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108-589: Historiae Ecclesiasticae Tripartitae Epitome , the abridged history (in twelve books) of the early Christian Church known as the Tripartite History , was the standard manual of Church history in Medieval Europe . The work, dated to around 550 AD, consists of a compilation of church histories, parts of which were selected by Cassiodorus , and translated into Latin by Epiphanius Scholasticus . It epitomized three Greek works in particular,

216-905: A book of the Bible", and it was the only New Testament book on which John Calvin did not write a commentary. As of 2015, Revelation remains the only New Testament book not read in the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church , though Catholic and Protestant liturgies include it. There are fewer manuscripts of Revelation than of any other part of the New Testament. As of 2020, in total, there are 310 manuscripts of Revelation. This number includes 7 papyri, 12 majuscules, and 291 minuscules. But, in fact, not all of them are available for research. Some of them have burned down, vanished, or been categorized wrongly. While it

324-620: A branch of the historical "Catholic Church" and as a via media ("middle way") between traditions, often Lutheranism and Reformed Christianity, or Roman Catholicism and Reformed Christianity. Reformed theology defines the Church as being invisible and visible —the former includes the entire communion of saints and the latter is the "institution that God provides as an agency for God's saving, justifying, and sustaining activity", which John Calvin referred to as "our mother". The Reformed confessions of faith emphasize "the pure teaching of

432-683: A central and defining institution of the Empire, especially in the East or Byzantine Empire , where Constantinople came 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 became for centuries the primary link to Roman civilization for medieval Western Europe and an important channel of influence in

540-687: A church or hold a teaching office in it. A number of historians have noted a twentieth-century "global shift" in Christianity, from a religion largely found in Europe and the Americas to one which is found in the global south . Described as "World Christianity" or "Global Christianity", this term attempts to convey the global nature of the Christian religion. However, the term often focuses on "non- Western Christianity " which "comprises (usually

648-648: A distinct Christian body identified by traits such as a common name, structure, leadership, or doctrine. Individual bodies, however, may use alternative terms to describe themselves, such as "church" or "fellowship". Divisions between one group and another are defined by doctrine and church authority; issues such as the nature of Jesus , the authority of apostolic succession , eschatology , and papal primacy often separate one denomination from another. Groups of denominations often sharing broadly similar beliefs, practices, and historical ties are known as branches of Christianity. Individual Christian denominations vary widely in

756-529: A group of such prophets, and was accepted by the congregations to whom he addresses his letter. The New Testament canon has four other " Johannine works " ascribed to authors named John, and a tradition dating from Irenaeus ( c.  130  – c.  202 AD) identifies John the Apostle as the author of all five. The modern consensus is that a Johannine community produced the Gospel of John and

864-586: A list of books of scripture presented as having been reckoned as canonical by the Council of Rome (AD 382). This list mentions it as a part of the New Testament canon. The Synod of Hippo (in AD 393), followed by the Council of Carthage (397) , the Council of Carthage (419) , the Council of Florence (1442) and the Council of Trent (1546) classified it as a canonical book. The Apostolic Canons , approved by

972-598: 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

1080-536: A modified historicist method of interpreting prophecy, is identified in the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith . ʻAbdu'l-Bahá , the son and chosen successor of Bahá'u'lláh, has given some interpretations about the 11th and 12th chapters of Revelation in Some Answered Questions . The 1,260 days spoken of in the forms: one thousand two hundred and sixty days, forty-two months, refers to the 1,260 years in

1188-509: A part of it. The Oriental Orthodox Churches claims to be the original Christian Church. The Oriental Orthodox churches' bases their claim primarily on its assertion that it holds to traditions and beliefs of the original Christian Church. They never adopted the theory of the Nature of God, which was formulated later than the break that followed the Council of Chalcedon . The Lutheran churches traditionally hold that their tradition represents

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1296-523: A translation and an anglicisation of the original Koine Greek word ἀποκάλυψις , which can also mean "unveiling". In the original Greek, the word is singular, so the name "Revelations" sometimes found in English is often considered erroneous. The author states in Rev 1:9 that he is on Patmos , and so he is conventionally called John of Patmos . He was a Jewish Christian prophet, probably belonging to

1404-629: A translation of the Ancient Greek ἐκκλησία ( romanized ecclesia ), found in the original Greek texts , which generally meant an "assembly" or "congregation". This term appears in two verses of the Gospel of Matthew , 24 verses of the Acts of the Apostles , 58 verses of the Pauline epistles (including the earliest instances of its use in relation to a Christian body), two verses of the Letter to

