Pre-Reformation churches

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Pre-Reformation churches are the Christian churches that follow the tradition of the early church and did not emerge from the Reformation movement of the 16th century or other later splits. These include the Orthodox and Ancient Near Eastern churches as well as the Roman Catholic Church with the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches , a total of around 50 churches. The pre-Reformation churches without the Latin Church are also called Eastern Churches .

The Lutheran , Reformed , Old Catholic and other churches and confessions are distinguished from this .

Lines of tradition or rite groups

The pre-Reformation churches can be divided into six lines of tradition or ritual groups:

rite Churches Liturgical languages
1 Latin roman church Latin , national languages
2 Byzantine orthodox churches Greek , Georgian , Church Slavonic , national languages
3 antiochene Syrian , Malankar and Maronite churches Syriac-Aramaic , Arabic , Malayalam
4th Alexandrian Coptic and Ethiopian Churches Coptic , Old Ethiopian , national languages
5 Armenian Armenian churches Old Armenian
6th East Syrian Nestorian , Chaldean and Malabar churches Syriac Aramaic , Malayalam

The churches of groups (3-6) are referred to as " (old) oriental churches "; the rite groups (3, 4, 5) were originally Monophysitic , the rite (6) Nestorian . These terms are explained in the next section.

Heresies, councils, secessions and re-unions

Arianism

Arians are the followers of the doctrine that Christ is not beginningless and eternal, but a creature of the divine Father , though the first and most perfect creature. This conception was rejected as a heresy by the 1st Ecumenical Council of Nicaea 325: "Christ is true God of true God, begotten, not created, of the same nature as the Father". At the 2nd Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 381, the Holy Spirit also proclaimed full divinity and thus brought the Trinitarian teaching to a close. A weakened form of Arianism was represented by East Germanic churches ( Goths , Vandals ): Christ was similar to God, but not of the same nature. Arian groups existed until the 7th century.

Nestorianism

" Nestorians " are the followers of the (originally Antiochene) teaching that "Christ consists of two separate subjects or natures, one divine and one human, who are united in him in love". This "Dyophysite" doctrine - more precisely the resulting statement that Mary was only the " Theotokos " (Greek anthropotokos ) but not the " Theotokos " (Greek theotokos ) - was declared a heresy at the 3rd Ecumenical Council at Ephesus 431.

Main representatives of this Antiochene, Dyophysite or Nestorian doctrine in the 4th and 5th centuries were above all Diodorus of Tarsus , Theodor of Mopsuestia and Theodoret of Cyrus . The younger Antiochene school included John Chrysostomus , Nestorius - who ultimately became eponymous - and Ibas von Edessa .

In this sense, the so-called Church of the East , which in 424 had separated from the Roman-Byzantine imperial church as the Persian national church and had established its own jurisdiction , was shaped by Nestorians . This church did not reject the doctrine of Chalcedon 451 directly , but its interpretation, which was perceived as monophysite, through the unification formula of 482 (the so-called Henoticon ). The "Old Church of the East" based in Baghdad still exists. The Assyrian Church of the East has separated from the Old Church of the East due to the commitment to a different calendar. The Chaldean Catholic Church is also a split from the Old Church of the East (albeit united with Rome, giving up Nestorianism) as are some Churches of the Thomas Christians in India.

The term "Nestorian" for the Church of the East was always an external term on the part of the Catholic and Orthodox Church, which was initially intended to make the "heresy" of this church clear. Later "Nestorian" was used to denote the corresponding christological conception in western church historiography, and this is also how it is used in this article. The self-designation of these churches is "East Syrian", "Chaldean" or "Assyrian", "Nestorian" is sometimes perceived as derogatory for historical reasons, if only because the Old Church of the East sees itself as a church of apostolic origin.

Monophysitism

Cyril of Alexandria

Monophysites are the followers of the (originally Alexandrian) doctrine that Christ has only one nature, namely the divine. The human is formally “absorbed” or “swallowed” in the divine. This teaching was rejected at the 4th Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451. This concluded the formula "Christ has both natures - the divine and human - equally, unmixed and undivided in one person".

