Russian Orthodox Catholic Church. Russian Orthodox Catholic Church. Under the jurisdiction of the Russian Church Abroad
Brief history of the church
Formed around 1992, it declares itself the successor to the "Danilov" branch of the CPI. There are two stories of the foundation of the church, one is declared by the church itself, the second is voiced by its opponents. I'll bring both.
1) Opponents: In fact, the church was founded by Vikenty (Chekalin), a former "Sekachevo" priest, who in 1988 was appointed bishop, but left the Sekachevites in the same year. In 1991, he received recognition from the secret Ukrainian Uniate Archbishop Vladimir (Sternyuk), and already on January 10, 1991, Sternyuk signed a letter appointing Chekalin as the first hierarch of the "Russian Orthodox Catholic Church" (this date can be considered the founding of the church). In 1991, his flock, according to him, numbered approx. 1000 people There were communities in Vost. Latvia, Samara, Tula, Moscow, Stavropol. The Moscow community was headed by Fr. Alexy Vlasov (these data are unverified and doubtful), Soon Vikenty broke with the Uniates, and then completely left his church, leaving it to Mikhail. Vincent's successor, Mikhail Anashkin, in his youth, he was a parishioner of the Roman Catholic Church of St. Louis in Moscow, then studied at a Catholic seminary in Riga, where he was ordained a deacon. In 1992, he was denied ordination to the Catholic priesthood, which was the reason for his departure from the Roman church and joining the "catacombs" of Vincent, where he quickly "rose" to the metropolitan, head of the church, deposing Vincent.
2) Church: In 1993, two "Danilov" bishops who were abroad - Maxim (Kharlampiev) (in 1995 he received the schema with the name Michael at the age of 90) and Nikandr (Ovsiuk) (died in 1994 in France) in Paris consecrate a Russian citizen Alexy (Lobazov) as a bishop, who together with Bishop Jonah (Arakelov) (the third and last "Danilov" bishop who lived in the early 90s in the Black Sea region, ordained in 1948) consecrated in the same (1993) year in the monastery church in the name of St. torment. Basilisk near the village of Komany (New Athos) of the current leader of the "Danilovites" - Metropolitan Mikhail (Anashkin).
The head of the church is connected with business and the underworld (when in the fall of 1997 Tarantsev, his partner in Russian Gold JSC, released from an American prison, returned to Russia, the general director of his company in metropolitan vestments was among those who met him at the airport. Therefore, the Moscow Patriarchate had to refute journalists' reports that Tarantsev was met by her representatives). In November 1993, Mikhail registered 4 parishes in the Department of Justice of Moscow: two in Moscow (in the name of the 12 Apostles and Sophia, the Wisdom of God), Klimovsk and Dedovsk. Now the church has two churches in Moscow, a total of about 12 parishes throughout Russia (in the Serpukhov diocese 3 parishes and a convent, in Vladimirskaya 2 parishes and a skete). According to the estimates of the leadership of the ROCC, there are up to 200 parishioners in each of the existing registered communities. The ROCC takes a completely benevolent position in relation to the ROC, services in them are performed in modern Russian, the clergy do not wear beards and long hair, they lead a secular lifestyle. Presumably in 1999, one of its hierarchs, Archbishop Alexy, separated from the ROCC, in charge of the house church at the Central House of Writers on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street in Moscow. Since September 2000, Bishop Manuil has been serving a term in Butyrki, which is why, at the request, he was expelled from the staff.
Hierarchy
Vikenty (Chekalin) (January 10, 1991 - 1992)
Archbishop of Moscow, Metropolitan of All Russia, Chairman of the Holy Synod of the ROCC Mikhail (Anashkin) (1992-
Archbishop of Vladimir and Suzdal Alexy (Lobazov) (1993-2000)
Manuel (Platov) Bishop of Klimovsky, Vik. Moscow Diocese (March 17, 1996 - 1998), Bishop of Serpukhov, Vik. Moscow diocese (1998 - September 2000)
The existence of the non-canonical religious organization "Russian Orthodox Catholic Church" was laid in January 1991, when Metropolitan of Lvov Vladimir Sternyuk accepted into the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) the "hierarch" of the "Seraphim-Gennadiev" branch of the Catacomb Church "Bishop of Yasnaya Polyana" Viketia (Chekalin) and appointed him manager of the Russian parishes of the UGCC. At the same time, the association of Greek Catholic parish communities in Russia received the name "Russian Orthodox Catholic (Catholic) Church" (ROCC), and "bishop" Vikenty (Chekalin) was endowed with the title of Primate.
