The term "Great Church" ( la, ecclesia magna) is used in the

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians hav ...

early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Je ...

to mean the period of about 180 to 313, between that of primitive Christianity and that of the legalization of the Christian religion in the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medite ...

, corresponding closely to what is called the Ante-Nicene Period. "It has rightly been called the period of the Great Church, in view of its numerical growth, its constitutional development and its intense theological activity."Karl Rahner.
Encyclopedia of Theology: A Concise Sacramentum Mundi
'. A&C Black; 1 January 1975. . Early Church. pp. 375–376. The Great Church, also called the

catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

(i.e., universal) Church, has been defined also as meaning "the Church as defended by such as Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus of Lyons, Cyprian of Carthage, and Origen of Alexandria and characterized as possessing a single teaching and communion over and against the division of the sects, e.g.,

gnosticism Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Judaism, Jewish and Early Christianity, early Christian sects. These ...

, and the

heresies Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important relig ...

". By the beginning of the fourth century, the Great Church already formed about 15% of the population of the Roman Empire and was ready, both numerically and structurally, for its role as the church of the empire, becoming the state religion of the Roman Empire in 380. However, it would be wrong "to over-emphasize the new externals of the Church at the expense of historical continuity". It was still the same Church. Roger F. Olson says: "According to the Roman Catholic account of the history of Christian theology, the Great Church catholic and orthodox lived on from the apostles to today in the West and all bishops that remained in fellowship with the bishop of Rome have constituted its hierarchy"; or, as the Catholic Church itself has expressed it, "This Church constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him, although many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside of its visible structure." The unbroken continuity of the Great Church is affirmed also by the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

: "Orthodoxy regards the Great Church in antiquity (for most of the first millennium) as comprising, on one side, the Eastern Orthodox world (the Byzantine patriarchates presided over by the hierarch of the Church of Constantinople together with the Slavic Orthodox churches); and, on the other side, the Western Catholic Church, presided over by the hierarch of the Church of Rome."

Emergence

Lawrence S. Cunningham, and separately,

Kugel Kugel ( yi, קוגל , pronounced ) is a baked casserole, most commonly made from lokshen or Jewish egg noodles ( ) or potato. It is a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish dish, often served on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. American Jews also serve it fo ...

and Greer state that

Irenaeus Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the dev ...

's statement in ''Against Heresies'' Chapter X 1–2 (written ) is the first recorded reference to the existence of a "catholic Church" with a core set of shared beliefs as opposed to the ideas of dissident groups.''An Introduction to Catholicism'' by Lawrence S. Cunningham (Feb 16, 2009) p. 4–5 Irenaeus states: Cunningham states that two points in Irenaeus' writing deserve attention. First, that Irenaeus distinguished the Church singular from "the churches" plural, and more importantly, Irenaeus holds that only in the larger singular Church does one find the truth handed down by the apostles of Christ. At the beginning of the 3rd century the Great Church that Irenaeus and Celsus had referred to had spread across a significant portion of the world, with most of its members living in cities (see

early centers of Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...

).''History of the World Christian Movement: Volume 1: Earliest Christianity To 1453'' by Dale T. Irvin and Scott Sunquist(Jan 10, 2002) pp. 103–107. The growth was less than uniform across the world. The ''

Chronicle of Arbela The ''Chronicle of Arbela'' claims to record the early history of Christianity in the city which is now known as Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, but which was then Arbela, capital of Adiabene. First published in 1907, its age and historicity are dispute ...

'' stated that in 225 AD, there were 20 bishops in all of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...

, while at approximately the same time, surrounding areas of Rome had over 60 bishops. But the Great Church of the 3rd century was not monolithic, consisting of a network of churches connected across cultural zones by lines of communication which at times included personal relationships. The Great Church grew in the 2nd century and entered the 3rd century mainly in two empires: the Roman and the Persian, with the network of bishops usually acting as the cohesive element across cultural zones.''History of the World Christian Movement: Volume 1: Earliest Christianity To 1453'' by Dale T. Irvin and Scott Sunquist (January 10, 2002) pp. 107–109. In 313, the Edict of Milan ended the persecution of Christians, and by 380 the Great Church had gathered enough followers to become the State church of the Roman Empire by virtue of the

Edict of Thessalonica The Edict of Thessalonica (also known as ''Cunctos populos''), issued on 27 February AD 380 by Theodosius I, made the Catholicism of Nicene Christians the state church of the Roman Empire. It condemned other Christian creeds such as Arianism a ...

Historical references

In '' Contra Celsum'' 5.59 and 5.61 the Church Father

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and the ...

mentions Celsus' late 2nd century use of the terms "church of the multitudes" or "great church" to refer to the emerging consensus traditions among Christians at the time, as Christianity was taking shape. In the 4th century, as Saint Augustine commented on Psalm XXII, he interpreted the term to mean the whole world, writing: "The great Church, Brethren, what is it? Is a scanty portion of the earth the great Church? The great Church means the whole world."''Expositions on the Book of Psalms'' Volume I by

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North A ...

Henry Parker, Oxford, 1847 p. 159 Augustine continued to expound on how various churches all considered themselves "the great Church," but that only the whole world could be seen as the great Church.

