Post by Cepha on May 12, 2008 9:14:41 GMT -5
There were many Churches started by Apostles, but this was before the centralization of The Church (the foundings of this movement to centralize The Church is footed in The New Testament).
Because Christianity was severly persecuted by Rome up until the late 4th Century, The Church never could do a good job of knowing what was believable in matters of faith and doctrine and what wasn't.
There were over a hundred Gospels floating around. Some had Apostles being portrayed as christs themselves.
Anyway, once all that was handled, The Church began the process of weeding out the heretical sects that sprouted up. Those who didn't conform to orthodox Christianity and who refused to accept the authority of The Church were excommunicated from Christianity itself (as their practices excluded them from being a true Christian as defined by The Church).
So, while yes, there were Churches started by The Apostles, since only one Apostle had supreme authority over the rest as ordained by Christ Himself, all those Apostles and their Church had to conform to The One True Church at the time.
This greatly united Christians and brought about the explosion of Christianity which led it to become the biggest religion in The World.
Only The Pope has the quality of infallibility in matters of faith and doctrine. The other Apostles didn't have to have that quality because they were not creating or revealing doctrines of the faith, but were preaching what they were taught directly by Christ.
It was their followers who (again, because there was no central control or order of any kind) began to go off in unApostolic paths which led to The Great Heresies of the time.
Among Chistianity, there has always been one leader. In Jesus time, it was Jesus. Post Jesus, it was Peter. Post Peter, I believe it was Clement or Linus, then Evaristus, and so on.
While The Apostles all had very great teaching authorities, as is shown in The NT, they had councils to decide doctrines and to hand out assignments...the first tracings of ecclisiastical administration. And, Peter was always the first one to speak and the last one to speak.
And that would make perfect sense to me, that The Church, The Body of Christ would speak with one voice and with one interpretation, for Jesus wouldn't be the author of confusion or chaos, but of order.
As for the Churches founded by Apostles that may have went off on their own direction, the truest measure of an Apostolic Church is it's allegiance to the same Church that The Apostles themselves gave their allegiance to...The Church of Vatican City (formerly Rome).
Because Christianity was severly persecuted by Rome up until the late 4th Century, The Church never could do a good job of knowing what was believable in matters of faith and doctrine and what wasn't.
There were over a hundred Gospels floating around. Some had Apostles being portrayed as christs themselves.
Anyway, once all that was handled, The Church began the process of weeding out the heretical sects that sprouted up. Those who didn't conform to orthodox Christianity and who refused to accept the authority of The Church were excommunicated from Christianity itself (as their practices excluded them from being a true Christian as defined by The Church).
So, while yes, there were Churches started by The Apostles, since only one Apostle had supreme authority over the rest as ordained by Christ Himself, all those Apostles and their Church had to conform to The One True Church at the time.
This greatly united Christians and brought about the explosion of Christianity which led it to become the biggest religion in The World.
Only The Pope has the quality of infallibility in matters of faith and doctrine. The other Apostles didn't have to have that quality because they were not creating or revealing doctrines of the faith, but were preaching what they were taught directly by Christ.
It was their followers who (again, because there was no central control or order of any kind) began to go off in unApostolic paths which led to The Great Heresies of the time.
Among Chistianity, there has always been one leader. In Jesus time, it was Jesus. Post Jesus, it was Peter. Post Peter, I believe it was Clement or Linus, then Evaristus, and so on.
While The Apostles all had very great teaching authorities, as is shown in The NT, they had councils to decide doctrines and to hand out assignments...the first tracings of ecclisiastical administration. And, Peter was always the first one to speak and the last one to speak.
And that would make perfect sense to me, that The Church, The Body of Christ would speak with one voice and with one interpretation, for Jesus wouldn't be the author of confusion or chaos, but of order.
As for the Churches founded by Apostles that may have went off on their own direction, the truest measure of an Apostolic Church is it's allegiance to the same Church that The Apostles themselves gave their allegiance to...The Church of Vatican City (formerly Rome).