Despite the personal patronage of Metropolitan Volodymyr Sternyuk, the acceptance of "bishop" Vikenty (Chekalin) in the "bishop" rank did not receive the approval of the Vatican, and in the same 1991 he was forced to leave the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Continuing the leadership of the "Russian Orthodox Catholic Church", "Bishop" Vikenty in the early 1990s. consecrated "bishops" Mikhail (Anashkin) and Alexy (Lobazov).
By 1992, "Bishop" Vikenty (Chekalin) retired from the management of the "Russian Orthodox Catholic Church" and the leadership of this non-knaonic religious organization was taken over by "Bishop" Mikhail (Anashkin), endowed with the title of "Archbishop of Moscow, Metropolitan of All Russia", Chairman of the Holy Synod of the ROCC.
Wishing to raise the status of their own legitimacy, the "hierarchs" of the ROCC developed a theory according to which they trace the succession of their ordinations to the "Danilov" opposition, i.e. to the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church of the 1920s, who denied the admissibility of any compromise with the Soviet authorities and united around the Archbishop of Volokolamsk Theodore (Pozdeevsky). Avoiding mention of accepting consecration from such an odious person as “bishop” Vikenty (Chekalin), the “hierarchs” of the ROCC declare that they were ordained by the “Danilov” bishops Nikandr (Ovsyuk) and Maxim (Kharlampiev), who in reality never didn't exist.
In 1993 "Metropolitan" Mikhail (Anashkin) registered four parishes of the "Russian Orthodox Catholic Church" with the Department of Justice of Moscow, and in February 1994 he managed to obtain official registration for the "Center of the Catholic Orthodox Church". By this time, 12 parish communities were part of the ROCC.
In its liturgical practice, the "Russian Orthodox Catholic Church" adheres to the Byzantine-Russian tradition with the inclusion of elements of Latin worship. The language of worship is modern Russian.
In March 1996, "Metropolitan" Mikhail (Anashkin) and "Bishop" Alexy (Lobazov) ordained the third "hierarch" of the ROCC, which was "Bishop Klimovsky" Manuel (Platov), already in 2000 arrested on suspicion of pedophilia and subsequently sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In 2001, "Archbishop" Alexy (Lobazov) left the jurisdiction of the "Russian Orthodox Catholic Church", after which only one "hierarch" remained in its composition in the person of "Metropolitan" Mikhail (Anashkin). Since that time, the religious activity of the ROCC has been losing its intensity and has practically died down.
Catholic Orthodox Church of France(fr. Eglise catholique orthodox de France, abbreviated ECOF, previously known as Orthodox Church of France, fr. l'Église Orthodoxe de France) is a non-canonical jurisdiction that uses a modified Gallican rite in worship. At various times, she was part of the Moscow Patriarchate, ROCOR, and the Romanian Patriarchate.
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Under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate
The emergence and formation of this jurisdiction is associated with the name of Evgraf Evgrafovich Kovalevsky (later Bishop of Saint-Denis John-Nectarius (1905-1970)), who in 1937, being a priest, led the community of the deceased Archimandrite Irenei (Viner), who was accepted shortly before his death into the Russian the Orthodox Church with the right to serve as a local rite, use the Gregorian calendar, Western vestments, etc. Evgraf Kovalevsky, as well as his brother Maxim, actively lectured, preached a lot, the number of communities grew.
In 1944, Kovalevsky created, taking as a model. The composition of the teachers is quite representative - members of the Orthodox Mission of France, created by Evgraf Kovalevsky and Vladimir Lossky, French secular professors of various Christian denominations.
In 1948, the association, headed by Evgraf Kovalevsky, became known as the "Orthodox Church of France." The clergy were required to be French citizens. The service was performed in French, the liturgy was served by the restored Gallican rite. Contacts magazine began to be published.
Nevertheless, many mistakes and, above all, a frivolous attitude towards church discipline - the communion of the heterodox, non-canonical weddings, secondary ordination, the use of esoteric practices, and much more - caused a critical attitude towards the brainchild of Evgraf Kovalevsky from the Moscow Patriarchate hierarchy.
