Leslie Newbiggin reflects the dominant position within the World Council of Churches when he says, `` We must claim absoluteness and finality for Christ and His finished work, but that very claim forbids us to claim absoluteness and finality for our understanding of it ''.

The Anglican Communion ( see below ) and those Lutheran Churches which claim apostolic succession do not specifically teach this but exclusively practice episcopal ordination.

Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Old Catholic, Independent Catholic Churches, and in the Assyrian Church of the East, bishops claim apostolic succession, a direct historical lineage dating back to the original Twelve Apostles.

The Old Catholic Church and the various groups classified as Independent Catholic Churches also lay claim to the description Catholic.

Many episcopi vagantes claim succession from the Old Catholic See of Utrecht, or from Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, or Eastern Catholic Churches.

The orders of the original Old Catholic Church are regarded by the Roman Catholic Church as valid, though no such declaration of recognition has been issued with regard to the several Independent Catholic Churches that claim to trace their episcopal orders to this Church.

The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches had developed from early on the idea of infallibility of the Church — that the Church may speak entirely without error in particular councils or edicts ; or that, in a less definable way, the Church is infallibly directed so that it always stands in the truth ; and indeed, and claim that the Church has the promise of Jesus that it shall do so.

While both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches can claim Apostolic Succession, the Orthodox Church claims to be the only Christian church that has remained unchanged since its establishment by Christ and His Apostles, though their current teachings on divorce and contraception are novelties.

Some leaders of Independent Catholic Churches also claim to be traditionalist Catholics and to be preserving the Tridentine Mass and ancient traditions.

Three modern groups originating in the U. S. claim the Stone-Campbell movement as their roots: Churches of Christ, Christian churches and churches of Christ, and the Christian Church ( Disciples of Christ ).

** Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch is the direct successors of the See, and through its offshoots, the Melkite and Maronite Churches have a claim to succession, and -

The encyclical lamented that the dialogues between the two churches were being criticized in “ an unacceptably fanatical way ” by some who claim to be defenders of Orthodoxy despite the fact that these dialogues are being conducted “ with the mutual agreement and participation of all local Orthodox Churches ”.

Due to various schisms and factions within the Church the return was postponed as all Orthodox and the Greek-Catholic Churches lay claim to it.

The following are Eastern Catholic Churches of East Syrian Rite that claim succession to the Catholicos of the East of Selucia-Ctesiphon of the Church of the East:

The following are Eastern Catholic Churches of West Syrian Rite that claim succession to the title of Catholicos:

Churches that join may either remain members of the ELCA or other Lutheran denominations or may sever such ties and claim the LCMC as their only denominational affiliation.

In some ways they represent a stronger opposition because they have the backing of many member provinces of the Anglican Communion and, in some cases, are or have been missionary jurisdictions of such provinces of the Communion as the Churches of Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, and the Southern Cone of America.

In Western Christianity, this day is observed principally in the Catholic Church, although some churches of Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Churches also celebrate it.

But in this Council, and later, in that of Florence, Ambrose, by his efforts and charity toward some poor Greek bishops, greatly helped to bring about a union of the two Churches, the decree for which, 6 July 1439, he was called on to draw up.

Present-day Christian religious bodies known for conducting their worship services without musical accompaniment include some Presbyterian churches devoted to the regulative principle of worship, Old Regular Baptists, Primitive Baptists, Plymouth Brethren, Churches of Christ, the Old German Baptist Brethren, the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church and the Amish, Old Order Mennonites and Conservative Mennonites.

; Major archbishop: Major archbishops are the heads of some of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Some Anglicans consider their church a branch of the " One Holy Catholic Church " alongside of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, a concept rejected by the Roman Catholic Church and some Eastern Orthodox.

The canon law of the Eastern Catholic Churches, which had developed some different disciplines and practices, underwent its own process of codification, resulting in the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches promulgated in 1990 by Pope John Paul II.

The sometimes subtle differences between Eastern and Western conceptions of authority and its exercise produced a gradually widening rift between the Churches which continued with some occasional relief throughout the following centuries until the final rupture of the Great Schism ( marked by two dates: 16 July 1054, and the Council of Florence in 1439 ).

