When was the Church "Catholic?"

[Bookcat]

First members of the Church were called “the disciples”…

Later called followers of “the way” …and it seems “Nazarenes”

then at Antioch we started being called Christians.

Later in the first century the Church started to be called “Catholic” (see St. Ignatius --again at Antioch --use around the year 100)

So in time Christians began to be also called Catholics.

And as various heresies arose in the first centuries…which claimed to be Christian …the word was used to differentiate Christians from the others was Catholic…

Of course we still called ourselves Christians…but also we used the term Catholic.

Now a days we have many sorts of Christians --who are indeed Christians and our brothers…though we are unhappily not yet in full communion.

Catholics are Christians who in full communion with the successor of Peter.

As one early Christian noted (375AD)

“If you want to know who I am,” he said, “Christian is my name, Catholic is my surname.” --St. Pacian

More from Catholic Answers: catholic.com/quickquestions/what-were-christians-called-before-st-ignatius-of-antioch-referred-to-them-as-catholi

catholic.com/tracts/what-catholic-means

 

[Bookcat]

In addition to the above post and links.

“If you want to know who I am,” he said, “Christian is my name, Catholic is my surname.” --St. Pacian 375 AD

And an example of a martyr during a period when there were other groups in existence (heretical groups)…

During his interrogation for his martyrdom…

This went down:

Polemon: Make a sacrifice as least to the emperor

Pionius: I am a Christian I do not offer sacrifice to men

…

Polemon: What Church do you belong to?

Pionius: The Catholic Church, with Christ there is no other

AD 251

(See Acts of the Christian Martyrs- Musurillo)

(PS a note for readers --we of course recognize that other Christians of our time …are indeed fellow Christians…who seek to follow Christ the Lord with great love…and by whose lives we can even be edified…may we be united in every greater love and fraternal communion)

 

[ConstantineTG]

In addition to the above post and links.

“If you want to know who I am,” he said, “Christian is my name, Catholic is my surname.” --St. Pacian 375 AD

And an example of a martyr during a period when there were other groups in existence (heretical groups)…

During his interrogation for his martyrdom…

This went down:

Polemon: Make a sacrifice as least to the emperor

Pionius: I am a Christian I do not offer sacrifice to men

…

Polemon: What Church do you belong to?

Pionius: The Catholic Church, with Christ there is no other

AD 251

(See Acts of the Christian Martyrs- Musurillo)

(PS a note for readers --we of course recognize that other Christians of our time …are indeed fellow Christians…who seek to follow Christ the Lord with great love…and by whose lives we can even be edified…may we be united in every greater love and fraternal communion)

You have to take in in the context of their own time, not ours. I have no difficulty reading that as something else knowing that there was a different context back then.

 

[Bookcat]

You have to take in in the context of their own time, not ours. I have no difficulty reading that as something else knowing that there was a different context back then.

Yes. I have not difficulty either. But some readers may mistake some things.

 

[Randy_Carson]

I’d be interested in your sources for that, Perro. I’ve never heard those claims before.

Thanks.

Posted again here for the benefit of Traverse…

Earliest Use of the Name “Catholic Church”

The early Church - the Church founded by Christ as promised in Matthew 16:18 - was that which was originally known as “the Way” (cf. Acts 24:14). Later, those individuals who followed Christ began to be called “Christians” beginning at Antioch (cf. Acts 11:26). As early as 107 A.D., those same individuals referred to themselves collectively as the “Catholic Church”. In a letter to the Church of Smyrna, Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “You must all follow the bishop as Jesus Christ follows the Father, and the presbytery (priest) as you would the Apostles. Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” (Letter to the Smyrnaeans, A.D. 107, [8,1])

Notice that Ignatius does not introduce the term “Catholic Church”; instead he uses it in a manner suggesting that the name was already in use and familiar to his audience. This further suggests that the name, Catholic Church, had to have been coined much earlier in order to have achieved wide circulation by the time of this writing. In other words, the Christian assembly was calling itself the Catholic Church during the lifetime of the last Apostle, John, who died near the end of the first century. John, the beloved disciple, may have thought of himself as a member of the Catholic Church!

The Catholic Church began with Peter and the Apostles and continued without interruption or cessation through their disciples (Ignatius, Irenaeus, Polycarp, Clement, Justin Martyr, etc.) down to the present day. As a side note, it appears that the believers in Antioch may have coined both terms still in use today: “Christian” and “Catholic Church” – terms they used to describe the one body of believers in Christ.

 

[steve_b]

Note that their context of “catholic church” is different than our context of it. Most will translate their writings with a lower-case “c”.

Lower case didn’t come into being till ~7th or 8th century. In the beginning, there was one case, what we would call capital letters. Ergo Catholic Church would be CATHOLIC CHURCH

 

[joe370]

Was Jesus Catholic? Was Peter? Or, was it the Christian Church in the beginning and became "the “Catholic” Church later? Did Constantine found the Catholic Church? Was the Orthodox Church originally part of the Catholic church, or vice versa, or were they both considered to be the Christian Church for a time?

Let’s look at what Jesus and Peter were not, to narrow it down: think of every single Protestant Church aka non-Catholic church, dating all the way back to the first Protestant church (16th century A.D.) and it can be accurately stated that Jesus was not the founder of any of them, therefore Peter and the 1st century Christians did not belong to them. By the way would you have a problem calling the people belonging to those churches, Christians? Of course not! What does that leave us with? Either the Catholic Church or one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches - right? That is where a person’s journey to the church founded by Jesus to which the apostles belonged, should really begin - wouldn’t you agree?