I am a Church History PhD student at the Catholic University of America. I am here to help answer any question that you might have regarding the history of the Catholic Church. If I am not able to immediately answer your questions, I will research the topic and get back to you. This is as much a way for me to deepen my understanding of my field of study as it is to assist you in finding answers for your historical questions.
Sounds like a made up College ; ) Welcome to the forum!
I see a lot of back & forth between the Ortho Bros. and the Catholic Rad Trads on Twitter about who broke off from whom. Did the Catholic Church break off from the East or did the Orthodox break off from the West? I prefer to just think of us as both having a shared history.
I know this is a topic that Church Historians have written entire books about, but if you could simplify it and present it in an honest and true way, I would be interested in what you know/find.
Also can you give me a list of Early Church Fathers and Theologians prior to the Schism and which were from the East and which were from the West? I use an Orthodox Bible App that does a great job of clicking on any verse in the Bible and see what various Church Fathers had to say about the verse. I love it! St. Agustina, St. Hilary, St. Jerome, and St. John Chrysostom had a lot of wisdom to share. I often which ones came from which region (East or West). I’m not trying to start a beef between these men (like Biggie vs. Tupac), but it would help me better understand where each is coming from.
At the present time, one question I have is: how long in the Roman Rite have palms been blessed and the Passion been read on the Sunday now known as Palm Sunday?
Here’s one I was thinking about yesterday: How exactly does intercessory prayer work when Catholics ask a Saint to intercede for them?
Is the Saint aware of the prayer intercession in their name only when the person invokes the name of the Saint? A person is only aware of and privy to a phone call when it’s a call they’re a part of even though there are countless phone calls happening all the time.
If Saints were aware of all prayers all the time regardless of who they’re directed to (ie hear all prayers all the time), they’d be Omniscient and I don’t believe that’s the case.
Spiritual reality isn’t bound by physical constraints. For example, being Mary the Mediatrix of ALL graces, that doesn’t make her a godess, just a creature from God, participating in God’s infinite power.
Why did most of Bishops, including the one in Rome, accept the bribe from Governments to lockdown Churches and schools, when it was obvious, at least after the first fortnight, that no curve was being flattened and that epidemiologists were right about the idiocy of locking the healthy under the false pretense that there could be asymptomatic spreaders:
Contrary to popular belief, one Church did not break off of another. For the first century and a half, the Great Schism was seen more as a political rivalry between the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople. A group of three Papal Legates in Constantinople excommunicated the Patriarch for not accepting the primarily civil claims of authority made by the Pope. The Patriarch and a small collection of bishops then excommunicated the three legates and '“all who supported them.” The Pope had actually died immediately before these events so the legates had technically acted on their own authority, not that of the Pope, and thus had no canonical right to excommunicate the Patriarch. As such, the only people excommunicated during the beginning of this schism were the three legates. It wasn’t until the sacking of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade by the Latin armies that the 1054 excommunication controversy was used as a theological explanation to justify the East’s hatred of the West for committing such a crime against the Eastern Christians, despite the fact that the Pope had condemned the sacking of Constantinople and actually excommunicated anyone participating in it.
When it comes to the early Fathers of the Church, this isn’t an official title that the Church bestows upon someone so there isn’t an official list. The title simply refers to any Christian writer before 800AD that was not condemned as heretical during their lifetime. Because of this, figures like Origen and Theodore of Mopsuestia, while not recognized as Saints by the Catholic Church, are still colloquially referred to as Fathers of the Church. Then there are those Fathers of the Church where we don’t know anything about them except a name on their writings, like Pseudo-Dionysius or Gildas the Wise (two of my favorites for different reasons).
As a universal feast in the Roman Rite, the celebration that we know today as Palm Sunday dates back to the 1570 Missale Romanum after the Council of Trent by St. Pius V. This is somewhat of a technicality because the concept of ‘rites’ did not begin until Trent. Before this, there were many local traditions which incorporated ‘Donkey walks’ into a reenactment of Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem. While the Passion narrative was often read during these walks, the celebration was considered extra-liturgical and distinct from the Mass that took place afterward inside the local Church.
