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98-442: A free church is any Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government (as opposed to a state church ). A free church neither defines government policy, nor accept church theology or policy definitions from the government. A free church also does not seek or receive government endorsements or funding to carry out its work. The term is only relevant in countries with established state churches. Notwithstanding that

196-482: A national church which is not established (as the official religion of the nation), but is nonetheless recognised under civil law as being the country's acknowledged religious denomination. Whilst these are not Christian states, the official Christian national church is likely to have certain residual state functions in relation to state occasions and ceremonial. Examples include Scotland ( Church of Scotland ) and Sweden ( Church of Sweden ). A national church typically has

294-408: A secular state with guaranteed religious freedom . However, Orthodox Christians with 6,079,396 adherents comprise 84.5% of the country's population. The Serbian Orthodox Church is the largest traditional church of the country, adherents of which are overwhelmingly Serbs . The SOC directly or indirectly has cultural influence on both the decisions and positions of the state . Tonga became

392-674: A Christian state under George Tupou I in the 19th century, with the Free Wesleyan Church , a member of the World Methodist Council , being established as the country's state Church. Under the rule of George Tupou I, there was established a "rigorous constitutional clause regulating observation of the Sabbath ". The Church of Tuvalu , a Calvinist church in the Congregationalist tradition,

490-672: A Christian state. In the Middle Ages , efforts were made in order to establish a Pan-Christianity state by uniting the countries within Christendom . Christian nationalism played a role in this era in which Christians felt the impulse to also recover those territories in which Christianity historically flourished, such as the Holy Land and North Africa. The First Great Awakening , American Revolution , and Second Great Awakening caused two rounds of disestablishment among

588-674: A broadly Christian character" that is widely flouted. The Church of the Faroe Islands is the state church of Faroe Islands . Georgia is one of the oldest Christian states. Article 8 of Georgian Constitution and the Concordat of 2002 grants the Georgian Orthodox Church special privileges, which include legal immunity to the Patriarch of Georgia . The Orthodox Church is the most trusted institution in

686-654: A decree went out in 1739 ordering that "Elementary schooling for all Norwegian children became mandatory, so that all Norwegians should be able to read the Bible and the Lutheran Catechism firsthand." The modern Constitution of Norway stipulates that " The Church of Norway , an Evangelical-Lutheran church, will remain the Established Church of Norway and will as such be supported by the State." As such,

784-447: A denomination and a denominational family is sometimes unclear to outsiders. Some denominational families can be considered major branches. Groups that are members of a branch, while sharing historical ties and similar doctrines, are not necessarily in communion with one another. There were some movements considered heresies by the early Church which do not exist today and are not generally referred to as denominations: examples include

882-1160: A denomination, but as the original pre-denominational Church. The total Protestant population has reached around 1.047 billion in 2024, accounting for about 39.8% of all Christians. Sixteenth-century Protestants separated from the Catholic Church as a result of the Reformation , a movement against doctrines and practices which the Reformers perceived to be in violation of the Bible. Together, Catholicism and Protestantism (with major traditions including Adventism , Anabaptism , Anglicanism , Baptists , Lutheranism , Methodism , Moravianism , Pentecostalism , Plymouth Brethren , Quakerism , Reformed , and Waldensianism ) compose Western Christianity . Western Christian denominations prevail in Sub-Saharan Africa , Europe (excluding Eastern Europe), North America , Oceania and South America . The Eastern Orthodox Church , with an estimated 230 million adherents,

980-464: A denomination, that is, "an organized body of Christians." Historically, Catholics would label members of certain Christian churches (also certain non-Christian religions) by the names of their founders, either actual or purported. Such supposed founders were referred to as heresiarchs . This was done even when the party thus labeled viewed itself as belonging to the one true church. This allowed

1078-481: A government. Rather the Free Methodist Church is so called because of three, possibly four, reasons, depending on the source referenced. The word "Free" was suggested and adopted because the new church was to be an anti-slavery church (slavery was an issue in those days), because pews in the churches were to be free to all rather than sold or rented (as was common), and because the new church hoped for

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1176-586: A great council is called, the patriarch sits as president of the council. He has no more power than any other bishop. Currently, the largest synod with the most members is the Russian Orthodox Church . Others include the ancient Patriarchates of Constantinople , Alexandria , Antioch and Jerusalem , the Georgian , Romanian , Serbian and Bulgarian Orthodox churches, and several smaller ones. The second largest Eastern Christian communion

