Christian Church and
church (Greek
kyriakon, "thing belonging to the Lord"; also
ekklesia (Latinized as
ecclesia, "assembly") are used to denote both a Christian
association of people and a
place of worship. In the phenomenological sense there are many such associations of people that call themselves Christian churches. In the
New Testament the term ἐκκλησία (church or assembly) is used for local communities and in a universal sense to mean all believers.
Etymology of "church"
The
English language word "church" is from the
Old English word
cirice, derived from
West Germanic *kirika, which in turn comes from the Greek
kuriakē, meaning "of the Lord" (possessive form of
kurios "ruler, lord").
Kuriakē in the sense of "church" is most likely a shortening of
kuriakē oikia ("house of the Lord") or
ekklēsia kuriakē ("congregation of the Lord").
Christian churches were sometimes called
kuriakon (adjective meaning "of the Lord") in Greek starting in the 4th century, but
ekklēsia and
basilikē were more common.
thumb|left|Icon depicting the [[bishops of the
First Council of Nicaea holding the
Nicene Creed.]]
The
Greek word
ekklēsia, literally "assembly, congregation, council", is the traditional term referring to the Christian Church. Most
Romance and
Celtic languages use derivations of this word, either inherited or borrowed from the
Latin form
ecclesia, which is used in English to denote either a particular local group, or the whole body of the faithful.
The word is one of many direct Greek-to-Germanic loans of Christian terminology, via the
Goths. The Slavic terms for "church" (
Old Church Slavonic [
crĭky],
Russian [
cerkov’]) are via the
Old High German cognate .
History
The Christian Church originated in
Roman Judea in the
first century AD, founded on the teachings of
Jesus of
Nazareth, who is believed by Christians to be the
Son of God and the
Messiah (deliverer king) of the
Jewish people. It is usually thought of as beginning with Jesus'
Apostles. According to
scripture Jesus
commanded them to spread his teachings to all the world.
Although springing out of the
first century Jewish faith, from Christianity's earliest days (as did Judaism, see
proselyte and
Noahide Laws), they accepted non-
Jews (
Gentiles) without requiring them to fully adopt Jewish customs (such as
circumcision)
[Church as an Institution, Dictionary of the History of Ideas, University of Virginia Library] Some think that conflict with
Jewish religious authorities quickly led to the expulsion of the Christians from the
synagogues in
Jerusalem. (See also
Council of Jamnia and
List of events in early Christianity.)
The Church gradually spread through the
Roman Empire and outside it, gaining major establishments in cities such as Jerusalem,
Antioch, and
Edessa.
Christianity became a widely persecuted religion. It was
condemned by the Jewish authorities as a
heresy. The
Roman authorities persecuted it because, like Judaism, its
monotheistic teachings were fundamentally foreign to the
polytheistic traditions of the ancient world and a challenge to the
imperial cult. Other teachings of Christianity, such as the call to
chastity and the
prohibition on homosexual practise, also made it unpopular. Despite this the Church grew rapidly until
finally legalized and then promoted by Emperors
Galerius and
Constantine in the
fourth century. A major controversy as the Church was being
formalized was the
Arianism vs.
Trinitarianism debate which occupied the Church during the fourth century.
[Michael Hines, Constantine and the Christian State, Church History for the Masses]After various Church councils (
Nicaea,
Tyre,
Rimini,
Seleucia,
Constantinople, etc.), the matter was effectively settled under the Trinitarian Emperor
Theodosius I who made Christianity the
state religion (some
Germanic tribes, though, remained Arian well into the
Middle Ages). This period would begin the long-term persecution of
pagans and "heretical" Christians in the Empire and the kingdoms that followed. See also
Christendom.
The Church of the Roman Empire was divided into Patriarchal Sees with five holding particular prominence, one in the
West (
Rome), and the rest in the
East (
Constantinople,
Jerusalem,
Antioch, and
Alexandria). The
bishops of these five would become the
Patriarchs of the Church. Even after the
split of the Roman Empire the Church remained a relatively united institution (apart from
Oriental Orthodoxy and some other groups which separated from the rest of the Church earlier). The Church came to be a central and defining institution of the Empire, especially in the East or
Byzantine Empire. In particular,
Constantinople would come to be seen as the center of the Christian world, owing in great part to its economic and political power.
