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85-610: The use of the word catholic in the term ' catholic epistles' has been a convention going back to the fourth century. Untied to a particular denomination, it simply meant "general" at that time. Later, the word catholic would become part of the name of the Catholic Church . To avoid the assumption that these texts are therefore specific to the Catholic Church or Catholicism , alternative terms such as "general epistles" or "general missionary epistles" are used. In

170-490: A James, brother of Jesus . However, most modern scholars tend to reject this line of reasoning, since the author himself does not indicate any familial relationship with Jesus . A similar problem presents itself with the Epistle of Jude (Ἰούδας Ioudas ): the writer names himself a brother of James (ἀδελφὸς δὲ Ἰακώβου adelphos de Iakóbou ), but it is not clear which James is meant. According to some Christian traditions, this

255-515: A Prussian officer and comparative Latinist, characterised the low in Low Latin, which he saw as medieval Latin, as follows: The fourth age of the Latin tongue is that of the remainder of the middle age, and the 1st centuries of modern times, during which the language fell by degrees into so great a decadency, that it became nothing better than a barbarous jargon. It is the style of these times that

340-417: A dictionary) by Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange . The multivolume set had many editions and expansions by other authors subsequently. The title varies somewhat; most commonly used was Glossarium Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis . It has been translated by expressions of widely different meanings. The uncertainty is understanding what media , "middle", and infima , "low", mean in this context. The term media

425-600: A large number of epistles where he makes use of the term: Marcianus, who abides at Aries, has associated himself with Novatian , and has departed from the unity of the Catholic Church. [...] While the Bishop Cornelius was ordained in the Catholic Church by the judgment of God, and by the suffrages of the clergy and people. When we were together in council, dearest brethren, we read your letter which you wrote to us concerning those who seem to be baptized by heretics and schismatics, (asking) whether, when they, come to

510-506: A man of apostolic holiness. According to the apostolic teaching and the doctrine of the Gospel, let us believe in the one Deity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in equal majesty and in a holy Trinity . We authorize the followers of this law to assume the title Catholic Christians; but as for the others, since in our judgment they are foolish madmen, we decree that they shall be branded with

595-424: A polished Greek even better than that of Paul, which is unlikely for an illiterate Jewish fisherman, and adopts Paul's theology, which fits poorly with the tension between Paul and Peter. In one epistle, the author only calls himself James (Ἰάκωβος Iákobos ). It is not known which James this is supposed to be. There are several different traditional Christian interpretations of other New Testament texts which mention

680-510: A single continuous style. Of the two-style interpretations the Late Latin period of Erich Auerbach and others is one of the shortest: "In the first half of the 6th century, which witnessed the beginning and end of Ostrogoth rule in Italy , Latin literature becomes medieval. Boethius was the last 'ancient' author and the role of Rome as the center of the ancient world, as communis patria ,

765-529: Is "catholic" was summarized in what is known as the Vincentian Canon in the 5th century Commonitory : "what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all." Distinguishing beliefs of Catholicity , the beliefs of most Christians who call themselves "Catholic", include the episcopal polity , that bishops are considered the highest order of ministers within the Christian religion, as well as

850-620: Is also used in the Martyrdom of Polycarp (AD 156): The Church of God which sojourns at Smyrna, to the Church of God sojourning in Philomelium, and to all the congregations of the Holy and Catholic Church in every place: Mercy, peace, and love from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, be multiplied. For, [Polycarp] having through patience overcome the unjust governor, and thus acquired

935-463: Is called lingua ecclesiastica , and which we cannot read without disgust. As 'Low Latin' tends to be muddled with Vulgar Latin , Late Latin, and Medieval Latin , and has unfortunate extensions of meaning into the sphere of socio-economics, it has gone out of use by the mainstream philologists of Latin literature. A few writers on the periphery still mention it, influenced by the dictionaries and classic writings of former times. As Teuffel's scheme of

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1020-409: Is employed by Tertullian (AD 200): Where was Marcion then, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus then, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago — in the reign of Antoninus for the most part, — and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of

1105-478: Is given the name of Low Latin .... What indeed could be expected from this language, at a time when the barbarians had taken possession of Europe, but especially of Italy; when the empire of the east was governed by idiots; when there was a total corruption of morals; when the priests and monks were the only men of letters, and were at the same time the most ignorant and futile mortals in the world. Under these times of darkness, we must, therefore, rank that Latin, which