1274-466: A part of the same family but have distinct doctrinal variations within each group— Lutherans see themselves not to be a part of the rest of what they call "Reformed Protestantism" due to radical differences in sacramental theology and historical approach to the Reformation itself (both Reformed and Lutherans see their reformation in the sixteenth century to be a 'reforming' of the Catholic Church, not

1372-507: A particular group with specialized needs, such as students or ethnic groups. A related concept is denominationalism , the belief that some or all Christian groups are legitimate churches of the same religion regardless of their distinguishing labels, beliefs, and practices. (Conversely, "denominationalism" can also refer to "emphasizing of denominational differences to the point of being narrowly exclusive", similar to sectarianism .) The views of Protestant leaders differ greatly from those of

1470-508: A rejection of it entirely). From these come denominations, which in the West, have independence from the others in their doctrine. The Catholic Church , due to its hierarchical structures, is not said to be made up of denominations, rather, it is a single denomination that include kinds of regional councils and individual congregations and church bodies, which do not officially differ from one another in doctrine. The initial differences between

1568-727: A rift in Western Christianity . In England , Henry VIII of England declared himself to be supreme head of the Church of England with the Act of Supremacy in 1534, founding the Church of England, repressing both Lutheran reformers and those loyal to the pope. Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury introduced the Reformation, in a form compromising between the Calvinists and Lutherans. The Old Catholic Church split from

1666-410: A set of grievances to reform the pre-Reformation Western Church. Luther's writings , combined with the work of Swiss theologian Huldrych Zwingli and French theologian and politician John Calvin sought to reform existing problems in doctrine and practice. Due to the reactions of ecclesiastical office holders at the time of the reformers, these reformers separated from the Catholic Church, instigating

1764-472: A statement that the Chalcedonian Creed restored Nestorianism, however this is refuted by maintaining the following distinctions associated with the person of Christ: two hypostases, two natures ( Nestorian ); one hypostasis, one nature ( Monophysite ); one hypostasis, two natures (Eastern Orthodox/Roman Catholic). In Western Christianity, a handful of geographically isolated movements preceded

1862-527: A term they associate with membership of the Latin Church, and speak of themselves in relation to whichever Church they belong to: Maronites , Melkites , Ukrainian Catholics , Coptic Catholics , Chaldean Catholics , etc. And finally the smallest Eastern Christian group founded in early 20th century is Byzantine Rite Lutheranism where accept Byzantine Rite as Church's liturgy while retaining their Lutheran traditions like Ukrainian Lutheran Church . It

1960-553: Is Oriental Orthodoxy , which is organized in a similar manner, with six national autocephalous groups and two autonomous bodies, although there are greater internal differences than among the Eastern Orthodox (especially in the diversity of rites being used). The six autocephalous Oriental Orthodox churches are the Coptic (Egyptian), Syriac , Armenian , Malankara (Indian), Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches. In

2058-514: Is "officially headed by the queen of Denmark". Furthermore, clergy "in the Church of Denmark are civil servants employed by the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs" and the "economic base of the Church of Denmark is state-collected church taxes combined with a direct state subsidiary (12%), which symbolically covers the expenses of the Church of Denmark to run the civil registration and the burial system for all citizens." Barbara Yorke writes that

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2156-469: Is a country that recognizes a form of Christianity as its official religion and often has a state church (also called an established church ), which is a Christian denomination that supports the government and is supported by the government. Historically, the nations of Aksum , Armenia , Makuria , and the Holy Roman Empire have declared themselves as Christian states, as well as

2254-463: Is a department of the state. Church affairs are governed by a central government ministry, while clergy are government employees. The registration of births, deaths and marriages falls under this ministry of church affairs, and normally speaking the local Lutheran pastor is also the official registrar. Over 82% of the population of Denmark are members of the Lutheran Church of Denmark, which

2352-480: Is administratively grouped into several autocephalous jurisdictions (also commonly referred to as "churches", despite being parts of one Church). They do not recognize any single bishop as universal church leader, but rather each bishop governs only his own diocese . The Patriarch of Constantinople is known as the Ecumenical Patriarch, and holds the title " first among equals ", meaning only that if

2450-744: Is considered part of Eastern Protestant denominational movement. Denominational associations Regional associations Churches Together in England Oriental Orthodox African-American Baptist Oriental Orthodox Eastern Protestant Finished Work Pentecostal Oneness Pentecostal The Latin portion of the Catholic Church , along with Protestantism , comprise the three major divisions of Christianity in