Theological underpinnings and separation

The epoch of the Great Church witnessed the development of key theological concepts which now form the fabric of the religious beliefs of the large majority of Christians. Relying on Scripture, prevailing mysticism and popular piety,

formalized some of the attributes of God, writing in ''Against Heresies'' Book IV, Chapter 19: "His greatness lacks nothing, but contains all things."Eric Francis Osborn (Nov 26, 2001) ''Irenaeus of Lyons'' pp. 27–29

also referred to the early use of the "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" formula which appeared as part of Christian Creeds, writing in ''Against Heresies'' ( Book I Chapter X):Vickers, Jason E. ''Invocation and Assent: The Making and the Remaking of Trinitarian Theology.'' Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2008. pp. 2–5 Around 213 AD in ''Adversus Praxeas'' ( chapter 3)

Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of ...

provided a formal representation of the concept of the

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the ...

, i.e., that God exists as one "substance" but three "Persons": The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.Roger E. Olson, Christopher Alan Hall 2002 ''The Trinity'' pp. 29–31 Tertullian also discussed how the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The First Council of Nicaea in 325 and later the First Council of Constantinople in 381 then formalized these elements.Donald Fairbairn (Sep 28, 2009) ''Life in the Trinity: An Introduction to Theology with the Help of the Church Fathers'' pp. 48–50 In 451, all the bishops of the Great Church were ordered to attend the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bi ...

to discuss theological issues that had emerged.''Pocket History of Theology'' by Roger E. Olson and Adam C. English (Nov 14, 2005) Intervarsity Press pp. 46–47 This turned out to be a turning point at which the Western and Eastern churches parted ways based on seemingly small Christological differences, and began the fracturing of the claim to the term Great Church by both sides.''Christ in Christian Tradition'' by Aloys Grillmeier, Theresia Hainthaler and Pauline Allen (Aug 1995) pp. 1–2Roger D. Haight (Sep 16, 2004) ''Christian Community in History'' Volume 1 pp. 212–13

Modern theories on the formation of the Great Church

Official Catholic publications, and other writers, sometimes consider that the concept of the "Great Church" can be found already in the Epistles of Paul, such as in "This is my rule in all the churches" ( 1 Corinthians 7:17) and in the Apostolic Fathers such as the letters of Ignatius of Antioch. Exegesis has even located the ''ecclesia magna'' in the Latin

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus&nbs ...

translations of the "great congregation" (''kahal rab'') of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

. This interpretation was also offered by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

, and by

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Luther ...

. Dennis Minns (2010) considers that the concept of a "Great Church" was developed by polemical heresiologists such as

. The presentation of early Christian unity and orthodoxy (see Proto-orthodox Christianity), and counter presentation of groups such as those sects labelled "

Gnostic Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...

", by early heresiologists such as Irenaeus is questioned by modern historians. Roger E. Olson (1999) uses the term to refer to the Great Church at the time of the

(451) when the Patriarch of Constantinople and Bishop of Rome were in fellowship with each other.

In contrast to "Jewish Christianity"

The term is contrasted with

Jewish Christian Jewish Christians ( he, יהודים נוצרים, yehudim notzrim) were the followers of a Jewish religious sect that emerged in Judea during the late Second Temple period (first century AD). The Nazarene Jews integrated the belief of Jesus a ...

s who came to be more and more clearly separated from the Great Church. Wilhelm Schneemelcher and others writing on New Testament Apocrypha distinguish writings as being sectarian or from the Great Church. Gabriele Waste (2005) is among German scholars using similar references, where the "Große Kirche" ("Great Church") is defined as "Ecclesia ex gentibus" (Church of the Gentiles) in comparison to the "Ecclesia ex circumcisione" (Church of the Circumcision). In the anglophone world,

Bruce J. Malina Bruce John Malina (9 October 1933 – 17 August 2017) was an American biblical scholar, noted for his application of social scientific approaches to the Bible. Biography Malina was born in Brooklyn, New York, as the eldest of nine children to his ...

(1976) contrasted what he calls "Christian Judaism" (usually termed " Jewish Christianity") with "the historically perceived orthodox Christianity that undergirds the ideology of the emergent Great Church." In francophone scholarship, the term Grande Église (Latin: ''Ecclesia magna'') has also been equated with the "more hellenized" as opposed to "

Judaizing Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the M ...

" sections of the early church, and the

Bar Kokhba revolt The Bar Kokhba revolt ( he, , links=yes, ''Mereḏ Bar Kōḵḇāʾ‎''), or the 'Jewish Expedition' as the Romans named it ( la, Expeditio Judaica), was a rebellion by the Jews of the Judea (Roman province), Roman province of Judea, led b ...

is seen as a definitive stage in the separation between Judaism and the Christianity of the "Grande Église".Revue des études juives: 2004 v163 p. 43 "... la révolte de Bar Kokhba a donc constitué une étape définitive dans la séparation entre le judaïsme et la «Grande Église». ... S.C. Mimouni, Le judéo-christianisme ancien, op. cit., et D. Marguerat, «Juifs et chrétiens: la séparation», in J.-M." Those stressing this binary view of early Christianity include Simon Claude Mimouni and François Blanchetière.

References