1512-498: A victory over this reality by offering an apocalyptic hope. In the words of professor Adela Collins , "What ought to be was experienced as a present reality." There is also theological interpretation that the book mainly prophesies the end of Old Covenant order, the Jewish temple and religious economy. Revelation was among the last books accepted into the Christian biblical canon , and to the present day some churches that derive from

1620-491: Is a "complete lack of consensus" among scholars about the structure of Revelation. The following is therefore an outline of the book's contents rather than of its structure. Outline of the book of Revelation: Revelation has a wide variety of interpretations, ranging from the simple historical interpretation, to a prophetic view on what will happen in the future by way of God's will and the Woman's (traditionally believed to be

1728-526: Is a manual of spiritual development and not, as conventionally interpreted, a cryptic history or prophecy." Such diverse theories have failed to command widespread acceptance. However, Christopher Rowland argues: "there are always going to be loose threads which refuse to be woven into the fabric as a whole. The presence of the threads which stubbornly refuse to be incorporated into the neat tapestry of our world-view does not usually totally undermine that view." The radical discipleship interpretation asserts that

1836-539: Is an allegory of the spiritual path and the ongoing struggle between good and evil. The book's commonest English name is "[Book of] Revelation". It is also called "[Book of] the Apocalypse" (for example in the Catholic Church ), "Revelation to John", or "Apocalypse of St. John". Abbreviations of these are "Rev." (traditional), "Rv" (shorter), or "Apoc." These names come from the book's opening words , Rev 1:1 : "Revelation" and "Apocalypse" are respectively

1944-619: Is derived from the first word of the text: apokalypsis , meaning 'unveiling' or 'revelation'. The Book of Revelation is the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament canon . It occupies a central place in Christian eschatology . The author names himself as simply "John" in the text, but his precise identity remains a point of academic debate. Second-century Christian writers such as Papias of Hierapolis , Justin Martyr , Irenaeus , Melito of Sardis , Clement of Alexandria , and

2052-494: Is especially relevant to believers in the days preceding the second coming of Jesus Christ. "The universal church is composed of all who truly believe in Christ, but in the last days, a time of widespread apostasy, a remnant has been called out to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." As participatory agents in

2160-574: Is from the Old English word cirice or Circe , derived from West Germanic *kirika , which in turn comes from the Greek κυριακή kuriakē , meaning "of the Lord" (possessive form of κύριος kurios "ruler" or "lord"). Kuriakē in the sense of "church" is most likely a shortening of κυριακὴ οἰκία kuriakē oikia ("house of the Lord") or ἐκκλησία κυριακή ekklēsia kuriakē ("congregation of

2268-675: Is not extant in the Codex Vaticanus (4th century), it is extant in the other great uncial codices: the Codex Sinaiticus (4th century), the Codex Alexandrinus (5th century), and the Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (5th century). In addition, there are numerous papyri , especially 𝔓 and 𝔓 (both 3rd century); minuscules (8th to 10th century); and fragmentary quotations in

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2376-767: Is structured after creation, fall, judgment and redemption. Those who hold this view say that the Temple's destruction (AD 70) had a profound effect on the Jewish people, not only in Jerusalem but among the Greek-speaking Jews of the Mediterranean. They believe the Book of Revelation provides insight into the early Eucharist, saying that it is the new Temple worship in the New Heaven and Earth. The idea of

2484-631: Is the only book of the New Testament that is not read during services by the Byzantine Rite Churches, although it is read in the Western Rite Orthodox Parishes , which are under the same bishops as the Byzantine Rite. Similar to the early Protestants, Adventists maintain a historicist interpretation of the Bible's predictions of the apocalypse. Seventh-day Adventists believe the Book of Revelation

2592-538: Is the symbolism meant to be pictured realistically. Pope Benedict XVI taught that Revelation "should be understood against the backdrop of" the early church's persecutions and inner problems, that "the Lamb who is slain yet standing" symbolizes Jesus' paschal mystery and Jesus being the meaning of life , that the vision of the woman and child symbolizes both Mary and the Church, that the New Jerusalem symbolizes

2700-520: The 4th century as the State Church of the Roman Empire . Already in the 2nd century, Christians denounced teachings that they saw as heresies , especially Gnosticism but also Montanism . Ignatius of Antioch at the beginning of that century and Irenaeus at the end saw union with the bishops as the test of correct Christian faith. After legalization of the Church in the 4th century,

