BC living under a set of rules. The interaction between Buddhism and Tibetan Bon led to a uniquely Tibetan Buddhism, within which various sects, similarly, the interaction between Indian Buddhist monks and Chinese Confucian and Taoist monks from c200-c900AD produced the distinctive Chan Buddhism. In these ways, manual labour was introduced to a practice where monks originally survived on alms, layers of garments were added where originally a single thin robe sufficed and this adaptation of form and roles of Buddhist monastic practice continued after the transmission to Japan. For example, monks took on administrative functions for the Emperor in particular secular communities, again, in response to various historic attempts to suppress Buddhism, the practice of celibacy was relaxed and Japanese monks allowed to marry. This form was then transmitted to Korea, during later Japanese occupation, as these varied styles of Buddhist monasticism are transmitted to Western cultures, still more new forms are being created. This broad difference in approach led to a schism among Buddhist monastics in about the 4th century BCE
10.
Anglicanism
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Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising the Church of England and churches which are historically tied to it or hold similar beliefs, worship practices and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to the Magna Carta and before, adherents of Anglicanism are called Anglicans. As the name suggests, the churches of the Anglican Communion are linked by bonds of tradition, affection and they are in full communion with the See of Canterbury, and thus the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his person, is a unique focus of Anglican unity. He calls the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference, chairs the meeting of primates, Anglicans base their Christian faith on the Bible, traditions of the apostolic Church, apostolic succession, and writings of the Church Fathers. Anglicanism forms one of the branches of Western Christianity, having declared its independence from the Holy See at the time of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. Many of the new Anglican formularies of the mid-16th century corresponded closely to those of contemporary Protestantism, the word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English Church. Adherents of Anglicanism are called Anglicans, as an adjective, Anglican is used to describe the people, institutions and churches, as well as the liturgical traditions and theological concepts developed by the Church of England. As a noun, an Anglican is a member of a church in the Anglican Communion, the word is also used by followers of separated groups which have left the communion or have been founded separately from it, although this is sometimes considered as a misuse. The word Anglicanism came into being in the 19th century, although the term Anglican is found referring to the Church of England as far back as the 16th century, its use did not become general until the latter half of the 19th century. Elsewhere, however, the term Anglican Church came to be preferred as it distinguished these churches from others that maintain an episcopal polity, as such, it is often referred to as being a via media between these traditions. Anglicans understand the Old and New Testaments as containing all necessary for salvation and as being the rule. Reason and Tradition are seen as means to interpret Scripture. Anglicans understand the Apostles Creed as the symbol and the Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith. Anglicans celebrate the sacraments, with special emphasis being given to the Eucharist, also called Holy Communion. Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Common Prayer, the collection of services that worshippers in most Anglican churches used for centuries and it was called common prayer originally because it was intended for use in all Church of England churches which had previously followed differing local liturgies. The term was kept when the church became international because all Anglicans used to share in its use around the world, in 1549, the first Book of Common Prayer was compiled by Thomas Cranmer, who was then Archbishop of Canterbury. The founding of Christianity in Britain is commonly attributed to Joseph of Arimathea, according to Anglican legend, Saint Alban, who was executed in 209 AD, is the first Christian martyr in the British Isles. A new culture emerged around the Irish Sea among the Celtic peoples with Celtic Christianity at its core, what resulted was a form of Christianity distinct from Rome in many traditions and practices
11.
Eastern Orthodox Church
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The Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that it is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church established by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission to the apostles. It practices what it understands to be the original Christian faith, the Eastern Orthodox Church is a communion of autocephalous churches, each typically governed by a Holy Synod. It teaches that all bishops are equal by virtue of their ordination, prior to the Council of Chalcedon in AD451, the Eastern Orthodox had also shared communion with the Oriental Orthodox churches, separating primarily over differences in Christology. Eastern Orthodoxy spread throughout the Roman and later Eastern Roman Empires and beyond, playing a prominent role in European, Near Eastern, Slavic, and some African cultures. As a result, the term Greek Orthodox has sometimes used to describe all of Eastern Orthodoxy in general. However, the appellation Greek was never in use and was gradually abandoned by the non-Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox churches. Its most prominent episcopal see is Constantinople, there are also many in other parts of the world, formed through immigration, conversion and missionary activity. The official name of the Eastern Orthodox Church is the Orthodox Catholic Church and it is the name by which the church refers to itself in its liturgical or canonical texts, in official publications, and in official contexts or administrative documents. Orthodox teachers refer to the Church as Catholic and this name and longer variants containing Catholic are also recognized and referenced in other books and publications by secular or non-Orthodox writers. The common name of the Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, is a shortened practicality that helps to avoid confusions in casual use, for this reason, the eastern churches were sometimes identified as Greek, even before the great schism. After 1054, Greek Orthodox or Greek Catholic marked a church as being in communion with Constantinople and this identification with Greek, however, became increasingly confusing with time. Missionaries brought Orthodoxy to many regions without ethnic Greeks, where the Greek language was not spoken. Today, many of those same Roman churches remain, while a large number of Orthodox are not of Greek national origin. Eastern, then, indicates the element in the Churchs origin and development, while Orthodox indicates the faith. While the Church continues officially to call itself Catholic, for reasons of universality, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in a letter written about 110 AD from one Greek church to another. Quote of St Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, thus, almost from the very beginning, Christians referred to the Church as the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Orthodox Church claims that it is today the continuation and preservation of that same Church, a number of other Christian churches also make a similar claim, the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Assyrian Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. The Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church, not directly from the Orthodox Church, the depth of this meaning in the Orthodox Church is registered first in its use of the word Orthodox itself, a union of Greek orthos and doxa
12.
Oriental Orthodoxy
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Oriental Orthodoxy has approximately 84 million adherents worldwide. Oriental Orthodox Churches uphold their own ancient ecclesiastic traditions of apostolic succession and these Churches rejected the definition of the two natures of Christ, known as the Chalcedonian Definition, which was issued by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The Eastern Orthodox maintain numerous theological and ecclesiological similarities with the Oriental Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox Churches are in full communion with each other, but not with the Eastern Orthodox Church, despite the similar name. The schism between Oriental Orthodoxy and the Great Church was based on differences in Christology, the First Council of Nicaea, in 325, declared that Jesus Christ is God, that is to say, consubstantial with the Father. Later, the ecumenical council, the Council of Ephesus, declared that Jesus Christ, though divine as well as human, is only one being. Thus, the Council of Ephesus explicitly rejected Nestorianism, the Christological doctrine that Christ was two distinct beings, one divine and one human, who happened to inhabit the same body. The Churches that later became Oriental Orthodoxy were firmly anti-Nestorian, and those who opposed Chalcedon saw this as a concession to Nestorianism, or even as a conspiracy to convert the Church to Nestorianism by stealth. As a result, over the decades, they gradually separated from communion with the Great Church. Monophysitism was condemned as heretical alongside Nestorianism, and to accuse a church of being Monophysite is to accuse it of falling into the opposite extreme from Nestorianism, however, the Oriental Orthodox themselves reject this description as inaccurate, having officially condemned the teachings of both Nestorius and Eutyches. They define themselves as Miaphysite instead, holding that Christ has one nature, the schism between the Oriental Orthodox and the rest of Christendom occurred in the 5th century. They would accept only of or from two natures but not in two natures and it is not entirely clear that Nestorius himself was a Nestorian. The Oriental Orthodox churches were often called Monophysite, although they reject this label, as it is associated with Eutychian Monophysitism. It was not until 518 that the new Byzantine Emperor, Justin I, Justin ordered the replacement of all non-Chalcedonian bishops, including the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria. The extent of the influence of the Bishop of Rome in this demand has been a matter of debate, Justinian I also attempted to bring those monks who still rejected the decision of the Council of Chalcedon into communion with the greater church. The exact time of event is unknown, but it is believed to have been between 535 and 548. St Abraham of Farshut was summoned to Constantinople and he chose to bring with him four monks, upon arrival, Justinian summoned them and informed them that they would either accept the decision of the Council or lose their positions. Abraham refused to entertain the idea, theodora tried to persuade Justinian to change his mind, seemingly to no avail. Abraham himself stated in a letter to his monks that he preferred to remain in exile rather than subscribe to a faith which he believed to be contrary to that of Athanasius of Alexandria
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Presbyterianism
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Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism which traces its origins to the British Isles, particularly Scotland. Presbyterian churches derive their name from the form of church government. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures, Presbyterian church government was ensured in Scotland by the Acts of Union in 1707 which created the Kingdom of Great Britain. In fact, most Presbyterians found in England can trace a Scottish connection, the Presbyterian denominations in Scotland hold to the theology of John Calvin and his immediate successors, although there are a range of theological views within contemporary Presbyterianism. The roots of Presbyterianism lie in the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, most Reformed churches which trace their history back to Scotland are either presbyterian or congregationalist in government. In the twentieth century, some Presbyterians played an important role in the ecumenical movement, many Presbyterian denominations have found ways of working together with other Reformed denominations and Christians of other traditions, especially in the World Communion of Reformed Churches. Some Presbyterian churches have entered into unions with other churches, such as Congregationalists, Lutherans, Anglicans, Presbyterian history is part of the history of Christianity, but the beginning of Presbyterianism as a distinct movement occurred during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. As the Catholic Church resisted the reformers, several different theological movements splintered from the Church, the Presbyterian church traces its ancestry back primarily to England and Scotland. In August 1560 the Parliament of Scotland adopted the Scots Confession as the creed of the Scottish Kingdom, Presbyterians distinguish themselves from other denominations by doctrine, institutional organization and worship, often using a Book of Order to regulate common practice and order. The origins of the Presbyterian churches are in Calvinism, many branches of Presbyterianism are remnants of previous splits from larger groups. Presbyterians place great importance upon education and lifelong learning, Presbyterian government is by councils of elders. Teaching and ruling elders are ordained and convene in the lowest council known as a session or consistory responsible for the discipline, nurture, teaching elders have responsibility for teaching, worship, and performing sacraments. Pastors are called by individual congregations, a congregation issues a call for the pastors service, but this call must be ratified by the local presbytery. Ruling elders are usually laymen who are elected by the congregation and ordained to serve with the elders, assuming responsibility for nurture. Often, especially in larger congregations, the elders delegate the practicalities of buildings, finance and this group may variously be known as a Deacon Board, Board of Deacons Diaconate, or Deacons Court. These are sometimes known as presbyters to the full congregation, above the sessions exist presbyteries, which have area responsibilities. These are composed of teaching elders and ruling elders from each of the constituent congregations, the presbytery sends representatives to a broader regional or national assembly, generally known as the General Assembly, although an intermediate level of a synod sometimes exists. The Church of Scotland abolished the Synod in 1993, Presbyterian governance is practised by Presbyterian denominations and also by many other Reformed churches