Cyril of Alexandria (around 380-444) represented a weakened form of Monophysitism : Christ possessed both natures, but they were intertwined into a unity of being ("Miaphysitism"), but the Council of Chalcedon also opposed this, although the difference to its own Teaching seems low. The monophysite churches were persecuted as heretical (false doctrines) by the imperial church . Today the Syrian, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian and Malankar churches are Monophysitic (in a weakened sense, ie rather “miaphysitic”). The Chalcedonian doctrine is only recognized by the Byzantine Orthodox and Catholic churches without any reservations, they are therefore also called Chalcedonian churches , the other churches non-Chalcedonian .

The term “Monophysite Churches” for the churches that represent such a Christology is an external term used by the Chalcedonian churches. The West Syrian (Aramaic), Armenian, Coptic and Ethiopian churches have a pre-Chalcedonian christology, which they - as explained above - understand as "miaphysitic" ("united nature (s) of Christ"), but not as monophysitic becomes. The mutual theological condemnations of the Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian churches resulting from the different Christology were upheld for 1500 years and only largely cleared up in theological discussions of the 1970s and 1980s between the Oriental churches on the one hand and the Catholic Church or the Orthodox churches on the other. However, this basic theological agreement has not yet achieved canonical status.

Despite the problems with the term “monophysite”, it is used throughout Western church historiography and is therefore also used in this article. The reader should be aware of the inherent problem.

Monotheleticism

Monothelets are followers of the doctrine that Christ has two natures but only one (divine) will. The teaching was rejected at the 6th Ecumenical Council of Constantinople 680/681. Their followers were the Maronites , who later completely united themselves with the Catholic Church and thus gave up monotheleticism.

Oriental, Orthodox, Catholic and United Churches

The Orthodox and Catholic churches emerged from the Roman-Byzantine imperial church . Together they recognize statements of the Ecumenical Councils - in particular Nicaea 325, Constantinople 381 and Chalcedon 451 - and are therefore also called Chalcedonian churches . The final separation of the Eastern and Western Churches took place - after many previous rifts - through the mainly politically motivated Great Schism of 1054.

Today's Byzantine or Greek Orthodox churches are autocephalous . They consist of the four early church patriarchates - Antioch , Alexandria , Jerusalem and Constantinople - and about fifteen national churches (the largest are the Russian , Romanian , Serbian , Greek and Bulgarian Orthodox Churches ).

The (Roman) Catholic Church is monocephalic (recognition of the primacy of the Pope , the Bishop of Rome and Patriarch of the West) and consists of the actual Western ( “Latin” ) Church (in which the Roman Rite and, at least historically, the Latin language dominate) and 22 autonomous United Churches , which have emerged from splits from the Orthodox and Oriental churches. These united churches recognize the jurisdiction primacy of the pope and the Catholic dogmas , but mostly have their own patriarchs or major archbishops - which must be confirmed by Rome - and their own rites that correspond to those of their respective churches of origin.

The non-Chalcedonian churches are also called oriental churches . In the following, the individual Catholic, Orthodox and Oriental churches are assigned to their lines of tradition or rites . The post-Reformation (“ Evangelical ”) and Old Catholic churches are not dealt with in this article.

Churches of the Roman (Latin) rite

St. Peter's Basilica in Rome

The city of Rome with the Vatican is the papal seat of the Catholic Church with jurisdiction over the Church as a whole ( Jurisdiktionsprimat ). The Catholic Church has about 1.2 billion members. A distinction is made between 23 independent particular churches with their own hierarchy, of which the Roman Catholic Church ( Latin Church or Western Church ) is the largest, it follows the Roman or Latin rite. The other Uniate particular Churches ( Eastern Catholic Churches ) have retained the rite they had before their union with the Roman Church. Together, the United Eastern Churches and the Roman Church form the Catholic Church (universal church). They are listed here under their respective rites or lines of tradition.

There are traditionally two patriarchs in the Latin Church:

  • The Pope is Bishop of the Universal Church and bears the title of Patriarch of the West ("Patriarch of Rome", "Patriarch of the West". The patriarchal title was given up by Pope Benedict XVI.) And
  • the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem (Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus), without prejudice to the Pope's jurisdiction.

The honorary patriarchates of Lisbon , Venice and the honorary titles Patriarch of the East Indies , Patriarch of the West Indies do not have their own jurisdiction. They are therefore also known as titular patriarchates.

The claim to primacy of the Bishop of Rome was raised early on for the entire Church (Ignatius of Antioch), accepted by the Eastern Church only temporarily before 1054, but mostly rejected (e.g. also at the Council of Chalcedon in 451).

