Creed 26 In one, holy, universal and apostolic church

1.The Church is one 2.The Church is holy 3.The church is universal 4.The church is apostolic

1. The church is one Christ did not establish many churches: Matt. 16:18 “.. My church” Matt. 18:17 “..listen to the church” John 10:16 “ gather...into one” John 11:52 “ one shepherd..one sheepfold” John 17:21-23 “..to be one..” Gal. 3:28 “ you are all one in Christ..” Eph. 5:27 “the single bride of Christ” Rom. 12:5 “ the one body of Christ”

1. The Church is one The Church is one because of her source i.e. the Trinity of three persons in One. “what an astonishing mystery! There is one Father of the universe, one Logos of the universe, and also one Holy Spirit, everywhere one and the same; there is also one virgin become mother, and I like to call her “Church” St. Clement of Alexandria The unity is not hurt by diversity of the culture, languages or the gifts, but by sin and its consequences.

1. The Church is one Eph. 4:3 “ maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bonds of peace..” what are these bonds of unity? 1. invisible 2. visible

1. The Church is one Ephesians 4: 3-6 The church is: 1.One body: one visible origin the body of Christ 2.One spirit: one invisible source of life, the Holy Spirit 3.One Hope : the glory of God and Christ through the blessedness of the chosen 4.One Lord: the one authority of Christ 5.One Faith: as the constitution that governs the conduct of the members 6.One Baptism: as the single source of her existence & growth- the Mysteries

1. The Church is one What hurts the unity? 1.Heresy: false doctrine. 2.Apostasy: rejecting the faith. 3.Schism: division.

1. The Church is one How to work toward unity: – Repentance – Prayer “..let the schism cease..” – fraternal knowledge of each other – Ecumenical formation of the faithful, specially clergy – Dialogue among theologians – Receiving communion in a church not “in communion” is not a way for re-union.

2. The Church is holy The church is holy for the following reasons: A.Because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as “alone holy,” has loved the church as His Bride, giving Himself up for her so as to sanctify her. B.Because her members “holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling” (Heb 3:1), they are set apart from the world in the baptism, so are called saints and they are “sanctified in Christ” (1 Cor 1:3). C.Some members of the church are sinners but they do not defile the sanctity of the church because the source of the church sanctity is Christ (1 Cor 7)

2. The Church is holy In the writings of Iranaeus, sanctity is the true character of the church (against heresies 1, 30, 2). Priests, more than anything else, have to be saints (against heresies 4:26, 4). The children of the church avoid sin by all means, not just in action but also in thought and in word, hence the sanctity of the church, hence the super-natural gifts that is performed in the church. God rewards sanctity. This sanctity is the mystery of the power of the church that Christ established: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth… And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth” (John 17:17-19).

2. The Church is holy By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e. by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God’s grace, the church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors.

3. The Church is universal (catholic) The word “universal” means “that which points to all.” But the “all” that is pointed to by the word can be understood: 1.Geographically: the church domain is the whole world, for the apostles to preach the name of Christ to all creation. The word universal was used in this context by St Cyril of Jerusalem, St Athanasius, Justin, Iranaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian, and John Chrysostom. Maybe this context was used to highlight the contradiction between the Christian church and the Jewish society that is exclusive.

3. The Church is universal (catholic) 2.The essential context of the word universal means the whole church in contrast with heretic groups that is separated from the church. The universal church then is the church that keeps the Orthodox faith. In that context the description “universal” can be given to the local churches. In this context Polycarp called the church of Smyrna “universal” (2,16). The same use to the word “universal” in describing local churches can be found in the writings of Clement of Alexandria.

3. The Church is universal (catholic) The title “universal” is linked to the church in her both visible and invisible sides: -from the visible side, “universal” points to the church in the whole world, in every place, and in every age. -from the invisible side, “universal” points to the unity of faith.

3. The Church is universal (catholic) Outside the church there is no salvation: This affirmation is made by many church fathers. Taking the image of the ark of Noah, which alone saves from the flood (St Augustine, St Ambrose). This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and His church, the church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men. The church was commissioned to go and make disciples of all nations and to baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and to teach them to observe all “that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20).