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Lutheranism
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Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestant Christianity which identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German friar, ecclesiastical reformer and theologian. Luthers efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched the Protestant Reformation in the German-speaking territories of the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Scripture alone and this is in contrast to the belief of the Catholic Church, defined at the Council of Trent, concerning authority coming from both the Scriptures and Tradition. In addition, Lutheranism accepts the teachings of the first seven ecumenical councils of the undivided Christian Church, unlike Calvinism, Lutherans retain many of the liturgical practices and sacramental teachings of the pre-Reformation Church, with a particular emphasis on the Eucharist, or Lords Supper. Lutheran theology differs from Reformed theology in Christology, the purpose of Gods Law, the grace, the concept of perseverance of the saints. Today, Lutheranism is one of the largest denominations of Protestantism, with approximately 80 million adherents, it constitutes the third most common Protestant denomination after historically Pentecostal denominations and Anglicanism. The Lutheran World Federation, the largest communion of Lutheran churches, Other Lutheran organizations include the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as independent churches. The name Lutheran originated as a term used against Luther by German Scholastic theologian Dr. Johann Maier von Eck during the Leipzig Debate in July 1519. Eck and other Catholics followed the practice of naming a heresy after its leader. Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran, preferring the term Evangelical, which was derived from euangelion, the followers of John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and other theologians linked to the Reformed tradition also began to use that term. To distinguish the two groups, others began to refer to the two groups as Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed. As time passed by, the word Evangelical was dropped, Lutherans themselves began to use the term Lutheran in the middle of the 16th century, in order to distinguish themselves from other groups such as the Philippists and Calvinists. In 1597, theologians in Wittenberg defined the title Lutheran as referring to the true church, Lutheranism has its roots in the work of Martin Luther, who sought to reform the Western Church to what he considered a more biblical foundation. Lutheranism spread through all of Scandinavia during the 16th century, as the monarch of Denmark–Norway, through Baltic-German and Swedish rule, Lutheranism also spread into Estonia and Latvia. Since 1520, regular Lutheran services have been held in Copenhagen, under the reign of Frederick I, Denmark-Norway remained officially Catholic. Although Frederick initially pledged to persecute Lutherans, he adopted a policy of protecting Lutheran preachers and reformers. During Fredericks reign, Lutheranism made significant inroads in Denmark, at an open meeting in Copenhagen attended by the king in 1536, the people shouted, We will stand by the holy Gospel, and do not want such bishops anymore. Fredericks son Christian was openly Lutheran, which prevented his election to the throne upon his fathers death, however, following his victory in the civil war that followed, in 1537 he became Christian III and advanced the Reformation in Denmark-Norway
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Liturgy
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Liturgy is the customary public worship performed by a religious group, according to its beliefs, customs and traditions. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy is a response to and participation in. Ritualization may be associated with events such as birth, coming of age, marriage. It thus forms the basis for establishing a relationship with a divine agency, methods of dress, preparation of food, application of cosmetics or other hygienic practices are all considered liturgical activities. Technically speaking, liturgy is a subset of ritual, when ritual is undertaken to participate in a divine act or assist a divine action, it is liturgy. If the ritual does not have this purpose it is not liturgy, a daily activity such as the Muslim salah and Jewish synagogue services would be ritual but not liturgy. If the Temple were re-established, the ritual undertaken by the Judaic priesthood within the Temple would be liturgy, for a simple definition, liturgy is basically the pattern/way of worship the worshippers, worship. So you could use orthodox liturgy which would have different aspects to the Eucharistic liturgy or the catholic liturgy. The word liturgy, derived from the term in ancient Greek, leitourgia. In origin it signified the often expensive offerings wealthy Greeks made in service to the people, and thus to the polis, through the leitourgia, the rich carried a financial burden and were correspondingly rewarded with honours and prestige. The leitourgia were assigned by the polis, the State and Roman Empire, the performance of such supported the patrons standing among the elite and the popular at large. The holder of a Hellenic leitourgia was not taxed a specific sum, but was entrusted with a particular ritual, however groups of rich citizens were assigned to pay for expenses such as civic amenities and even payment of warships. Eventually, under the Roman Empire, such obligations, known as munera, devolved into a competitive, Buddhist liturgy is a formalized service of veneration and worship performed within a Buddhist Sangha community in nearly every traditional denomination and sect in the Buddhist world. It is often done once or more times a day and can vary among the Theravada, Mahayana, the liturgy mainly consists of chanting or reciting a sutra or passages from a sutras, a mantra, and several gathas. Depending on what practice the practitioner wishes to undertake, it can be done at a temple or at home, the liturgy is almost always performed in front of an object or objects of veneration and accompanied by offerings of light, incense, water and food. Jewish liturgy are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Rabbinic Judaism and these prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book. In general, Jewish men are obligated to pray three times a day within specific time ranges, while, according to the Talmud, women are only required to pray once daily, as they are generally exempted from obligations that are time dependent. Additional prayers, Musaf are recited by Orthodox and Conservative congregations on Shabbat, major Jewish holidays, a fifth prayer service, Neila, is recited only on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement
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Evangelicalism
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Its origins are usually traced back to English Methodism, the Moravian Church, and German Lutheran Pietism. While all these phenomena contributed greatly, John Wesley and other early Methodists were at the root of sparking this new movement during the First Great Awakening, today, Evangelicals are found across many Protestant branches, as well as in various denominations not subsumed to a specific branch. Among leaders and major figures of the Evangelical Protestant movement were John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, Harold John Ockenga, John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. The movement gained momentum during the 18th and 19th centuries with the Great Awakenings in the United Kingdom. The Americas, Africa, and Asia are home to the majority of Evangelicals, United States has the largest concentration of Evangelicals in the world, its community forms a quarter of the population, is politically important and based mostly in the Bible Belt. In the United Kingdom, Evangelicals are mostly represented in the Methodist Church, Baptist communities, Evangelicalism, a major part of popular Protestantism, is among the most dynamic religious movements in the contemporary world, alongside resurgent Islam. While on the rise globally, the world is particularly influenced by its spread. The first published use of evangelical in English came in 1531 when William Tyndale wrote He exhorteth them to proceed constantly in the evangelical truth. One year later Sir Thomas More produced the earliest recorded use in reference to a theological distinction when he spoke of Tyndale his evangelical brother Barns, during the Reformation, Protestant theologians embraced the label as referring to gospel truth. Martin Luther referred to the evangelische Kirche to distinguish Protestants from Catholics in the Roman Catholic Church, into the 21st century, evangelical has continued in use as a synonym for Protestant in continental Europe, and elsewhere. This usage is reflected in the names of Protestant denominations such as the Evangelical Church in Germany, the term may also occur outside any religious context to characterize a generic missionary, reforming, or redeeming impulse or purpose. For example, the Times Literary Supplement refers to the rise, one influential definition of Evangelicalism has been proposed by historian David Bebbington. Conversionism, or belief in the necessity of being again, has been a constant theme of Evangelicalism since its beginnings. To Evangelicals, the message of the gospel is justification by faith in Christ and repentance, or turning away. Conversion differentiates the Christian from the non-Christian, and the change in life it leads to is marked by both a rejection of sin and a corresponding personal holiness of life. A conversion experience can be emotional, including grief and sorrow for sin followed by great relief at receiving forgiveness, the stress on conversion is further differentiated from other forms of Protestantism by the belief that an assurance of salvation will accompany conversion. Among Evangelicals, individuals have testified to both sudden and gradual conversions, biblicism is reverence for the Bible and a high regard for biblical authority. All Evangelicals believe in inspiration, though they disagree over how this inspiration should be defined
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Protestantism
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Protestantism is a form of Christianity which originated with the Reformation, a movement against what its followers considered to be errors in the Roman Catholic Church. It is one of the three divisions of Christendom, together with Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The term derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical. Although there were earlier breaks from or attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church—notably by Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Protestants reject the notion of papal supremacy and deny the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but disagree among themselves regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Five solae summarize the reformers basic differences in theological beliefs, in the 16th century, Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states, and Iceland. Reformed churches were founded in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland and France by such reformers as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, the political separation of the Church of England from Rome under King Henry VIII brought England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement. Protestants developed their own culture, which made major contributions in education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy and the arts, some Protestant denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of membership, while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of a handful of families, Adventism, Anglicanism, Baptist churches, Reformed churches, Lutheranism, Methodism. Nondenominational, evangelical, charismatic, independent and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of Protestant Christianity. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities, the edict reversed concessions made to the Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier. During the Reformation, the term was used outside of the German politics. The word evangelical, which refers to the gospel, was more widely used for those involved in the religious movement. Nowadays, this word is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran and Calvinist traditions in Europe, above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area, such as the EKD. In continental Europe, an Evangelical is either a Lutheran or a Calvinist, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, and is different from the German evangelikal, which refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism. The English word evangelical usually refers to Evangelical Protestant churches, and it traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States. Protestantism as a term is now used in contradistinction to the other major Christian traditions, i. e. Roman Catholicism. Initially, Protestant became a term to mean any adherent to the Reformation movement in Germany and was taken up by Lutherans. Even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ, French and Swiss Protestants preferred the word reformed, which became a popular, neutral and alternative name for Calvinists
