HISTORY OF THE CHURCH

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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH

• 1- THE APOLOGISTS

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Different ways to study History
1-Sequential method. Where you study the events
and their implications from the beginning of the
time period of the study to its end, e.g. century
by century or generation by generation. 2-Topical
method. As you pick a certain topic and study
its origins and follow its historical
development. E.g. Monasticism or the Liturgyetc.

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• 3-Biographical method. In this way you select the
  particular characters you find most influential
  in the area of history you are interested in, and
  study their lives, their writings and their
  influence.
• 4-Spot method. Where you are going to choose a
  certain point in history, e.g. the Arab invasion
  of Egypt, and study all the various ways, it had
  influenced the course of history.

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It is important to note here that whatever
approach you choose, you need always to follow
certain guidelines in your study in order to
reach the most plausible conclusion which is most
likely to reflect the true events of
history. These guidelines are simple.1-You
have to cross reference you data from multiple
sources.2- You have to use reliable, honest
and established sources.The established sources
available to us relative to Christian History
are 
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• 1-The Holy Bible.
• 2-Tradition, whether Oral or written, from
  different churches of the World. That includes
  the Christian and Non Christian biographies of
  the Fathers of the Church and their writings and
  the historical events surrounding their lives.

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• 3-Scientific sources. Here, we must be both very
  cautious and open minded at the same time. As
  some of these sources are biased towards the
  sources of their funding or their personal or
  political affiliations. While at the same time,
  these sources have a vast array of tools to dig
  for the truth through many scientific
  disciplines, e.g. Archeology, Anthropology and
  many other fields of science. Sorting through
  this data is not a task for the faint hearted. As
  some of it is really difficult to understand for
  the common person.

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The development of the Christian denominations in
a glance The one apostolic universal (Catholic)
Orthodox church 33-325
AD The ecumenical council at Nicaea 325
The ecumenical council at Constantinople 381
The ecumenical council at Ephesus 431
The council
of Chalcedon 451 the Schism
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non Chalcedonian Orthodox churches Chalcedonian
churches The Coptic church included here