3. The Church is universal (catholic) The motivation of this mission is the love of Christ (2 Cor 5:14). The purpose of the mission, to make men share in the communion with the Trinity. The path of the mission is self-sacrifice, so that “the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians” (Tertullian). In the missionary work there is a process of enculturation if the gospel is to take flesh in each people’s culture. It is only by degrees that the church touches and penetrates those cultures and so receive them into the fullness, which is universal. The missionary work of the church would include the efforts for union through a respectful dialogue.

4. Apostolic Church The reasons the church is called apostolic: 1.Built upon the foundation of the apostles (eph.2:20) 2.The church kept the apostolic faith through history 3.The shepherds of the church received their office through apostolic succession. (the Coptic church goes back to her founder- St Mark- one of the 70 apotles. The apostolic succession is kept from St. Mark to this date. (as it is the case for the genealogies in the old testament).

4. Apostolic Church Iranaeus wrote that the church is apostolic, the 12 apostles are her pillars. She received her faith through them then she kept it and to all her children (against heresies 1,10,1). The church’s dogma is the dogma of the apostles and her tradition is their tradition. She kept the Holy Books (Bible) and gives us their true meaning, that is why we should run away from the heretics. The Holy Bible is the source of the Church’s authority and guidance. (against heresies 4:33,8)

The Authority of the Church when our Lord said to St. Peter:“you are Peter, and upon this rock I shall build My Church.” (Matt 16:18)? These words does not mean the pre- eminence of St. Peter over the rest of the apostles for the following reasons: 1.There is no other corner stone but Christ (1 Cor.3:11) 2.All apostles are called foundations (Eph.2:2, rev, 21:14) 3.What was said to St. Peter “..I shall give you the keys of the Kingdome..” the same was said to all the apostles (Matt. 16:19; 18:18; John 20:22)

The Authority of the Church 4.The talk of Christ about tending the sheep His sheep, that was repeated three times (john 21:15-17) did not mean that our Lord had given St. Peter the shepherding position over the whole church, but to restore him to his apostleship after his denial of Christ three times. 5.The situations where St. Peter appears to be eminent among the disciples (Acts 1:15; 2:14; 4:28) represent respect and honor rather than authority. The equality with the rest of the apostles appeared in choosing the 7 deacons, and in the mission to Samaria (Acts 6:2,6;8:14)

The Authority of the Church 6.St Paul rebuked St Peter (Gal. 2:11) 7.St. James and not St. Peter was the head of the Council in Jerusalem, nor did St. Peter the one to head the discussion (Acts 15:7,22-32) 8.St. Peter was not alone “the pillar of the Church” but together with St. John and St. James (Gal. 2:6,9,11- 12,14) 9.St. Peter did not establish the Church of Rome, but it was through a group of believers who received the Gospel fro both St. Peter and St Paul. When St Paul wrote the letter to the Romans (57AD), St. Peter was not there yet, nor when St. Paul wrote the letters as a prisoner(62-64 AD).

The Authority of the Church The Invisible head of the Church is Christ: “He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the Church, which is His Body” (Eph. 1:22-23) When the orthodox Church celebrate the Liturgy, the whole church is there. “the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ, for we, though many, are one bread and one body for we all partake of that one bread” 1 Cor. 10:16-17

The Authority of the Church The fullness of the Church is there in every local church as she celebrate the Eucharist, with the head of the church present in the Mystery. The Catholic Church, would add that the local churches are also part of the Church of Rome, taking out from the Eucharist the essential element of “the fullness of the church”, and that is to emphasize the authority over the communion.

The Authority of the Church The Catholic Church’s priority is the authority of the Pope of Rome Therefore the Catholic Church regard other Churches as parts of the Church of Rome, headed by the Pope of Rome, not as partners in one faith, and one communion.

The Roman Catholic church point of view on the catholicity of the Roman church: “The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter. Those who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain although imperfect, communion with the Catholic church. With the Orthodox churches, this communion is so profound that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord’s Eucharist.” – Catechism of the Catholic Church 838