ancient roman catholic church

When Constantine became the sole emperor of Rome, orthodox Christianity called itself the Holy Apostolic Catholic Church of Christ. Catholic comes from a Greek word for "Universal". It officially became the "Roman Catholic Church" when Constantine convened the great council of Nicea in 325 AD uniting all bishops under a common creed. Paganism was still practised even as Christians took over the empire.

Later, the empire would split in 2 separate Eastern & Western Roman empires, both officially Catholic. Rome in the west would fall in 410 AD & Constantinople in the east would live on for another thousand years. The latter is known as the Byzantine Empire. It was a the Byzantine emperor Justinian who ordered the closing of Athens' great academy of Philosophy (forgot the year, sorry). It was the last bastion of Greek/Roman paganism.

In 1052 AD, the Catholic Church would suffer a schism between the Latin west (Rome) & the Greek east (Constantinople). The Roman Catholic Church is the Latin branch of orthodox christianity as the Greek Orthodox Church is the Greek branch of the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is still in schism to this very day.

2009-04-03 08:06:48 by Cateyes

shop.catholic.com CatholicAnswers Senior Apologist Jimmy Akin refutes the claim made by some Christian Fundamentalists that the Emperor ...

These are the main steps that gradually led to the full-blown implementation of the invalid "New Mass" of 1969:

1945 - "New" Latin ("Pius XII") Psalter introduced.
1951 - Easter Vigil changed.
1954 - Vulgar tongues introduced into Sacraments.
1956 - Traditional rubrics of Mass, Divine Office, and Holy Week changed.
1960 - Traditional rubrics of Mass and Divine Office changed again.
1962 - Sacred Apostolic Roman Canon of Mass changed.
1964 - Vulgar tongues introduced into Mass.
1967 - Dogmatic form of Mass Consecration changed.
1968 - New Order of Ordination for Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons introduced.
1969 - New Order Service (formerly "Mass") introduced.

2010-02-27 20:16:38 by Teresa

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....The original brothers and sisters were actuallly siblings. The ancient hierarchy believed that incest would produce a super race because of the sucess of the birth of the genius Gaius Octavian Caesar, (from the sibling relationship of Cleopatra and Marc Antony), who became Augustus, and eventually the "myths that formed the theology of Jesus" and the modern Roman Catholic Church. The practice was eventually abandoned because it produced inferior offspring that had to be eliminated. This is why there are stories of children of nuns and priests being buried alive. The practice of using "brothers and sister' lives on until today.

Much hate noticed here!!!

2008-05-05 08:33:30 by Les B

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The RCC claims apostolic authority based on Matthew 16:18 "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." They claim that as first bishop of Rome Peter passed that authority on to subsequent bishops of Rome and that the Roman bishopric is therefore pre-eminent in authority, and that authority carries power outlined in Matthew 18:18 when Jesus said to the apostles, "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Therefore the church can name a sin whatever it chooses, including the destruction of the environment. If there is such a thing as apostolic authority passed by laying on of hands, it seems to me that the ancient churches, Roman, Greek, Coptic, Syrian, maybe a couple of others, could make the claim, but no protestant church could do so. What's your stand and your proof?
Yes I realize the title "pope" is post Biblical and tha tthe other bishops probably deferred to the Bishop of Rome to resovle disputes because he had the backing of the emperor more than because they really believed him to be Peter's successor.
MrgLvWsdm - Sola Scriptura is not a Biblical principle. It is Martin Luther's notion which the RCC has never accepted, and of course Martin was a renegade priest and an ex-communicated heretic, so his thoughts on the matter are suspect.
patrick H - You're engaging in isogesis. God is no respecter of persons according to Peter, and yet scripture sets out the offices of deacon and bishop and their qualifications and duties, and the Pope is the bishop of Rome. You can't argue that isn't Biblical or that the Paul intended the offices to have no authority.
Mary Ann - Has succinctly stated the church posiiton.
Bruce - good contribution!
Jeff S - I have diificulty resolving the notion of intercession myself. The Book of Hebrews makes clear there is one intercessor and high priest, Jesus. The Catholic comeback is that it doesn't say jesus can't appoint all the assistant intercesors he wishes, as though heaven is a bureaucracy that mirrors the Vatican. It seems a stretch to me. But I get confession if in fact the priest has apostolic authority to remit sins. Praying to dead people (saints) is also problematic, but I think it is a confusion of terms going on. For protestants prayer is almost an act of worship directed toward the Trinity. Usually prefaced with praise, right? though I would say Mary is certainly an exception that borders on making her the fourth person in the godhead at times, most prayer to saints seems to be conversational, not worship. catholics have a different and borader understanding of "communionof the saints' that extends beyond the Eucharist to the "surrounded by a cloud of witnesses" idea.
Wannabsaved- Would you say the RCC had Apostolic authority before Vatican II? I'm also curious to know how changes in the mass would undo authority Jesus gave. I think the change in the mass you cite is justified by this verse:

1 John 2:2 "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

I am quite certain that if there is such a thing as apostolic authority, St. John certainly had it. Or do you disagree?
Mark R raises a good point about unbroken sucession when we've had for instance a Pope in Romae and one in Avignon ach declaring the other excommunicated and anti-Pope. But isn't the apostolic authority vested in the ornaiend by laying on of hands, not the Papacy (an extra-Biblical office) or the bishopric of Rome (always an ordained priest), so barring excomminication as was the case of the protestant heretics, even th esplit papacy would not remove apostolic authority from the church as a whole. The question is can it reside in schismatic sects? I don't see how. You can argue the priesthood of all believers I suppose, but then why have ordination at all, which Paul certainly speaks to in regards to Timothy.

Yes, the Catholic Church and the other ancient churches with historical links to the original apostles have apostolic authority.

This means that they are the appointees of the disciples trained and appointed by Jesus himself. These apostles were authorized to lead the "one flock" Jesus planned to safeguard his teachings, administer his sacraments, and evangelize the world.

John 10:16: "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be ONE FLOCK and one shepherd."

"Binding and loosing" is powerful authority to interpret Jesus' teachings in many matters, including evaluating new behavior as sinful or not sinful. It also includes the power to appoint new leaders, first exercised in Acts 1 with the appointment of Matthias to replace Judas. Later in Acts 15 the Church used the power to "bind and loose" to loose new converts from Jewish circumcision and dietary laws.

Protestant ministers have no apostolic authority. They are appointed by man-made organizations in rebellion against Jesus' actual organization, his "one flock."

Cheers,
Bruce

2008-03-10 09:15:10 by Hazbro

My opinion is: the Roman Catholic Church follows the ancient Roman Catholic belief that Julius Caesar was god and Octavian was the Christ. When they died the myths took over and they just let sleeping dogs lay.
CA (Caesar Augustus) T=mark of the beast. HOLIC=pretaining to the holy Caesar Augustus.
If you do not know how to read their symbols (Roman or Greek) you will never figure out what they were up too. You will just have to trust me.

Your absolutely nuts.

2008-04-15 08:41:42 by Les B