1190-486: Is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere to the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors. In the early centuries of Christian history, the majority of Christians who followed doctrines represented in Nicene Creed were bound by one common and undivided Catholicity that united

1275-552: Is not well defined. Politically, the excluded Augustan Period is the paradigm of imperiality, but the style cannot be grouped with either the Silver Age or with Late Latin. In 6th-century Italy, the Western Roman Empire no longer existed and the rule of Gothic kings prevailed. Subsequently, the term Imperial Latin was dropped by historians of Latin literature, although it may be seen in marginal works. The Silver Age

1360-531: Is securely connected to Medieval Latin by du Cange's own terminology expounded in the Praefatio , such as scriptores mediae aetatis , "writers of the middle age". Du Cange's Glossary takes words from authors ranging from the Christian period (Late Latin) to the Renaissance , dipping into the classical period if a word originated there. Either media et infima Latinitas refers to one age, which must be

1445-480: Is the earliest occurrence in Christian literature of the phrase 'the Catholic Church' (ἡ καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία). The original sense of the word is 'universal'. Thus Justin Martyr ( Dial . 82) speaks of the 'universal or general resurrection ', using the words ἡ καθολικὴ ἀνάστασις. Similarly here the Church universal is contrasted with the particular Church of Smyrna. Ignatius means by the Catholic Church 'the aggregate of all

1530-526: Is the same James as the author of the Epistle of James, himself reputedly a brother of Jesus; and so, this Jude should also be a brother of Jesus, despite the fact he does not indicate any such thing in his text. With the exception of the Petrine epistles, both of which may be pseudepigrapha , the seven catholic epistles were added to the New Testament canon because early church fathers attributed

1615-409: Is truly and in the strictest sense 'catholic,' which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one faith to be true, which the whole church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which it

1700-655: The Book of Concord , a compendium of belief of the Lutheranism , 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

1785-594: The Catholic faith " or "relating to the historic doctrine and practice of the Western Church ". " Catholicos ", the title used for the head of some churches in Eastern Christian traditions, is derived from the same linguistic origin. In non-ecclesiastical use, it derives its English meaning directly from its root, and is currently used to mean the following: The term has been incorporated into

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1870-719: The East–West Schism of 1054, those terms had just the basic geographical meanings, since only one undivided Catholicity existed, uniting the Latin-speaking Christians of West and the Greek-speaking Christians of the East. After the Schism, terminology became much more complicated, resulting in the creation of parallel and conflicting terminological systems. The Greek adjective katholikos ,

1955-471: The Holy Roman Empire ) under Charlemagne . Toward the end of his reign his administration conducted some language reforms. The first recognition that Late Latin could not be understood by the masses and therefore was not a lingua franca was the decrees of 813 CE by synods at Mainz , Rheims Tours that from then on preaching was to be done in a language more understandable to the people, which

2040-493: The Muratorian fragment ( circa 170 A.D.), which refers to certain heretical writings as 'not received in the Catholic Church'. So too Cyril of Jerusalem , in the fourth century , says that the Church is called Catholic not only 'because it is spread throughout the world', but also 'because it teaches completely and without defect all the doctrines which ought to come to the knowledge of men'. This secondary sense arose out of

2125-465: The Nicene Creed of AD 381. In particular, along with unity, sanctity , and apostolicity , catholicity is considered one of Four Marks of the Church , found in the line of the Nicene Creed: "I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church." During the medieval and modern times, additional distinctions arose regarding the use of the terms Western Catholic and Eastern Catholic . Before

2210-403: The elegantes sermones , "elegant speech", the high and low styles of Latinitas defined by the classical authors. Apparently, du Cange was basing his low style on sermo humilis , the simplified speech devised by Late Latin Christian writers to address the ordinary people. Humilis (humble, humility) means "low", "of the ground". The Christian writers were not interested in the elegant speech of

2295-437: The infimae Latinitatis scriptores , who must be post-classical; that is, Late Latin, unless they are also medieval. His failure to state which authors are low leaves the issue unresolved. He does, however, give some idea of the source of his infima , which is a classical word, "lowest", of which the comparative degree is inferior , "lower". In the preface, he opposes the style of the scriptores aevi inferioris (Silver Age) to