Under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople
In 1953, Archpriest Evgraf Kovalevsky, together with a significant part of the believing communities of the Western Rite, left the omophorion of the Moscow Patriarchate and formed the "French Catholic Orthodox Church" ("Eglise catholique orthodoxe de France (ECOF)"). It is noteworthy that a few years before going into schism, Archpriest Evgraf secretly registered the Charter of the religious organization and the organization itself under the name "French Orthodox Church". Together with Kovalevsky, the Theological Institute of St. Dionysius also left the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Until 1956, Archpriest Evgraf was under the jurisdiction of the Russian Western European Exarchate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and then for several years the communities subordinate to Archpriest Evgraf remained independent.
Under the jurisdiction of the Russian Church Abroad
In 1960, the "French Orthodox Church" became part of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, where it received the name "Orthodox Catholic Church of France". Joining ROCOR was carried out by Bishop John (Maximovich) of Brussels and Western Europe, who treated the ancient Gallican liturgical tradition with great reverence and saw in its revival not only a return to the liturgical diversity of the ancient undivided Church, but also saw a huge potential for the Orthodox mission in the Western world.
On November 11, 1964, Archpriest Evgraf Kovalevsky, with the consent of the ROCOR Synod, was ordained Bishop of Saint-Denis in the Sorrowing Cathedral of San Francisco. The consecration was performed by Archbishop John (Maximovich) and Bishop Theophilus (Ionescu). Bishop John Nektarios led a 5,000-strong flock of Western Rite Orthodox Frenchmen.
After the death of Archbishop John (Maximovich) in 1966, the ROCOR Synod of Bishops in September 1966 entrusted the leadership of the affairs of the French Orthodox Catholic Church to Archbishop Vitaly (Ustinov) of Canada. On October 9, Archbishop Vitaly was present at the General Assembly of the FPOC, where he announced the need to stop the celebration of the Western rite of the Liturgy and insisted on the full adoption of the Byzantine rite. As a sign of protest, on October 19, Bishop John Nektarios announced his withdrawal from ROCOR. Part of the FPOC communities refused to leave ROCOR, they were formalized as the French Mission of ROCOR, while the Gallican rite was preserved in them, provided that the Byzantine rite was performed as the main one. In 1986, some of these parishes, headed by Archimandrite Ambrose (Fontrier), joined one of the non-canonical Old Calendar Auxentiev Synod, while others completely switched to the Eastern Rite.
At the end of the same year, Bishop John Nektarios asked the primates of the Local Orthodox Churches to accept the ECOF while preserving the Gallican rite. According to the report of Bishop Vitaly (Ustinov), Bishop John Nektary "for inappropriate behavior" was defrocked, which he did not admit. In 1967 he was excommunicated from the Church by the ROCOR Council of Bishops.
Under the jurisdiction of the Romanian Patriarchate
At the suggestion of the Romanian emigrant priest Virgil Georgiou, Bishop Ioan-Nectarios Kovalevsky made new attempts to settle the canonical status of his jurisdiction and in 1967 began negotiations with the Romanian Patriarch Justinian, but did not have time to complete them, having died in 1970. The accession of the "Orthodox Catholic Church of France" to the canonical Romanian Orthodox Church took place only in 1972.
On June 11, 1972, Bishop German (Bertrand-Hardy) was ordained for the PCCF with the title of Saint-Denis.
In 1988, due to the position of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, a conflict arose with the Romanian Patriarchate, which in March 1993 withdrew its blessing on the activities of ECOF, and most of the parishes of the latter withdrew from the Romanian Church. Parishes that did not want to go into schism were organized into a special deanery of the Gallican rite, headed by Archpriest Gregory Bertrand-Hardy, brother of the deposed Bishop Herman. These parishes have actually become biritual - according to the Gallican rite, they are allowed to serve only six times a year. .
independent existence
On April 3, 1997, the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of France expressed a negative attitude towards ECOF by a special resolution.
The catholicity of the Church in Christian theology is one of the essential properties of the Church of Christ, understood as its spatial, temporal and qualitative universality, universality.
Catholic (from the Greek ....
I believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic Church, proclaims the symbol of our faith.
But how can the Church be united when so many diverse societies and organizations, mutually excluding each other, lay claim to this name? When do we know the Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Armenian and other churches?