Churches that are members of the Anglican Communion are episcopal churches in polity, and some are named " Episcopal.

Hesychasm (, hesychasmos, from, hesychia, " stillness, rest, quiet, silence ") is an eremitic tradition of prayer in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and some of the Eastern Catholic Churches, such as the Byzantine Rite, practised ( Gk:, hesychazo: " to keep stillness ") by the Hesychast ( Gr., hesychastes ).

Justinian is considered a saint amongst Orthodox Christians, and is also commemorated by some Lutheran Churches.

Churches of the Western tradition, including the Roman Catholic Church, some Anglican provinces, and parts of the Lutheran Church, commemorate him on 13 September.

Orthodox Roman Catholic scholarship, some Protestant Churches, and the entire Eastern Orthodox Church attributes all of the Johannine literature to the same individual, the " Holy Apostle and Evangelist, John the Theologian ", whom it identifies with the " Beloved Disciple " in the Gospel of John.

Trinitarian Christian denominations that oppose infant baptism include Baptists, Christian Church ( Disciples of Christ ), Christian Churches / Churches of Christ, and Churches of Christ, Anabaptists such as Mennonite and Amish, Schwarzenau Brethren / German Baptists, Seventh-Day Adventists, some Methodists and most Pentecostals.

In the twentieth century, some Presbyterians played an important role in the Ecumenical Movement, including the World Council of Churches.

Though the anthem of the Church of England is analogous to the motet of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches, both being written for a trained choir and not for the congregation, it is as a musical form essentially English in its origin and development.

Bishops form the leadership in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran Church, the Independent Catholic Churches, the Independent Anglican Churches, and certain other, smaller, denominations.

All Christian monasticism stems, either directly or indirectly, from the Egyptian example: Saint Basil the Great Archbishop of Caesaria of Cappadocia, founder and organizer of the monastic movement in Asia Minor, visited Egypt around AD 357 and his rule is followed by the Eastern Orthodox Churches ; Saint Jerome who translated the Bible into Latin, came to Egypt, while en route to Jerusalem, around AD 400 and left details of his experiences in his letters ; Benedict founded the Benedictine Order in the 6th century on the model of Saint Pachomius, but in a stricter form.

However, the church in communion with the Bishop of Rome, both in its Western form and in that of the Eastern Catholic Churches, has always considered itself to be the historic Catholic Church, with all others as " non-Catholics " and regularly refers to itself as " the Catholic Church ".

Seven congregations have so far decided to form the Continued Reformed Churches in the Netherlands.

In 1925, they merged with the Presbyterians, then by far the largest Protestant communion in Canada, most Congregationalists, Union Churches in Western Canada, and the American Presbyterian Church in Montreal, to form the United Church of Canada.

Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Churches use exactly the same form of the Creed, since the Catholic Church teaches that it is wrong to add " and the Son " to the Greek verb " ἐκπορευόμενον ", but correct to add it to the Latin " qui procedit ", which does not have precisely the same meaning.

In June 2010, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches will merge with the Reformed Ecumenical Council to form the World Communion of Reformed Churches.

The particular Churches that form the Catholic Church are each seen, not as a separate body that has entered into practical arrangements concerning its relations with the others, but as the embodiment in a particular region or culture of the one Catholic Church.

For the autocephalous Churches that form the Eastern Orthodox Church, see Eastern Orthodox Church organization.

In 1976 about 250 of the congregations supporting Seminex left the Synod to form the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, now part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The Hail Mary prayer of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches is in the form:

A comparable service, with a wholly different ritual form and texts, exists in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches.

In 1977, most congregations of the Congregational Union of Australia merged with all Churches of the Methodist Church of Australasia and a majority of Churches of the Presbyterian Church of Australia to form the Uniting Church in Australia.

In 1931 the Congregational Churches and the General Convention of the Christian Church, a body from the Restoration Movement tradition of the early 19th century, merged to form the Congregational Christian Churches.

In 1957, the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches in the U. S. merged with the Evangelical and Reformed Church to form the United Church of Christ.

The believers in the Local Churches often audibly call on the Name of Jesus which can be considered a form of instant prayer.