Once the
Western Empire fell to
Germanic incursions in the
5th century, the (Roman) Church for centuries became the primary link to
Roman civilization for
Medieval Western Europe and an important channel of influence in the West for the
Eastern Roman, or
Byzantine, emperors. While, in the West, Christianity struggled as the so-called
orthodox (i.e., Roman) Church competed against the
Arian Christian and pagan faiths of the Germanic rulers, the Eastern Romans spread Christianity to the pagan
Slavs establishing the Church in what is now
Russia,
Central Europe and
Eastern Europe.
[CHRISTIANITY IN HISTORY, Dictionary of the History of Ideas, University of Virginia Library] The reign of
Charlemagne in Western Europe is particularly noted for bringing the last major Western tribes outside of the Church into communion with Rome, in part through conquest and forced conversion.
Starting in the
7th century the
Islamic Caliphates rose and gradually began to conquer larger and larger areas of the
Christian world.
Excepting
southern Spain and a few smaller areas, Northern and western Europe for centuries escaped largely unscathed by Islamic expansion in great part because Constantinople and its empire acted as a magnet for the onslaught. The challenge presented by the Muslims would help to solidify the religious identity of eastern Christians even as it gradually weakened the Eastern Empire.
Even in the
Muslim World, the Church survived (e.g., the modern
Copts,
Maronites, and others) albeit at times with great difficulty.
Although there had long been frictions between the
Bishop of Rome (i.e., the
Western Pope) and the other patriarchs, Rome's
changing allegiance from Constantinople to the
Frankish king Charlemagne set the Church on a course towards separation. The political and theological divisions would grow until Rome and the East excommunicated each other in the 11th century, ultimately leading to the division of the Church into the
Western (Roman Catholic) and
Eastern (Eastern Orthodox) Churches.
As a result of the
redevelopment of Western Europe, and the
gradual fall of the Eastern Roman Empire to the
Arabs and
Turks (helped by
warfare against Eastern Christians). The final
Fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD resulted in Eastern scholars fleeing the Moslem hordes bringing ancient manuscripts to the West, which was a factor in the beginning of the period of the
Western Renaissance there.
Rome came to be seen by the Western Church as Christianity's heartland. Some Eastern churches even broke with Eastern Orthodoxy and entered into communion with Rome. The changes brought on by the Renaissance eventually led to the
Protestant Reformation during which the Protestant Lutheran and the Reformed followers of Calvin, Hus, Zwingli, Melancthon, Knox, and others split from the Roman Catholic Church. At this time, a series of non-theological disputes also led to the
English Reformation which led to the independence of the
Anglican Communion. Then during the
Age of Exploration and the
Age of Imperialism, Western Europe spread the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant and Reformed Churches around the world, especially in the
Americas. These developments in turn have led to Christianity's being the largest religion in the world today.
Related concepts
orthodox Church and orthodox faith. The terms (not to be confused with the modern term "Eastern Orthodox" with a capital 'O') have been used to distinguish what Catholics and Eastern Orthodox consider the
true Church from groups they consider
heretical. The term became especially prominent in referring to the doctrine of the
Nicene Creed and, in historical contexts, is often still used to distinguish this first "official" doctrine from others.
also known as the
Bride of Christ, is used to refer to the total community of Christians seen as interdependent in a single entity headed by
Jesus Christ.
Visible and Invisible Church. This distinction is made by
Protestants of the
Reformed theological persuasion. The terms are used to describe two distinct aspects of the one church that Jesus founded. All
genuine believers are members of the
invisible church whether they are living in heaven or on earth. The
visible church is designated "visible" because it is discernible by the senses, by empirical means. The
visible church includes "genuine" believers who are truly united to Christ and false professors or hypocrites that do not really partake of the Savior. "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven…. I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" After warning His disciples of the danger of false prophets, Jesus warns them of the consequences of a false profession of religion.
The
Roman Catholic Church and
Eastern Orthodox Church reject this separation of a visible from an invisible Church. A theologian of the latter Church has described as a
Nestorian ecclesiology "the error of those who would divide the Church into two distinct beings: on the one hand the heavenly and invisible Church, alone true and absolute; on the other, the earthly Church (or rather 'the churches') imperfect and relative".
[ (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1976 ISBN 0913836311) p. 186]Church Militant and Church Triumphant (Ecclesia Militans, Ecclesia Triumphans) The term is used to express the concept of a united Church that extends beyond the earthly realm into Heaven. The term
Church Militant comprises all living Christians while
Church Triumphant comprises those in
Heaven.