2808-534: The 7th century , the Islamic Caliphates rose and gradually began to conquer larger and larger areas of the Christian world . Excepting North Africa and most of Spain , northern and western Europe escaped largely unscathed by Islamic expansion, in great part because richer Constantinople and its empire acted as a magnet for the onslaught. The challenge presented by the Muslims would help to solidify

2916-471: The Church of the East reject it. Eastern Christians became skeptical of the book as doubts concerning its authorship and unusual style were reinforced by aversion to its acceptance by Montanists and other groups considered to be heretical. This distrust of the Book of Revelation persisted in the East through the 15th century. Dionysius (AD 248), bishop of Alexandria and disciple of Origen , wrote that

3024-581: The Easter rites, of early Christianity as background and context for understanding the Book of Revelation's structure and significance. This perspective is explained in The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse (new edition, 2004) by Massey H. Shepherd , an Episcopal scholar, and in Scott Hahn 's The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth (1999), in which he states that Revelation in form

3132-586: The Eastern Orthodox Council in Trullo in 692, but rejected by Pope Sergius I , omit it. Doubts resurfaced during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation . Martin Luther called Revelation "neither apostolic nor prophetic" in the 1522 preface to his translation of the New Testament (he revised his position with a much more favorable assessment in 1530), Huldrych Zwingli labelled it "not

3240-679: 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 (Catholic) and Eastern (Orthodox) churches. In 1448, not long before the Byzantine Empire collapsed, the Russian Orthodox Church gained independence from

3348-402: The Gospel of Matthew . When Jesus says to Simon Peter, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church", the church is the community instituted by Christ, but in the other passage the church is the local community to which one belongs: "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church." The term is used much more frequently in other parts of the New Testament, designating, as in

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3456-649: The Islamic Calendar (AH 1260 or AD 1844). The " two witnesses " spoken of are Muhammad and Ali . The red Dragon spoken of in Revelation 12:3 – "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads" – are interpreted as symbolic of the seven provinces dominated by the Umayyads : Damascus, Persia, Arabia, Egypt, Africa, Andalusia, and Transoxania. The ten horns represent

3564-594: The Old High German cognate chirihha . The Christian Church originated in Roman Judea in the first century AD/CE , founded on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth , who first gathered disciples . Those disciples later became known as " Christians "; according to Scripture , Jesus commanded them to spread his teachings to all the world . For most Christians, the holiday of Pentecost (an event that occurred after Jesus' ascension to Heaven ) represents

3672-788: The Patriarch of Constantinople . 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 resulted in Eastern scholars fleeing to the West bringing ancient manuscripts, which was a factor in the beginning of the period of the Western Renaissance there. Rome

3780-581: The Septuagint in the sense of an assembly gathered for religious reasons, often for a liturgy ; in that translation ἐκκλησία stood for the Hebrew word קהל ( qahal ), which however it also rendered as συναγωγή ( synagōgē , "synagogue"), the two Greek words being largely synonymous until Christians distinguished them more clearly. The term ἐκκλησία appears in only two verses of the Gospels, in both cases in

3888-460: The Virgin Mary ) victory over Satan (" symbolic interpretation"), to different end time scenarios ("futurist interpretation"), to the views of critics who deny any spiritual value to Revelation at all, ascribing it to a human-inherited archetype . This interpretation, which has found expression among both Catholic and Protestant theologians, considers the liturgical worship, particularly

3996-442: The church invisible —all "who are truly saved " (with these beings members of the visible church). In this understanding of the invisible church, "Christian Church" (or catholic Church) does not refer to a particular Christian denomination, but includes all individuals who have been saved. The branch theory , which is maintained by some Anglicans , holds that those Churches that have preserved apostolic succession are part of

4104-736: The true visible Church . The Augsburg Confession found within the Book of Concord , a compendium of belief of the Lutheran Churches , teaches that "the faith as confessed by Luther and his followers is nothing new, but the true catholic faith, and that their churches represent the true catholic or universal church". When the Lutherans presented the Augsburg Confession to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1530, they believe to have "showed that each article of faith and practice

4212-530: The 15th century. This article about a book related to Christianity is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Christian Church For many Protestant Christians, the Christian Church has two components: the church visible , institutions in which "the Word of God purely preached and listened to, and the sacraments administered according to Christ's institution", as well as

4320-511: The 60s, as there was a widespread belief in later decades that Nero would return . Revelation is an apocalyptic prophecy with an epistolary introduction addressed to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia, in what is now western Turkey. The seven cities where churches were located are close together, and the Island of Patmos is near the western coast of Turkey. The term apocalypse means

