LOL What a terrible title to be associated with! Had he done nothing else in his reign to be known for other than his follicle shortage???
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It is truly meet and right to bless thee O Theotokos, the mother of our God! More honorable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim! Without defilement you gavest birth to God the word! True Theotokos, we magnify thee!
Where we came from is, I suppose, a little complicated. We are an offshoot of the Anglican Communion, formed when Henry VIII of England declared himself "head of the Church in England" so that he could give himself a divorce from his rightful Queen, Catherine, to marry Anne Bolyn.
About 3 centuries after that a guy named John Wesley led a reform movement within the Anglican Church. As the English were colonizing North America, devotees of Wesley's methodical spiritual disciplines went along. When the American Revolution happened, the King of England called home all of his clergy, leaving the American colonists without anyone to preside over the sacraments for them. Wesley (illegally, it must be admitted) ordained a couple of fellows & sent them to the Anglican Christians in the North American colonies, to oversee their spiritual lives.
When the dust settled from the American Revolution, the "methodist" clergy formed themselves into a new church rather than reconciling with their English, Anglican mother-church.
...and that's where Methodists come from!
And then in the 1800s there were some folks who thought the Methodists were getting too liberal [as well as were influenced greatly by the "American Holiness Movement" so they went and formed their own groups with more emphasis on holiness of life. Eventually in 1908 some of them joined together to form the Church of the Nazarene. But over century, we've maintained contact with the UMC and other "Holiness" Churches. Interestingly, nowadays one can find some Nazarenes with more in common with the UMC and some with more in common with other "Holiness" churches.
My own personal experience from the 12 years I lived in Thessaloniki has allowed me to see first hand many churches with links to the 1st century. The Church of St Menas in Thessaloniki is built on the site of the Synagogue where the Apostle Paul first preached. Unfortunately there are very few church structures which have survived from the first century due to the persecution by pagan Rome, so most surviving churches date from the 4th century when the persecution ended.
On the island of Paros is the church Panagia Ekatontapyliani which was founded by the Empress Helen but was built by Emperor Constantine in 328 after she had died. The current structure was built in its place by Justinian the Great two centuries later.
On Cyprus, the city of Larnaca was where Lazarus served as bishop. The city was originally named Kition but became known as Larnaca due to the many pilgrims traveling there to venerate the relics of Lazarus which were contained in a Stone Larnax or Larnaca in the church.
A monastery has been built around the cave on Patmos where the Apostle John experienced the vision he recorded in Revelations. A church was originally built there in the early 4th century.
Cool! This month in Sunday School Class we are learning about Corinth. The teacher's book has tried to go more in depth about what the city of Corinth was like at the time these 2 books were written. It made me curious what ever happened to that church as well as to other churches mentioned in the NT like Thessaloniki. Now I have a bit of that answer.
Rogiback: I'll have to disagree with you here... I don't see much pride here, simply joy and sharing of their history. He who does not understand history is doomed to repeat it...
I belong to the United Church of Canada, which was formed about 1925 when the Methodist, Congregational and some of the Presbeterian Churches of Canada joined into one big happy family. We are currently the largest protestant denomination in Canada. the past beyond that is varied since 3 denominations joined forces. It is interesting to note that there are Presbeterian churchs in Canada, not all of them joined the United Church.
but basically we also go back to the ministers that John Wesley ordained and sent to the US. the organization itself dates from 1720. from then until 1959 the church grew, split into three conferences, and then joined back together.
Our individual church began 20 years ago this September under the leadership of Dr Jim Wall and his wife Kim, former missionaries to the Phillipines. they are still ministering to us today, which is quite a record for tenure in a church. While serving in the Philipines Dr. Wall began several new local PFWB churches and founded a bible college there. This year he traveled back there to ordain some granchildren of the original bible students who first began their studies there. What began there as a few small churches 20 years ago has multiplied into more than 100 churches today.
Our own church has grown as well. Western Branch Community Church
That first Sunday we began with about 168 people who came to the first service. Almost all of them came back for the second service as well! this year at Easter we had 3k attenders, and a regular attendance of over 2k each Sunday.
