Constantine did not invent Catholicism, he simply recognized it and let people legally be Christian. Christians were having "Catholic" Masses long before this "legalization" of Christianity. Three hundred years before Constantine, Christians believed in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, honoured Mary, had elaborate ceremonies, believed in Purgatory, respected the Church hierarchy, baptized babies, recognized Peter as the Rock, built the Church upon him with successors and followed a rich tradition of Christianity. That was the Christianity of the early days of Christianity and that is the Catholic Church of today. Catholic means "universal." A timeline of the Catholic Church from 1-500 A.D. is here
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Did Constantine start the Catholic Church?
No, and this site explains why beautifully!
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1 comment:
This web site of David MacDonald's is wonderful. Just what I needed to help explain things in layman's terms. Thank you for sharing!!! I think Candy would be wise to study this.
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