4428-562: The Apostles' Creed , Pope Innocent I (AD 405) in a letter to the bishop of Toulouse and John of Damascus (about AD 730) in his work An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Book IV:7) listed "the Revelation of John the Evangelist " as a canonical book. The Council of Laodicea (AD 363) omits it as a canonical book. The Decretum Gelasianum , which is a work written by an anonymous scholar between 519 and 553, contains

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4536-478: The Bible to speak of the people of God , such as the image of the vineyard used particularly in the Gospel of John . The New Testament never uses the adjectives "catholic" or "universal" with reference to the Christian Church, but does indicate that the local communities are one church, collectively, that Christians must always seek to be in concord, as the Congregation of God, that the Gospel must extend to

4644-731: The Bishops in communion with him". A 2007 declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith clarified that, in this passage, "'subsistence' means this perduring, historical continuity and the permanence of all the elements instituted by Christ in the Catholic Church, in which the Church of Christ is concretely found on this earth", and acknowledged that grace can be operative within religious communities separated from

4752-405: The Book of Revelation could have been written by Cerinthus although he himself did not adopt the view that Cerinthus was the writer. He regarded the Apocalypse as the work of an inspired man but not of an Apostle (Eusebius, Church History VII.25). Eusebius , in his Church History ( c.  AD 330 ), mentioned that the Apocalypse of John was accepted as a canonical book and rejected at

4860-422: The Book of Revelation is best understood as a handbook for radical discipleship; i.e. how to remain faithful to the spirit and teachings of Jesus and avoid simply assimilating to surrounding society. In this interpretation the primary agenda of the book is to expose as impostors the worldly powers that seek to oppose the ways of God and God's Kingdom. The chief temptation for Christians in the 1st century, and today,

4968-414: The Book of Revelation should not be read as an enigmatic warning, but as an encouraging vision of Christ's definitive victory over evil. In the Coptic Orthodox Church , Armenian Apostolic Church and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church the whole Book of Revelation is read during Apocalypse Night after Good Friday . Biblically Ugo Vanni and other biblical scholars have argued that the Book of Revelation

5076-409: The Book of Revelation was written to comfort beleaguered Christians as they underwent persecution at the hands of an emperor. This is, however, not the only interpretation; Domitian may not have been a despot imposing an imperial cult, and there may not have been any systematic empire-wide persecution of Christians in his time. Revelation may instead have been composed in the context of a conflict within

5184-515: The Catholic Church due to some "elements of sanctification and truth" within them, but also added "Nevertheless, the word 'subsists' can only be attributed to the Catholic Church alone precisely because it refers to the mark of unity that we profess in the symbols of the faith (I believe... in the 'one' Church); and this 'one' Church subsists in the Catholic Church." The Catholic Church teaches that only corporate bodies of Christians led by bishops with valid holy orders can be recognized as "churches" in

5292-413: The Catholic Church. At this time, a series of non-theological disputes also led to the English Reformation which led to the independence of the Church of England . Then, during the Age of Exploration and the Age of Imperialism , Western Europe spread the Catholic Church and the Protestant churches around the world, especially in the Americas . These developments in turn have led to Christianity being

5400-456: The Christian community of Asia Minor over whether to engage with, or withdraw from, the far larger non-Christian community: Author Mark B. Stephens posed that the Revelation chastised those Christians who wanted to reach an accommodation with the Roman cult of empire. This is not to say that Christians in Roman Asia were not suffering due to withdrawal from and defiance of the wider Roman society, which imposed very real penalties; Revelation offered

5508-445: The Church fathers of the 2nd to 5th centuries and the 6th-century Greek commentary on Revelation by Andreas. Divisions in the book seem to be marked by the repetition of key phrases, by the arrangement of subject matter into blocks, and associated with its Christological passages, and much use is made of significant numbers, especially the number seven, which represented perfection according to ancient numerology. Nevertheless, there

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5616-407: The Church in its glory on Judgment Day , and that the prayers in Revelation reflect 1st century Jewish-Christian liturgy and Jewish-Christian understanding of the heavenly liturgy. According to Catholic Answers , the author of Revelation identifies the beast as the Roman Empire, the dragon as Satan, and Babylon as Rome. The meaning is that Rome "cannot win. It will be completely overthrown, and

5724-434: The Church is sure to triumph. This prophecy is as it were the hub of the Apocalypse. Around it John gradually unfolds the plan God has for the future of his Church." Eastern Orthodoxy treats the text as simultaneously describing contemporaneous events (events occurring at the same time) and as prophecy of events to come, for which the contemporaneous events were a form of foreshadowing. It rejects attempts to determine, before