We expect that in our services on any given Sunday will be people who have never been saved. those people are being reached in larger and larger numbers each year. the number of baptisms for brand new believing adults and teens (held every other month) has grown to over 30 baptisms at a time. the stories they tell of being set free and comming to know Jesus' saving power are amazing. We expect to have well over 150 baptized new believers this year. Even right in the middle of service people are being reached.
Dr. Wall told us the story of what happened during a communion service. (Our communion is open to everyone) As the ushers were beginning to pass out the plates of bread and juice to the congregation one man stood up in response to the invitation to take communion and said out loud
" But I can't take communion--I haven't been saved"!
Dr. Wall responded "Well, what are you waiting for? Come down here and get saved!"
the man did get saved right there in the middle of the communion service and took his first communion with us.
Now our own church is sending out new ministers into unchurched areas of the US to reach even more souls for Jesus.
__________________ Psalms 89:14
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In fond memory of the Relaxation and Culture team, and it's hard-working staff. Jan-July, 2009 R.I.P.
Last edited by pdudgeon; 23rd August 2009 at 02:44 PM.
Cool. I am glad to have a couple of church history posts.
I am an Anglican Catholic. Our Church had its genesis in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, as scripture tells us!
It was in Britain at a very early date, Albanicus, [Gildas,] tells us about 37AD. The Latin Councils of the Middle Ages, gave precedence to the Church in England because of its early origin and again the date of 37 AD approx, comes in to focus. Amongst the names of early teachers are S.Joseph of Aramathea, S.Simon Zelotes and Aristobulous, the first bishop. Our Bishops were present at several of the early Councils and one Romanist scholar of modern times tells us that at lest one British Bishop was present at the Ecumenical Council of Nice!
We are an offshoot of the Anglican Communion, formed when Henry VIII of England declared himself "head of the Church in England".
Henry the viii th, was only head of the Church of England as far as,'The law of God allows,'.
The Anglican Church is an ancient Communion within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, as such is part of the Body of Christ and our members are Members of Christ and Children of God.
Henry's title was no more than saying he was first Magistrate within the state and responsible for law and order![/b]
Dear Prodromos, could you explain which Church fathers from the East rejected the idea of Peter's primacy of authority, or the idea that the Bishop of Rome is especially the successor of this "primate", I might say, though perhaps someone will sieze on that : ) ha, ha. Thanks. I've been looking, but so far I've found that they either implicitly accept it--such as Chrystostom and Ephraim, who were very vocal about Peter's primacy--or explicitly accept it, such as St. Flavian, Bishop of Constantinople, and the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (circa 451 A.D.).
Last edited by patricius79; 12th September 2009 at 10:05 PM.
I am an Anglican Catholic, of the Continuum, [not Anglo Catholic.] Our Church, the Body of Christ, had its provenance in the Upper Room in Jerusalem and arrived in Britain at a very early age according to Tertullian and other Church Fathers. The Celtic Historian Gildas, wrote that the Church was in Britain shortly after the death of Tiberius Caesar.
It is a manifestation, or a showing forth, of the Catholic Church and therefore entry is by ,'Trine,' Baptism followed by Confirmation through a Bishop within the apostolic succeession. Our beliefs are those of traditional Catholicism as distilled by our life in Christ over the last two thousand years,i.e.
The Revelation of Christ once delivered to the saints. [Jude.]
These , Recorded in Scripture, interpreted, explaned and taught by the Holy Fathers in the Seven Ecumenical Councils and the Consensus of the Greek fathers of the first three centuries.
__________________ All profess that there are seven Holy and Ecumenical Councils and these are the seven pillars of the Faith of the Divine Word on which He erected His Holy Mansion, the Catholic and Ecumenical Church!
[John 2nd, Russian Metropolitan. 1080.]
While serving in the Philipines Dr. Wall began several new local PFWB churches and founded a bible college there. This year he traveled back there to ordain some granchildren of the original bible students who first began their studies there. What began there as a few small churches 20 years ago has multiplied into more than 100 churches today.
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