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Quakers
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Quakers are members of a historically Christian group of religious movements generally known as the Religious Society of Friends. They include those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional Quaker understandings of Christianity, to differing extents, the different movements that make up the Religious Society of Friends/Friends Church avoid creeds and hierarchical structures. In 2007, there were about 359,000 adult Quakers, in 2012, there were 377,055 adult Quakers. Some meetings of both types have Recorded Ministers in their meetings—Friends recognised for their gift of vocal ministry, the first Quakers lived in mid-17th century England. The movement arose from the Legatine-Arians and other dissenting Protestant groups, some of these early Quaker ministers were women. They emphasized a personal and direct experience of Christ, acquired through both direct religious experience and the reading and studying of the Bible. Quakers focused their private life on developing behaviour and speech reflecting emotional purity, in the past, Quakers were known for their use of thee as an ordinary pronoun, refusal to participate in war, plain dress, refusal to swear oaths, opposition to slavery, and teetotalism. & J. Clark and the big three British confectionery makers Cadbury, Rowntree and Frys, and philanthropic efforts, including abolition of slavery, prison reform, during and after the English Civil War many dissenting Christian groups emerged, including the Seekers and others. A young man named George Fox was dissatisfied with the teachings of the Church of England and he had a vision on Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England, in which he believed that the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered. Following this he travelled around England, the Netherlands, and Barbados preaching and teaching with the aim of converting new adherents to his faith, the central theme of his Gospel message was that Christ has come to teach his people himself. His followers considered themselves to be the restoration of the true Christian church, in 1650, Fox was brought before the magistrates Gervase Bennet and Nathaniel Barton, on a charge of religious blasphemy. According to George Foxs autobiography, Bennet was the first that called us Quakers and it is thought that George Fox was referring to Isaiah 66,2 or Ezra 9,4. Thus, the name Quaker began as a way of ridiculing George Foxs admonition, Quakerism gained a considerable following in England and Wales, and the numbers increased to a peak of 60,000 in England and Wales by 1680. This was relaxed after the Declaration of Indulgence and stopped under the Act of Toleration 1689, with the restructuring of the family and household came new roles for women, Fox and Fell viewed the Quaker mother as essential to developing holy conversation in her children and husband. Quaker women were responsible for the spirituality of the larger community, coming together in meetings that regulated marriage. The persecution of Quakers in North America began in 1656 when English Quaker missionaries Mary Fisher and they were considered heretics because of their insistence on individual obedience to the Inner Light. They were imprisoned and banished by the Massachusetts Bay Colony and their books were burned, and most of their property was confiscated. They were imprisoned in terrible conditions, then deported, in 1660, English Quaker Mary Dyer was hanged on Boston Common for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony
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Early Christianity
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Early Christianity is the period of Christianity preceding the First Council of Nicaea in 325. It is typically divided into the Apostolic Age and the Ante-Nicene Period, the early Gospel message was spread orally, probably in Aramaic, but almost immediately also in Greek. After the conversion of Paul the Apostle, he claimed the title of Apostle to the Gentiles, Pauls influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than that of any other New Testament author. As the New Testament canon developed, the Pauline epistles, the canonical gospels, Early Christians demonstrated a wide range of beliefs and practices, many of which were later denounced as heretical. The earliest followers of Jesus composed an apocalyptic, Second Temple Jewish sect, the first part of the period, during the lifetimes of the Twelve Apostles, is called the Apostolic Age. The relationship of Paul the Apostle and Judaism is still disputed although Pauls influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than any other New Testament author and they think the Christians the cause of every public disaster, of every affliction with which the people are visited. The first action taken against Christians by the order of an emperor occurred half a century earlier under Nero after the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. During the Ante-Nicene Period following the Apostolic Age, a diversity of views emerged simultaneously with strong unifying characteristics lacking in the apostolic period. Part of the trend was an increasingly harsh anti-Judaism and rejection of Judaizers. Early Christianity gradually grew apart from Judaism during the first two centuries and established itself as a predominantly gentile religion in the Roman Empire. From the writings of early Christians, historians have tried to piece together an understanding of various early Christian practices including worship services, customs, Early Christian writers such as Justin Martyr described these practices. Early Christian beliefs regarding baptism probably predate the New Testament writings and it seems certain that numerous Jewish sects and certainly Jesuss disciples practised baptism, which became integral to nearly every manifestation of the religion of the Jews. John the Baptist had baptized many people, before took place in the name of Jesus Christ. Many of the interpretations that would later become Orthodox Christian beliefs concerning baptism can be traced to such as Paul. On the basis of this description, it was supposed by some modern theologians that the early Christians practised baptism by submersion and this interpretation is debated between those Christian denominations who advocate immersion baptism exclusively and those who practice baptism by affusion or aspersion as well as by immersion. Yet the Didache, one of the earliest Christian writings on liturgical practices, the Orthodox Church continues this practice, submerging the baptized and then pouring water on the head in that formula. Infant baptism was practised at least by the 3rd century. Others believe that infants were excluded from the baptism of households, citing verses of the Bible that describe the baptized households as believing, in the 2nd century, Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, may have referred to it
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Apostles
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In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles, were the primary historical disciples of Jesus, the central figure in Christianity. During the life and ministry of Jesus in the 1st century AD, the word disciple is sometimes used interchangeably with apostle, for instance, the Gospel of John makes no distinction between the two terms. In modern usage, prominent missionaries are often called apostles, a practice which stems from the Latin equivalent of apostle, i. e. missio, for example, Saint Patrick was the Apostle of Ireland, and Saint Boniface was the Apostle to the Germans. The commissioning of the Twelve Apostles during the ministry of Jesus is recorded in the Synoptic Gospels, after his resurrection, Jesus sent 11 of them by the Great Commission to spread his teachings to all nations. This event is called the Dispersion of the Apostles. There is also an Eastern Christian tradition derived from the Gospel of Luke of there having been as many as 70 apostles during the time of Jesus ministry. Prominent figures in early Christianity, notably Paul, were called apostles. The period of early Christianity during the lifetimes of the apostles is called the Apostolic Age, during the 1st century AD, the apostles established churches throughout the territories of the Roman Empire and, according to tradition, through the Middle East, Africa, and India. In his writings, the epistles to Christian churches throughout the Levant, Paul did not restrict the term apostle to the Twelve, the restricted usage appears in the Revelation to John. By the 2nd century AD, association with the apostles was esteemed as an evidence of authority, Churches which are believed to have been founded by one of the apostles are known as apostolic sees. Pauls epistles were accepted as scripture, and two of the four gospels were associated with apostles, as were other New Testament works. Various Christian texts, such as the Didache and the Apostolic Constitutions, were attributed to the apostles, bishops traced their lines of succession back to individual apostles, who were said to have dispersed from Jerusalem and established churches across great territories. Christian bishops have traditionally claimed authority deriving, by apostolic succession, early Church Fathers who came to be associated with apostles, such as Pope Clement I with St. Peter, are referred to as the Apostolic Fathers. The Apostles Creed, popular in the West, was said to have composed by the apostles themselves. The word apostle comes from the Greek word ἀπόστολος, formed from the prefix ἀπό- and root στέλλω and originally meaning messenger and it has, however, a stronger sense than the word messenger, and is closer to a delegate. The Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament argues that its Christian use translated a Jewish position known in Hebrew as the sheliach and this ecclesiastical meaning of the word was later translated into Latin as missio, the source of the English missionary. In the New Testament, the names of the majority of the apostles are Hebrew names, Mark 6, 7-13 states that Jesus initially sent out these twelve in pairs to towns in Galilee. The text states that their initial instructions were to heal the sick and their carrying of just a staff is sometimes given as the reason for the use by Christian bishops of a staff of office in those denominations that believe they maintain an apostolic succession
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Temple in Jerusalem
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These successive temples stood at this location and functioned as a site of ancient Israelite and later Jewish worship. The Hebrew name given in the Hebrew Bible for the complex is either Beit YHWH, Beit HaElohim House of God, or simply Beiti my house. The term hekhal hall or main building is often translated temple in older English Bibles, in rabbinical literature the temple is Beit HaMikdash, The Sanctified House, and only the Temple in Jerusalem is referred to by this name. The Hebrew Bible says that the First Temple was built in 957 BCE by King Solomon and this temple was sacked a few decades later by Shoshenq I, Pharaoh of Egypt. The First Temple was totally destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, according to the Book of Ezra, construction of the Second Temple was authorized by Cyrus the Great and began in 538 BCE, after the fall of the Babylonian Empire the year before. It was completed 23 years later, on the day of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the Great. However, with a reading of the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah, there were four edicts to build the Second Temple. Cyrus in 536 BCE, which is recorded in the first chapter of Ezra, next, Darius I of Persia in 519 BCE, which is recorded in the sixth chapter of Ezra. Third, Artaxerxes I of Persia in 457 BCE, which was the year of his reign. Finally, by Artaxerxes again in 444 BCE in the chapter of Nehemiah. Moreover, the narrowly avoided being destroyed again in 332 BCE when the Jews refused to acknowledge the deification of Alexander the Great of Macedonia. Alexander was allegedly turned from his anger at the last minute by astute diplomacy, further, after the death of Alexander on 13 June 323 BCE, and the dismembering of his empire, the Ptolemies came to rule over Judea and the Temple. Under the Ptolemies, the Jews were given many civil liberties, however, when the Ptolemaic army was defeated at Panium by Antiochus III of the Seleucids in 198 BCE, this policy changed. Antiochus wanted to Hellenize the Jews, attempting to introduce the Greek pantheon into the temple. Moreover, a rebellion ensued and was crushed, but no further action by Antiochus was taken. However, his policies never took effect in Judea, since he was assassinated the year after his ascension, Antiochus IV Epiphanes succeeded his older brother to the Seleucid throne and immediately adopted his fathers previous policy of universal Hellenisation. The Jews rebelled again and Antiochus, in a rage, retaliated in force, considering the previous episodes of discontent, the Jews became incensed when the religious observances of Sabbath and circumcision were officially outlawed. When Antiochus erected a statue of Zeus in their temple and Hellenic priests began sacrificing pigs, when a Greek official ordered a Jewish priest to perform a Hellenic sacrifice, the priest killed him