The liturgical language of the Roman Church is Latin ; in historical special cases and generally since the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the respective national languages ​​are also permitted in the liturgy .

In addition to the Roman rite (Latin rite) in the narrower sense, the following variants belong to the Roman rite group (western rites):

Churches of the Byzantine Orthodox Rite

Liturgical languages ​​of these churches are Greek , Georgian , Church Slavonic , Romanian , Arabic and modern folk languages.

The four old church Orthodox patriarchates

These four patriarchies are the ancient nucleus of the entire Orthodox Church. Churches that do not belong to the Byzantine Orthodox rite also refer to the succession of the old church patriarchates of Antioch and Alexandria.

  • Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople . This patriarchate was founded in 381; it is the most senior of the Orthodox churches. This priority is mainly explained by the fact that the other patriarchates of the early Churches - Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem - came under Islamic rule from the 7th century. Today the Patriarchate of Constantinople is only directly responsible for the remaining parishes in Turkey, Athos and the Greek islands. Several émigré churches are under his leadership, namely the Karpartho-Russian Church of America , the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States and Canada , the Albanian Orthodox Church of America , the Belarusian Orthodox Church of North America and the Russian Orthodox Exarchate of Western Europe . In total, the Patriarchate of Constantinople is responsible for five million believers.
  • Patriarchate of Alexandria . Originated from the old church patriarchate of Alexandria. It is also responsible for small African dioceses and missions; it has 250,000 believers.
  • Patriarchate of Antioch . Originated from the old church patriarchate of Antioch , seat in Damascus , responsible for the Middle East . This church has 750,000 members.
  • Patriarchate of Jerusalem . Patriarchate has been responsible for the Palestine region since 451 , i.e. today for 300,000 believers in the Palestinian Territories , Israel and Jordan.

The orthodox patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem are also referred to as Melkite ("loyal to the king"). What is meant is loyalty to the Byzantine emperor, who was consistently referred to as "king" in the eastern languages.

The autocephalous Orthodox churches

Today there are the following eleven autocephalous Byzantine Orthodox churches, which can determine their heads independently:

The Orthodox churches with controversial autocephaly

The autocephaly of some Orthodox churches has not yet been confirmed under Orthodox church law and is therefore not recognized by the other Byzantine Orthodox churches. These are:

The Autonomous Orthodox Churches

The following Byzantine Orthodox churches are considered to be autonomous . Although they enjoy a relative independence, a higher-ranking Orthodox Church has a say in the determination of their head.

The united churches with the Byzantine rite

There are 15 former Byzantine Orthodox particular churches united with the Roman Catholic Church.

  • Melkite Catholic Church or Greek Catholic Church. A church united with Rome, which emerged from the three Melkite patriarchates (see above) under the influence of the Latin crusader states and through missionary work in the 17th century; The Melkite Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch with its seat in Damascus has existed since 1724 . Since 1772 its head has held the title of "Patriarch of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem". The church has 1.3 million members.

The other 14 uniate churches with the Byzantine Orthodox rite were created through several unions, for example:

  • Brest Union 1595: Split from the Orthodox Church (Patriarchate Constantinople) in Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Belarus
  • Croatian Union 1611: Split from the Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia, Serbia, Albania and Romania.
  • Uzhorod Union 1646: Split from the Orthodox Church (Patriarchate Constantinople) in Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania

In the Soviet sphere of influence after 1945 there was a strong forced re-orthodoxy and the dissolution of the Union churches. The Ukrainian, Russian and Romanian Union Churches continue to exist primarily in the USA, but now also in the Ukraine and Romania, where their respective major archbishops reside.

The following uniate churches with Byzantine rite were created:

Churches of the Antiochene or West Syrian Rite

The liturgical languages ​​of these oriental churches are classical Syriac (an Aramaic language ) and Arabic.