2548-478: Is known as ecumenism . Many denominations participate in the World Council of Churches . Christianity has not been a monolithic faith since the first century or Apostolic Age , though Christians were largely in communion with each other. Today there exist a large variety of groups that share a common history and tradition within and without mainstream Christianity. Christianity is the largest religion in

2646-796: Is much lower, standing at 65% of the population in 2021. Samoa became a Christian state in 2017. Article 1 of the Samoan Constitution states that “Samoa is a Christian nation founded of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”. Serbia as a territory became a Christian state during the time of Constantine the Great in Christianization of Eastern Roman Empire , according to the research and discoveries of artifacts left by

2744-586: Is the Free Church of Scotland .The mainline Church of Scotland is the national church which is Presbyterian and the mother kirk for Presbyterianism all over the world, and is not part of the "Free Church". In England and Wales in the late 19th century the new terms "free churchman" and "Free Church" started to replace "dissenter" or Nonconformist . Among the Methodist Churches, calling a church "free" does not indicate any particular relation to

2842-403: Is the second-largest Christian body in the world and also considers itself the original pre-denominational Church. Orthodox Christians, 80% of whom are Eastern Orthodox and 20% Oriental Orthodox, make up about 11.9% of the global Christian population. The Eastern Orthodox Church is itself a communion of fully independent autocephalous churches (or "jurisdictions") that recognize each other, for

2940-560: Is the state church of Tuvalu and was established as such in 1991. The Constitution of Tuvalu identifies Tuvalu as "an independent State based on Christian principles". Vatican City is a Christian state, in which the " Pope is ex officio simultaneously leader of the Catholic Church as well as Head of State and Head of the Government of the State of the Vatican City; he also possesses ( de jure ) absolute authority over

3038-808: Is what since 1976 is officially called the Assyrian Church of the East and which from 1933 to 2015 was headquartered first in Cyprus and then in the United States , but whose present Catholicos-Patriarch, Gewargis III , elected in 2015, lives in Erbil , Iraq . The third is the Ancient Church of the East , distinct since 1964 and headed by Addai II Giwargis , resident in Baghdad. There are also

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3136-828: The Catholic Church in the 1870s because of the promulgation of the dogma of papal infallibility as promoted by the First Vatican Council of 1869–1870. The term 'Old Catholic' was first used in 1853 to describe the members of the See of Utrecht that were not under Papal authority. The Old Catholic movement grew in America but has not maintained ties with Utrecht, although talks are under way between independent Old Catholic bishops and Utrecht. The Liberal Catholic Church started in 1916 via an Old Catholic bishop in London, bishop Matthew, who consecrated bishop James Wedgwood to

3234-554: The Church of the East . However Roman Catholicism is to be seen as a distinct denomination within Western Christianity. Protestantism includes diverse groups such as Adventists , Anabaptists , Anglicans , Baptists , Congregationalists , Methodists (inclusive of the Holiness movement ), Moravians , Pentecostals , Presbyterians , Reformed , and Unitarians (depending on one's classification scheme) are all

3332-891: The Continental Reformed , Presbyterian , Evangelical Anglican , Congregationalist , and Reformed Baptist traditions. Anabaptist Christianity itself includes the Amish , Apostolic , Bruderhof , Hutterite , Mennonite , River Brethren , and Schwarzenau Brethren traditions. Within the Restorationist branch of Christianity, denominations include the Irvingians , Swedenborgians , Christadelphians , Latter Day Saints , Jehovah's Witnesses , La Luz del Mundo , and Iglesia ni Cristo . Christianity has denominational families (or movements) and also has individual denominations (or communions). The difference between

3430-681: The Eastern Catholic Churches , most of which are counterparts of those listed above, sharing with them the same theological and liturgical traditions, but differing from them in that they recognize the Bishop of Rome as the universal head of the Church . They are fully part of the Catholic communion , on the same level juridically as the Latin Church . Most of their members do not describe themselves as " Roman Catholics ",

3528-745: The Evangelical Church in Germany are put under a common label of, and collectively referred to, as "free churches" ( Freikirchen ) or "Protestant free churches" ( Evangelische Freikirchen ). This includes relatively new denominations like Baptists , Methodists , etc., as well as older ones like the Mennonites and Evangelical Lutheran Free Church (Germany) . Pew Research Center estimated in early 2010s that China has 35 million independent Protestants (mainly in house churches ) and 3.3 million underground Catholics . In Sweden,

