Which was the first Catholic Church?

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BTW - this diagram has been in circulation for awhile - it’s a decent visual …

 
As I’m looking at the chart, it seems as if the roman rite was first is that true?
 
MaroniteRosary said:
As I’m looking at the chart, it seems as if the roman rite was first is that true?
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That’s not true. Other rites too are as old as the Roman rite. The years in the above diagram only tell about their re-union with the Church of Rome. In other words, Eastern Catholic Churches represent the state of Eastern churches before the schism.

The uniqueness of Latin Church is that, the head of universal church being its Patriarch, Latin Church can never be in schism.

In addition, it’s debated whether some of these eastern churches were really in schism. For instance, the churches following the Chaldean rites, it’s argued, were in communion with Rome, but mistaken to be schismatic due to their close relation with the Assyrian Church.
 
Does anybody know what was the first catholic church? Like Syriac Byzantine etc
 
For Patriarchal seats, Jerusalem, although Roman and Alexandrian (now monophysite/heretic in its earliest form, with probably ten different claimants to Alexandrian episcopacy, including both Heretic, Orthodox and Catholic) is close, of churches still extant.

For Churches that are not still extant, one has Antioch (still has a bishop but no actual city: schismatic, not heretic), and most of the others written to in the New Testament, which were destroyed by the Islamic invaders in the 7th-8th centuries, but were of equal antiquity. The least ancient of the Pentarchy (several hundred years younger than the rest) is the Patriarch of Constantinople, the leader of the Eastern Orthodox.

Liturgically speaking, I’m not sure, although I would say that the Byzantine rite is the least ancient, granted that Byzantium as it is known didn’t exist until 330 AD (as Constantinople, although Byzantium itself is only a few hundred years younger than Rome: Rome, 787 BC, Byzantium ~650 BC), I believe the Latin, Syriac, and Alexandrian are the oldest. As practiced today, the Byzantine rite is more ancient than the Novus Ordo Latin rite.
 
I would agree with Vico that the simplest answer is Jerusalem.

The Feast of Pentecost is often referred to as the Birthday of the Church. The Holy Spirit descended on the eleven apostles while they gathered in Jerusalem for the ancient Hebrew feast, commemorating the giving of the Law on Sinai.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language [Acts 2:1–6].
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From this all sprang forth.
 
In light of the “Common Declaration of Pope Paul VI and the Pope of Alexandria Shenouda III,” I do not think we can rightly accuse the Coptic Orthodox Church of being heretical. This common theological declaration shows that, in spite of the schism dating to A.D. 451, the christology of the Coptic Orthodox Church is indeed compatible with that of the Catholic Church. Furthermore, even apart from this common theological declaration (and others as well), it has never been the case that the christology of the Oriental Orthodox was the same as that of Eutyches, whose teaching was condemned at the Council of Chalcedon.
 
I agree with Vico also! From your own personal opinion which Catholic rite is the closest to be jersulem? My opinion is the Syriac rite because they were one of the first in Antioch, which is were followers of Christ were first called Christians.
 
MaroniteRosary said:
As I’m looking at the chart, it seems as if the roman rite was first is that true?
Click to expand...
The Church originated in Jerusalem (shown in the center of Vico’s chart), with the decent of the Holy Spirit on the eleven Apostles on Pentecost. The Church of Rome was actually the third of the five major Patriarchal Churches of the ancient Church, established after the Church of Jerusalem and the Church of Antioch. The Church of Rome became the Holy See of St. Peter, as he remained there as the head of that Church. The rest, as they say, is history …
 
ByzCathCantor said:
The Church originated in Jerusalem (shown in the center of Vico’s chart), with the decent of the Holy Spirit on the eleven Apostles on Pentecost. The Church of Rome was actually the third of the five major Patriarchal Churches of the ancient Church, established after the Church of Jerusalem and the Church of Antioch. The Church of Rome became the Holy See of St. Peter, as he remained there as the head of that Church. The rest, as they say, is history …
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12 Apostles. They’ve already appointed Matthias as a replacement for Judas by Pentecost 😉
 
**Moderator Note: **

This discussion on which church is the oldest was sufficiently off-topic to create a new thread from it. Please see here for the original discussion asking which rite and church you belong to.

May God Bless You Abundantly,
Catherine Grant
Eastern Catholicism Moderator
 
MaroniteRosary said:
I agree with Vico also! From your own personal opinion which Catholic rite is the closest to be jersulem? My opinion is the Syriac rite because they were one of the first in Antioch, which is were followers of Christ were first called Christians.
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We really cannot think in terms of rites.
 
MaroniteRosary said:
True that’s why I asked in your own opinions which church do you think is the first?
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Jerusalem, followed by Antioch. Then the explosion.

The spread of the church was along the trade routes, the roads and the seaways between the major commercial centers. It went from one Jewish community to another like that, fairly quickly crossing the borders of the empire.

The rural communities started to convert later, it was an urban phenomenon and according to father Louis Bouyer the style of worship was likely to vary a bit depending upon the local synagog custom and practice.
 
From what I know, being personally Maronite, is that the Maronite Church has been here since the 450’s and is the first Church of the Middle East - North Africa.
Hope that I helped you.
God bless.
 
The_Lonely_One said:
From what I know, being personally Maronite, is that the Maronite Church has been here since the 450’s and is the first Church of the Middle East - North Africa.
Hope that I helped you.
God bless.
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Jerusalem is not in the Middle East? The Maronite Church may be very old, indeed, but I would concur with the others who say that the first Catholic Church was Jerusalem–even older than Antioch where Christians were first referred to as “Christians”.

Peace and blessings!
 
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