2380-517: The "Catholic Church" from other groups who could also refer to themselves as an ἐκκλησία (assembly or church): Since the word Ecclesia is applied to different things (as also it is written of the multitude in the theatre of the Ephesians, And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the Assembly (Acts 19:41), and since one might properly and truly say that there is a Church of evil doers , I mean

2465-465: The 9th and 11th century. After the East–West Schism , the notion of common Catholicity was broken and each side started to develop its own terminological practice. All major theological and ecclesiastical disputes in the Christian East or West have been commonly accompanied by attempts of arguing sides to deny each other the right to use the word "Catholic" as term of self-designation. After

2550-543: The Anglo-Saxons because it was morally slack was already well known to the scholarly world. The northern Protestants now worked a role reversal; if the language was "corrupt", it must be symptomatic of a corrupt society, which indubitably led to a "decline and fall", as Edward Gibbon put it, of imperial society. Writers taking this line relied heavily on the scandalous behavior of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and

2635-445: The Catholic Church, which is one, they ought to be baptized. They strive to set before and prefer the sordid and profane washing of heretics to the true and only and legitimate baptism of the Catholic Church. [...] We ought by all means to maintain the unity of the Catholic Church, and not to give way to the enemies of faith and truth in any respect. [...] Whose opinion, as being both religious and lawful and salutary, and in harmony with

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2720-717: The Catholic faith and Church, we also have followed. In addition to epistles 66, 69 and 70, the term is also found in the epistles 19, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 50, 51, 54, 63, 68, 71, 72, 74, 75. As mentioned in the above quotation from J.H. Srawley, Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 315–386), who is venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church , the Eastern Orthodox Church , and the Anglican Communion , distinguished what he called

2805-510: The Christian congregations' (Swete, Apostles Creed , p. 76). So too the letter of the Church of Smyrna is addressed to all the congregations of the Holy Catholic Church in every place. And this primitive sense of 'universal' the word has never lost, although in the latter part of the second century it began to receive the secondary sense of ' orthodox ' as opposed to ' heretical '. Thus it is used in an early Canon of Scripture ,

2890-661: The Epistle of Manichaeus called Fundamental , chapter 4: Proofs of the Catholic Faith. A contemporary of Augustine, St. Vincent of Lerins , wrote in 434 (under the pseudonym Peregrinus) a work known as the Commonitoria ("Memoranda"). While insisting that, like the human body, church doctrine develops while truly keeping its identity (sections 54–59, chapter XXIII), he stated: In the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that

2975-753: The First Period ( Old Latin ), the Second Period (the Golden Age) and the Third Period, "the Imperial Age", subdivided into the Silver Age, the 2nd century, and the 3rd–6th centuries together, which was a recognition of Late Latin, as he sometimes refers to the writings of those times as "late". Imperial Latin went on into English literature; Fowler's History of Roman Literature mentions it in 1903. The beginning and end of Imperial Latin

3060-487: The Golden Age and the Silver Age is the generally accepted one, the canonical list of authors should begin just after the end of the Silver Age, regardless of what 3rd century event is cited as the beginning; otherwise there are gaps. Teuffel gave the end of the Silver Age as the death of Hadrian at 138 CE. His classification of styles left a century between that event and his final period, the 3rd–6th centuries CE, which

3145-434: The Latin-speaking Christians of the west and the Greek-speaking Christians of the east. In those days, the terms "eastern Catholic" and "western Catholic" had geographical meanings, generally corresponding to existing linguistic distinctions between Greek east and Latin west. In spite of various theological and ecclesiastical disagreements between Christian sees, a common Catholicity was preserved. A great dispute arose between

3230-653: The Roman Empire, declaring in the Edict of Thessalonica of 27 February 380: It is our desire that all the various nations which are subject to our clemency and moderation, should continue the profession of that religion which was delivered to the Romans by the divine Apostle Peter, as it has been preserved by faithful tradition and which is now professed by the Pontiff Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria ,