5832-443: The Church, no one can hope for life or salvation unless he is excused through ignorance beyond his control." The papal encyclical Mystici corporis (Pope Pius XII, 1943), expresses the dogmatic ecclesiology of the Catholic Church thus: "If we would define and describe this true Church of Jesus Christ—which is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church–we shall find no expression more noble, more sublime, or more divine, than

5940-399: The Eucharist as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet is also explored by British Methodist Geoffrey Wainwright in his book Eucharist and Eschatology (Oxford University Press, 1980). According to Pope Benedict XVI some of the images of Revelation should be understood in the context of the dramatic suffering and persecution of the churches of Asia in the 1st century. Accordingly, they argue,

6048-405: The Forgiveness of Sins, but in no vicarious sacrifice for sin ... they accepted Christ in the full realisation of the word; his life, not his death, was the keynote of their doctrine and their practice." James Morgan Pryse was an esoteric gnostic who saw Revelation as a western version of the Hindu theory of the Chakra . He began his work, "The purpose of this book is to show that the Apocalypse

6156-429: The Gospel of Matthew, either an individual local community or all of them collectively. Even passages that do not use the term ἐκκλησία may refer to the church with other expressions, as in the first 14 chapters of the Epistle to the Romans , in which ἐκκλησία is totally absent but which repeatedly uses the cognate word κλήτοι ( klētoi , "called"). The church may be referred to also through images traditionally employed in

6264-443: The Hebrews , one verse of the Epistle of James , three verses of the Third Epistle of John , and 19 verses of the Book of Revelation . In total, ἐκκλησία appears 114 times in the New Testament, although not every instance is a technical reference to the church. As such it is used for local communities as well as in a universal sense to mean all believers. The earliest recorded use of the term Christianity (Greek: Χριστιανισμός )

6372-411: The Holy Spirit creates an openness in mission which allows for coordinated effort towards church planting and growth." Today there is a wide diversity of Christian groups, with a variety of different doctrines and traditions. These controversies between the various branches of Christianity naturally include significant differences in their respective ecclesiologies. "Denomination" is a generic term for

6480-481: The Lord"). Christian churches were sometimes called κυριακόν kuriakon (adjective meaning "of the Lord") in Greek starting in the 4th century, but ekklēsia and βασιλική basilikē were more common. 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 црькꙑ [ crĭky ], Bulgarian църква [ carkva ], Russian церковь [ cerkov' ], Slovenian cerkev) are via

6588-451: The Methodists in the world. Many Baptists , who uphold the doctrine of Baptist successionism (also known as Landmarkism ), "argue that their history can be traced across the centuries to New Testament times" and "claim that Baptists have represented the true church" that "has been, present in every period of history". Walter B. Shurden, the founding executive director of the Center for Baptist Studies at Mercer University , writes that

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6696-441: The Roman Empire officially adopted the Nicene version of Christianity as its state religion . Prior to this date, Constantius II (337–361) and Valens (364–378) had personally favored Arian or Semi-Arian forms of Christianity, but Valens' successor Theodosius I supported the more Athanasian or Trinitarian doctrine as expounded in the Nicene Creed from the 1st Council of Nicaea.j On this date, Theodosius I decreed that only

6804-400: The Serpent , and the Beast , which culminate in the Second Coming of Jesus . The obscure and extravagant imagery has led to a wide variety of Christian interpretations. Historicist interpretations see Revelation as containing a broad view of history while preterist interpretations treat Revelation as mostly referring to the events of the Apostolic Age (1st century), or, at the latest,

6912-408: The West for the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine , emperors. While, in the West, the so-called orthodox Church competed against the Arian Christian and pagan faiths of the Germanic rulers and spread outside what had been the Empire to Ireland, Germany, Scandinavia, and the western Slavs , in the East Christianity spread to the Slavs in what is now Russia , south-central and eastern Europe. Starting in

7020-401: The author of the Muratorian fragment identify John the Apostle as the John of Revelation. Modern scholarship generally takes a different view, with many considering that nothing can be known about the author except that he was a Christian prophet. Modern theological scholars characterize the Book of Revelation's author as " John of Patmos ". The bulk of traditional sources date the book to

7128-437: The basis for the Pentarchy proposed by Justinian I . Of these five, one was in the West ( Rome ) and the rest in the East ( Constantinople , Jerusalem , Antioch , and Alexandria ). 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 state-sanctioned Church earlier). The Church came to be

