Different Branches of Christianity

There are between 225-300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians in the world with 150 million being Russian Orthodox, 23 million being Romanian Orthodox and 15 million being Greek Orthodox. In Orthodoxy no one Bishop is above the others but the Patriarch of Constantinople is said be the first among equals. The current Patriarch of Constantinople is Bartholomew I.

Quiz

1) Who is considered to be the first among equals

2) Who was the first Pope

3) Name 3 of the 5 Patriarchs

4) Who wrote 95 thesis

5) Where did Martin Luther meet Charles V

6) Whose presentation was by far the best and clearly deserves to get perfect

Eastern Orthodox

Anglicanism

Founded in 1534 by King Henry's Act of Supremacy, the roots of Anglicanism go back to one of the main branches of Protestantism that came about after the 16th century Reformation. This church was founded because King Henry VIII was desperate for a male heir and asked the Pope for a divorce the Pope denied his request and so King Henry decided to create his own church with himself as the head. During the reign of King Edward, a power struggle emerged between English Protestants and Catholics. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer contributed a great deal to the reforms away from Catholicism with two versions of the Book of Common Prayer and the 42 Articles of 1553. Protestantism still struggled in England until the reign of Queen Elizabeth I when Anglicanism finally took shape. The 42 Articles were reduced to 39 and the Book of Common Prayer was reissued. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Anglicanism was emphasized on reason, moral living and simple religious devotion. By the late 1600's the Church of England settled into the Anglican structure that still characterizes it today. Today there are over 80 million Anglicans living across the world and the head of their Church is the current reigning British Monarch Queen Elizabeth II.

Lutherans

The Lutheran branch of Protestantism is one of the oldest Protestant denominations that came about as a result of the Reformation movement in Western Europe in the 16th century. It is based on the principles of Martin Luther, a German friar and professor who has been called the "Father of the Reformation." A surprising fact is that Martin Luther opposed the designation of his name for the religion. Luther struggled with the contradictions he saw between the Bible and some of the practices of the Catholic church. He fought to reform the church by exposing its corruption and abuses. It was never his intent to divide the church, but his efforts toward reform proved to be fruitless and eventually he was excommunicated. Even though Martin Luther was against many aspects of Catholicism he still promoted any teachings that did not directly go against sacred scripture and as a result Lutheranism still reflects Roman Catholicism. Some things that Lutherans believe in are salvation is available to all human and not just Christians, that the spirit of Christ is not present at the consecration of the eucharist and that each individual has the right to reach God and does not need priest mediation. Lutheranism has over 65 million followers and does not have one singular leader but is lead by several Bishops.

Baptist

Eastern Orthodoxy arose as a distinct branch of Christianity after the 11th-century "Great Schism" between Eastern and Western Christendom. The separation was not sudden. For centuries there had been significant religious, cultural, and political differences between the Eastern and Western churches. These differences began with the division of the Roman Empire into the Eastern half Byzantine and the Western half Rome in the year 395. Even with this division Eastern half of the Empire was still subjugated to the Pope who claimed authority over all five Christian Patriarchs: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. A rivalry was formed between Rome and Constantinople who struggled for dominance after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The rivalry reached a boiling point when Pope Leo IX and Patriarch Michael I excommunicated each other. Religiously, they had different views on topics such as the use of religious images and truths, the nature of the Holy Spirit, and the date on which Easter should be celebrated. But the main reason for the excommunications was a power struggle between the Pope and the four Patriarchs who now claimed that the Pope's position was just honorary to them and they were not subjugated to him.

The first Baptist church can be traced back to the city of Amsterdam the capital of the current day Netherlands in the year 1609. Its pastor and founder was and English Dissenter (person who separated from the church of England) John Smyth. In accordance with his reading of the New Testament, he rejected baptism of infants and instituted baptism only of believing adults but taught that baptism is not necessary for salvation. Therefore, they do not consider it to be a sacrament, since it imparts no saving grace. He also taught things like faith is a matter between God and the individual. Baptist practice spread to England, where the General Baptists considered Christ's atonement to extend to all people, while the Particular Baptists believed that it extended only to the elect. In 1638, Roger Williams established the first Baptist congregation in the North American colonies. In Modern times Baptist have gone from one single congregation to having over 100 million members with and estimated 33 million living in North America.

Protestants and the Protestant Reformation

Beliefs

During the Year 1517 a monk named Martin Luther published 95 thesis against the Catholic Church's selling of indulgences. Martin Luther then later went on to attack other Catholic doctrines such as the Saints and the Eucharist. Martin Luther was summoned by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the diet of Worms in Germany and gained even more support. What started out as a small protest sparked into a much larger reformation which shook the foundations of he world and changed the course of history. People peasants and monarchs alike turned away from the corruption of the Catholic Church and started following leaders like Martin Luther and John Calvin or created religions of their own like Henry VIII. Rome started to lose its influence around Europe especially in countries such as England or Germany (Prussia).