Therefore, we will answer, that only one of these Churches has the full right to really be called the Church, while all the others are called churches only according to their own claim, or according to an accepted, but unfounded custom, such as how in letters one is called , to whom they write, "the gracious sovereign", and himself - "the obedient servant", although both expressions do not correspond to reality in the least.
There can be only one Church in truth, because the title of the bearer of complete and perfect truth is inseparable from the Church, and there can be only one complete and perfect truth. If two things are expressed in important and precise things, or ...
On the term "cathedralism" in the Creed and History
Cathedrals are an institution of church government, consecrated by two thousand years of Christian history. But they often speak of "catholicity" as an immutable law of church organization. What is it, who coined the term, and what should it mean to us today?
Archpriest Alexander Zadornov, vice-rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, a specialist in canon law, explains; Archpriest Georgy Orekhanov, Doctor of Theology, Associate Professor of the Department of History of the Russian Orthodox Church, PSTGU; Alexander Kyrlezhev, researcher at the Synodal Biblical and Theological Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Church in the Nicene-Tsaregrad Creed (4th century) was called the Cathedral Church. However, the very concept of "cathedralism" we meet only in the XIX century. Does it mean that the doctrine of catholicity is new? How are the concepts of catholicity and the cathedral church related?
Archpriest Alexander...
On this basis, the Orthodox Church will accept and must accept us into communion with itself. A full church is a church that has at least one bishop and one lay Christian. The term catholic can be applied both to the whole Church and to parts of it. But this great, glorious, ecumenical unity of the Church was viciously and arrogantly violated. Where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church” (Ignatius the God-bearer.
Catholic means "throughout the whole," that is, in its entirety, wholeness. In the latter case, it means that each part of the Church has the same fullness as the whole Church. The term "Ecumenical" implies precisely the "quantitative" characteristic of the entire Church and does not apply to each of its parts. In his Epistle to the Church of Smyrna, he declares thus: "Wherever there is a bishop, there must be the people, because where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."
Orthodox Catholic Church
What does the full church mean. The post-apostolic bishops insisted on...
Question:
I found the text of the excommunication of Leo Tolstoy on the Internet and, while reading the introductory part, I found the following wording: “By the grace of God, the Holy All-Russian Synod, the faithful children of the Orthodox Catholic Greco-Russian Church, rejoice in the Lord.” Could you please explain how this is the "Catholic Greek-Russian Church"? For now, in my opinion, there is no such wording.
This is one of the names of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is often found before 1917. In May 1823, St. Philaret of Moscow published a catechism, which had the following title: "The Christian Catechism of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Greco-Russian Church."
Catholic (from the Greek ....
On September 25-29, 1972, the Second International Conference of the Orthodox Society in America took place at St. Vladimir's Theological Academy near New York. The general theme of the conference was the catholicity of the Church in its various aspects. We print below the introductory report of the chairman of the conference, Professor Archpriest Fr. John Meyendorff.
The very word "catholicity" is of comparatively recent origin. The tradition reflected in the writings of the Church Fathers and the texts of the Creeds knows only the adjective "catholic" and proclaims our faith in the "catholic Church". The concept of "catholicity" reflects a preoccupation with abstract ideas, while the real subject of theology is the Church itself. Maybe if St. If the Fathers developed a special branch of theology called "ecclesiology" (as modern theology has done), then they would use the term "catholicity" as an abstraction or generalization of the adjective "catholic", ...
catholicity of the church
Nevertheless, the fact is that patristic thought avoids talking about the properties of the Church in abstracto. The holy fathers also lack the desire to hypostasize or objectify...
Pluralism in the state is democracy, but pluralism in the head is schizophrenia.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.
The concept of conciliarity in essence.
Why do we call the Church "cathedral"? Well, not because it is controlled by cathedrals. And not because the largest buildings of temples are also called cathedrals. Why then?
The word "cathedral" translated the Greek concept of "catholic", i.e. catholic, universal - this is the same Greek term, but translated and understood by the Orthodox and Catholic churches in different ways. And in different ways so much that you want, but you will not find anything in common.
The Catholic Church understands its catholicity, its universal role, in terms of its own global expansion: the Catholic Church must embrace the whole world, and the entire population must become its members. No more, no less. This is a very superficial understanding of the church, directed outward, into the surrounding world.
Orthodox…
Catholicity of the Church
Archbishop Nathanael (Lviv)
What is "catholicity"? How important it is for a Christian to resolve this issue is shown by the words of the Confession of Faith of St. Athanasius the Great, highly revered in the Christian world.