3315-656: The Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Consequently, these letters have been labelled the Johannine epistles , despite the fact that none of the epistles mentions any author. Most modern scholars believe the author is not John the Apostle, but there is no scholarly consensus for any particular historical figure. (See Authorship of the Johannine works .) Two of the letters claim to have been written by Simon Peter , one of

3400-465: The Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Therefore, they have traditionally been called the Petrine epistles . However, most modern scholars agree the second epistle was probably not written by Peter, because it appears to have been written in the early 2nd century, long after Peter had died. Yet, opinions on the first epistle are more divided; many scholars do think this letter is authentic, although it is written in

3485-652: The acceptance of Filioque clause into the Nicene Creed by the Rome, Orthodox Christians in the East started to refer to adherents of Filioquism in the West just as "Latins" considering them no longer to be "Catholics". The dominant view in the Eastern Orthodox Church, that all Western Christians who accepted Filioque interpolation and unorthodox Pneumatology ceased to be Catholics, was held and promoted by famous Eastern Orthodox canonist Theodore Balsamon who

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3570-731: The adjective catholic . The Modern Greek equivalent καθολικισμός katholikismos is back-formed and usually refers to the Catholic Church . The terms catholic , catholicism , and catholicity are closely related to the use of the term Catholic Church . (See Catholic Church (disambiguation) for more uses.) The earliest evidence of the use of that term is the Letter to the Smyrnaeans that Ignatius of Antioch wrote in about 107 to Christians in Smyrna . Exhorting Christians to remain closely united with their bishop , he wrote: "Wherever

3655-417: The anonymous epistles to important people, and attributed the epistles written by people with the same name as important people to those important people. Acceptance of the Catholic epistles was contentious for the first few centuries of Christianity. Rejection among some Christians was first described by Origen in the early third century. Even after the epistles began to widely appear in canonical lists from

3740-417: The bad emperors reported by Tacitus and other writers and later by the secret history of Procopius , who hated his royal employers to such a degree that he could not contain himself about their real methods and way of life any longer. They, however, spoke elegant Latin. The Protestants changed the scenario to fit their ideology that the church needed to be purified of corruption. For example, Baron Bielfeld ,

3825-497: The best or classical Latin, which belonged to their aristocratic pagan opponents. Instead, they preferred a humbler style lower in correctness, so that they might better deliver the gospel to the vulgus or "common people". Low Latin in this view is the Latin of the two periods in which it has the least degree of purity, or is most corrupt. By corrupt, du Cange only meant that the language had resorted to nonclassical vocabulary and constructs from various sources, but his choice of words

3910-415: The bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." From the second half of the second century, the word "catholic" began to be used to mean "orthodox" (non-heretical), "because Catholics claimed to teach the whole truth, and to represent the whole Church, while heresy arose out of the exaggeration of some one truth and

3995-408: The blessed Eleutherus , until on account of their ever restless curiosity, with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled. Clement of Alexandria (AD 202) cites: Therefore in substance and idea, in origin, in pre-eminence, we say that the ancient and Catholic Church is alone, collecting as it does into the unity of the one faith. Cyprian of Carthage (AD 254) wrote

4080-526: The borders of the empire were being subsumed and assimilated, and the rise of Christianity was introducing a heightened divisiveness in Roman society, creating a greater need for a standard language for communicating between different socioeconomic registers and widely separated regions of the sprawling empire. A new and more universal speech evolved from the main elements: Classical Latin, Christian Latin, which featured sermo humilis (ordinary speech) in which

4165-658: The crown of immortality, he now, with the apostles and all the righteous [in heaven], rejoicingly glorifies God, even the Father, and blesses our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of our souls, the Governor of our bodies, and the Shepherd of the Catholic Church throughout the world. The Muratorian fragment (AD 177) mentions: [Paul] wrote, besides these, one to Philemon, and one to Titus, and two to Timothy, in simple personal affection and love indeed; but yet these are hallowed in

4250-769: The end of the Nervan–Antonine dynasty in 192 CE or later events. A good round date of 200  CE gives a canonical list of nearly no overlap. The transition between Late Latin and Medieval Latin is by no means as easy to assess. Taking that media et infima Latinitas was one style, Mantello in a recent handbook asserts of "the Latin used in the middle ages" that it is "here interpreted broadly to include late antiquity and therefore to extend from c. AD 200 to 1500." Although recognizing "late antiquity" he does not recognize Late Latin. It did not exist and Medieval Latin began directly from 200 CE. In this view all differences from Classical Latin are bundled as though they evolved through