7236-409: The biblical canon as a whole. Rather, an open and ongoing dialogue between God and the modern-day Prophet and Apostles of the LDS faith constitute an open canon of scripture. Christian Gnostics are unlikely to be attracted to the teaching of Revelation because the doctrine of salvation through the sacrificed Lamb, which is central to Revelation, is repugnant to Gnostics. Christian Gnostics "believed in

7344-508: The birthday of the Church, signified by the descent of the Holy Spirit on gathered disciples. Springing out of Second Temple Judaism , from Christianity's earliest days, Christians accepted non- Jews ( Gentiles ) without requiring full adoption of Jewish customs (such as circumcision ). The parallels in the Jewish faith are the Proselytes , Godfearers , and Noahide Law ; see also Biblical law in Christianity . Some think that conflict with Jewish religious authorities quickly led to

7452-479: The church histories of Socrates Scholasticus , Sozomen and Theodoret , written in the previous century. An Italian theory posited its composition around 510 AD, arguing that the work was composed using the library Cassiodorus assembled at the Monasterium Vivariense , the monastery of Vivarium on his family estates at the foot of Mount Moscius on the shores of the Ionian Sea. It is now thought to have been composed several decades later, in Constantinople, around

7560-449: The citizens of a city, as in Acts 19:32–41 , is the New Testament term referring to the Christian Church (either a particular local group or the whole body of the faithful ). In the Septuagint , the Greek word "ἐκκλησία" is used to translate the Hebrew "קהל" ( qahal ). Most Romance and Celtic languages use derivations of this word, either inherited or borrowed from the Latin form ecclesia . The English language word "church"

7668-455: The crime of magic. In the centuries of state-sponsored Christianity that followed, pagans and heretical Christians were routinely persecuted by the Empire and the many kingdoms and countries that later occupied its place, but some Germanic tribes remained Arian well into the Middle Ages (see also Christendom ). The Church within the Roman Empire was organized under metropolitan sees , with five rising to particular prominence and forming

7776-431: The debate between Arianism and Trinitarianism , with the emperors favouring now one side now the other, was a major controversy. In using the word ἐκκλησία ( ekklēsia ), early Christians were employing a term that, while it designated the assembly of a Greek city-state, in which only citizens could participate, was traditionally used by Greek-speaking Jews to speak of Israel, the people of God, and that appeared in

7884-422: The degree to which they recognize one another. Several claim to be the direct and sole authentic successor the church founded by Jesus Christ in the 1st century AD. Others, however, believe in denominationalism, where some or all Christian denominations are legitimate churches of the same religion regardless of their distinguishing labels, beliefs, and practices. Because of this concept, some Christian bodies reject

7992-478: The ends of the earth and to all nations , that the church is open to all peoples and must not be divided, etc. The first recorded application of " catholic " or "universal" to the church is by Ignatius of Antioch in about 107 in his Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, chapter VIII: "Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." On February 27, 380,

8100-702: The exotic) instances of Christian faith in 'the global South', in Asia, Africa and Latin America." It also includes indigenous or diasporic forms in Western Europe and North America. Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation or Book of the Apocalypse is the final book of the New Testament (and therefore the final book of the Christian Bible ). Written in Koine Greek , its title

8208-590: The expulsion of Christians from the synagogues in Jerusalem . The Church gradually spread throughout the Roman Empire and beyond , gaining major establishments in cities such as Jerusalem , Antioch , and Edessa . The Roman authorities persecuted it because Christians refused to make sacrifice to the Roman gods , and challenged the imperial cult . The Church was legalized in the Roman empire , and then promoted by Emperors Constantine I and Theodosius I in

8316-535: The fact, if the events of Revelation are occurring by mapping them onto present-day events, taking to heart the Scriptural warning against those who proclaim "He is here!" prematurely. Instead, the book is seen as a warning to be spiritually and morally ready for the end times, whenever they may come ("as a thief in the night"), but they will come at the time of God's choosing, not something that can be precipitated nor trivially deduced by mortals. Book of Revelation

8424-523: The fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Futurists , meanwhile, believe that Revelation describes future events with the seven churches growing into the body of believers throughout the age, and a reemergence or continuous rule of a Greco-Roman system with modern capabilities described by John in ways familiar to him; and idealist or symbolic interpretations consider that Revelation does not refer to actual people or events but

8532-400: The followers of Trinitarian Christianity were entitled to be referred to as Catholic Christians , while all others were to be considered to be heretics, which was considered illegal. In 385, this new legal situation resulted, in the first case of many to come, in the capital punishment of a heretic, namely Priscillian , condemned to death, with several of his followers, by a civil tribunal for

