Monday, March 18, 2024

It is the 18th of March 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Happy Monday! It is March 18th, and that means it is my wife’s birthday. Since she deleted her Facebook, she doesn’t get all the happy birthday wishes, so if you know her, give her a happy birthday.

We head, again, to the great white north—to Sudbury, Canada, and a question from Devon. Sudbury, of course, is a mining country—the hard rock mining capital of the world, home of the world’s biggest nickel and the third largest crater. Also, it was the home of Canadian legend Alex Trebek. 

Devon writes, “I’ve noticed in the Apostle’s Creed some churches say I believe in the “Holy Catholic” or “Holy Christian” church; I was wondering why and when the Roman Catholic Church started being known as that.”

Thanks, Devon. Okay. First, I’ve been in churches that say “Catholic” but are so concerned you will think “Roman Catholic.” They put an asterisk next to Catholic and tell you at the bottom of the page that this means “Universal.” And, as you mentioned, some changed it to “Christian.” This is a small pet peeve of mine because “catholic” means “universal,” not Christian. When we are saying the oldest and most agreed upon of all the creeds, we are saying that we believe in this church that is everywhere- we are part of something bigger than the church body where we are currently. It is a statement against sectarianism, which makes it ironic that some churches need to point out how they “aren’t those guys” and how “those guys” started calling only themselves this. So… let’s look at the quick history.

When the early church spread out, it was seen that there needed to be some structure—and humans love structure and hierarchy—so five major centers of the church were developed: Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch (today Antakya in Turkey), and Alexandria in Egypt.

Each center had a cathedral- meaning a church with a seat. The “seat” is where the presiding bishop (or archbishop) sits. In Latin, a “seat” is a “sedes” which came down to us as a “see” (like “the Holy See”)- so this came to be understood as jurisdiction. 5 seats. X With the spread of Islam, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria would all cease to be major Christian centers, and their jurisdiction as one of the “5 big ones” went away. Leaving 2, mimicking the old Roman Empire- a western seat in Rome and an eastern seat in Constantinople.

Human nature abhors a bipolar world, and our desire to match politics and draw the “other” led to a split in 1054. We’ve covered that before—the two powers excommunicated each other, and we have the “Eastern Orthodox” and what was called “the church of the Latin West.”

And often, when churches fight, they like to claim “supremacy via calendar”. Fr instance, I saw a bumper sticker on a car recently for the Orthodox Church (can we not do denominational bumper stickers? Or how about a new rule: colleges, teams, or bands only), and this bumper sticker said, “Orthodox Christianity: Since 33 AD”- in other words, we’re the originals. But like “Ray’s Pizza” in New York, there can’t be 20, all claiming to be the first and oldest.

As a good word to myself and us here at 1517, we don’t claim to have come up with something new in 1517 and in the Reformation, but rather we go back to the beginning, what was handed down from Christ and the Apostles. It was during the Reformation that you began to see “Roman Catholic” as a mark that said “not Protestant.” For some, it was like saying “papist”- it was actually derogatory. There is debate in the Catholic Church as to whether or not they should call themselves that or stick with “Catholic.” The most recent council, the second Vatican Council of the last century, made no reference to itself as “Roman Catholic” but only “catholic”. It’s somewhat similar to “Evangelical”- something designating a particular body but means “gospel-ers.” Christians are all evangelical, catholic, and orthodox- “gospel-havers,” “universal,” and with “right belief and worship.” Ironically, The words that unite us are the three designations for what divides us.

Thanks for the question, Devon in Sudbury- you can send me your questions at danv@1517.org.

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary and 2 Corinthians 3:

4 Such confidence we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 18th of March 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose beard often gets him confused with Eastern Orthodox. He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by whose beard often gets him confused for being homeless. I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.