Technically, these donkey walks weren’t even “Palm” Sundays. The literal Biblical translation is ‘branch’. Palms were not used in the celebrations well into the Renaissance. When the great obelisk from Nero’s Forum was being moved from its original location to its current spot in St. Peter’s square, the Pope had forbidden anyone in the crowd from speaking while they transferred it upon pain of death, lest they spook the donkeys and break the obelisk. When the ropes began to smoke from the strain, one man risked his life to cry out to water the ropes before they broke. The Pope ordered it done and the obelisk was saved. This is notable because that obelisk is the only piece left of the circus in which Peter was crucified and most likely the last thing that he saw before he died. The man who cried out was rewarded with a papal commission to provide all Roman basilicas with branches for their Entry Sunday celebration. The man was a merchant who imported palms and reeds for basketry and thus all Roman basilicas began to use palms instead of the more traditional olive branches. Other churches took their cue from Rome and it became a near-universal tradition.
First thank you for responding to my questions. Now I’m curious about why you like these two. Was it their writings, you just like their name, or for some other reason? If you would rather not say publicly, you are welcome to direct message me. Enquiring minds want to know : )
Pseudo-Dionysius (also known as St. Denis or Denys): I spent six years as a contemplative brother before discerning that I was instead called to a lay vocation as a historian before I took final vows and Pseudo-Dionysius was at the center of most of the contemplative works that led me into that prayer. Pseudo-Dionysius is a primary theological source of some of the greatest contemplative traditions of the Western Church Church: the Carthusians, the Anchorites, the Victorines of Paris (University of Paris), and even Theresa of Avila and John of the Cross.
Now a word of warning about Pseudo-Dionysius: he writes in a language deeply rooted in both sixth-century Byzantine theology and direct experience of contemplative practice. If someone reads Pseudo-Dionysius without training in this theology or already having an experiential knowledge of contemplative practice, it can be very easy to misread him, as exhibited by some who try to read him as a Christian version of Buddhism.
Gildas the Wise: One of my historical passions is pre-Norman English Church history. Gildas was a British monk who gave us the first great history of Christianity in Britain. He describes the Saxon conquest of Britain as God’s judgement upon the British for turning away from their faith. In my private research, I’ve found that this understood turning away was Pelagianism’s hold on the populace who had largely turned away from supporting their bishops and monasteries, leaving bishops, clergy and monks to nearly starve. Gildas presents us a vibrant last view of the ancient British Church before it is overrun by the Saxons and eventually reconverted through the efforts of the Irish missionaries and St. Augustine of Canterbury.
Thanks ChurchHistorian, sometimes I just ponder what is the Holy Spirit and from where did the Trinity Understanding become? Thanks in advance for your energy.
The recognition of the Holy Spirit dates back to the Jewish understanding of creation. The Ruach, or Breath of God was breathed out from God in the speaking of his Word of Creation and all that exists came to be. We can see this recognition of these three distinct actors within the one God in Genesis 1, “Let us make man in our image.” As such, the early Church’s understanding of the human person followed the Trinitarian three-part model. Just as the Trinity was composed of the speaker, Word, and Breath (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), humans were made in the image of God as soul, body, and spirit. St. Paul recognizes these three parts of the human person in 1 Thes. 5:23. The body and soul are well recognized today, but the human spirit has fallen into obscurity and, along with it, some of the understanding of the Holy Spirt. To all inhabitants of the ancient Mediterranean world, not just Christians, spirit was an external force or breath which bound the soul to the body, sustained life, and allowed the person to offer themselves to others through a spiritual offering. If we look at the Holy Spirit in this manner, not only is he the Person of the Trinity breathed out in Creation, his presence in our lives sustains our existence as human beings, it enables us to partake in all the graces that have been offered to us by Christ’s sacrifice and finally allows us to pour out our own prayers and offerings back to God for either ourselves or others.