  • Syriac Orthodox Church or Jacobite Church. Monophysite Church; Patriarchy has been Antioch since 518, with its seat today in Damascus . The Syrian Orthodox Church is widespread in Syria , Iraq and Turkey ( Arameans of Tur Abdin ; Istanbul), and missions have existed in India . It has around 500,000 members. 1364-1839 there was a schismatic patriarchate of Tur Abdin with seat Mor Yakub in Salah.
  • Syrian Catholic Church . Church of Jacobite Syrian Christians united with Rome since the 17th century (then, of course, abandonment of Monophysitism), the Syrian Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch has existed since 1783, with its seat today in Beirut. There are patriarchal vicariates and dioceses in Cairo, Jerusalem, Mardin (Turkey), Syria, Iran and Lebanon. The United Syrian Catholic Church has 190,000 members.
  • Malankar Orthodox Church or Syriac Orthodox Church of India. Church of Jacobite Syrian Monophysites, which was founded in 1665 after missionary work; it emerged from the group of the former Nestorian Thomas Christians who did not want to join the Malabar Catholic Church (see below) with Rome in 1661. The Malankar Church has a total of more than five million members and is divided into two independent sub -churches : the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church recognizes the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch as head, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church is autocephalous. Both are headed by an Indian Catholicos . Before the two groups separated, the Anglican Mar Thoma Christians split off as early as the 19th century .
  • Malankar Catholic Church . Uniate Church that split off from the Malankar churches of India in 1930. It has 300,000 believers.
  • Maronite Church . The Maronites have been completely united with Rome under the influence of the Crusaders since 1181 and have given up their originally monotheletic faith (see above). Today the Maronite Church is mainly in Lebanon (Patriarch in Bkerke), but also in Syria , Cyprus , Egypt and America and has 3.2 million members.
  • Syrian Orthodox Church of Europe

Churches of the Alexandrian or Coptic-Ethiopian Rite

The liturgical languages ​​of these churches are Coptic, Arabic and Old Ethiopian .

  • Coptic Orthodox Church . Monophysite Church, which emerged from the old church patriarch of Alexandria . It has had its own patriarchate ('Pope') of Alexandria since 576, with its seat in Cairo . Today it includes almost all Egyptian Christians and has eight million members.
  • Coptic Catholic Church . Union of parts of the Coptic Orthodox Church with Rome. Vicariate since 1741, Patriarchate of Cairo since 1824 (re-established in 1895). The Coptic Catholic Church has 200,000 members.
  • Ethiopian Orthodox Church . The church emerged from early missionary work by Frumentius , and since the middle of the 4th century it was the state church of the Aksumite Empire . For centuries it was dependent on the Coptic Patriarchate in Alexandria, which resulted in a Monophysite orientation since the 5th century; initially metropolitan seat in Aksum, since 1632 in Gondar in Ethiopia , from 1893 in Addis Ababa , always occupied by a Copt until the 20th century. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has only been an autocephalous patriarchate since 1959 and has 35-40 million members.
  • Eritrean Orthodox Church . It was split off from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in 1993 and has its patriarchate in Asmara , Eritrea . 2 million members.
  • Ethiopian Catholic Church . The first Ethiopian union with Rome took place in 1622–1636 under the influence of Portuguese Jesuits . Since 1890 there has been Catholic proselytizing from Eritrea. There has been a Catholic-Ethiopian metropolis in Addis Ababa since 1961. The church has 200,000 members.
  • Eritrean Catholic Church . It was split off from the Ethiopian Catholic Church in 2015.

Armenian Rite Churches

The liturgical language of the two churches with the Armenian rite is Old Armenian .

Churches of the East Syrian or Chaldean Rite

The liturgical language of the Eastern Syrian churches is classic Syriac-Aramaic . The christology of this line of tradition is originally " Nestorian ", pre-Ephesian and non-Chalcedonian. The United Churches from this rite group recognized the teachings of the Council of Chalcedon and thus rejected Nestorian Christology.