4335-522: The esteem of the Catholic Church, and in the regulation of ecclesiastical discipline. There are also in circulation one to the Laodiceans, and another to the Alexandrians, forged under the name of Paul, and addressed against the heresy of Marcion; and there are also several others which cannot be received into the Catholic Church, for it is not suitable for gall to be mingled with honey. The term

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4420-503: The historical context, the word catholic probably signified that the letters were addressed to the general church, and not to specific, separate congregations or persons, as with the Pauline epistles . However, 2 John and 3 John appear to contradict this view, because their addresses are respectively to the "elect lady", speculated by many to be the church itself, and to " Gaius ", about whom there has been much speculation but little in

4505-401: The ignominious name of heretics, and shall not presume to give their conventicles the name of churches. They will suffer in the first place the chastisement of the divine condemnation, and in the second the punishment which our authority, in accordance with the will of heaven, will decide to inflict. Theodosian Code XVI.i.2 Jerome wrote to Augustine of Hippo in 418: "You are known throughout

4590-453: The late fourth century, some groups continued to reject some or all the catholic epistles into the sixth and seventh centuries. Catholic (term) The word catholic (derived via Late Latin catholicus , from the ancient Greek adjective καθολικός ( katholikos ) ' universal ' ) comes from the Greek phrase καθόλου ( katholou ) ' on the whole, according to

4675-473: The late medieval and early modern period, terminology became much more complicated, resulting in the creation of parallel and confronting terminological systems that exist today in all of their complexity. During the Early Modern period, a special term "Acatholic" was widely used in the West to mark all those who were considered to hold heretical theological views and irregular ecclesiastical practices. In

4760-705: The meetings of the heretics, the Marcionists and Manichees , and the rest, for this cause the Faith has securely delivered to you now the Article, "And in one Holy Catholic Church"; that you may avoid their wretched meetings, and ever abide with the Holy Church Catholic in which you were regenerated. And if ever you are sojourning in cities, inquire not simply where the Lord's House is (for the other sects of

4845-466: The middle age covering the entire post-classical range, or it refers to two consecutive periods, infima Latinitas and media Latinitas . Both interpretations have their adherents. In the former case, the infimae appears extraneous; it recognizes the corruptio of the corrupta Latinitas which du Cange said his Glossary covered. The two-period case postulates a second unity of style, infima Latinitas , translated into English as "Low Latin" (which in

4930-433: The name of the largest Christian communion, the Roman Catholic Church . All of the three main branches of Christianity in the East – Eastern Orthodox Church , Oriental Orthodox Church and Church of the East – had always identified themselves as Catholic in accordance with apostolic traditions and the Nicene Creed . Lutherans , Reformed , Anglicans and Methodists also believe that their churches are "Catholic" in

5015-532: The one-period case would be identical to media Latinitas ). Du Cange in the glossarial part of his Glossary identifies some words as being used by purioris Latinitatis scriptores , such as Cicero (of the Golden Age). He has already said in the Preface that he rejects the ages scheme used by some: Golden Age, Silver Age, Brass Age, Iron Age. A second category are the inferioris Latinitatis scriptores , such as Apuleius (Silver Age). The third and main category are

5100-476: The origin of the term catholic , means 'universal'. Directly from the Greek, or via Late Latin catholicus , the term catholic entered many other languages, becoming the base for the creation of various theological terms such as catholicism and catholicity ( Late Latin catholicismus , catholicitas ). The term catholicism is the English form of Late Latin catholicismus , an abstract noun based on

5185-510: The original meaning because Catholics claimed to teach the whole truth, and to represent the whole Church, while heresy arose out of the exaggeration of some one truth and was essentially partial and local. By Catholic Church Ignatius designated the universal church. Ignatius considered that certain heretics of his time, who disavowed that Jesus was a material being who actually suffered and died, saying instead that "he only seemed to suffer" (Smyrnaeans, 2), were not really Christians. The term

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5270-418: The people were to be addressed, and all the various dialects of Vulgar Latin . The linguist Antoine Meillet wrote: "Without the exterior appearance of the language being much modified, Latin became in the course of the imperial epoch a new language... Serving as some sort of lingua franca to a large empire, Latin tended to become simpler, to keep above all what it had of the ordinary." The origin of