From faith through logic obscurity is gone forever and all can understand and allow all to see God the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit Family preexisting, rationally and faithfully, I believe.
And OMNiLogically seeing the Holy Spirit as a Family, and not a person leaves room in the Trinity for the Mother of God, Mary pre-existing and always together with The Father and the Son, Jesus in One Holy Spirit Family One God in being.
To me the Holy Spirit is more than a person and exists before creation in the “Sophia Wisdom” the entire wisdom of the Holy Family and the preexisting undefiled logical intelligence unfailing in all cases and becomes alive and lives in all mankind through the flesh.
So true, the Power of the Holy Spirit Family manifests for the created souls of all through the flesh becoming through two natures from the spirit through the flesh from the God from the Faith of Abraham becoming again for all Creation in One Holy Spirit Family One God in being.
To me, the souls of all mankind are created from the Father and Transformed through the flesh of the Mother for Jesus becoming Virgin Born in One Body from the Immaculate Conception for the Eternal Priestly Authority becoming “Through the Christ” for all mankind becoming glorified becoming again Transfigured for all Creation in One Holy Spirit Family One God in being.
Logical Gods pre-existing in undefiled intelligence unfailing in all cases following the pattern. What would Jesus do becoming through the Christ in the fulfilled, faith and morality through the Christ becoming again from One Holy Family become from light energy through the Big Bang, creating mass becoming space time through two natures becoming again One God in being.
The Holy Spirit, transfigures in combined powers from creation through transformation for glorification for all becoming again one God in being.
James Peter and John witnessed the Transfiguration in the Christ with Moses and Elijah and were told not to talk about it until after The Christ’s death and resurrection and they all do in their gospels.
Becoming again One God in A Family being will stop all wars, OMNiLogically, I believe.
Preexistence of souls is proof of God. Jesus’ Soul existed before creation as eternal Priestly authority. The father existed before creation as creator God. Mary’s soul existed before creation was ever created was even created as a Mother of God. And always together with the father and the son in one Holy Spirit family one God in being, OMNiLogically and faithfully.
Many people come to Catholic Talk to try to teach, but Catholic Talk is where we become to learn.
There are priests and deacons here and all faiths and hopefully Pope Leo will be on the site soon. Logical instruction becomes easy for all. I’ve seen it in priests and preachers in the past. Pope Francis God bless him always gave me great ideas. Is Shepherd Cross was a favor of mine. The logic I got from Pope Francis was we need to evangelize more in a generalized way as not to offend but yet you’re not all as one in being.
We have to be able to see all mankind as sons and daughters of God
Until we can see the Holy Spirit as the Family of God, we can never stop the “contentions.”
Can I get a hallelujah and a amen brothers and sisters?
Respectfully, this statement is foreign to Catholic belief. The Council of Ephesus in 431 AD anathematized any belief that Mary participates in the divine nature of God beyond the redemptive act of Jesus toward all humanity. The recent Vatican document Mater Populi Fidelis lays out Mary’s place with respect to the divine mission of the Persons of the Son and the Holy Spirit. She is inherently a creation. No human soul, including Mary’s pre-exists creation.
Anathematization is a binding declaration that anyone who holds a specific belief is automatically excommunicated from the Church.
This concept of distinct gods coexisting was anathematized at the Council of Nicaea in 325. It was considered so important to reject the this doctrine from the Church that it was included in the recitation of the Nicene Creed until 381 AD when the Council of Constantinople expanded upon the earlier creed and cemented it as the definitive standard for Christian belief.
