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Catholic is an adjective derived from the Greek adjective ' ' / 'katholikos', meaning "whole" or "complete" . In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For Roman Catholics, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the Church, both Western and Eastern, in full communion with the Bishop of Rome. Protestants use it to refer to the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ. Catholicity is one of Four Marks of the Church, the others being unity, sanctity, and apostolicity. according to the Nicene Creed of 381: "I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church."
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Wikipedia About Catholic
Catholic is an adjective derived from the Greek adjective ' ' / 'katholikos', meaning "whole" or "complete" . In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For Roman Catholics, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the Church, both Western and Eastern, in full communion with the Bishop of Rome. Protestants use it to refer to the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ. Catholicity is one of Four Marks of the Church, the others being unity, sanctity, and apostolicity. according to the Nicene Creed of 381: "I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church."
Ignatius of Antioch
A letter written by Ignatius to Christians in Smyrna around 106 is the earliest surviving witness to the use of the term Catholic Church (Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 8). By Catholic Church Ignatius designated the Christian Church in its universal aspect, excluding heretics, such as those who disavow "the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again" (Smyrnaeans, 7). He called such people "beasts in the shape of men, whom you must not only not receive, but, if it be possible, not even meet with" (Smyrnaeans, 4). The term is also used in the Martyrdom of Polycarp in 155 and in the Muratorian fragment, about 177.
St Cyril of Jerusalem
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Theodosius I
Augustine of Hippo
The use of the term Catholic to distinguish the "true" church from heretical groups is found also in Augustine who wrote:
- "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 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 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 (354430): Against the Epistle of Manichaeus called Fundamental, chapter 4: Proofs of the Catholic Faith.