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Saint Peter
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Saint Peter, also known as Simon Peter, Simeon, or Simōn pronunciation, according to the New Testament, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, leaders of the early Christian Great Church. Hippolytus of Rome, a 3rd-century theologian, gave him the title of Apostle of the Apostles, according to Catholic teaching, Peter was ordained by Jesus in the Rock of My Church dialogue in Matthew 16,18. He is traditionally counted as the first Bishop of Rome and by Eastern Christian tradition also as the first Patriarch of Antioch. The ancient Christian churches all venerate Peter as a saint and as founder of the Church of Antioch. The New Testament indicates that Peter was the son of John and was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee or Gaulanitis and his brother Andrew was also an apostle. According to New Testament accounts, Peter was one of twelve apostles chosen by Jesus from his first disciples, originally a fisherman, he played a leadership role and was with Jesus during events witnessed by only a few apostles, such as the Transfiguration. According to the gospels, Peter confessed Jesus as the Messiah, was part of Jesuss inner circle, thrice denied Jesus and wept bitterly once he realised his deed, according to Christian tradition, Peter was crucified in Rome under Emperor Nero Augustus Caesar. It is traditionally held that he was crucified upside down at his own request, Tradition holds that he was crucified at the site of the Clementine Chapel. His remains are said to be contained in the underground Confessio of St. Peters Basilica. According to Catholic doctrine, the direct successor to Saint Peter is the incumbent pope. Two general epistles in the New Testament are ascribed to Peter, the Gospel of Mark was traditionally thought to show the influence of Peters preaching and eyewitness memories. Peters original name was Shimon or Simeon and he was later given the name Peter, New Testament Greek Πέτρος derived from πέτρα, which means rock. In the Latin translation of the Bible this became Petrus, a form of the feminine petra. Another version of this name is Aramaic, , after his name in Hellenised Aramaic. The English, Dutch and German Peter, French Pierre, the Italian Pietro, the Spanish and Portuguese Pedro, the Syriac or Aramaic word for rock is kepa, which in Greek became Πέτρος, also meaning rock. He is also known as Simon Peter, Cephas and Kepha, both Cephas and Kepha also mean rock. In the New Testament, he is among the first of the disciples called during Jesus ministry, Peter became the first listed apostle ordained by Jesus in the early church. Peter was a fisherman in Bethsaida and he was named Simon, son of Jonah or John
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John the Apostle
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John the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament, which refers to him as Ἰωάννης. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome and his brother was James, who was another of the Twelve Apostles. The traditions of most Christian denominations have held that John the Apostle is the author of books of the New Testament. Church tradition has held that John is the author of the Gospel of John, in the Gospel, authorship is internally credited to the disciple whom Jesus loved in John 20,2. John 21,24 claims that the Gospel of John is based on the testimony of the Beloved Disciple. The authorship of some Johannine literature has been debated since about the year 200, some doubt that the Gospel of John was even written by an individual named John. Nevertheless, the notion of John the Evangelist exists, and is considered by some the same as the Apostle John. In his Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius says that the First Epistle of John, however, Eusebius mentions that the consensus is that the second and third epistles of John are not his but were written by some other John. Eusebius also goes to some length to establish with the reader that there is no consensus regarding the revelation of John. The revelation of John could only be what is now called the book of Revelation, the Gospel according to John differs considerably from the Synoptic Gospels, likely written decades earlier than Johns gospel. The bishops of Asia Minor supposedly requested him to write his gospel to deal with the heresy of the Ebionites, who asserted that Christ did not exist before Mary. John probably knew and undoubtedly approved of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, around 600, however, Sophronius of Jerusalem noted that two epistles bearing his name. Until the 19th century, the authorship of the Gospel of John had been attributed to the Apostle John, however, most modern critical scholars have their doubts. Some scholars place the Gospel of John somewhere between AD65 and 85, John Robinson proposes an initial edition by 50–55 and then a final edition by 65 due to similarities with Paul. Other scholars are of the opinion that the Gospel of John was composed in two or three stages, other scholars think that an even later date, perhaps even the last decade of the first century AD right up to the start of the 2nd century, is applicable. Nonetheless, today many scholars continue to accept the traditional authorship. The Gospel of John was written by an anonymous author, according to Paul N. Anderson, the gospel contains more direct claims to eyewitness origins than any of the other Gospel traditions. F. F. Bruce argues that 19,35 contains an emphatic, bart D. Ehrman, however, does not think the gospel claims to have been written by direct witnesses to the reported events
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Jewish Christian
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Jewish Christians, also Hebrew Christians or Judeo-Christians, were the original members of the Jewish movement that later became Christianity. In the earliest stage the community was made up of all those Jews who accepted Jesus as a person or the Messiah. It is also a used for Jews who converted to Christianity but kept their Jewish heritage. 1st century Jewish Christians were totally faithful religious Jews and they differed from other contemporary Jews only in their acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah. Those that taught that Gentile converts to Christianity ought to adopt more Jewish practices than the Church had already included, nevertheless, Judaizing continued for several centuries, particularly among Jewish Christians. As Christianity grew throughout the Gentile world, Christians diverged from their Jewish, Hebrew Christians — a 19th-century movement of Jewish converts to Christianity acting semi-autonomously within the Anglican and other established churches. Though it is used in some texts concerning the early church. Hebrew Roots — A religious movement that embraces both Old and New Testaments but without the observance of the Jewish Talmud and many Jewish traditions not supported by Scripture, Christian Jews — a modern term which is frequently encountered in texts dealing with sociology and demographics. Judaizers — Early Christians who maintained or adopted Jewish religious practices, judean Christians — Christians from Judea who were predominantly Jewish. Jesus was a Jew, and his movement was Jewish. He preached in the Jewish countryside, not the Hellenistic cities, after his execution, his followers saw him alive, although in what sense historians do not know. They formed a community to wait for him to return, Later, the Gospels represent a time when Christian theology was not fully formed and the separation from Judaism was not yet complete. It has been argued that this Jewish Christian sect was in danger of being wiped out as they were being persecuted. Peter and John were imprisoned by a Jewish leadership who were annoyed because they were teaching the people. The Sadducees in particular rejected the Pharisaic doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, Saint Stephen was tried by a Sanhedrin for blasphemy against Moses and God and was stoned to death, under the watch of Paul of Tarsus, before his conversion. A further blow to this Jewish sect was the death of their second leader, the High Priest Ananus ben Ananus took advantage of this lack of imperial oversight to assemble a Sanhedrin who condemned James on the charge of breaking the law, then had him executed by stoning. Josephus reports that Ananus act was viewed as little more than judicial murder. Three events would greatly affect the fortunes of early Jewish Christianity, after that, the Jerusalem bishops were uncircumcised Greeks
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Biblical Sabbath
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Biblical Sabbath is a weekly day of rest or time of worship given in the Bible as the seventh day. It is observed differently in Judaism and Christianity and informs a similar occasion in other faiths. Though many viewpoints and definitions have arisen over the millennia, most originate in the textual tradition of Remember the sabbath day. Observation and remembrance of Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments, the Anglicized term Sabbath is in Hebrew Shabbath, meaning day of rest. It derives from the verb shavath of same Hebrew spelling but different pointing, defined as repose, Shabbath is the intensified form and is used only for a weekly cessation,107 times in the Tanakh. The name form is Shabbethai, a name appearing three times in the Tanakh, the Talmud also contains a pun on shebeth, where it secondarily means dill, a spice. Another related word is modern Hebrew shevita, a labor strike, and in over thirty languages other than English, the common name for Saturday is a cognate of Sabbath. A cognate Babylonian Sapattum or Sabattum is reconstructed from the lost fifth Enûma Eliš creation account and it is regarded as a form of Sumerian sa-bat, rendered in Akkadian as um nuh libbi. The dependent Greek cognate is Sabbaton, used in the New Testament 68 times, two inflections, Hebrew Shabbathown and Greek σαββατισμός, are both translated sabbatism in Strongs. The Hebrew form refers to High Sabbaths, the Greek form is cognate to the Septuagint verb sabbatizo. In English, the concept of Sabbatical is cognate to two forms. The King James Bible uses the English form sabbath 172 times, in the Old Testament, sabbath translates Shabbath all 107 times, plus shebeth three times, shabath once, and the related mishbath once. In the New Testament, sabbath translates Sabbaton 59 times and prosabbaton once, Sabbaton is also translated as week nine times, during Shmita, the land is left to lie fallow and all agricultural activity—including plowing, planting, pruning and harvesting—is forbidden by Torah and Jewish law. A variety of laws also apply to the sale, consumption, when the year ended, all debts, except those of foreigners, were to be remitted, in similar fashion, Torah requires a slave who had worked for six years to go free in the seventh year. Leviticus 25 promises bountiful harvests to those who observe Shmita, the term Shmita is translated release five times in the Book of Deuteronomy. Book of Genesis, In 1, 1-2,4, God creates the heavens and earth in six days and rests on the seventh day, which he thus confers with special status. So God blessed the day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in Creation. —Gen.2,3 This passage uses root form shabath, rather than intensified form Shabbath, in 8,4, Noahs ark comes to rest in the seventh month, here the word for rest is not shabath but its synonym nuwach, the root of Noahs name
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Pliny the Younger
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Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo, better known as Pliny the Younger, was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Plinys uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate him, both Pliny the Elder and the Younger were witnesses to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, in which the former died. Pliny the Younger wrote hundreds of letters, of which 247 still survive and are of historical value. Some are addressed to reigning emperors or to such as the historian Tacitus. Pliny served as a magistrate under Trajan, and his letters to Trajan provide one of the few surviving records of the relationship between the imperial office and provincial governors. Pliny rose through a series of civil and military offices, the cursus honorum and he was a friend of the historian Tacitus and might have employed the biographer Suetonius on his staff. Pliny also came into contact with other men of the period, including the philosophers Artemidorus and Euphrates the Stoic. Pliny the Younger was born in Novum Comum around 61 AD, the son of Lucius Caecilius Cilo, born there, and his wife Plinia Marcella, a sister of Pliny the Elder. He was the grandson of Senator and landowner Gaius Caecilius, revered his uncle, Pliny the Elder, Cilo died at an early age, when Pliny was still young. As a result, the boy lived with his mother. His guardian and preceptor in charge of his education was Lucius Verginius Rufus, after being first tutored at home, Pliny went to Rome for further education. There he was taught rhetoric by Quintilian, a teacher and author. It was at time that Pliny became closer to his uncle Pliny the Elder. When Pliny the Younger was 17 or 18, his uncle Pliny the Elder died attempting to rescue victims of the Vesuvius eruption, in the same document the younger Pliny was adopted by his uncle. As a result, Pliny the Younger changed his name from Gaius Caecilius Cilo to Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, there is some evidence that Pliny had a sibling. The trustees are apparently named in the inscription, L. Caecilius Valens and P. Caecilius Secundus, sons of Lucius, the word contubernalis describing Lutulla is the military term meaning tent-mate, which can only mean that she was living with Lucius, not as his wife. The first man mentioned, L. Caecilius Valens, is probably the older son, Pliny the Younger confirms that he was a trustee for the largess of my ancestors. It seems unknown to Pliny the Elder, so Valens mother was not his sister Plinia