Church Suffering, or
Church Expectant.
Roman Catholic concept encompassing those Christians in
Purgatory. These Christians are not considered part of the
Church Militant and Church Triumphant.
Communion of Saints expresses the idea of a shared faith which, through
prayer, binds all Christians regardless of the physical separation or separation by death. In Roman Catholic theology this would be differentiated from the
Church Militant and Church Triumphant alone because the Communion of Saints also includes the
Church Suffering.
Orthodox tradition
The term
orthodox is generally used to distinguish the faith or beliefs of the "true Church" from other doctrines which disagree, traditionally referred to as
heresy.
The
Eastern Orthodox Church and
Oriental Orthodoxy each claim to be the original Christian Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church bases its claim primarily on its assertion that it holds to traditions and beliefs of the original Christian Church. It also states that 4 out of the 5 sees of the
Pentarchy (excluding Rome) are still a part of it.
The
Oriental Orthodox Churches' claims are similar to those of the Eastern Orthodox Church, excluding the claim to 4 of the 5 sees of the Pentarchy.
The importance of identity of tradition and belief with the original Christian Church can be seen as originating with the
biblical proscriptions against
false prophets. "Orthodoxy" means both "true glory" and "correct teaching", and this theological term is explicitly used by Orthodox Christians as a shorthand way to refer to themselves as "the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, Orthodox and Orthoprax, Church of Jesus Christ and His saints." In the same manner, the Roman Catholic Church describes itself as orthodox, meaning having possession of the whole faith. Other Christian denominations, who do not accept the claims of this Church to be the sole orthodox Church refer to her as the
Eastern Orthodox Church.
This concept of "orthodoxy" began to take on particular significance during the reign of the
Roman Emperor Constantine I, the first to actively promote Christianity. Constantine convened the first
Ecumenical Council, the
Council of Nicea, which attempted to provide the first universal creed of the Christian faith.
The major issue of this and other councils during the fourth century was the
christological debate between
Arianism and
Trinitarianism. Trinitarianism is the official doctrine of the Catholic Church and is strongly associated with the term "orthodoxy", although some modern non-trinitarian churches dispute this usage. Churches that subscribe to the
Nicene Creed, the first official Trinitarian
creed, are sometimes referred to as "orthodox"
Roman Catholic tradition
In 2007, the Catholic view of the "Church" was significantly clarified when
Benedict XVI ratified and confirmed an important document intended to close the argument about the identification of the Catholic Church with the broader Church of Christ.
In answer to the question,
What is the meaning of the affirmation that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church?, the document reaffirmed that Christ "established here on earth" only one Church and instituted it as a "visible and spiritual community". It also declared that only in the "[Roman] Catholic Church" are found "all the elements" that Christ himself instituted.
"This one Church of Christ, which we confess in the Creed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic…."Protestant and Anglican traditions
Since the
Protestant Reformation, most
Protestant denominations interpret "catholic", especially in its creedal context, as referring to the concept of the eternal church of Christ and the Elect, referenced in the
Bible in phrases such as "
body of Christ" and "great cloud of witnesses". This Protestant interpretation of the words "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church" in the Nicene Creed identifies exclusively with the
Church Triumphant—the church that exists "in heaven" or in eternity as opposed to the
Church Militant—the communion of the faithful here on Earth. They view this understanding of "catholic"—written with a lower-case "c"—as necessarily distinct from any concrete expression in an institutional Church.
Anglicans generally understand their tradition as a branch of the historic Catholic Church and as a
via media (middle way) among Roman Catholicism, global Orthodoxy, and Protestantism.
Apostolic succession
"
Apostolic succession" is a doctrine of the
Roman Catholic Church, the
Eastern Orthodox Churches, the
Oriental Orthodox churches, the
Anglican Communion and others. The doctrine asserts that the bishops of the "true Church" enjoy the favor or
grace of God as a result of legitimate and unbroken sacramental succession from
Jesus' apostles.
[Apostolic Succession, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.] According to this doctrine, modern bishops, therefore, must be viewed as part of an unbroken line of leadership in succession from the original apostles: though they do not have the authority and powers granted uniquely to the apostles, they are the apostles' successors in governing the Church.
Like the churches mentioned above, Protestants see the authority given to the apostles as unique, proper to apostles alone, but they conclude from this that any doctrine of a succession to the apostles by bishops is to be rejected. The Protestant view of ecclesiastical authority differs accordingly.