Facts

Some beliefs of the Eastern Orthodox are for Orthodox Christians, truth must be experienced personally. There is less focus on the exact definition of religious truth and more on the practical and personal experience of truth in the life of the individual and the church. They believe that Jesus "the son" and the Holy Spirit are the same. The Holy Spirit plays a major role in Orthodox worship as Orthodox Christians often pray to the Holy Spirit and utter incantations towards it before mass. Orthodox also do not believe in purgatory as they believe in the Bible which says the pure become Saints and go to Heaven

Roman Catholicism

Roman Catholics are the largest denomination of Christianity with 1.2 billion followers and one of the oldest with it's first leader being one of Jesus's most important Apostles Simon-Peter. They trace their origins back to the teachings of Jesus Christ in modern day Israel which was at the time was occupied by the Roman Empire. The teachings of Jesus was then eventually spread to Rome. In the fourth century, the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great converted to Roman Catholicism after seeing a vision sent by God of a cross before fighting a battle. Then in the year 313 Emperor Constantine created the Edict of Milan which gave Catholics and all other Christians equivalent rights and status to Pagans. Then in the year 323 Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. For most of the last 2000 years the Catholic Church has been headquartered out of the city Rome until the Vatican City was formed with the signing of the Lateran treaty in 1929.

Worship

Saints

Purgatory

The Pope

Salvation

Places of Worship

Marriage

A brief video on Catholicism

Worship is centred around the Mass. The Mass is the formal, official worship service of Catholicism it is the most important and sacred act of worship in the Catholic Church. Going to Mass is the only way a Catholic can fulfill the Third Commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy and the only regular opportunity to receive the Holy Eucharist. The Mass incorporates the Bible (sacred scripture), prayer, sacrifice, hymns, symbols, gestures, sacred food for the soul, and directions on how to live a Catholic life all in one ceremony.

Saints are people who have been recognized for having an exceptional degree of holiness by the Pope through the process of canonization. Catholics pray to saints in addition to God and Jesus. Protestants acknowledge saints, but don’t pray to them. Saints are seen by Catholics as an intermediary to God or Jesus. Although Catholics do technically pray to saints, they are not praying for the saints to help them directly but to intervene on their behalf. They are asking the saints in the form of a prayer to pray for them.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a "purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven," which is experienced by those "who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified" (CCC 1030).The purification is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven and, while we may die with our mortal sins forgiven, there can still be many impurities in us, specifically venial sins (lesser sins) and the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.

In Roman Catholicism salvation is by grace specifically sanctifying grace. It is a process with many steps: actual grace, faith, good works, baptism, participation in the sacraments, penance, indulgences, and keeping the commandments.  Basically, salvation is attained through baptism and good works.  It is maintained by good works and participation in the sacraments. If lost, it is regained through the sacrament of Penance which only a Roman Catholic priest can administer.

Catholics are known for for their big fancy Churches, Basilicas and Cathedrals. Other religions and denominations of Christians often wonder why Catholics worship in such extravagant buildings instead of more humble ones like what was used in the early years of Christianity. Catholics believe that the reason that the churches in early Christianity were so humble because back then Catholics and other Christians were being persecuted by the Roman Empire and other religions. Catholics believe that the Martyrs such as Peter the first Pope and Paul one of Jesus's disciples died so that Christians would be able to worship in public in their own buildings without being persecuted. Catholics also believe that their churches are the house of God and so they try to make their churches look as holy and deserving of the title as much as they can. Also most of the famous old churches were built from volunteer labour and didn't cost them as much as other religions and denominations of Christianity who used payed labour.

The head of the Catholic Church is the Pope. The current Pope is Pope Francis. The Pope acts like a Vicar of Jesus Christ and is the successor of Peter the first Pope who Jesus gave the keys of Heaven to and the ability of binding and loosing. The keys of Heaven give the Pope the authority to govern the house of God. The ability of binding and loosing gives the Pope the ability to absolve sins, pronounce doctrinal judgements and disciplinary decisions within the church.

Catholics believe that marriage comes as a gift from the hand of God. The Catholic vision of marriage is rooted in Sacred Scripture and is expressed in the teachings and practices of the Church. Marriage is seen as an unbreakable contract and a type of agreement with Christ and the church. Remarriage after divorce is not permitted unless there is some canonical impediment (legal obstacle in the Cannon Law of the Catholic Church) to the marriage. In this situation, an annulment may be granted. Catholics traditionally believe that marriage should only be between a man and a woman and that gay marriage is sinful but the current Pope, Pope Francis is trying to change these beliefs but is meeting much resistance by many Cardinals, Bishops and Arch-Bishops.

Different Branches of Christianity

For many years people have wondered what is religion? When you look the word up in a dictionary you get the answer that religion is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power but really religion encompasses much more than that. Out of the thousands of religions in the world one stands out above all, this religion is known as Christianity. Christianity began slightly over 2000 years ago with the birth of the most influential person in human history Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ taught his followers that he was the son of God and showed them the way of love and compassion and promised his followers that if they live a good life and follow his teachings they will join him in an eternal paradise known as Heaven. Jesus Christ then went on to suffer on a cross and die so that the sins of humanity may be forgiven. Now over 2000 years after his death Christianity is now the largest religion in the world with an estimated 1.8 billion followers in 2010 which is almost a third of the world population. But Christianity is not one single religion with a singular set of beliefs but is composed of many different branches each with their own various sets of ideas. The three largest groups of Christian's are: Roman Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox.

Different Branches of Christianity