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Christianity in the 1st century
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Christianity in the 1st century deals with the formative years of the Early Christian community. The earliest followers of Jesus composed an apocalyptic Jewish sect, which refer to as Jewish Christianity. The Apostles dispersed from Jerusalem, founding the Apostolic Sees, presumably following the Great Commissions decree to spread the teachings of Jesus to all nations, the split of early Christianity from Judaism was gradual, as Christianity became a predominantly Gentile religion. Christian restorationists propose that the 1st century Apostolic Age represents a form of Christianity that should be adopted in the church as it exists today. The ministry of Jesus, according to the account of the Gospels, falls into a pattern of sectarian preachers with devoted disciples, after being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus preached for a period of one to three years in the early 1st century AD. Jesus method of teaching involved parables, metaphor, allegory, sayings, proverbs, and his ministry was ended by his execution, by crucifixion at the hands of the Roman authorities by demand of the Jews in Jerusalem. His surviving disciples then followed the Great Commission to spread the teachings of Jesus to all nations, Christians believe that three days after his death, Jesus rose bodily from the dead. Early works by Jesus followers document a number of resurrection appearances, the main sources of information regarding Jesus life and teachings are the four canonical gospels, and to a lesser extent the Acts of the Apostles and writings of Paul. Christianitys theology is largely founded and based on one central point found in these Gospels, the years following Jesus until the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles is called the Apostolic Age. The apostolic period produced writings attributed to the followers of Jesus Christ and is traditionally associated with the apostles. This age is the foundation upon which the churchs history is founded. The principal source of information for this earliest period is the Acts of the Apostles, however, there are scholars who dispute the Historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles. The Acts of the Apostles goes on to record the stoning of Stephen and the subsequent dispersal of the church, which led to the baptism of Simon Magus in Samaria, Pauls Road to Damascus conversion to the Apostle to the Gentiles is first recorded in Acts 9, 13-16. Peter baptized the Roman Centurion Cornelius, traditionally considered the first Gentile convert to Christianity, based on this, the Antioch church was founded. It is also believed that it was there that the term Christian was coined, disputes over the Mosaic law generated intense controversy in early Christianity. This is particularly notable in the mid-1st century, when the controversy came to the forefront. The issue was addressed at the Council of Jerusalem where Paul made an argument that circumcision was not a practice, vocally supported by Peter. This position received support and was summarized in a letter circulated in Antioch
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Christianity in the 2nd century
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While the Christian church was centered in Jerusalem in the 1st century, it became decentralized in the 2nd century. The 2nd century was also the time of people who were later declared to be major heretics, such as Marcion, Valentinius. Only Marcion proposed rejection of all Jewish practice, but he was excommunicated in Rome c.144, Christian communities came to adopt some Jewish practices while rejecting others. Historians debate whether Roman government distinguished between Christians and Jews prior to Emperor Nervas modification of the Fiscus Judaicus in 96, from then on, practicing Jews paid the tax, and Christians did not. Similar to Judaism, much of the original church liturgical services functioned as a means of learning these Scriptures, which centered around the Septuagint. A final uniformity of liturgical services may have become solidified after the established a Biblical canon, possibly based on the Apostolic Constitutions. Clement wrote about the order with which Jesus commanded the affairs of the Church be conducted, the liturgies are to be celebrated, and not carelessly nor in disorder, but he did not specify what the actual liturgies were, though possible Clementine liturgies have been proposed. The Liturgy of St James was a form, but each bishopric tended to develop its own. In the post-Apostolic church, bishops emerged as overseers of urban Christian populations, and a hierarchy clergy gradually took on the form of episkopos, presbyters, and then deacons. While Clement and New Testament writers use the terms overseer and elder interchangeably and this structure was enforced by the teaching of apostolic succession, where a bishop becomes the spiritual successor of the previous bishop in a line tracing back to the apostles themselves. Deacons performed certain duties, such as tending to the poor, much of the official organizing of the ecclesiastical structure was done by the bishops of the church. This tradition of clarification can be seen as established by the Apostolic Fathers, the Didache, dating from AD 70–140, states Appoint for yourselves therefore bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord. The Catholic Encyclopedia argues that evidence is scarce in the 2nd century. Which the Catholic Church currently considers these the successors of Peter and the first popes, Eastern and Western Mediterranean Christians had a history of differences and disagreements dating back to the 2nd century. Among the most significant early disagreements is the Quartodeciman controversy, until the late 2nd century there was a difference in dating the celebration of the Christian Passover/Easter between Western churches and those of Asia Minor. The Latins called them Quartodecimans, literally meaning 14ers, at the time, the West celebrated Easter on the Sunday following the Jewish 14th of Nisan. Victor, the bishop of Rome, attempted to declare the Nisan 14 practice heretical, on this occasion Irenaeus and Polycrates of Ephesus wrote to Victor. Irenaeus reminded Victor of his more tolerant attitude and Polycrates emphatically defended the Asian practice
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Christianity in the 3rd century
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Christianity in the 3rd century was largely the time of the Ante-Nicene Fathers who wrote after the Apostolic Fathers of the 1st and 2nd centuries but before the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Although lasting only a year, the Decian persecution was a departure from previous imperial policy that Christians were not to be sought out. Even under Decius, orthodox Christians were subject to arrest only for their refusal to participate in Roman civic religion, gnostics seem not to have been persecuted. The era of coexistence ended when Diocletian launched the final and Great Persecution in 303, the Biblical canon began with the officially accepted books of the Koine Greek Old Testament. The Septuagint or seventy is accepted as the foundation of the Christian faith along with the Gospels, Book of Revelation, before 325, the heretical nature of some beliefs was a matter of much debate within the churches. After 325, some opinion was formulated as dogma through the canons promulgated by the councils, Christian art emerged only relatively late. According to art historian André Grabar, the first known Christian images emerge from about AD200, although many Hellenised Jews seem, as at the Dura-Europos synagogue, to have had images of religious figures, the traditional Mosaic prohibition of graven images no doubt retained some effect. The oldest Christian paintings are from the Roman Catacombs, dated to about 200, institutional Christian monasticism seems to have begun in the deserts in 3rd century Egypt as a kind of living martyrdom. Anthony of Egypt is the best known of these early hermit-monks, Anthony the Great and Pachomius were early monastic innovators in Egypt, although Paul the Hermit is the first Christian historically known to have been living as a monk. Eastern Orthodoxy looks to Basil of Caesarea as a founding monastic legislator, shortly after 360 Martin of Tours introduced monasticism to the west. Benedict of Nursia, who lived a century later, established the Rule that led to him being credited with the title of father of western monasticism, little attribute the rise of monasticism at this time to the immense changes in the church brought about by Constantines legalization of Christianity. The subsequent transformation of Christianity into the main Roman religion ended the position of Christians as a small group, in response, a new more advanced form of dedication was developed. The long-term martyrdom of the replaced the violent physical martyrdom of the persecutions. From the earliest times there were probably individual hermits who lived a life in isolation in imitation of Jesus 40 days in the desert and they have left no confirmed archaeological traces and only hints in the written record. Communities of virgins who had consecrated themselves to Christ are found at least as far back as the 2nd century, Anthony the Great was the first to specifically leave the world and live in the desert as a monk. Anthony lived as a hermit in the desert and gradually gained followers who lived as hermits nearby, One such, Paul the Hermit, lived in absolute solitude not very far from Anthony and was looked upon even by Anthony as a perfect monk. This type of monasticism is called eremitical or hermit-like, among these earliest recorded accounts was the Paradise, by Palladius of Galatia, Bishop of Helenopolis. Athanasius of Alexandria, Jerome, and other anonymous compilers were also responsible for setting down very influential accounts, as Christianity spread, it acquired certain members from well-educated circles of the Hellenistic world, they sometimes became bishops but not always
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Church Fathers
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The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are ancient and generally influential Christian theologians, some of whom were eminent teachers and great bishops. The era of these scholars who set the theological and scholarly foundations of Christianity largely ended by 700 AD, the earliest Church Fathers, are usually called the Apostolic Fathers since tradition describes them as having been taught by the twelve. Important Apostolic Fathers include Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna and his epistle,1 Clement, was copied and widely read in the Early Church. Clement calls on the Christians of Corinth to maintain harmony and order and it is the earliest Christian epistle aside from the New Testament. Ignatius of Antioch was the bishop or Patriarch of Antioch. En route to his martyrdom in Rome, Ignatius wrote a series of letters which have been preserved, important topics addressed in these letters include ecclesiology, the sacraments, the role of bishops, and the Incarnation of Christ. He is the second after Clement to mention Pauls epistles, Polycarp of Smyrna was a Christian bishop of Smyrna. It is recorded that he had been a disciple of John, the options for this John are John, the son of Zebedee, traditionally viewed as the author of the Gospel of John, or John the Presbyter. Traditional advocates follow Eusebius in insisting that the connection of Polycarp was with John the Evangelist, and that he was the author of the Gospel of John. Polycarp tried and failed to persuade Pope Anicetus to have the West celebrate Passover on 14 Nisan, around 155, the Smyrnans demanded Polycarps execution as a Christian, and he died a martyr. Polycarp is recognized as a saint in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, very little is known of Papias apart from what can be inferred from his own writings. He is described as an ancient man who was a hearer of John, Eusebius adds that Papias was Bishop of Hierapolis around the time of Ignatius of Antioch. In this office Papias was presumably succeeded by Abercius of Hierapolis, the name Papias was very common in the region, suggesting that he was probably a native of the area. The work of Papias is dated by most modern scholars to about 95–120. Despite indications that the work of Papias was still extant in the late Middle Ages, extracts, however, appear in a number of other writings, some of which cite a book number Those who wrote in Greek are called the Greek Fathers. Justin Martyr is regarded as the foremost interpreter of the theory of the Logos in the 2nd century, Irenaeus was bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, which is now Lyon, France. His writings were formative in the development of Christian theology. He was a notable early Christian apologist and he was also a disciple of Polycarp. His best-known book, Against Heresies enumerated heresies and attacked them, Irenaeus wrote that the only way for Christians to retain unity was to humbly accept one doctrinal authority—episcopal councils
