Catholics or Christians?

[padreden]

Acts 17:26 tells us “the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” “First” implies that they continued to be called “Christians,” as we know from history. When and why did the one and only Church change from being called “Christians” to being called “Catholics?”

 

[water]

Let see, before Acts 17:26, What does Acts 9:2 refer Christians as:

Acts 9:2

and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

Were they called “Christian”? No
They were called “The Way”.

Then in
**Acts 11:26 **

26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called **Christians **first at Antioch.

Then, later the term Catholic was introduced.

The Greek roots of the term “Catholic” mean “according to (kata-) the whole (holos),” or more colloquially, “universal.” At the beginning of the second century, we find in the letters of Ignatius the first surviving use of the term “Catholic” in reference to the Church. At that time, or shortly thereafter, it was used to refer to a single, visible communion, separate from others.

A Catholic is a Christian, but a Christian is not necessarily a Catholic.

more at: catholic.com/library/What_Catholic_Means.asp

 

[thistle]

Acts 17:26 tells us “the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” “First” implies that they continued to be called “Christians,” as we know from history. When and why did the one and only Church change from being called “Christians” to being called “Catholics?”

The name “the Catholic Church” (Greek: katholikos ekklesia) developed from Acts 9:31 “the Church throughout all” (Greek: ekklesia kath olos).