3626-482: The Faroes ), England , Georgia , Greece , Hungary , Iceland , Liechtenstein , Malta , Monaco , Norway , Samoa , Serbia , Tonga , Tuvalu , Vatican City , and Zambia . A Christian state stands in contrast to a secular state , an atheist state , or another religious state, such as a Jewish state , or an Islamic state . The Armenian Apostolic Church church puts its founding at 301, with

3724-872: The Gnostics (who had believed in an esoteric dualism called gnosis ), the Ebionites (who denied the divinity of Jesus), and the Arians (who subordinated the Son to the Father by denying the pre-existence of Christ , thus placing Jesus as a created being), Bogumilism and the Bosnian Church . The greatest divisions in Christianity today, however, are between the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Catholics, and

3822-577: The House of Lords . In characteristically British fashion, where the state is representative of civil society, it was Parliament that determined, in the Act of Establishment, that the monarch had to be Anglican . Christian religious education is taught to children in primary and secondary schools in the United Kingdom. English schools have a legal requirement for a daily act of collective worship "of

3920-630: The Hungarian Constitution of 2011 describes Hungary as "part of Christian Europe" and acknowledges "the role of Christianity in preserving nationhood", while Article VII provides that "the State shall cooperate with the Churches for community goals". However, the constitution also guarantees freedom of religion and separation of church and state. Around AD 1000, Iceland became a Christian state . The Encyclopedia of Protestantism states that: The majority of Icelanders are members of

4018-546: The Hussites defied Catholic dogma , creating the still-extant Moravian Church , a major Protestant denomination. Although the church as a whole did not experience any major divisions for centuries afterward, the Eastern and Western groups drifted until the point where patriarchs from both families excommunicated one another in about 1054 in what is known as the Great Schism . The political and theological reasons for

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4116-741: The Illyrians , Triballi and other kindred tribes. More research has since been made that perhaps prove the existence of Serbs living in the Balkans during Roman times in Ilyria . In the centuries that followed from the fourth- to the 12th-century, when Catholic Church was in a battleground between Serbia due the Eastern Orthodox Church , Serbia prevailed as Orthodox Christian state under his jurisdiction through Saint Sava . Serbia as modern state, defines in his constitution as

4214-653: The Kingdom of Denmark , the Church of Denmark is the established church of Greenland through the Constitution of Denmark : The Evangelical Lutheran Church shall be the Established Church of Denmark, and, as such, it shall be supported by the State. This applies to all of the Kingdom of Denmark, except for the Faroe Islands , as the Church of the Faroe Islands became independent in 2007. The preamble to

4312-755: The Lutheran Churches , which held the status of state churches in Europe. In the United States, because of the First Amendment forbidding the government establishment of religion, all churches are by definition free churches. However, many churches in the United States have requested tax-exempt status under section 501c3 of the Internal Revenue Code. This subjects the churches to certain additional regulations to maintain

4410-418: The Middle East , Northeast Africa , and India . Christians have various doctrines about the Church (the body of the faithful that they believe Jesus Christ established) and about how the divine church corresponds to Christian denominations. The Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East and Lutheran denominations, each hold that only their own specific organization faithfully represents

4508-462: The Plymouth Brethren , Methodists and Quakers are, accordingly, free churches. In Scotland it might be used regarding any Protestant denomination, including the Free Church of Scotland , the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland , the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland etc, in distinction to the established Church of Scotland . In the Middle Ages , groups like the Waldensians were in practice free churches. In 16th century Europe, within

4606-427: The President of the Republic must be a Roman Catholic. In Armenia Christianity is the state religion and the Armenian Apostolic Church is the national church . Armenia is the first country who recognised Christianity as a state religion. The constitution of Costa Rica states that "The Catholic and Apostolic Religion is the religion of the State". As such, Catholic Christian holy days are recognized by

4704-446: The Roman Empire and its continuation the Byzantine Empire , the Russian Empire , the Spanish Empire , the British Empire , the Portuguese Empire , and the Frankish Empire , the Belgian colonial empire , the French empire . Today, several nations officially identify themselves as Christian states or have state churches. These countries include Argentina , Armenia , Costa Rica , El Salvador , Denmark (incl. Greenland and

