History of the Orthodox Church

Throughout history, religious and government officials have ruled over countries and kingdoms as a cooperative force and have often ignored the will of the people. The United States of America is one of the few nations that, at least at one point in time, strived for a complete and irreparable rift between the clergy and the governing body (Ingersoll 4). Despite the secular nature of the constitution, an increasing number of United States citizens are pushing for the acknowledgement that the…

century is not a recovery of the traditional doctrine of the Trinity, but rather a misinterpretation of, and a departure from, the doctrine recognized in the patristic period, agreed upon in the fourth-century debates, and upheld, by all strands of the church, through both the medieval and Reformation periods with relatively minor disagreement (xv). Holmes’s purpose is not to disprove the modern theologians by direct interaction with their claims, but to show that their accounts of Trinitarian…

In the early Christian church the canon was developed over a period of 250-300 years. Before the written canon was developed the majority of the gospel was shared by word of mouth through teachers. This was not uncommon for this period. One of the main reasons why the gospel was spread through oral tradition is because writing was clumsy and expensive to produce. Once papyrus became economical, and widespread use began, written texts exploded much like the internet has done to knowledge today.…

cry, arms out stretched, dancing in the aisles, slithering around with the agility of the Pink Panther.” (Page 49) During this scene, James puts a metaphor into play to describe the odd sightings he is witnessing while in church when he notices that the people of the church “get happy”, which can be defined as losing their control and thanking God. While doing so, James compares the way that the people’s movements are so effortless and graceful to that of a Pink Panther. By comparing such…

Rome to Byzantium. Byzantium, also known as Constantinople and Istanbul, is now located in present day Turkey. After Constantine built up Byzantium to be a very nice place, he named it after himself; Constantinople. During the Byzantines 1,000 year history, they achieved many things that most people haven’t learned, because of the lack of focus on the Byzantines in schools. There are at least four good reasons to study the Byzantines such as how they provided protection from invaders,…

wrongful. Those that claim there was justification view the actions of the Crusade as holy. Scholars recognize that crusaders saw the Sack of Constantinople as an opportunity to bring the state into Roman obedience and also to bring honor to the Church. In “Vows and Contracts in the Fourth Crusade” , Thomas Madden who has analyzed personal statements from the Fourth Crusade shows that in the clergy to Crusaders, they were told “that this war is right and just, and if you have a right…

In modern Church history, one of the most contentious and controversial issues that the Roman Catholic Church has had to deal with in its ecumenical dialogue with other Christian churches is the Dogma of Papal Infallibility. This dogma was officially promulgated by Pope Pius IX at the First Vatican Council (1869-1870) in the Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Aeternus. This magisterial document defined the role and ministry of the pope within the Church. In their attempt to define the Petrine office,…

leadership of The Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Byzantines stood still as the cornerstone of the Orthodox world. While many churches were built during the empire’s 1120-year life, but most of them vanished over time either getting destroyed or being converted. However, one of them, an old tiny church overshadowed by the mighty Hagia Sophia, stayed where it was despite the powers against it. Church of the Saint Mary of the Mongols was found as a nunnery in the beginning in the 7th century…

began. The Church started to gain much more power than the governing bodies. So much that at various times, an intense struggle for religious authority and political power played out. Even as that struggle continued the Church still affected the people at that time and spread throughout the world with great speed. Christianity had effects on the government during the middle ages with religious leaders vs. Kings and Queens. The Church had their own laws and its own courts of justice. The Church…

countries, has slowly began to take its place in modern civilization. Before this can be accomplished, Ethiopia must have a well structured government, main religions, a common language, a stable climate, and resources to keep its citizens healthy. The history of Ethiopia shows many famines, and droughts, an unsettling start for Africa’s first independent country. As well as being independent, Ethiopia is also the second most populated country in Africa. During the 4th century, Coptic…