This confession says: “A person who wants to be saved must first of all hold on to the catholic faith. If anyone does not keep this faith whole and undefiled, then without any doubt he will perish forever.
The word “catholic” was translated into the Slavic language by our holy and divinely inspired first teachers Cyril and Methodius as the word “cathedral”. This shows that they, in full agreement with the understanding of the entire Orthodox Church, did not put into this word the meaning that the modern West usually gives it, interpreting the word “catholic” as “universal, worldwide”. So, for example, the Council of Trent of the Roman Catholic Church interpreted the meaning of this term, which, among other things, decided: “The third sign of the Church is ...
Professor Archpriest John Meyendorff
CATHOLICITY OF THE CHURCH
The very word catholicity is of comparatively recent origin. The tradition of the Fathers of the Church and symbolic texts knows only the adjective "catholic" and proclaims our faith in the "catholic Church" (catholics ekklisia - Greek). The concept of "catholicity" reflects a preoccupation with abstract ideas, while the real subject of theology is the Church itself. Maybe if St. If the Fathers developed a special branch of theology called "ecclesiology" (as modern theology has done), then they would use the term "catholicity" as an abstraction or generalization of the adjective "catholic", just as they spoke of "Godhood" (Theotis - Greek) and "humanity" (anfropotis - Greek), etc., defining the hypostatic unity.
Nevertheless, the fact is that patristic thought avoids talking about the "properties" of the Church in abstracto. At St. fathers also lack the desire ...
CATHOLICITY
Archbishop Nathanael (Lviv)
CATHOLICITY
What is catholicity? How important it is for a Christian to resolve this issue is shown by the words of the Confession of Faith of St. Athanasius the Great, highly revered throughout the Christian world.
This confession says: “Whoever wants to be saved, it is first of all fitting for him to keep the holy faith, but whoever does not keep it whole and blameless, except for all bewilderment, will perish forever.”
The word catholic was translated into Slavonic by our holy and divinely inspired first teachers Cyril and Methodius with the word catholic. It shows. that they, in full agreement with the understanding of the entire Orthodox Church, invested in this word some other meaning than that one. which the modern West usually attaches to it, interpreting the word catholic as universal, universal.
However, the concept of conciliar requires clarification.
What is a cathedral, what is catholicity?
For a correct understanding of this word, we need ...
27. Catholicity (or catholicity) of the Church
In the symbolic texts that enjoyed fame and authority in the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as in the courses of dogmatic theology intended for its theological schools, very often the concepts of the “Cathedral” or Catholic Church were identified with the concept of the “Universal” Church.
So in the "Orthodox Confession" it says: "The Church is One, Holy, Catholic (Catholic, universal) and apostolic."
The Epistle of the Eastern Patriarchs says: “We believe that the testimony of the Catholic Church is no less valid than the Divine Scripture. Inasmuch as the Culprit of both is the same Holy Spirit, it makes no difference whether one learns from the Scriptures or from the Universal Church... The Universal Church... can in no way sin, neither deceive nor be deceived; but, like Divine Scripture, it is infallible and has everlasting importance” (part II).
In the Long Christian Catechism we read:
"Question: Why...
Joseph OVERBECK
Protest against the papal church and return
to the founding of catholic national churches
I.I.Overbek, Doctor of Theology and Philosophy
Now arise, and depart from this land, and go to the land of your birth.
The Catholic Church, founded by our Savior, was to embrace the whole earth. And indeed, its Orthodox, truly right teaching began to spread from the day of the first Pentecost, from the day of its foundation, and soon encompassed the entire educated part of the world. The countries of East and West professed the same faith, prayed at the same thrones, received the same sacraments - in a word, a great powerful union united the entire Christian world.
That is how it should have remained. Then different sects and unbelief would not suppress us; then we would not have heard of this or that science hostile to the faith, and of this or that state renouncing Christianity. Then there would be no...
catholicity of the church
Protopresv. John Meyendorff
The very word "catholicity" is of comparatively recent origin. The patristic and confessional Tradition knows only the adjective "catholic" and proclaims our faith in the Catholic Church (katholike ekklesia). The concept of "catholicity" reflects a preoccupation with abstract ideas, while the real subject of theology is the Church itself. Perhaps if the holy fathers developed a special branch of theological science called "ecclesiology" (as modern theology has done), they would use the term "catholicity" as an abstraction or generalization of the adjective "catholic", just as they spoke about the Deity (theotes), humanity (anthrwpotes), etc., defining the hypostatic unity.