4802-418: The Second Diet of Speyer mandated the burning of Luther's works and the end of the Protestant Reformation . Anglicanism is generally classified as Protestant, being originally seen as a via media , or middle way between Lutheranism and Reformed Christianity, and since the Oxford Movement of the 19th century, some Anglican writers of Anglo-Catholic churchmanship emphasize a more catholic understanding of

4900-434: The Second Great Awakening and collectively affirms belief in a Great Apostasy , thus promoting a belief in restoring what they see as primitive Christianity. It includes Mormons , Irvingians , Christadelphians , Swedenborgians , Jehovah's Witnesses , among others, although beliefs between these religions differ greatly. Generally, members of the various denominations acknowledge each other as Christians, at least to

4998-569: The Syriac and Coptic churches dividing themselves, with some churches becoming today's Oriental Orthodox . The Armenian Apostolic Church , whose representatives were not able to attend the council did not accept new dogmas and now is also seen as an Oriental Orthodox church. In modern times, there have also been moves towards healing this split, with common Christological statements being made between Pope John Paul II and Syriac Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas , as well as between representatives of both Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy. There has been

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5096-478: The one holy catholic and apostolic Church , to the exclusion of all others. Certain denominational traditions teach that they were divinely instituted to propagate a certain doctrine or spiritual experience, for example the raising up of Methodism by God to propagate entire sanctification (the "second blessing"), or the launch of Pentecostalism to bestow a supernatural empowerment evidenced by speaking in tongues on humanity. Restorationism emerged after

5194-585: The radical movements such as the Anabaptists were free churches with small exceptions like the Münster Rebellion . Mennonites , the Amish , the Quakers and other churches maintain free church polities into the present date both in Europe and in North America. Free churches also evolved in the US supported by the official separation of church and state, while much of Europe maintains some government involvement in religion and churches via taxation to support them and by appointing ministers and bishops etc., although free churches have been founded in Europe outside of

5292-424: The " Carolingian Renaissance heightened appreciation within England of the role of king and church in a Christian state." As such, Since the 1701 Act of Establishment , England's official state church has been the Church of England , the monarch being its supreme governor and ' defender of the faith '. He , together with Parliament, has a say in appointing bishops , twenty-six of whom have ex officio seats in

5390-406: The "Norwegian constitution decrees that Lutheranism is the official religion of the State and that the King is the supreme temporal head of the Church." The administration of the Church "is shared between the Ministry for Church, Education and Research centrally and municipal authorities locally", and the Church of Norway "depends on state and local taxes". The Church of Norway is responsible for

5488-425: The "authorities of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church have the duty to teach which principles are right and which are wrong" and that "religious teaching of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Faith shall be provided in all State schools as part of compulsory education". Article 9 of the Constitution of Monaco describes " La religion catholique, apostolique et romaine [the catholic, apostolic and Roman religion]" as

5586-430: The "maintenance of church buildings and cemeteries". In the mid-20th century, the vast majority of Norwegians participated in the Lutheran Church. According to a 1957 description, "[o]ver 90 percent of the population are married by state church clergymen, have their children baptized and confirmed , and finally are buried with a church service." However, current membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway

5684-793: The "two lungs" concept to relate Catholicism with Eastern Orthodoxy. World Christianity by tradition in 2024 as per World Christian Database Worldwide Christians by denomination as of 2011 Christianity can be taxonomically divided into six main groups: the Church of the East , Oriental Orthodoxy , Eastern Orthodoxy , Catholicism , Protestantism , and Restorationism . Protestantism includes many groups which do not share any ecclesiastical governance and have widely diverging beliefs and practices. Major Protestant branches include Adventism , Anabaptism , Anglicanism , Baptists , Lutheranism , Methodism , Moravianism , Quakerism , Pentecostalism , Plymouth Brethren , Reformed Christianity , and Waldensianism . Reformed Christianity itself includes

5782-475: The 1st century A.D., but has not been in communion with them since before the Council of Ephesus of 431. Largely aniconic , the Church of the East represents a third Eastern Christian tradition in its own right. In recent centuries, it has split into three Churches. The largest (since the early 20th century) is the Baghdad -based Chaldean Catholic Church formed from groups that entered communion with Rome at different times, beginning in 1552. The second-largest

5880-399: The Aramaic-speaking areas of the Middle East , the Syriac Orthodox Church has long been dominant. Although the region of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea has had a strong body of believers since the infancy of Christianity, these regions only gained autocephaly in 1963 and 1994 respectively. The Oriental Orthodox are distinguished from the Eastern Orthodox by doctrinal differences concerning