The schism of 1054
Catholic (Latin)
E. Orthodox (Byzantine)
Anglican Church (1538) Protestant (1521)
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This study will propose that we approach History
through the most influential groups of people who
helped shape it into what we have today, since we
do not have the luxury of a long and detailed
examination of all the stages the church went
through since her birth at the day of
Pentecost. Without a doubt our fathers the
apostles are at the top of this list, however,
since the apostolic Era is the most widely
studied part of Church history and most people
are at least familiar with some, if not most of
its events, we are going to move directly to the
next group of people we need to approach
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1-The Apologists. 2-The heretics. 3-Politics. 4-Mo
nasticism. 5-The ecumenical councils. THE
APOLOGISTS. But sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts and be ready always to give an answer to
every man that asks you a reason of the hope that
is in you with meekness and fear(1 Peter 315) I
think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall
answer for myself this day before thee touching
all the things whereof I am accused of the
Jews(Acts 262)  But ye shall receive power,
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and
ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth. Acts 18)
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St. Irenaeus Bishop of
Lyon (2-3 Century) "Error, indeed, is never set
forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus
exposed, it should at once be detected.  But it
is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so
as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the
inexperienced (ridiculous as the expression may
seem) more true than the truth itself."
--Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1.2.
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Apologists are simply the defenders of the
Faith. The term Apology is derived from the
original Greek apologia which means a speech
in the defense of the Faith it is not used here
in the contemporary sense of acknowledging an
error or mistake. There are numerous examples of
true apologetic writings, in Christian and non
Christian literature as well. --------------------
--------------------------------------------------
--------- Apologetics have become a science
taught in Theological schools. It has become what
is now called Fundamental Theology, to
distinguish it from Dogmatic Theology which is
the other branch of Dogmatic science.
Apologetics is intended for the unbelievers,
skeptics and attackers of the Christian Faith as
an effort to lead them to believe in Christ.
Whereas Dogmatic Theology is geared to the
faithful, helping them understand the tenets of
the faith they already accepted.
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Apologists are indeed some of the most important
group of people the Church gave birth to. It was
evident from the beginning that the budding small
Christian community was constantly under attack
from all sides. Educated and uneducated,
monotheists, polytheists and even atheists, all
took aim at the struggling church of the first
Century. Their attacks had never let down or
abated to this day. In every generation , the
Lord provided the Church with members who
passionately defended the Faith and laid the
foundation for the following generations to build
on their efforts. In the early stages of history,
the arguments were generally intellectual,
logical and philosophical in the most part. In
todays environment, we have to add to this the
scientific angle, as this is now being widely
used even at the official schools as a means to
undermine the faith of the new generations e.g.
in the Darwinist Theory of evolution.
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Apologists had to do their defense therefore, in
several fronts 1-Early on against the attacks
of pagans in order to prove the case for Gods
existence and power and the fact that He is the
only God and creator of the entire universe. At
this stage they had to also, provide evidence to
the Jewish people who did not believe in Christ,
that He was the long awaited Messiah of the Old
Testament. Obviously these are totally different
directions which had to be addressed in a manner
and language suitable for each group. 2-Later on
as the Menace of Islam started to appear in the
sixth century, Apologists had to address the
claims of the new religion. 3- We have to
remember the dangerous emergence of Heretics in
every stage of Church History, which required the
vigilance of Orthodox apologists who refuted the
claims of heretics and produced evidence of the
true Orthodox Faith.
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4-In the sixteenth century, the Reformation
movement of Protestantism seemed to undermine
many of the established apostolic doctrines, e.g.
the Eucharist, therefore a new class of
apologists on each side of the arguments appeared
in order to defend their stance. 5-In modern
times, more than any time before, the need for
apologists is so urgent and imperative in order
to refute the claims of modernist,
existentialists, evolutionists and the many new
age philosophies which are building on all
previous attacks, and expanding their war
against the very basics of the Christian Faith.
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Examples of great Apologists and their
works, 1-The Apostle Paul in his defense before
Festus and Agrippa. 2-In the second Century
appeared Aristides, Quadratus, Athenagoras,
Tatian and others but most of all Justin Martyr
who wrote two apologies, which were very
influential in later development of the church
doctrines. He defended the Christian faith in the
face of Jewish criticisms, and defended the
Christians as honest law abiding citizens who
should not be tortured and persecuted for their
faith by the state. Most importantly, He provided
his defense in a philosophical and logical as
well as scriptural systematic manner which was
compelling, and later on stirred the pagan
philosopher Celsus to write what he called the
true word to attack the faith of Christians
explained by Justin Martyr. This is turn resulted
in yet much greater response from the great
Christian Scholar Oregin, who then wrote his
great apology against Celsus
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Justin Martyr 100 165 AD
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3-Many of the great fathers of the church wrote
treatises defending the faith at one stage or the
other, like Athansius, Augustine and many others.
Whether against pagans, heretics or the unfair
persecution of the church their writings
enriched the church with material for the
following generations to use against similar
attacks, and to build on for yet the generations
to come. 4-A remarkable apology was written by
Theodore Abu Qurra in the ninth century. As a
bishop of Harran, he composed On God and the
true Religion to represent the Christian faith
under Islamic rule at his time.
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The Christian Church is the most attacked
institution in the history of the world. Our
Bible is the most critiqued and attacked book
ever. Nevertheless, the Holy Bible still holds
its majestic place as the most influential book
ever written as it is truly the revelation of
Gods Word to humanity. The church is still the
divine established authority outside which no man
can be saved. In the words of our Lord, the
gates of hell will never prevail against
her However, we must heed the words of the Lord
in the first chapter of Acts, as He said, you
shall be my witnesses. If we fail in our mission
and cower away as the steward who buried his
talents, there will be a price to pay. In the
mean time God will always find for himself true
believers who will fear no sword or fire to
defend the Orthodox faith and preserve it for the
generations to follow.
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But in order to be able to do our apologetic
service we need to,
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1-Delve deeper in our faith, because we cannot
convince anybody of something we do not clearly
understand and strongly believe ourselves.
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2-Stick to the scriptures and the lessons of
our early fathers, the apologists who came
before us and learn from their experiences.
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3-Never try to dilute or water down our
convictions in order to satisfy a ruler, a
friend, or a foe.
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4-Do not be intimidated by the expected
attacks. you should be prepared for them. If
there is a question you cannot answer, simply
admit that you shall investigate it and get
the answer.
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5-Learn how to speak the language of our
opponents, meaning if they are using philosophy,
we should be able to match their language as we
have by far the greater side of the truth. If
they be scientific, we have to be able to answer
them in the language they understand and find the
ways to refute their claims with data and true
science which definitely will be in side of the
creator who made all the laws of nature.
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Resources 1-Alkalema. A magazine published by
the youth bishopric for the servants of
youth. 2-Encyclopedia Britannica. 3-Catholic
Encyclopedia. 4-Handbook of apologetics (Peter
kreeft) Recommended readings all available in
the library and the Church web site Heresy of
Jehovahs Witnesses (Pope Shenouda) Comparative
Theology (Pope Shenouda) The nature of Christ
(Pope Shenouda) Is there Devine Justice? (Fr.
Tadros Malaty) Introduction to the Coptic
Orthodox Church (Fr. Tadros Malaty) Tradition and
Orthodoxy (Fr. Tadros Malaty) Handbook of
Apologetics (peter Kreeft) The Case for Christ
The Case for Christianity. The case for
Faith. The case for God. God Is. (Alan Hayward)