The visible and the invisible church
"... one holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered." –
Augsburg Confession
In this view, the Church invisible consists of all those from every time and place who are vitally united to Christ through regeneration and salvation and who will be eternally united to Jesus Christ in eternal life. The universal, invisible church refers to the "invisible" body of the elect who are known only to God, and contrasts with the "visible church"—that is, the institutional body on earth which preaches the gospel and administers the sacraments. Every member of the invisible church is considered saved, while the visible church contains some individuals who are saved and others who are unsaved. This concept has been attributed to St Augustine of Hippo as part of his refutation of the Donatist sect, but others question whether Augustine really held to some form of an "invisible true Church" concept.
The Church visible, in this same view, consists of all those who visibly join themselves to a profession of faith and gathering together to know and serve the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ. It exists globally in all who identify themselves as Christians and locally in particular places where believers gather for the worship of God. The visible church may also refer to an association of particular churches from multiple locations who unite themselves under a common charter and set of governmental principles. The church in the visible sense is often governed by office-bearers carrying titles such as minister, pastor, teacher, elder, and deacon.
For the Eastern Orthodox Church, making a real distinction between the heavenly and invisible Church, alone true and absolute, and the earthly Church, imperfect and relative, is a "Nestorian ecclesiology".
Roman Catholic theology, reacting against the concept of a purely invisible Church, emphasized the visible aspect of the Church founded by Christ. In the twentieth century it placed more stress on the interior life of the Church as a supernatural organism. In an encyclical it identified the Church with the Mystical Body of Christ. This encyclical rejected two extreme views of the Church:
- A rationalistic or purely sociological understanding of the Church, according to which she is merely a human organization with structures and activities, is mistaken. The visible Church and its structures do exist but the Church is more, as she is guided by the Holy Spirit:
Although the juridical principles, on which the Church rests and is established, derive from the divine constitution given to it by Christ and contribute to the attaining of its supernatural end, nevertheless that which lifts the Society of Christians far above the whole natural order is the Spirit of our Redeemer who penetrates and fills every part of the Church.
- An exclusively mystical understanding of the Church is mistaken as well, because a mystical "Christ in us" union would deify its members and mean that the acts of Christians are simultaneously the acts of Christ. The theological concept una mystica persona (one mystical person) refers not to an individual relation but to the unity of Christ with the Church and the unity of its members with him in her.
Church government
Major forms of church government include hierarchical (Anglican, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholic), presbyterian (rule by elders), and independent (Baptist, charismatic, other forms of in dependency). Before the Protestant Reformation clergy were understood to gain their authority through apostolic succession, as still affirmed by the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholic churches.Metaphors
Christian scriptures use a wide range of metaphors to describe the Church. These include:
- Brothers and sisters with each other in God's family
- New temple and new priesthood with a new cornerstone
- Pillar and foundation the truth
- Temple of the Holy Spirit
Divisions and controversies
A simplified chart of historical branches within the Christian belief systems. The different width of the lines is without objective significance. Protestantism in general, and not just Restorationism, claims a direct connection with Early Christianity.
One universal church
The phrase One, holy, catholic and apostolic Church appears in the Nicene Creed () and, in part, in the Apostles' Creed ("the holy catholic church", sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam, which in Greek would be: ). The phrase is intended to set forth the four marks, or identifying signs, of the Christian Church—unity, holiness, universality, and apostolicity—and is based on the premise that all true Christians form a single united group founded by the apostles. The word catholic in the phrase is a synonym for "universal" and is not a reference to the Roman Catholic Church.The term "catholic" is derived from the Greek adjective καθολικός pronounced katholikos, which means "general" or "universal".
When the word "catholic" (lower case "c") or "universal" is applied to the Church, it implies a calling to spread the faith throughout the whole world and to all ages. It is also thought of as implying that the Church is endowed with all the means of salvation for its members. In this sense the Church is taken by Christian theology to refer to the single, universal community of faithful. Baptism and communion signifies membership of the Church, excommunication is the expulsion from it.
The notion goes back to Early Christianity. The doctrine that outside of the Church there is no salvation (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus) goes back to Cyprian (d. 258) and is maintained by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches to the present day. The doctrine of the universal Church was made explicit in the Apostles' Creed. The emphasis on the unity of the Church Universal is made in the Unam sanctam bull of 1302, an extreme statement of Papal supremacy.