5978-408: The Catholic party to say that the other church was founded by the founder, while the Catholic church was founded by Christ. This was done intentionally in order to "produce the appearance of the fragmentation within Christianity" – a problem which the Catholic side would then attempt to remedy on its own terms. Although Catholics reject branch theory , Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II used

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6076-433: The East and West traditions stem from socio-cultural and ethno-linguistic divisions in and between the Western Roman and Byzantine empires . Since the West (that is, Western Europe) spoke Latin as its lingua franca and the East (Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and northern Africa) largely used Aramaic and Koine Greek to transmit writings, theological developments were difficult to translate from one branch to

6174-448: The Episcopacy. This stream has in its relatively short existence known many splits, which operate worldwide under several names. In the Eastern world, the largest body of believers in modern times is the Eastern Orthodox Church , sometimes imprecisely called "Greek Orthodox" because from the time of Christ through the Byzantine empire, Greek was its common language. However, the term " Greek Orthodox " actually refers to only one portion of

6272-404: The Minister of Education. Liechtenstein 's constitution designates the Catholic Church as being the state Church of that country. In public schools, per article 16 of the Constitution of Liechtenstein , religious education is given by Church authorities. Section Two of the Constitution of Malta specifies the state's religion as being the Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion. It holds that

6370-481: The West also contended that this primacy extended to jurisdiction, a position rejected by the Eastern patriarchs. Various attempts at dialogue between the two groups would occur, but it was only in the 1960s, under Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras , that significant steps began to be made to mend the relationship between the two. The Protestant Reformation began with the posting of Martin Luther 's Ninety-Five Theses in Saxony on October 31, 1517, written as

6468-404: The Western world. Catholics do not describe themselves as a denomination but rather as the original Church, from which all other branches broke off in schism . The Baptist , Methodist , and Lutheran churches are generally considered to be Protestant denominations, although strictly speaking, of these three, only the Lutherans took part in the official Protestation at Speyer after the decree of

6566-476: The church and characterize it as being both Protestant and Catholic. A case is sometimes also made to regard Lutheranism in a similar way, considering the catholic character of its foundational documents (the Augsburg Confession and other documents contained in the Book of Concord ) and its existence prior to the Anglican, Anabaptist, and Reformed churches, from which nearly all other Protestant denominations derive. Christian state A Christian state

6664-405: The conversion of Tiridates and declaration of Christianity as the official state religion, although the date is disputed. In 380, three Roman emperors issued the Edict of Thessalonica ( Cunctos populos ), making the Roman Empire a Christian state, and establishing Nicene Christianity , in the form of its State Church , as its official religion. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in

6762-495: The country and its head, Patriarch Ilia II , the most trusted person. Greece is a Christian state, with the Greek Orthodox Church playing "a dominant role in the life of the country". Mount Athos and most of the Athos peninsula are governed as an autonomous region in Greece by the monastic community of Mount Athos , which is ecclesiastically under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople . Being an autonomous constituent country within

6860-487: The definitions of several terms used throughout the article, before discussing the beliefs themselves in detail in following sections. A denomination within Christianity can be defined as a "recognized autonomous branch of the Christian Church"; major synonyms include "religious group, sect, Church," etc. "Church" as a synonym, refers to a "particular Christian organization with its own clergy, buildings, and distinctive doctrines"; "church" can also more broadly be defined as

6958-512: The description "free" has no inherent doctrinal or polity overtones. An individual belonging to a free church is known as a free churchperson or, historically, free churchman . In Scandinavia, free churchpersons would include Protestant Christians who are not communicants of the majority national church , such as the Lutheran Church of Sweden . In England, where the Church of England was the established church, other Protestant denominations such as Presbyterians , Congregationalists , Baptists ,

7056-594: The direct and sole authentic successor of the church founded by Jesus Christ in the 1st century AD . Others, however, believe in denominationalism, where some or all Christian groups are legitimate churches of the same religion regardless of their distinguishing labels, beliefs, and practices. Because of this concept, some Christian bodies reject the term "denomination" to describe themselves, to avoid implying equivalence with other churches or denominations. The Catholic Church , which has over 1.3 billion members or 50.1% of all Christians worldwide, does not view itself as