Nevertheless, the fact is that patristic thought avoids talking about the properties of the Church in abstracto. The Holy Fathers also lack the desire to hypostasize or objectify the Church itself….
Archbishop Michael (Mudyugin)
In the summer of 1975, the then head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Archbishop of Finland Marrti Simojoki, was a guest of the Russian Orthodox Church. When he, accompanied by Russian and Finnish church leaders, left the church of the Kyiv Intercession Convent, a middle-aged woman dressed in all black tried to attract his attention. Standing in the monastery courtyard, with eyes burning with excitement, pointing to the exiting high representative of one of the Protestant Churches, she exclaimed: “Do not listen to him, he is a Catholic and came here to enslave us to the Pope!” As it turned out later, the Finnish guest, who did not know the Russian language, mistook the fanatical demarche of the "zealous beyond reason" parishioner for an enthusiastic greeting. When the true meaning of the “welcome” words was explained to him, he laughed to tears when he learned that he, an “orthodox Lutheran”, was mistaken for a papist, for an “agent” of that Church, in antagonism to which that Church arose and developed, to ...
While Catholicism is most commonly associated with the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church led by the Pope, the traits of catholicity and hence the term "Catholic Church" also apply to other denominations such as the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, etc. This also occurs in Lutheranism, Anglicanism, as well as independent Catholicism and other Christian denominations.
What is a catholic church
While the traits used to define catholicity, as well as the recognition of those traits in other denominations, vary among different religious groups, common attributes include: formal sacraments, episcopal state, apostolic succession, highly structured worship, and other unified ecclesiology.
The Catholic Church is also known as the Roman Catholic Church, a term used especially in ecumenical contexts and in those countries where other churches use the word "Catholic" to distinguish adherents of this church from the broader meanings of this concept.
In Protestantism
Among Protestant and related traditions, catholicity or catholicity is used in the sense of indicating a self-understanding of the continuity of faith and practice from early Christianity, as outlined in the Nicene Creed.
Among the Methodists: Lutherans, Moravans and Reformed denominations, the term "catholic" is used in the claim that they are "heirs of the apostolic faith". These denominations consider themselves to be catholic churches, claiming that the concept "denotes the historical, orthodox mainstream of Christianity, whose doctrine was determined by the ecumenical councils and creeds", and therefore most reformers "turned to this catholic tradition and believed that they were in continuity with it."
Common features
A common belief associated with catholicity is institutional continuity from the early Christian church founded by Jesus Christ. Many temples or congregations identify themselves individually or collectively as the authentic church. Any subject literature outlines the major schisms and conflicts within Christianity, especially within groups that self-identify as Catholics. There are several competing historical interpretations as to which groups went into schism with the original early church.
Times of Popes and Kings
According to the Pentarchy theory, the early undivided church was organized under three patriarchs: Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch, to which were later added the patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem. The Bishop of Rome at that time was recognized as the first among them, as stated, for example, in canon 3 of the First Council of Constantinople (many interpret "first" to mean "a place among equals").
The bishop of Rome was also considered to have the right to convene ecumenical councils. When the Imperial capital moved to Constantinople, Rome's influence was sometimes contested. Nevertheless, Rome asserted a special authority because of its connection with Saints Peter and Paul, who, as everyone agreed, were martyred and buried in Rome, and therefore the bishop of Rome saw himself as the successor of Saint Peter.
The catholicity of the church: history
The Third Ecumenical Council in 431 was mainly concerned with Nestorianism, which emphasized the distinction between the humanity and divinity of Jesus and declared that at the birth of the messiah, the Virgin Mary could not speak of the birth of God.
This Council rejected Nestorianism and affirmed that since humanity and divinity are inseparable from each other in Jesus Christ, his mother, the Virgin Mary, is thus the Theotokos, God-bearer, Mother of God.
The first great rift in the Church followed this Council. Those who refused to accept the Council's decision were mostly Persian Christians and are represented today by the Assyrian Church of the East and its affiliated Churches, which, however, no longer have a "Nestorian" theology. They are often referred to as ancient oriental temples.
