Orthodox Church

were enormously significant both for the churches and for the Roman Empire itself. Emperor Constantine wanted to unite the church for the purpose of the Empire, according to several Biblical scholars. He wanted the two groups to come to an agreement on the deity of Christ. The Jehovah’s Witnesses contend that the doctrine of the deity of Christ was forced upon the church by the Emperor Constantine at the council of Nicaea amid…

depict God the son and represent the saints.” (Orthodox Wiki). In conclusion, the Iconoclastic Controversy was a controversy that ultimately shaped a culture within religion and the control the authority people of this time had over religion. The Iconoclastic Controversy could make one think of the importance of religious icons to the people. The controversy also makes me see that the people were very spiritual, as well as the importance of the church. The iconoclastic controversy has not only…

A key pillar to the Roman Catholic Church are its Saints. Saints are men and women who are recognized by the Church to have had an exceptional degree of holiness or likeness to God and or Christ. There are many hundreds of Saints within both the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and Coptic Churches. The writing of the history and great acts of saints is called a Hagiography, literally meaning sacred writing. Of the many hundreds of saints, a few stand out in the history, Saints like…

A Schism is the formal separation of a church into two churches or the secession of a group owing to doctrinal and other differences. The Great Schism between sects of the Catholic Church. The Great Schism of 1054, between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, was caused by the everlasting differences of religious beliefs and political views between the eastern and western churches. The challenge to the absolute authority of the pope to make decisions concerning all of the…

Is the church really what it seems to be?Martin Luther was a theologian born in 1483 in Germany who changed the history of church forever. He became one of the most influential figures in the history of Christianity. Martin Luther was against some of the most basic tenets of Catolicism. Martin Luther thought that the church has been corrupted, and that it had become more like a business. In 1517 Martin Luther published the 95 theses which were basically an attack on the bad things the church had…

At the beginning of the 16th century, religious, political and social power were vastly controlled by the Roman Catholic Church. Some individuals felt a need to practice the religion a different way. Which eventually led up to England breaking away from traditional Roman Catholicism, known as at the English reformation. The English reformation began with Henry VIII summoning the reformation parliament in 1529. Henry VIII ruled from 1509 until he died in 1547. King Henry grew up as a good…

objected to the fact that the Church controlled what people were able to study, of what people were able to publish, and limited the sorts of things people could even chat to each other. The idea of humanism influenced the way people thought and looked at things in life, which causes people to question their own lives and the authority of the church. Bubonic plague a disease spread by fleas is considered one of the worst pandemics in human history. Huge speculation of the church authority…

Tradition is woven into the very fabric of humanity. Every family, nation and society has traditions that are passed down from generation to generation. Even within the church, there are traditions that have been passed down through the centuries. However, the big question becomes: What role does tradition play within theology? The Catholic Church has equated tradition’s authority with Scripture; and great thinkers like John Meyendorff and Don Thorsen affirm tradition, yet lessen its authority…

Divorce, homosexuality, abortion, re-marriage, annulments, and grounding a family in faith are issues the Catholic Church faces today on family. Some of these issues have been prevalent for hundreds of years. However, up until 2014, they had not been formally discussed in a Synod since 1980. With time comes change and the issues changed so Pope Francis decided there was a need to talk about the new issues. Pope Francis called bishops from around the world together, including the United States to…

Why Did the Catholic Church Put Galileo on Trial for Heresy? And What Was the Significance of the Trial? Galileo was summoned to trial twice for heresy. First, for the heliocentric model and then for the geocentric model. He had been sent a summons to turn himself into the Catholic Church for the first trial due to Galileo’s belief that the Earth revolved around the sun. This belief is also known as the heliocentric system. The Catholic Church also called upon Galileo for his second trial…