7154-553: The entire Eastern Orthodox Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church believes itself to be the continuation of the original Christian Church established by Jesus Christ , and the Apostles . The Orthodox and Catholics have been separated since the 11th century, following the East–West Schism , with each of them saying they represent the original pre-schism Church. The Eastern Orthodox consider themselves to be spiritually one body, which

7252-558: The entire body of Christians, the " Christian Church ". Some traditional and evangelical Protestants draw a distinction between membership in the universal church and fellowship within the local church. Becoming a believer in Christ makes one a member of the universal church; one then may join a fellowship of other local believers. Some evangelical groups describe themselves as interdenominational fellowships, partnering with local churches to strengthen evangelical efforts, usually targeting

7350-519: The extent that they have mutually recognized baptisms and acknowledge historically orthodox views including the divinity of Jesus and doctrines of sin and salvation , even though doctrinal and ecclesiological obstacles hinder full communion between churches . Since the reforms surrounding the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965, the Catholic Church has referred to Protestant churches as ecclesial communities , while reserving

7448-663: The freedom of the Holy Spirit in the services rather than a stifling formality. However, according to World Book Encyclopedia, the third principle was "freedom" from secret and oathbound societies (in particular the Freemasons). Denominations belonging to the International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches trace their roots to the Radical Pietist movement . Radical Pietists separated from

7546-500: The government and "public schools provide religious education ", although parents are able to opt-out their children if they choose to do so. As early as the 11th century AD, "Denmark was considered to be a Christian state", with the Church of Denmark , a member of the Lutheran World Federation , being the state church. Prof. Wasif Shadid, of Leiden University , writes that: The Lutheran established church

7644-512: The history of the Church began when not just localised communities but nations became Christian. The stage is associated with the conversion of Constantine and the beginnings of a Christian Empire, but the Byzantine Emperor was not the first ruler to lead his people into Christianity, thus setting up the first Christian state. That honour traditionally goes to the church of Armenia. As a Christian state, Armenia "embraced Christianity as

7742-660: The late 5th century, the Eastern Roman Empire under the emperor Justinian (reigned 527–565), became the world's predominant Christian state, based on Roman law, Greek culture, and the Greek language." In this Christian state, in which nearly all of its subjects upheld faith in Jesus, an "enormous amount of artistic talent was poured into the construction of churches, church ceremonies, and church decoration". John Binns describes this era, writing that: A new stage in

7840-521: The leaders of the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, the two largest Christian denominations. Each church makes mutually exclusive statements for itself to be the direct continuation of the church founded by Jesus Christ, from whom other denominations later broke away. These churches, and a few others, reject denominationalism. For the purpose of academic study of religion, the main families of Christianity are categorized as

7938-438: The legislative, executive and judicial branches." Jeroen Temperman, a professor of international law at Erasmus University Rotterdam writes that: Zambia is officially a Christian state as well, though the legal ramifications clearly do not compare to the latter state. The Preamble of the Constitution of Zambia establishes Zambia as a Christian state without specifying "Christian" denominationally. It simply proclaims: "We,

8036-892: The most part. Similarly, the Catholic Church is a communion of sui iuris churches, including 23 Eastern ones. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches , the Oriental Orthodox communion , the Assyrian Church of the East , the Ancient Church of the East , and the Eastern Lutheran Churches constitute Eastern Christianity . There are certain Eastern Protestant Christians that have adopted Protestant theology but have cultural and historical ties with other Eastern Christians. Eastern Christian denominations are represented mostly in Eastern Europe , North Asia ,

8134-476: The other. In the course of ecumenical councils (large gatherings of Christian leaders), some church bodies split from the larger family of Christianity. Many earlier heretical groups either died off for lack of followers or suppression by the early proto-orthodox Church at large (such as Apollinarians , Montanists , and Ebionites ). Following the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the next large split came with

8232-599: The people of Zambia...declare the Republic a Christian nation..." As far as state practice is concerned, it may be pointed out that the Government maintains relations with the Zambian Council of Churches and requires Christianity to be taught in the public school curriculum. After "Zambia declared itself a Christian nation in 1991", "the nation's vice president urged citizens to 'have a Christian orientation in all fields, at all levels'." A number of countries have

8330-536: The religion of the King, the nobles, and the people". In 326, according to official tradition of the Georgian Orthodox Church, following the conversion of Mirian and Nana , the country of Georgia became a Christian state, the Emperor Constantine the Great sending clerics for baptising people. In the 4th century, in the Kingdom of Aksum , after Ezana 's conversion to the faith, this empire also became