Second gap
The next major split occurred after (451). This Council rejected Euthian Monophysitism, which held that the divine nature had completely subdued human nature in Christ. This Council declared that Christ, although he was a man, manifested two natures: "without confusion, without change, without division, without dividing" and thus he is fully God and fully man. The Church of Alexandria rejected the terms accepted by this Council, and the Christian churches that follow the tradition of not recognizing the Council - they are not Monophysites in doctrine - are called Pre-Chalcedonian or Oriental Orthodox Churches.
final break
The next big break in Christianity was in the 11th century. Years of doctrinal disputes, as well as conflicts between the methods of church government and the evolution of individual rites and customs, precipitated a split in 1054 that divided the Church, this time between the "West" and the "East". Spain, England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Scandinavia, the Baltic countries and Western Europe in general were in the Western camp, while Greece, Romania, Kievan Rus and many other Slavic lands, Anatolia and Christians in Syria and Egypt who accepted the Council of Chalcedon formed the Eastern Camp. This division between the Western and Eastern Churches is called the schism between East and West.
In 1438, the Council of Florence was held, in which a dialogue was held to understand the theological differences between East and West, with the hope of reuniting the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Several eastern churches have reunited, making up some of the Catholic churches. They are sometimes referred to as Orthodox Catholic churches.
Reformation
Another major division in the Church occurred in the 16th century with the Protestant Reformation, after which many parts of the Western Church rejected papal authority and some of the teachings of the Western Church of the day and became known as "Reformers" as well as "Protestants".
A much less extensive break occurred when, after the first Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church, in which it formally proclaimed the dogma of the infallibility of the papacy, small clusters of Catholics in the Netherlands and in German-speaking countries formed the Old Catholic (Alcatolidic) Church.
Difficulties in terminology
The use of the terms catholicity and catholicism depends on the context. During the times before the Great Schism, this applied to the Nicene Creed and especially to the principles of Christology, i.e., to the rejection of Arianism. In the post-Great Schism, Catholicism, represented by the Catholic Church, unites the Latin, Eastern Catholic Churches of the Greek tradition, and other Eastern Catholic parishes.
Liturgical and canonical practices differ between all of these specific Churches that make up the Roman and Eastern Catholic Churches (or, as Richard McBrien calls them, "Communion of the Catholic Churches"). Compare this with the term "Katholikos" (not Catholicism) in relation to the head of a Special Church in Eastern Christianity. However, the significance of the Orthodox Catholic Church is rather nominal.
In the Catholic Church, the term "catholic" is understood to mean "covering those who are baptized and in communion with the Pope".
Sacraments
Churches in this tradition (such as the Russian Orthodox Catholic Church) administer seven sacraments or "holy mysteries": Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Repentance, also known as Reconciliation, Anointing of God, Blessing of the Saints, and Brotherhood.
And what about the Catholics?
In churches that consider themselves Catholic, the sacrament is considered a visible sign of the invisible grace of God. While the word "mystery" is used not only for these rites, but also for other meanings with reference to revelations about God and God's mystical interaction with creation, the concept of "sacrament" (from Latin - "solemn obligation") is a common term in the West, which refers specifically to these rites.
The Eastern Orthodox Church adheres to the position that this is their communion, which actually constitutes the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Eastern Orthodox Christians see themselves as heirs to the patriarchal structure of the first millennium that developed in the Eastern Church in the model of pentarchy, recognized by the Ecumenical Councils as a theory that "continues to dominate official Greek circles to the present day."
schismatics against schismatics
In Orthodoxy, the catholicity or catholicity of the church plays a huge role. Since the theological disputes that occurred in the 9th-11th centuries, culminating in the final schism in 1054, the Eastern Orthodox Churches have viewed Rome as a schismatic species that violated the essential catholicity of the Christian faith by introducing new doctrines (see Filioque).
On the other hand, the model of pentarchy was never fully applied in the Western Church, which preferred the theory of the Primate of the Bishop of Rome, favoring Ultramontanism over the cathedral. The title "Patriarch of the West" was rarely used by popes until the 16th and 17th centuries and was included in the Annuario Pontifio from 1863 to 2005, having been dropped and passed into history, obsolete and practically unusable.
The Eastern (Coptic, Syrian, Armenian, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Malankara) also support the position that their community constitutes the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. In this sense, Eastern Orthodoxy maintains its ancient ecclesiological traditions of apostolate (apostolic succession) and catholicity (universality) of the Church. There is even the Catholic Orthodox Church of France.