5355-653: The practice of the Orthodox. On the other side of the widening rift, Eastern Orthodox were considered by western theologians to be Schismatics . Relations between East and West were further estranged by the tragic events of the Massacre of the Latins in 1182 and Sack of Constantinople in 1204. Those bloody events were followed by several failed attempts to reach reconciliation (see: Second Council of Lyon , Council of Florence , Union of Brest , Union of Uzhhorod ). During

5440-456: The precious ties belonging to the Christian name which keep a believer in the Catholic Church, as it is right they should ... With you, where there is none of these things to attract or keep me... No one shall move me from the faith which binds my mind with ties so many and so strong to the Christian religion... For my part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church. —St. Augustine (354–430): Against

5525-543: The profane also attempt to call their own dens houses of the Lord), nor merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the peculiar name of this Holy Church, the mother of us all, which is the spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ , the Only-begotten Son of God (Catechetical Lectures, XVIII, 26). Theodosius I , Emperor from 379 to 395, declared "Catholic" Christianity the official religion of

5610-578: The sense that they too are in continuity with the original universal church founded by the Apostles. However, each church defines the scope of the "Catholic Church" differently. For instance, the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox churches, and Church of the East, each maintain that their own denomination is identical with the original universal church, from which all other denominations broke away. An early definition for what

5695-571: The term 'Late Latin' remains obscure. A notice in Harper's New Monthly Magazine of the publication of Andrews' Freund's Lexicon of the Latin Language in 1850 mentions that the dictionary divides Latin into ante-classic, quite classic, Ciceronian, Augustan, post-Augustan and post-classic or late Latin, which indicates the term already was in professional use by English classicists in the early 19th century. Instances of English vernacular use of

5780-526: The term may also be found from the 18th century. The term Late Antiquity meaning post-classical and pre-medieval had currency in English well before then. Wilhelm Siegmund Teuffel 's first edition (1870) of History of Roman Literature defined an early period, the Golden Age, the Silver Age and then goes on to define other ages first by dynasty and then by century (see under Classical Latin ). In subsequent editions he subsumed all periods under three headings:

5865-633: The time of Counter-Reformation the term Acatholic was used by zealous members of the Catholic Church to designate Protestants as well as Eastern Orthodox Christians. The term was considered to be so insulting that the Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church , held in Temeswar in 1790, decided to send an official plea to emperor Leopold II , begging him to ban the use of the term "Acatholic". The Augsburg Confession found within

5950-408: The time. Also, Late Latin is not identical to Christian patristic Latin, used in the theological writings of the early Christian fathers. While Christian writings used a subset of Late Latin, pagans , such as Ammianus Marcellinus or Macrobius , also wrote extensively in Late Latin, especially in the early part of the period. Late Latin formed when large numbers of non-Latin-speaking peoples on

6035-410: The use of Vulgar Latin vocabulary and constructs, it remains largely classical in its overall features, depending on the author who uses it. Some Late Latin writings are more literary and classical, but others are more inclined to the vernacular . As such it is an important source of information about changes in the spoken language, while not being a simple replication of the state of the oral language at

6120-504: The use of the term "Catholic Church" is the Letter to the Smyrnaeans that Ignatius of Antioch wrote in about 107 AD to Christians in Smyrna. Exhorting Christians to remain closely united with their bishop , he wrote: Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. Of the meaning for Ignatius of this phrase J.H. Srawley wrote: This

6205-572: The very seat of the Apostle Peter , to whom the Lord, after His resurrection, gave it in charge to feed His sheep (Jn 21:15–19), down to the present episcopate . And so, lastly, does the very name of Catholic, which, not without reason, amid so many heresies, the Church has thus retained; so that, though all heretics wish to be called Catholics, yet when a stranger asks where the Catholic Church meets, no heretic will venture to point to his own chapel or house. Such then in number and importance are

6290-403: The way of conclusive proof as to his identity. Some historians therefore think that the label catholic was originally applied to just 1 John , and expanded to all other non-Pauline epistles later on. Some Protestants have termed these "Lesser Epistles". Three of the seven letters are anonymous. These three have traditionally been attributed to John the Apostle , the son of Zebedee and one of