8428-486: The religion of the state. Church and state were formally separated in 2017 after a change to the constitution in 2012. A timeline for the relationship between church and state is provided on the Norwegian Government's official website. Cole Durham and Tore Sam Lindholm, writing in 2013, stated that "For a period of one thousand years Norway has been a kingdom with a Christian state church " and that

8526-473: The schism are complex, but one major controversy was the inclusion and acceptance in the West of the filioque clause into the Nicene Creed , which the East viewed as erroneous. Another was the definition of papal primacy . Both West and East agreed that the Patriarch of Rome was owed a " primacy of honour " by the other patriarchs (those of Alexandria , Antioch , Constantinople and Jerusalem ), but

8624-542: The spirit of the Protestant Reformation . The Cathars were a very strong movement in medieval southwestern France, but did not survive into modern times. In northern Italy and southeastern France , Peter Waldo founded the Waldensians in the 12th century. This movement has largely been absorbed by modern-day Protestant groups. In Bohemia , a movement in the early 15th century by Jan Hus called

8722-553: The state church. Almost all children are baptized as Lutheran and more than 90 percent are subsequently confirmed . The church conducts 75 percent of all marriages and 99 percent of all funerals. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Iceland is a member of the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches . All public schools have mandatory education in Christianity , although an exemption may be considered by

8820-628: The state system. One church in England in the Anglican tradition, has used the name 'Free Church', known as the Free Church of England . John Gifford had founded a free church in Bedford, England in 1650. Some churches in Scotland and Northern Ireland, mainly of the splinter off Presbyterian tradition, have used the name 'Free Church'. The most important of these to persist at the present time

8918-642: The states of the new United States , from 1776 to 1833. Article 2 of the Constitution of Argentina explicitly states that "the Federal Government supports the Roman Catholic Apostolic Faith" and Article 14 guarantees freedom of religion . Although it enforces neither an official nor a state faith, it gives Catholic Christianity a preferential status. Before its 1994 amendment , the Constitution stated that

9016-435: The tax exemption. Churches that are structured under 501(c)(3) face restrictions in the area of political speech: no substantial part of the church's activities may consist of carrying on propaganda or otherwise attempting to influence legislation. A 501(c)(3) organization is also restricted from participating or intervening in any political campaign for or against any political candidate. In Germany, Protestant churches outside

9114-461: The term free church (Swedish: frikyrka ) often means any Christian Protestant denomination that is not part of the Church of Sweden , which was the Swedish state church up to 1 January 2000. This includes Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists, etc. Christian denomination Individual denominations vary widely in the degree to which they recognize one another. Several groups say they are

9212-490: The term "church" for apostolic churches , including the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, as well as the Ancient and Assyrian Churches of the East (see subsistit in and branch theory ) . But some non-denominational Christians do not follow any particular branch, though they sometimes are regarded as Protestants. Each group uses different terminology to discuss their beliefs. This section will discuss

9310-467: The union of human and divine natures in the person of Jesus Christ, and the two communions separated as a consequence of the Council of Chalcedon in the year 451, although there have been recent moves towards reconciliation. Since these groups are relatively obscure in the West, literature on them has sometimes included the Church of the East , which, like the Oriental Orthodox, originated in

9408-563: The various denominations formed during and after the Protestant Reformation . There also exists a number of non-Trinitarian groups. Denominationalism is the belief that some or all Christian groups are legitimate churches of the same religion regardless of their distinguishing labels, beliefs, and practices. The idea was first articulated by Independents within the Puritan movement. They argued that differences among Christians were inevitable, but that separation based on these differences

9506-588: The world (making up approximately one-third of the population) and the various divisions have commonalities and differences in tradition, theology , church government , doctrine, and language. The largest schism or division in many classification schemes is between the families of Eastern and Western Christianity . After these two larger families come distinct branches of Christianity. Most classification schemes list Roman Catholicism, Protestantism , and Orthodox Christianity , with Orthodox Christianity being divided into Eastern Orthodoxy , Oriental Orthodoxy and

9604-446: Was not necessarily schism . Christians are obligated to practice their beliefs rather than remain within a church with which they disagree, but they must also recognize their imperfect knowledge and not condemn other Christians as apostate over unimportant matters. Some Christians view denominationalism as a regrettable fact. As of 2011, divisions are becoming less sharp, and there is increasing cooperation between denominations, which

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