8640-576: The following categories: Additionally, there are significant differences in interpretation of the thousand years (the "millennium") mentioned in Revelation 20:2. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops the Book of Revelation contains an account of visions in symbolic and allegorical language borrowed extensively from the Old Testament. Symbolic descriptions are not to be taken as literal descriptions, nor

8748-465: The founder of the movement "John Wesley once noted that what God had achieved in the development of Methodism was no mere human endeavor but the work of God. As such it would be preserved by God so long as history remained." Calling it "the grand depositum" of the Methodist faith, Wesley specifically taught that the propagation of the doctrine of entire sanctification was the reason that God raised up

8856-501: The four marks that the Creed attributes to the genuine Church, and the essence of a mark is to 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. As such they see themselves not as a denomination, but as pre-denominational; not as one of many faith communities, but the original and sole true Church. Many Baptist and Congregationalist theologians accept

8964-473: The gospel ( pura doctrina evangelii ) and the right administration of the sacraments ( recta administratio sacramentorum )" as "the two most necessary signs of the true visible church". Methodists affirm belief in "the one true Church, Apostolic and Universal", viewing their churches as constituting a "privileged branch of this true church". With regard to the position of Methodism within Christendom ,

9072-536: The largest religion in the world today. The Catholic Church teaches in its doctrine that it is the original church founded by Christ on the Apostles in the 1st century AD. The encyclical of Pope Pius IX , Singulari Quidem , states: "There is only one true, holy, Catholic Church, which is the Apostolic Roman Church. There is only one See founded on Peter by the word of the Lord [...] Outside of

9180-454: 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

9288-567: The ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper . Any celebration of these ordinances by non-Baptists is invalid." Other Baptists do not adhere to Landmarkism and thus hold a broader understanding of what constitutes the true Christian Church, e.g. the American Baptist Churches (which are maintain ecumenical relations with other Churches). In Pentecostalism , "ecclesiology as seen through his concept of networks, where

9396-467: The phrase which calls it 'the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ'." The Second Vatican Council's dogmatic constitution, Lumen gentium (1964), further declares that "the one Church of Christ which in the Creed is professed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic, [...] constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by

9504-487: The proper sense. In Catholic documents, communities without such bishops are formally called ecclesial communities . The Eastern Orthodox Church claims 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 claims that four out of the five sees of the Pentarchy (excluding Rome) are still

9612-531: The reader stops many times and the people respond; additionally the entire book is read in a liturgical setting that culminates with the Eucharist) shows great support for this biblical hypothesis, albeit with some notable difference. Additionally, the Book of Revelation permeates many liturgical prayers and iconography within the Coptic Church. Most Christian interpretations fall into one or more of

9720-438: The references stem from Daniel , Ezekiel , Psalms , and Isaiah , with Daniel providing the largest number in proportion to length and Ezekiel standing out as the most influential. Because these references appear as allusions rather than as quotes, it is difficult to know whether the author used the Hebrew or the Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures, but he was often influenced by the Greek. Modern understanding has been that

9828-540: The reign of the Roman emperor Domitian (AD 81–96), which evidence tends to confirm. The book spans three literary genres: the epistolary , the apocalyptic , and the prophetic . It begins with John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea , addressing letters to the " Seven Churches of Asia ". He then describes a series of prophetic visions , including figures such as the Seven-Headed Dragon,

9936-710: 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 patriarch of the Catholic Church proper) and the eastern patriarchs within the Byzantine Empire , Rome's changing allegiance from Constantinople to

10044-407: The revealing of divine mysteries; John is to write down what is revealed (what he sees in his vision) and send it to the seven churches. The entire book constitutes the prophecy—the letters to the seven individual churches are introductions to the rest of the book, which is addressed to all seven. While the dominant genre is apocalyptic, the author sees himself as a Christian prophet: Revelation uses

10152-622: The same time: The Apocalypse of John is counted as both accepted (Kirsopp. Lake translation: "Recognized") and disputed, which has caused some confusion over what exactly Eusebius meant by doing so. The disputation can perhaps be attributed to Origen. Origen seems to have accepted it in his writings. Cyril of Jerusalem (AD 348) does not name it among the canonical books (Catechesis IV.33–36). Athanasius (AD 367) in his Letter 39 , Augustine of Hippo ( c.  AD 397 ) in his book On Christian Doctrine (Book II, Chapter 8), Tyrannius Rufinus ( c.  AD 400 ) in his Commentary on

10260-469: The symbolism contained in the Book of Revelation. Topics include: the sea of glass, the four beasts and their appearance, the 24 elders, the book with seven seals, certain angels, the sealing of the 144,000, the little book eaten by John, and the two witnesses in Chapter 11. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that the warning contained in Revelation 22:18–19 does not refer to