  • Old Church of the East. Eastern Syriac-Persian Church of apostolic origin, which was separated from the Roman-Byzantine imperial church as the Persian-Sassanid national church since 486 . Their Christology is Nestorian and non-Chalcedonian (see above). In the 6th to 8th centuries missionary activities in Central Asia , China and India ( Thomas Christians ). The Church of the East was strongly pushed back by the Islamic powers and the Mongol storms , today it exists as the Assyrian Church of the East with 400,000 members in Iran , Iraq , Syria , Turkey and the USA . Patriarchal seat of the Assyrian Church is Ctesiphon near Baghdad , today seat in Morton Grove (a suburb of Chicago ). Since 1964, a schism has created a second patriarchate with its own jurisdiction in Baghdad, the Old Church of the East .
  • Church of the East in India or Malabar Church . The Malabar Church as part of the Assyrian Church of the East developed from Nestorian and former Malabar Catholic Thomas Christians (see Elias Mellus ). It is a church in India that is neither in communion with Rome (cf. Malabar Catholic Church) nor with the Monophysite Syrian Orthodox Churches in India. It has fewer than 100,000 members.
  • Chaldean Catholic Church or Chaldean Church. Uniate Church, which split off from the Assyrian Church in the 16th century and united with Rome. 1553 first patriarch, since 1696 patriarchate of Babylon , today with seat in Baghdad . The Chaldean Church is represented in Iraq , Iran , Syria and Lebanon and has 350,000 members. Since 2001, members of the Assyrian and Chaldean churches have been able to take part in communion alternately .
  • Malabar Catholic Church . A church that emerged from the former Nestorian Thomas Christians under Portuguese pressure since the end of the 16th century , forced union with Rome in 1599 and partial adoption of the Latin rite (in Syrian); Break with Rome in 1653; 1661 reunification of the greater part (84 of 116 parishes) while basically maintaining the East Syrian rite; the rest formed the newly founded Syrian Orthodox Church of India, some remained independently Nestorian (see Church of the East (India)). There has been a native Malabar Catholic hierarchy since 1923. The Malabar Catholic Church has four million members.

literature

Specialized encyclopedias for religion and churches

  • HD Betz u. a. (Ed.): Religion in the past and present. Concise dictionary for theology and religious studies . 8 volumes and a register volume. 4th edition, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 1998-2007, ISBN 3-16-146941-0 .
  • John Bowker (Ed.): The Oxford Lexicon of World Religions. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt and Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf 1999.
  • Erwin Fahlbusch (Ed.): Taschenlexikon Religion and Theologie. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1971.
  • Kurt Galling (Hrsg.): The religion in past and present. 3rd edition, study edition, JCB Mohr, Tübingen 1986.
  • Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2007: Annuario Pontificio per l'anno 2007 (Pontifical Yearbook).
  • Gerhard Müller, Horst Balz, Gerhard Krause (Hrsg.): Theologische Realenzyklopädie. 36 volumes, De Gruyter, Berlin 1976-2004, ISBN 3-11-002218-4 / ISBN 3-11-013898-0 / ISBN 3-11-016295-4 ; Study edition: ISBN 3-11-013898-0 / ISBN 3-11-016295-4 .
  • Niccolo Del Re: Vatican Lexicon. Pattloch 1998.
  • Johannes Oeldemann: The churches of the Christian East. Orthodox, oriental and Eastern churches united with Rome. Regensburg 2006.
  • Ostkirchliches Institut Regensburg: Orthodoxia 2007 (Yearbook for Orthodoxy).
  • Thomas Schirrmacher (Ed.): Lexicon of Religions. Harenberg, Dortmund 2002.
  • St. Gabriel-Verlag 1992: Atlas Hierarchicus (Jurisdiktionsbezirke, statistics).
  • Sigrid Tröger, Karl-Wolfgang Tröger (Ed.): Church Lexicon. Christian churches, free churches and communities at a glance. Union, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-372-00302-0 . Beck, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-406-34230-2 .

Church history

  • Hubert Jedin : Short Council History. Herder, Freiburg 1966.
  • Walther von Loewenich : The history of the church. Siebenstern Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich / Hamburg 1968.
  • Armin Sierszyn: 2000 years of church history. Hänssler, Holzgerlingen 2001.

Special literature

  • Christoph Baumer: Early Christianity between the Euphrates and the Yangtze. A journey through time along the Silk Road to the Church of the East. Urachhaus, Stuttgart 2005.
  • Emma Brunner-Traut: The Copts. Life and Teaching of the Early Christians in Egypt. Eugen Diederichs, Cologne 1982.
  • Heinrich Gerhard Franz: Art and Culture along the Silk Road. Adeva, Graz 1987 (On the Nestorian religion).
  • John Galey: Sinai and St. Catherine's Monastery. Belser, Stuttgart and Zurich 1983. (To the Archdiocese of Sinaikloster.)
  • Hans Wilhelm Haussig : The history of Central Asia and the silk road in pre-Islamic times. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1983 (On the Nestorian Religion).
  • Hans Hollerweger: Living cultural heritage Tur Abdin. Linz 1999 (Jacobite Arameans in Eastern Turkey).

See also

Web links