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Clement of Alexandria
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Titus Flavius Clemens, known as Clement of Alexandria to distinguish him from the earlier Clement of Rome, was a Christian theologian who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. A convert to Christianity, he was a man who was familiar with classical Greek philosophy. As his three works demonstrate, Clement was influenced by Hellenistic philosophy to a greater extent than any other Christian thinker of his time, and in particular by Plato. His secret works, which exist only in fragments, suggest that he was familiar with pre-Christian Jewish esotericism and Gnosticism. In one of his works he argued that Greek philosophy had its origin among non-Greeks, among his pupils were Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem. Clement is usually regarded as a Church Father and he is venerated as a saint in Coptic Christianity, Ethiopian Christianity and Anglicanism. He was previously revered in the Roman Catholic Church, but his name was removed from the Roman Martyrology in 1586 by Pope Sixtus V on the advice of Baronius, neither Clements birthdate or birthplace is known with any degree of certainty. It is conjectured that he was born in around 150, according to Epiphanius Scholasticus, he was born in Athens, but there is also a tradition of an Alexandrian birth. His parents were pagans, and Clement was a convert to Christianity, in the Protrepticus he displays an extensive knowledge of Greek mythology and mystery religions, which could only have arisen from the practice of his familys religion. Having rejected paganism as a man due to its perceived moral corruption, he travelled in Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine. Clements journeys were primarily a religious undertaking, in around 180, Clement reached Alexandria, where he met Pantaenus, who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Eusebius suggests that Pantaenus was the head of the school, Clement studied under Pantaenus, and was ordained to the priesthood by Pope Julian before 189. Otherwise, virtually nothing is known of Clements life in Alexandria and he may have been married, a conjecture supported by his writings. During the Severian persecutions of 202–203, Clement left Alexandria, in 211, Alexander of Jerusalem wrote a letter commending him to the Church of Antioch, which may imply that Clement was living in Cappadocia or Jerusalem at that time. The date and location of his death are unknown, three of Clements major works have survived in full, and they are collectively referred to as the trilogy, the Protrepticus – written c. The Stromata – written c.198 – c, the Protrepticus is, as its title suggests, an exhortation to the pagans of Greece to adopt Christianity, and within it Clement demonstrates his extensive knowledge of pagan mythology and theology. It is chiefly important due to Clements exposition of religion as an anthropological phenomenon, after a short philosophical discussion, it opens with a history of Greek religion in seven stages. Clement suggests that at first, men believed the Sun
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Origen
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Origen, or Origen Adamantius, was a Greek scholar, ascetic, and early Christian theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Alexandria. He was a writer in multiple branches of theology, including textual criticism, biblical exegesis and hermeneutics, philosophical theology, preaching. He was anathematised at the Second Council of Constantinople and he was one of the most influential figures in early Christian asceticism. Origens Greek name Ōrigénēs probably means child of Horus and his nickname or cognomen Adamantios derives from Greek adámas, which means adamant, unalterable, unbreakable, unconquerable, diamond. He acquired it because of his ascetical practices. Origen was born in Alexandria to Christian parents and he was educated by his father, Leonides of Alexandria, who gave him a standard Hellenistic education, but also had him study the Christian scriptures. The name of his mother is unknown, in 202, Origens father was martyred in the outbreak of the persecution during the reign of Septimius Severus. A story reported by Eusebius has it that Origen wished to follow him in martyrdom, the death of Leonides left the family of nine impoverished when their property was confiscated. Many modern scholars, however, doubt that Clements school had been an ecclesiastical institution as Origens was. His fame and the number of his pupils increased rapidly, so that Bishop Demetrius of Alexandria, Origen, to be entirely independent, sold his library for a sum which netted him a daily income of 4 obols, on which he lived by exercising the utmost frugality. Teaching throughout the day, he devoted the greater part of the night to the study of the Bible, Eusebius reported that Origen, following Matthew 19,12 literally, castrated himself. The later church historian Philostorgius of Apamea, on the other hand, Eusebius story was accepted during the Middle Ages and was cited by Peter Abelard in his letters to Heloise. Edward Gibbon, in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, during the past century, scholars have often questioned this, surmising that this may have been a rumor circulated by his detractors. Henry Chadwick points out that, while the story may be true, it seems unlikely, however, many noted historians, such as Peter Brown and William Placher, continue to find no reason to deny the truth of Eusebius claims. But the school had far outgrown the strength of a man, the catechumens pressed eagerly for elementary instruction. Under these circumstances, Origen entrusted the teaching of the catechumens to Heraclas and his own interests became more and more centered in exegesis, and he accordingly studied Hebrew, though there is no certain knowledge concerning his instructor in that language. From about this period dates Origens acquaintance with Ambrose of Alexandria, later Ambrose, a man of wealth, made a formal agreement with Origen to promulgate his writings, and all the subsequent works of Origen were dedicated to Ambrose. In the following year, an uprising at Alexandria caused Caracalla to let his soldiers plunder the city, shut the schools
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Tertullian
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Tertullian, full name Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, c.155 – c.240 AD, was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. Of Berber origin, he was the first Christian author to produce a corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was an early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy, Tertullian has been called the father of Latin Christianity and the founder of Western theology. Though conservative in his worldview, Tertullian originated new theological concepts and he is perhaps most famous for being the first writer in Latin known to use the term trinity. According to The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Tertullians trinity not a triune God, other Latin formulations that first appear in his work are three persons, one substance as the Latin tres personae, una substantia. He wrote his understanding of the three members of the trinity after becoming a Montanist, scant reliable evidence exists to inform us about Tertullians life. Most history about him comes from passing references in his own writings, Roman Africa was famous as the home of orators and this influence can be seen in his style with its archaisms or provincialisms, its glowing imagery and its passionate temper. He was a scholar with an excellent education and he wrote at least three books in Greek. In them he refers to himself, but none of these are extant, according to church tradition, Tertullian was raised in Carthage and was thought to be the son of a Roman centurion, Tertullian has been claimed to have been a trained lawyer and an ordained priest. These assertions rely on the accounts of Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, II,4, and Jeromes De viris illustribus chapter 53. Jerome claimed that Tertullians father held the position of centurio proconsularis in the Roman army in Africa, however, it is unclear whether any such position in the Roman military ever existed. Further, Tertullian has been thought to be a based on his use of legal analogies and an identification of him with the jurist Tertullianus. Although Tertullian used a knowledge of Roman law in his writings, the writings of Tertullianus, a lawyer of the same cognomen, exist only in fragments and do not denote a Christian authorship. Finally, any notion of Tertullian being a priest is also questionable, in his extant writings, he never describes himself as ordained in the church and seems to place himself among the laity. His conversion to Christianity perhaps took place about 197–198, but its immediate antecedents are unknown except as they are conjectured from his writings, the event must have been sudden and decisive, transforming at once his own personality. He said of himself that he could not imagine a truly Christian life without such a conscious breach, two books addressed to his wife confirm that he was married to a Christian wife. In middle life, he was attracted to the New Prophecy of Montanism, in the time of Augustine, a group of Tertullianists still had a basilica in Carthage which, within that same period, passed to the orthodox Church. It is unclear whether the name was another for the Montanists or that this means Tertullian later split with the Montanists
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Vespers
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Vespers is the sunset evening prayer service in the Orthodox, Western and Eastern Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran liturgies of the canonical hours. The word comes from the Greek ἑσπέρα and the Latin vesper and it is also referred to in the Anglican tradition as evening prayer or evensong. The term is used in some Protestant denominations to describe evening services. Vespers, also called Evening Prayer, takes place as dusk begins to fall, Evening Prayer gives thanks for the day just past and makes an evening sacrifice of praise to God. The general structure of the Roman Rite Catholic service of vespers is as follows, Vespers opens with the singing or chanting of the words Deus, Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc et semper, et in saecula saeculorum, each psalm concludes with a doxology and is preceded and followed by an antiphon. After the psalms, there is a reading from the Bible, following the reading, there is a short responsory consisting of a verse, a response, the first half only of the Gloria Patri, and then the verse again. Then the participants sing the Magnificat — the canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the Gospel of Luke 1, the Magnificat is always preceded by an antiphon, and followed by the Gloria and an antiphon. The preces are then said, followed by the Our Father, the office is frequently followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, Daily Vespers is the form served on other days when Great Vespers is not served. Small Vespers is an abbreviated form of the service which is celebrated only on the afternoon before an All-Night Vigil. Since the liturgical day begins at sunset, Vespers is the first service of the day, the general structure of the service is as follows, Vespers opens with a blessing by the priest and then Come, let us worship. When part of an All-Night Vigil, the blessing that normally begins matins is used, when part of the Divine Liturgy, proemial Psalm, Bless the Lord, O my soul, O Lord my God, Thou hast been magnified exceedingly. The Great Litany A selection of psalms, called a kathisma is sung, on Saturday evening, it is the First Kathisma. Lord I have Cried is chanted in the tone of the week, starting with the last two verses of Psalm 141, stichera about the feast day are chanted alternately with the verses. The Entrance is made with the censer The hymn Phos Hilaron is sung, on feast days, there are three or more readings from the Old Testament, called Paroemia. The prayer Vouchsafe, O Lord, is read, the Litany of Fervent Supplication On major feast days, a Litiy will be served at this point. The clergy and the cantors will process to the back of the church in front of an icon of the feast or saint being commemorated
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Sabbath in Christianity