6375-420: The whole, in general ' , and is a combination of the Greek words κατά ( kata ) ' about ' and ὅλος ( holos ) ' whole ' . The first known use of "Catholic" was by the church father Saint Ignatius of Antioch in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans (circa 110 AD). In the context of Christian ecclesiology , it has a rich history and several usages. The word in English can mean either "of

6460-553: The world; Catholics honour and esteem you as the one who has established anew the ancient Faith" Only slightly later, Saint Augustine of Hippo (354–430) also used the term "Catholic" to distinguish the "true" church from heretical groups: In the Catholic Church, there are many other things which most justly keep me in her bosom. The consent of peoples and nations keeps me in the Church; so does her authority, inaugurated by miracles, nourished by hope, enlarged by love, established by age. The succession of priests keeps me, beginning from

6545-607: Was patriarch of Antioch . He wrote in 1190: For many years the once illustrious congregation of the Western Church, that is to say, the Church of Rome, has been divided in spiritual communion from the other four Patriarchates, and has separated itself by adopting customs and dogmas alien to the Catholic Church and to the Orthodox ... So no Latin should be sanctified by the hands of the priests through divine and spotless Mysteries unless he first declares that he will abstain from Latin dogmas and customs, and that he will conform to

6630-459: Was at an end." In essence, the lingua franca of classical vestiges was doomed when Italy was overrun by the Goths, but its momentum carried it one lifetime further, ending with the death of Boethius in 524 CE. Not everyone agrees that the lingua franca came to an end with the fall of Rome, but argue that it continued and became the language of the reinstituted Carolingian Empire (predecessor of

6715-644: Was essentially partial and local". In 380, Emperor Theodosius I limited use of the term "Catholic Christian" exclusively to those who followed the same faith as Pope Damasus I of Rome and Pope Peter of Alexandria . Numerous other early writers including Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 315–386), Augustine of Hippo (354–430) further developed the use of the term "catholic" in relation to Christianity. The 5th century Vincentian Canon, published in Commonitory , defined "catholic" as "what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all." The earliest recorded evidence of

6800-406: Was extended a century, and the four centuries following made use of Late Latin. Low Latin is a vague and often pejorative term that might refer to any post-classical Latin from Late Latin through Renaissance Latin, depending on the author. Its origins are obscure, but the Latin expression media et infima Latinitas sprang into public notice in 1678 in the title of a Glossary (by today's standards

6885-605: Was in other systems being considered Late Antiquity. Starting with Charles Thomas Crutwell's A History of Roman Literature from the Earliest Period to the Death of Marcus Aurelius , which first came out in 1877, English literary historians have included the spare century in Silver Latin. Accordingly, the latter ends with the death of the last of the five good emperors in 180 CE. Other authors use other events, such as

6970-421: Was stated by Tours Canon 17 as rustica Romana lingua , identified as Romance , the descendant of Vulgar Latin . Late Latin as defined by Meillet was at an end; however, Pucci's Harrington's Mediaeval Latin sets the end of Late Latin when Romance began to be written, "Latin retired to the cloister" and " Romanitas lived on only in the fiction of the Holy Roman Empire ." The final date given by those authors

7055-568: Was true first of all to Holy Scripture, and then also to the teaching of the church fathers and the councils". Late Latin Late Latin is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity . English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the 3rd to 6th centuries AD , and continuing into the 7th century in the Iberian Peninsula . This somewhat ambiguously defined version of Latin

7140-466: Was unfortunate. It allowed the "corruption" to extend to other aspects of society, providing fuel for the fires of religious (Catholic vs. Protestant) and class (conservative vs. revolutionary) conflict. Low Latin passed from the heirs of the Italian renaissance to the new philologists of the northern and Germanic climes, where it became a different concept. In Britain, Gildas ' view that Britain fell to

7225-462: Was used between the eras of Classical Latin and Medieval Latin . Scholars do not agree exactly when Classical Latin should end or Medieval Latin should begin. Being a written language, Late Latin is not the same as Vulgar Latin , or more specifically, the spoken Latin of the post Imperial period. The latter served as ancestor of the Romance languages . Although Late Latin reflects an upsurge of

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