10368-555: The ten names of the leaders of the Umayyad dynasty: Abu Sufyan, Muawiya, Yazid, Marwan, Abd al-Malik, Walid, Sulayman, Umar, Hisham, and Ibrahim. Some names were re-used, as in the case of Yazid II and Yazid III and the like, which were not counted for this interpretation. The Book of Mormon states that John the Apostle is the author of Revelation and that he was foreordained by God to write it. Doctrine and Covenants , section 77, postulates answers to specific questions regarding

10476-461: The term "denomination" to describe themselves, to avoid implying equivalency with other churches or denominations. The Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church believe that the term one in the Nicene Creed describes and prescribes a visible institutional and doctrinal unity, not only geographically throughout the world, but also historically throughout history. They see unity as one of

10584-520: The theology of Landmarkism, which he states is integral of the history of the Southern Baptist Convention , upholds the ideas that "Only Baptist churches can trace their lineage in uninterrupted fashion back to the New Testament, and only Baptist churches therefore are true churches." In addition Shurden writes that Baptists who uphold successionism believe that "only a true church-that is, a Baptist church-can legitimately celebrate

10692-401: The three Johannine epistles , while John of Patmos wrote the Book of Revelation separately. The book is commonly dated to about AD 95, as suggested by clues in the visions pointing to the reign of the emperor Domitian . The beast with seven heads and the number 666 seem to allude directly to the emperor Nero (reigned AD 54–68), but this does not require that Revelation was written in

10800-503: The time the crisis in relations between Justinian and the Western Church, around 550 AD. It describes a history of the Church from the year 324 to the year 439. The book attained a high reputation. Only Eusebius ' History , in a Latin translation by Rufinus , competed with it as the official version of church history in the West, until original sources began to be rediscovered, edited and printed by humanist scholars in

10908-545: The true Church. This is in contrast to the one true church applied to a specific concrete Christian institution, a Christian ecclesiological position maintained by the Catholic Church , the Eastern Orthodox Church , the Oriental Orthodox churches , Assyrian Church of the East , and the Ancient Church of the East . Most English translations of the New Testament generally use the word church as

11016-511: 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. The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod declares that the Christian Church, properly speaking, consists only of those who have faith in the gospel (i.e., the forgiveness of sins which Christ gained for all people), even if they are in church bodies that teach error, but excluding those who do not have such faith, even if they belong to

11124-468: The word in various forms 21 times, more than any other New Testament book. The predominant view is that Revelation alludes to the Old Testament , although it is difficult among scholars to agree on the exact number of allusions or the allusions themselves. Revelation rarely quotes directly from the Old Testament, yet almost every verse alludes to or echoes ideas of older scriptures. Over half of

11232-483: The work of salvation for all humankind, "This remnant announces the arrival of the judgment hour, proclaims salvation through Christ, and heralds the approach of His second advent." The three angels of Revelation 14 represent the people who accept the light of God's messages and go forth as his agents to sound the warning throughout the length and breadth of the earth. By reasoning analogous with Millerite historicism, Bahá'u'lláh 's doctrine of progressive revelation ,

11340-436: Was by Ignatius of Antioch , in around 100 AD. The Four Marks of the Church first expressed in the Nicene Creed (381) are that the Church is one , holy , catholic (universal), and apostolic (originating from the apostles ). The Greek word ekklēsia , literally "called out" or "called forth" and commonly used to indicate a group of individuals called to gather for some function, in particular an assembly of

11448-680: Was seen by the Western Church as Christianity's heartland. Some Eastern churches even broke with Eastern Orthodoxy and entered into communion with Rome ( the "Uniate" Eastern Catholic Churches ). 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

11556-596: Was true first of all to Holy Scripture, and then also to the teaching of the church fathers and the councils". Nevertheless, the Lutheran churches teach that "there are indeed true Christians in other churches" as "other denominations also preach the Word of God, though mixed with error"; since the proclamation of the Word of God bears fruit, Lutheran theology accepts the appellation "Church" for other Christian denominations. Anglicans generally understand their tradition as

11664-515: Was written with the intention to be read entirely in one liturgical setting with dialogue-elements between the reader (singular) and the hearers (plural) based on Rev 1:3 and Rev 1:10. Beniamin Zakhary has recently shown that the structure of the reading the Book of Revelation within the Coptic rite of Apocalypse Night (this is the only biblical reading in the Coptic church with a dialogue in it, where

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