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Sabbath in Christianity is the inclusion or adoption in Christianity of a Sabbath day. The first of these provisions was associated in Judaism with the assembly of the people to worship in the Temple in Jerusalem or in synagogues, Early Christians observed the seventh day with prayer and rest, but they also gathered on the first day. By the 4th century, Christians were officially observing the first day, Sunday, as their day of rest, a sabbatarian movement within Oriental Orthodoxy began in the 12th century in Ethiopia and gained movement in the 13th, eventually establishing itself as the norm in that region. The modern Orthodox Tewahedo churches observe a two-day Sabbath, including both Saturday and Sunday, the Hebrew Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, is often spoken of loosely as Saturday. In the Hebrew calendar, however, the new day begins at sunset, the Sabbath therefore coincides with what the Gregorian calendar identifies as Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. Similarly, the first day of the week coincides with Saturday sunset to Sunday sunset, the Sabbath remained on the seventh day in the early Christian church. To this day, the Sabbath continues to coincide with the Hebrew Sabbath timing in the calendars in Eastern Orthodoxy. The current canons of the Roman Catholic Church define a day as beginning at midnight, Early Christians continued to pray and rest on the seventh day. By the second century some Christians also observed Sunday, the day of the week on which Jesus had risen from the dead, Paul and the Christians of Troas, for example, gathered on Sunday to break bread, Soon Christians were observing only Sunday and not the Sabbath. Patristic writings attest that by the century, it had become commonplace to celebrate the Eucharist in a corporate day of worship on the first day. A Church Father, Eusebius, stated that for Christians, the sabbath had been transferred to Sunday. In many places and times as late as the 4th century, they did continue to gather weekly on the Sabbath, often in addition to the Lords Day, no disapproval of Sabbath observance of the Christian festival was expressed at the early church councils that dealt with Judaizing. The Council of Laodicea, for example, mandated only that Sabbath Eucharists must be observed in the manner as those on the first day. Neander has suggested that Sabbath Eucharists in many places were kept as a feast in commemoration of the Creation, the issues about Hebrew practices that continued into the 2nd century tended to relate mostly to the Sabbath. He rejected the need to keep literal seventh-day Sabbath, arguing instead that the new law requires you to keep the sabbath constantly. With Christian corporate worship so clearly aligned with the Eucharist and allowed on the seventh day, a common theme in criticism of Hebrew Sabbath rest was idleness, found not to be in the Christian spirit of rest. This early metaphorical interpretation of Sabbath applied it to the entire Christian life, and after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lords as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days. The 2nd and 3rd centuries solidified the early churchs emphasis upon Sunday worship and its rejection of a Jewish observation of the Sabbath, Christian practice of following Sabbath after the manner of the Hebrews declined, prompting Tertullian to note to Sabbaths are strange and unobserved
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Christmas
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In several countries, celebrating Christmas Eve on December 24 has the main focus rather than December 25, with gift-giving and sharing a traditional meal with the family. Although the month and date of Jesus birth are unknown, by the fourth century the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas on December 25. Today, most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar and this is not a disagreement over the date of Christmas as such, but rather a preference of which calendar should be used to determine the day that is December 25. Although it is not known why December 25 became a date of celebration, December 25 was the date the Romans marked as the winter solstice, the shortest, and therefore darkest day of the year. Jesus was identified with the Sun based on an Old Testament verse, the date is exactly nine months following Annunciation, when the conception of Jesus is celebrated. Finally, the Romans had a series of pagan festivals near the end of the year, so Christmas may have been scheduled at this time to appropriate, or compete with, one or more of these festivals. The celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, the economic impact of Christmas has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world. Christmas is a form of Christs mass. It is derived from the Middle English Cristemasse, which is from Old English Crīstesmæsse, crīst is from Greek Khrīstos, a translation of Hebrew Māšîaḥ, Messiah, meaning anointed, and mæsse is from Latin missa, the celebration of the Eucharist. The form Christenmas was also used, but is now considered archaic and dialectal, it derives from Middle English Cristenmasse. In addition to Christmas, the holiday has been known by other names throughout its history. The Anglo-Saxons referred to the feast as midwinter, or, more rarely, Nativity, meaning birth, is from Latin nātīvitās. In Old English, Gēola referred to the corresponding to December and January. Noel entered English in the late 14th century and is from the Old French noël or naël, itself ultimately from the Latin nātālis, the canonical gospels of Luke and Matthew both describe Jesus as being born in Bethlehem in Judea, to a virgin mother. In the Gospel of Luke account, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census and it says that angels proclaimed him a savior for all people, and shepherds came to adore him. In the Matthew account, magi follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, King Herod orders the massacre of all the boys less than two years old in Bethlehem, but the family flees to Egypt and later settles in Nazareth. The Nativity stories of Matthew and Luke are prominent in the gospels, the first recorded Christmas celebration was in Rome in 336. Christmas played a role in the Arian controversy of the fourth century, the feast regained prominence after 800, when Charlemagne was crowned emperor on Christmas Day
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Easter
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It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus, preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. In Western Christianity, Eastertide, or the Easter Season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the fiftieth day, Pentecost Sunday. In Eastern Christianity, the season of Pascha begins on Pascha and ends with the coming of the fortieth day, the Feast of the Ascension. The First Council of Nicaea established two rules, independence of the Jewish calendar and worldwide uniformity, which were the rules for Easter explicitly laid down by the council. No details for the computation were specified, these were worked out in practice and it has come to be the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or soonest after 21 March, but calculations vary. Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, in many languages, the words for Easter and Passover are identical or very similar. Easter customs vary across the Christian world, and include services, exclaiming the Paschal greeting, clipping the church. The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection, traditionally decorates the area of churches on this day. Additional customs that have associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include egg hunting, the Easter Bunny, and Easter parades. There are also various traditional Easter foods that vary regionally, however, it is possible that Bede was only speculating about the origin of the term since there is no firm evidence that such a goddess actually existed. In Greek and Latin, the Christian celebration was, and still is, called Πάσχα, Pascha, the word originally denoted the Jewish festival known in English as Passover, commemorating the Jewish Exodus from slavery in Egypt. In most of the non-English speaking world, the feast is known by names derived from Greek, Pascha is also a name by which Jesus himself is remembered in the Orthodox Church, especially in connection with his resurrection and with the season of its celebration. The New Testament states that the resurrection of Jesus, which Easter celebrates, is a foundation of the Christian faith, the resurrection established Jesus as the powerful Son of God and is cited as proof that God will judge the world in righteousness. For those who trust in Jesus death and resurrection, death is swallowed up in victory, any person who chooses to follow Jesus receives a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Through faith in the working of God those who follow Jesus are spiritually resurrected with him so that they may walk in a new way of life and receive eternal salvation. Easter is linked to the Passover and Exodus from Egypt recorded in the Old Testament through the Last Supper, sufferings and crucifixion of Jesus that preceded the resurrection. According to the New Testament, Jesus gave the Passover meal a new meaning, as in the room during the Last Supper he prepared himself. He identified the matzah and cup of wine as his soon to be sacrificed
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Pentecost
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The Christian holiday of Pentecost is celebrated 50 days from Easter Sunday, counting inclusive of Easter Sunday itself, i. e.49 days or 7 weeks after Easter Sunday. Therefore it always occurs on a Sunday and it is also the tenth day after Ascension Thursday, which itself is 40 days from Easter, counting inclusive of Easter Sunday itself. Subsequently, Pentecost may refer to the Pentecost of the New Testament, Shavuot is a significant event shared by Jews and Christians but Christians do not commonly celebrate it as a separate holiday. In the Christian liturgical year it became a feast commemorating what is described by some Christians as the Birthday of the Church. The holy day is also called White Sunday or Whitsunday, especially in the United Kingdom, the Monday after Pentecost is a legal holiday in many European nations. Pentecost is the old Greek and Latin name for the Jewish Festival of Weeks which can be found in the Hebrew Bible and it is called by that name in Exodus 34,22 and Deuteronomy 16,10. It is also called the Festival of Reaping in Exodus 23,16, Jews traditionally read the Book of Ruth at Pentecost, as the story links with the grain harvest theme of the festival. The Talmud refers to Shavuot as Atzeret, referring to the prohibition against work on this holiday and to the conclusion of the holiday, since Shavuot occurs 49 days after the first day of Passover, Hellenistic Jews gave it the name Pentecost. According to Jewish tradition, Pentecost commemorates Gods giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai,49 days after the Exodus, the Talmud derives this from a calculation based on Biblical texts. There is a Jewish tradition that King David was born and died at Pentecost, in the Apostle Peters first sermon, recorded in Acts 2, 14–39, he linked the life, death and Ascension of Jesus to King Davids death, burial and hope of immortality. The biblical narrative of Pentecost is given in the chapter of the Book of Acts. Present were about one hundred and twenty followers of Christ, including the Twelve Apostles, his mother Mary, various other women disciples and his brothers. Their reception of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room is recounted in Acts 2, 1–6, And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty wind. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven, Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. He also mentions that it was the hour of the day. Acts 2,41 then reports, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, Peter stated that this event was the beginning of a continual outpouring that would be available to all believers from that point on, Jews and Gentiles alike
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Supersessionism
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Supersessionism, also called replacement theology or fulfillment theology, is a Christian theological view on the current status of the church in relation to the Jewish people and Judaism. It holds that the Christian Church has succeeded the Israelites as the people of God or that the New Covenant has replaced or superseded the Mosaic covenant. From a supersessionists point of view, just by continuing to exist and this view directly contrasts with dual-covenant theology which holds that the Mosaic covenant remains valid for Jews. Supersessionism formed a core tenet of the Church for the majority of its existence, subsequent to and because of the Holocaust, some mainstream Christian theologians and denominations have rejected supersessionism. The word supersessionism comes from the English verb to supersede, from the Latin verb sedeo, sedere, sedi, sessum, to sit, plus super and it thus signifies one thing being replaced or supplanted by another. The word supersession is used by Sydney Thelwall in the title of three of his 1870 translation of Tertullians Adversus Iudaeos. The title is provided by Thelwall, it is not in the original Latin, many Christian theologians saw the New Covenant in Christ as a replacement for the Mosaic Covenant. Historically, statements on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church have claimed its ecclesiastical structures to be a fulfillment and replacement of Jewish ecclesiastical structures. As recently as 1965 Vatican Council II affirmed, the Church is the new people of God, without intending to make Israel according to the flesh, modern Protestants hold to a range of positions on the topic. In the wake of the Holocaust, mainstream Christian communities began the work of undoing supersessionism, Paul himself was born a Jew, but after a conversion experience he came to accept Jesus divinity later in his life. In the opinion of Roman Catholic reformer James Carroll, accepting Jesus divinity and his personal conversion and his understanding of the dichotomy between being Jewish and accepting Jesus divinity, was the religious philosophy he wanted to see adopted among other Jews of his time. The text most often quoted in favor of the supersessionist view is Hebrews 8,13, many Early Christian commentators taught that the Old Covenant was fulfilled and replaced by the New Covenant in Christ, for instance, Justin Martyr, For the true spiritual Israel. Are we who have led to God through this crucified Christ. Hippolytus of Rome, have been darkened in the eyes of your soul with an utter and everlasting. ”Augustine follows these views of the earlier Church Fathers. Are thus by their own Scriptures a testimony to us that we have not forged the prophecies about Christ, the Catholic church built its system of eschatology on his theology, where Christ rules the earth spiritually through his triumphant church. And bring them down O Lord, Augustine mentioned to love the Jews but as a means to convert them to Christianity. Jeremy Cohen, followed by John Y. B, in this Torah, which is Jesus himself, the abiding essence of what was inscribed on the stone tablets at Sinai is now written in living flesh, namely, the twofold commandment of love. To imitate him, to him in discipleship, is therefore to keep Torah