And those who say, “there once was when he was not”, and “before he was begotten he was not”, and that he came to be from things that were not, orfrom another hypostasis [Gr. hypostaseos] or substance [Gr. ousias, Lat. substantia], affirming that the Son of God is subject to change or alteration these the catholic and apostolic church anathematises. (Nicaea 1.2)
Not only this, but the statement is contradicted by the earliest Christian text outside of the Scriptures, even predating some of the books of the New Testament. St. Clement of Rome’s Letter to the Corinthians, rejects the concept of multiple gods, “Do we not have one God, and one Christ, and one gracious Spirit that has been poured out upon us, and one calling in Christ?” (1 Clement 46:6)
Faithfully the Catholic Church can say anything about Faith and Mary and Gods, and be bound by the Moses seat. OMNiLogic does not argue the Faith of the Catholic Church, just the logic.
Gods preexist in logical undeflied intelligence proving the Holy Family Gods from preexistence and non created beings, OMNiLogically, but who needs proof?
Mary’s Co-Redemption is from Gabriel through the Immaculate Conception for all mankind becoming Baptized through the New Eve becoming for all in the Catholic Church, OMNiLogically. And throught The Virgin Birth for Jesus becoming in the Christ, How can we become forgiven from Sacrifice through Penance without Mary? OMNiLogically. Glorification is not possible without the Church becoming immortal transformation for all becoming broters and sisters of Christ.
This is what the Catholic Church does not know OMNiLogically.
OMNiLogic delivers the OMNiLogical Mind of God for all Faithful Catholics becoming OMNiLogical.
We have One God and Holy Spirit Family from three Gods preexisting from the Father through the Mother for the Son becoming for all through The Christ from Mary for Jesus becoming again in One Holy Spirit Family One God in being a Family.
Logically is the Father God? Yes. Is Jesus God? Yes. Do we all becoming again One God in being? Yes. Do we see all mankind becoming Sons and Daughters of God? Yes, yes yes.
Can we get a hallelujah and a amen brothers and sisters?
Mary reminds Jesus His time is now, and becoming In The Christ is the union of the Immaculate Conception with the Eternal Priestly authority in Cana, OMNiLogically. Mary is part of the Christ and died as becoming part of the New Living Sacrifice with Jesus at the Cross from the Blood and Water Rebirth for all of Creation becoming again One Family One God in being, OMNiLogically.
“Let it become to me not my will but Your Will be done,” becomes from Mary, the First Christ and Mother of God in 0 A. D. (Latin for the beginning of Church time on earth and the Year of the Lord.)
From the Mind of God we become through the created flesh for created souls becoming in One Created Body.
When they climbed out on shore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread. He said to them, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.” So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of one hundred fifty-three large fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn. He said to them, “Come, have breakfast.” And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they realized it was the Lord. He came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish. This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead. The Mind is conceived from logical intelligence for a created brain in the flesh manifested from the power of the spirit intelligence becoming for the flesh in the created Soul for the Body to think and do.
Romans 11:36
For from him, and through him, and for him are all things. In him is glory, for all eternity. Amen.
Logically form the God from the Faith of Abraham, the spirit manifests for the created souls through the flesh becoming One Body.
The Created Body is spirit manifested from spirit intelligence becoming through the flesh for the created souls to become again.
The Created Body is powered from spirit intelligence manifesting through the flesh from the power of the spirit intelligence.
I am confused as to this claim. You state you are not arguing against the faith of the Catholic Church and yet you reject the most important premise of all Christianity, that there is one God. To talk about Gods (plural) is to reject the inherent foundation of Christian faith.
Catholic Talk is for the popes the priests, the preachers, all creation becoming again one family.
We all become gods powered by the logical undefiled intelligence pre-existing.
The OMNiLogical Pentecost is the logical mind of God becoming to the faithful Catholics.
Through faith, we can only hope from logic we can know the mind of God
Please let there be no confusion. The delivery of OMNiLogicalGod is from the power of the Holy Spirit Family through Stephen Andrew delivering Proof Mary is God, but who needs proof?
No rational person can deny OMNiLogicalGod, verified from the logical formulas through the Wondrous Mysteries in the Catholic Faith from Abraham.