Saint Ignatius of Antioch, the earliest known writer to use the phrase "the Catholic church", excluded from it heterodox groups whose teaching and practice conflicted with those of the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church. In keeping with this idea, many churches and communions see groups that it judges to be in a state of heresy or schism with their church or communion as not part of the catholic Church. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches follow this doctrine.
The Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church each regard themselves as the one true and unique church of Christ, and claim to be not just a Christian Church but the original Church founded by Christ, preserving unbroken the original teaching and sacraments. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that "the one Church of Christ, as a society constituted and organized in the world, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him. Only through this Church can one obtain the fullness of the means of salvation since the Lord has entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant to the apostolic college alone whose head is Peter." Similarly, the Eastern Orthodox Church believes it is "the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, founded by Jesus Christ and His apostles. It is organically and historically the same Church that came fully into being at Pentecost." They see the members of other churches as linked in only an imperfect way with the one true Church, recognising Protestants not as churches but as ecclesial or specific faith believing communities.
Many other Christian groups take the view that all denominations are part of a symbolic and global Christian church which is a body bound by a common faith if not a common administration or tradition. Like the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church and some others have always referred to themselves as the Catholic church. Oriental Orthodoxy shares this view, seeing the Churches of the Oriental Orthodox communion as constituting the one true Church. In the West the term Catholic has come to be most commonly associated with the Roman Catholic Church because of its size and influence in the West (although in formal contexts most other churches still reject this naming).
These Churches believe that the term one in the Nicene Creed describes and prescribes a visible institutional unity, not only geographically throughout the world, but also historically throughout history. They see unity as one of the four marks that the Creed attributes to the genuine Church, and the essence of a mark is that it be visible. A Church whose identity and belief varied from country to country and from age to age would not be "one" in their estimation.
In the New Testament, the word "Church" or "assembly"—(translations for ekklesia)—normally refers to believers on earth, and they conclude that the Creed's description "one" must be applicable to the Church on earth and must not be reserved for some eschatological reality. The only exception to the normal New Testament use of the word "" is the mention of the " of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven." Even there the Christians to whom the letter is addressed are associated with that heavenly Church ("you have come to….") In line with this passage, the ancient Churches mentioned see the saints too—that is, the holy dead—as part of the one Church and not as ex-members, so that Christians both in the present life and the afterlife form a single Church.
Many Baptist and Congregationalist theologians accept the local sense as the only valid application of the term church. They strongly reject the notion of a universal (catholic) church. These denominations argue that all uses of the Greek word ekklesia in the New Testament are speaking of either a particular local group or of the notion of "church" in the abstract, and never of a single, worldwide church.
Many Anglicans, Lutherans, Old Catholics, and Independent Catholics view unity as a mark of catholicity, but see the institutional unity of the Catholic Church as manifested in the shared Apostolic Succession of their episcopacies, rather than a shared episcopal hierarchy or rites.
Reformed Christians hold that every person justified by faith in the Gospel committed to the Apostles is a member of "One, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church". From this perspective, the real unity and holiness of the whole church established through the Apostles is yet to be revealed; and meanwhile, the extent and peace of the church on earth is imperfectly realized in a visible way.Other debates
Other debates include the following:
' is a pejorative term used to describe practices of Christianity that are viewed as placing a larger emphasis on the habits of church life or the institutional traditions the Christian Church (Ecclesia) than on the teachings of Jesus. It can also be used to describe churches where the central focus has moved from Christ to the church. Hence the replacement of Christ with church in the word churchianity. The opposing position taken by the Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church is that the Church is very much essential (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus), based on the close union between Christ and the Church as described in Biblical passages such as Epistle to the Ephesians (see Bride of Christ). Orthodox theology, on the other hand, sees Protestant worship and piety as being too man centered, especially when centered on a celebrity pastor and on factions rather than on Christ, which they claim becomes the center in traditional piety.- There are many opinions as to the ultimate fate of the souls of individuals who are not part of a particular institutional church, i.e., members of a particular church may or may not believe that the souls of those outside their church organization can or will be saved.
- There have always been differing opinions as to the divinity of God, the Son and or his unity with God, the Father. Although historically the most significant debate in this arena was the Arianism and trinitarianism debate in the Roman Empire, debates in this realm have occurred throughout Christian history.
- It has been debated whether or not the Christian Church is in fact a unified heavenly institution with the earthly institutions relegated to secondary status.
See also