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Sermon
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A sermon is an oration, lecture, or talk by a member of a religious institution or clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, elements of the sermon often include exposition, exhortation and practical application. In Christianity, a sermon is delivered in a place of worship from an elevated architectural feature, variously known as a pulpit. The word sermon comes from a Middle English word which was derived from Old French, the word can mean conversation, which could mean that early sermons were delivered in the form of question and answer, and that only later did it come to mean a monologue. In modern language, the sermon is used in secular terms, pejoratively, to describe a lengthy or tedious speech delivered with great passion, by any person. A sermonette is a short sermon, in Christianity, a sermon is typically identified as an address or discourse delivered to an assembly of Christians, typically containing theological or moral instruction. Although it is called a homily, the original distinction between a sermon and a homily was that a sermon was delivered by a clergyman while a homily was read from a printed copy by a layman. In the 20th century the distinction has become one of the sermon being likely to be longer, have more structure, homilies are usually considered to be a type of sermon, usually narrative or biographical, see sermon types below. The word sermon is used to describe many famous moments in Christian history, the most famous example is the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus of Nazareth. This address was given around 30 AD, and is recounted in the Gospel of Matthew as being delivered on a mount on the end of the Sea of Galilee. It is also contained in some of the gospel narratives. During the later history of Christianity, several figures became known for their addresses that later became regarded as sermons, examples in the early church include Peter, Stephen, Tertullian and John Chrysostom. These addresses were used to spread Christianity across Europe and Asia Minor, and as such are not sermons in the modern sense, the sermon has been an important part of Christian services since Early Christianity, and remains prominent in both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Lay preachers sometimes figure in these traditions of worship, for example the Methodist local preachers, the Franciscans are another important preaching order, Travelling preachers, usually friars, were an important feature of late medieval Catholicism. During the Middle Ages, sermons inspired the beginnings of new religious institutes, pope Urban II began the First Crusade in November 1095 at the Council of Clermont, France, when he exhorted French knights to retake the Holy Land. The academic study of sermons, the analysis and classification of their preparation, composition, a controversial issue that aroused strong feelings in Early Modern Britain was whether sermons should be read from a fully prepared text, or extemporized, perhaps from some notes. Many clergymen openly recycled large chunks of published sermons in their own preaching, such sermons include John Wesleys 53 Standard Sermons, John Chrysostoms Homily on the Resurrection and Gregory Nazianzus homily On the Theophany, or Birthday of Christ. The 80 sermons in German of the Dominican Johannes Tauler were read for centuries after his death, martin Luther published his sermons on the Sunday lessons for the edification of readers
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Eastern Christianity
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Eastern Christianity consists of four main church families, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East, as well as the Eastern Catholic Churches. The term is used in contrast with Western Christianity, the term does not describe a single communion or religious denomination. Some Eastern churches have more in common historically and theologically with Western Christianity than with one another, the various Eastern churches do not normally refer to themselves as Eastern, with the exception of the Assyrian Church of the East and its offshoots. Eastern Christians do not share the religious traditions, but do share many cultural traditions. Christianity divided itself in the East during its early centuries both within and outside of the Roman Empire in disputes about Christology and fundamental theology, as well as national divisions and it would be many centuries later that Western Christianity fully split from these traditions as its own communion. The Eastern churches differences from Western Christianity have as much, if not more, to do with culture, language, for the non-Catholic Eastern churches, a definitive date for the commencement of schism cannot usually be given. Oriental Orthodoxy separated after the Council of Chalcedon in 451, since the time of the historian Edward Gibbon, the split between the Church of Rome and the Orthodox Church has been conveniently dated to 1054, though the reality is more complex. This split is referred to as the Great Schism. Eastern Orthodox Christians accept the decisions of the First seven Ecumenical Councils, the Eastern Orthodox Church is organized into self-governing jurisdictions along geographical, national, ethnic, and/or linguistic lines. Eastern Orthodoxy is thus made up of 15 or 16 autocephalous bodies, smaller churches are autonomous and each have a mother church that is autocephalous. This is in contrast to the Catholic Church and its various Churches, members of the latter are all in communion with each other, parts of a top-down hierarchy. The majority of Catholics accept both the Filioque clause and, since 1950, the Assumption of Mary and this puts them in sharp contrast with the Eastern Orthodox. Yet some Catholics who are not in communion with the Catholic Church side with the Eastern Orthodox here and reject these teachings and it is estimated that there are approximately 240 million Eastern Orthodox Christians in the world. Today, many adherents shun the term Eastern as denying the universal character. They refer to Eastern Orthodoxy simply as the Orthodox Church, hence, these churches are also called Old Oriental churches. Oriental Orthodoxy developed in reaction to Chalcedon on the limit of the Byzantine Empire and in Egypt. In those locations, there are also Eastern Orthodox patriarchs, thereafter it was often known, possibly inaccurately, as the Nestorian Church in the West. Surviving a period of persecution within Persia, the Church of the East flourished under the caliphate and branched out, in the 16th century dynastic struggles sent the church into schism, resulting in the formation of two rival churches
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Evangelism
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Evangelism is the preaching of the gospel or the practice of proselytizing a particular doctrine or set of beliefs to others with the intention of converting others to the Christian faith. Some Christian traditions consider evangelists to be in a leadership position, Christian groups who actively encourage evangelism are sometimes known as evangelistic or evangelist. The scriptures do not use the word evangelism, but evangelist is used in Acts 21,8, Ephesians 4,11, and 2 Timothy 4,5. The word evangelist comes from the Koine Greek word εὐαγγέλιον via Latinised evangelium as used in the titles of the Four Gospels, authored by Matthew, Mark, Luke. The Greek word εὐαγγέλιον originally meant a reward given to the messenger for good news, the verb form of euangelion, occurs rarely in older Greek literature outside the New Testament, making its meaning more difficult to ascertain. Parallel texts of the Gospels of Luke and Mark reveal a relationship between the verb euangelizo and a Greek verb kerusso, which means to proclaim. While evangelism is usually regarded as converting non-Christians to Christianity, this is not always the proper usage of the word, if converting to Christianity includes services or material benefits, evangelism is called proselytism. Different denominations follow different theological interpretations which reflect upon the point of who is doing the actual conversion, calvinists, for example, believe the soul is converted only if the Holy Spirit is effective in the act. Catholic missionary work in Russia is commonly seen as evangelism, not proselytism and it is entrance into the gift of communion with Christ. In recent history, certain Bible passages have been used to promote evangelism, breaking from tradition and going beyond television and radio a wide range of methods have been developed to reach people not inclined to attend traditional events in churches or revival meetings. Dramas such as Heavens Gates, Hells Flames have gained popularity since the 1980s. These dramas typically depict characters who die and learn whether they will go to heaven or hell. The child evangelism movement is a Christian evangelism movement that originated in the 20th century and it focuses on the 4/14 Window which centers on evangelizing children between the ages of 4 and 14 years old. Other entertainment-based Christian evangelism events include comedy, live theater and music, the Christian music industry has also played a significant role in modern evangelism. Evangelists such as Reinhard Bonnke conduct mass evangelistic crusades around the world, sometimes, the regular minister of a church is called a preacher in a way that other groups would typically use the term pastor. The evangelist in some churches is one that travels from town to town and from church to church, many Christians of various theological perspectives would call themselves evangelists because they are spreaders of the gospel. Many churches believe one of their functions is to function as evangelists to spread the evangelist belief that Jesus is savior of humanity. The title of evangelist is often associated with those who lead large meetings like those of Billy Graham, Luis Palau, pérez possibly in tents or existing church buildings, or those who address the public in street corner preaching, which targets listeners who happen to pass nearby
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Televangelism
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Televangelism is the use of media, specifically radio and television, to communicate Christianity. In current times it is associated with a type of Evangelical Christianity. Televangelists are Christian ministers, whether official or self-proclaimed, who devote a portion of their ministry to television broadcasting. The term is used derisively by critics as an insinuation of aggrandizement by such ministers. It became especially popular among Evangelical Protestant audiences, whether independent or organized around Christian denominations like the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, domestically produced televangelism is increasingly present in some other nations such as Brazil. Some countries have a more regulated media with either general restrictions on access or specific rules regarding religious broadcasting, in such countries, religious programming is typically produced by TV companies rather than private interest groups. Some televangelists are also regular pastors or ministers in their own places of worship, others do not have a conventional congregation as such and solely work through television. The word televangelism is a portmanteau of television and evangelism and it was coined in 1958 as the title of a miniseries by the Southern Baptist Convention. Jeffrey K. Hadden and Charles E. Swann have been credited with popularising the word in their 1981 survey Prime Time Preachers, The Rising Power of Televangelism. However, the term televangelist was employed by Time magazine already in 1952, an association of American Evangelical Protestant religious broadcasters, the National Religious Broadcasters, was founded in 1944. Christianity has always emphasised preaching the gospel to the whole world, some Christians realised that the rapid uptake of radio beginning in the 1920s provided a powerful new tool for this task, and they were amongst the first producers of radio programming. The aim of Christian radio was to convert people to Christianity and to provide teaching and support to believers. These activities continue today, particularly in the developing world, shortwave radio stations with a Christian format broadcast worldwide, such as HCJB in Quito, Ecuador, Family Radios WYFR, and the Bible Broadcasting Network, among others. In the U. S. the Great Depression of the 1930s saw a resurgence of revival-tent preaching in the Midwest and South, as itinerant traveling preachers drove from town to town, several preachers began radio shows as a result of their popularity. One of the first ministers to use radio extensively was S. Parkes Cadman, by 1928, Cadman had a weekly Sunday afternoon radio broadcast on the NBC radio network, his powerful oratory reaching a nationwide audience of five million persons. Aimee Semple McPherson was another pioneering tent-revivalist who soon turned to radio to reach a larger audience, radio eventually gave her nationwide notoriety in the 1920s and 1930s and she even built one of the earliest Pentecostal megachurches. In the 1930s, a radio evangelist of the period was Roman Catholic priest Father Charles Coughlin, whose strongly anti-Communist. The total radio audience for radio ministers in the U. S. that year was estimated to be 10 million listeners, although television also began in the 1930s, it was not used for religious purposes until the early 1950s
