In 1453 when the last vestige of ancient Roman power fell to the Turks, the city officially shifted religions -- although the Patriarch, or Pope, of the Orthodox Church continued to live there, and still does -- and became the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

theologians have been stressing the fact that the Church does not exist for its own sake but as a testimony in the world for the healing of the world.

The Roman Catholic Church does not recognise most Anglican orders ( see Apostolicae Curae ).

Since the time of Catherine II the ranks of Abbot and Archimandrite have been given as honorary titles in the Russian Church, and may be given to any monastic, even if he does not in fact serve as the superior of a monastery.

Fixity does not lie in a hidden decree, therefore, but in corporate unity of the Church with Christ, whom it has come to know in the gospel and has learned to embrace in faith.

" He further asserts that because the Roman Catholic Church does not recognise the Church of England as an apostolic church, a Roman Catholic monarch who abided by their faith's doctrine would be obliged to view Anglican and Church of Scotland archbishops, bishops, and clergy as part of the laity and therefore " lacking the ordained authority to preach and celebrate the sacraments.

" ( Hilton does mention that the Church of Scotland's Presbyterian polity does not include bishops or archbishops.

:" it does not guarantee the continuity and faithfulness of the Church.

The Catholic Church does recognise as valid ( though illicit ) ordinations done by breakaway Catholic, Old Catholic or Oriental bishops, and groups descended from them ; it also regards as both valid and licit those ordinations done by bishops of the Eastern churches, so long as those receiving the ordination conform to other canonical requirements ( for example, is an adult male ) and an orthodox rite of episcopal ordination, expressing the proper functions and sacramental status of a bishop, is used ; this has given rise to the phenomenon of episcopi vagantes ( for example, clergy of the Independent Catholic groups which claim apostolic succession, though this claim is rejected by both Orthodoxy and Catholicism ).

The Holy See accepts as valid the ordinations of the Old Catholics in communion with Utrecht, as well as the Polish National Catholic Church ( which received its orders directly from Utrecht, and was — until recently — part of that communion ); but Roman Catholicism does not recognise the orders of any group whose teaching is at variance with what they consider the core tenets of Christianity ; this is the case even though the clergy of the Independent Catholic groups may use the proper ordination ritual.

* They hold that the practice within Independent groups of ordaining women demonstrates an understanding of Priesthood that they vindicate is totally unacceptable to the Catholic and Orthodox churches as they believe that the Universal Church does not possess such authority ; thus, they uphold that any ceremonies performed by these women should be considered being sacramentally invalid.

The Eastern Orthodox Church uses the Septuagint version of Esther, as it does for all of the Old Testament.

But whatever were the reasons behind the votes of the majority, the rejection of the Measures made it plain that the Church does not possess full spiritual freedom to determine its worship ..." Stephen Neill points out that the Roman Catholic members of parliament abstained from voting.

The Catholic Church teaches that salvation does not occur without faithfulness on the part of Christians ; converts must live in accordance with principles of love and ordinarily must be baptized.

President of the Church Harold B. Lee taught " The only one authorized to bring forth any new doctrine is the President of the Church, who, when he does, will declare it as revelation from God, and it will be so accepted by the Council of the Twelve and sustained by the body of the Church.

Although the Apocrypha was part of the 1611 edition of the KJV, the LDS Church does not currently use the Apocrypha as part of its canon.

Although a recognition of sainthood by the Pope does not directly concern a fact of divine revelation, it must still be " definitively held " by the faithful as infallible under ( at the very least ) the Universal Magisterium of the Church since it is a truth connected to revelation by historical necessity.

While most of these testimonies represent ailments neither diagnosed nor treated by medical professionals, the Church does require three other people to vouch for any testimony published in its official organ, the Christian Science Journal.

Most of the Anglican Communion does not approve of homosexual activity, with the exception of the Episcopal Church, which is facing a possible exclusion from international Anglican bodies over the issue.

At the same time, it does not deny the possibility that those not visibly members of the Church may attain salvation as well.

However, because of Church laws, lately more stringently enforced, which forbid the marriage of cousins closely related consanguineously, a means of facilitating the goal of in-group relations may be that of recourse to illegitimate unions.

Following the example of the holy fathers and recognizing the obligation of our office, we absolutely forbid in virtue of the authority of the Apostolic See that anyone be ordained or promoted for money in the Church of God.

Desiring with the grace of God to protect the recognized possessions of the Holy Roman Church, we forbid under pain of anathema any military person to invade or forcibly hold Benevento, the city of St. Peter.

We absolutely forbid that those who have been excommunicated by their own bishops be received into the communion of the Church by other bishops, abbots, and clerics.

We also forbid all our subjects, of whatever quality and condition, from carrying off by force or persuasion, against the will of their parents, the children of the said religion, in order to cause them to be baptized or confirmed in the Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church ; and the same is forbidden to those of the said religion called Reformed, upon penalty of being punished with especial severity ....

Alexander II ( 1061 – 1073 ), refused a petition for a special feast on the plea, that such a feast was not customary in the Roman Church which daily honoured the Holy Trinity by the Gloria Patri, etc., but he did not forbid the celebration where it already existed.

Furthermore, communist nations generally forbid proselytizing by the LDS Church and most other religions.

* asserted that the canons appealed to by Constantinople do not give it the right to ' intrude into the affairs of other Local Churches and, in particular, to take into his jurisdiction a hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church without the letter of dismissal stipulated by the holy canons ', quoting Apostolic Canon 33 and Council of Carthage, Canon 32, which forbid this ;

" We excuse the Church ", so runs the Augsburg Confession, " which has suffered the injustice of only receiving under one kind, not being able to have both ; but we do not excuse the authors of this injustice, who maintain that it was right to forbid the administering of the complete Sacrament.

:" The Church does not forbid that ... research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter.

In 1976, Gerald Ford became the first U. S. President to forbid political assassination, in the wake of the Church Commission, issuing Executive Order 11905.

... the Teaching Authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter — for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God.

Authority in the Roman Church is the exertion of that imperium from which England in the 16th century finally and decisively declared its national independence as the alter imperium, the " other empire ", of which Henry VIII declared " This realm of England is an empire " ...

The 1937 British Methodist Conference located the " true continuity " with the Church of past ages in " the continuity of Christian experience, the fellowship in the gift of the one Spirit ; in the continuity in the allegiance to one Lord, the continued proclamation of the message ; the continued acceptance of the mission ;..." a long chain which goes back to the " the first disciples in the company of the Lord Himself ...

However, the Church declared that "' Extreme unction ' ... may also and more fittingly be called ' anointing of the sick '" ( emphasis added ), and has itself adopted the latter term, while not outlawing the former.

In addition to de facto renunciation through apostasy, heresy, or schism, the Roman Catholic Church envisaged from 1983 to 2009 the possibility of formal defection from the Church through a decision manifested personally, consciously and freely, and in writing, to the competent church authority, who was then to judge whether it was genuinely a case of " true separation from the constitutive elements of the life of the Church ... ( by ) an act of apostasy, heresy or schism.

:" This heuristic fact recursive functions are effectively calculable ... led Church to state the following thesis (< sup > 22 </ sup >).

Pope Paul VI spoke of it as " a profession of faith, ... a creed which, without being strictly speaking a dogmatic definition, repeats in substance, with some developments called for by the spiritual condition of our time, the creed of Nicea, the creed of the immortal tradition of the holy Church of God "

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states " men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies ... must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.

It made the same statement with regard also to later ordinations by those bishops, saying that, " as for those who have already thus unlawfully received ordination or any who may yet accept ordination from these, whatever may be the validity of the orders ( quidquid sit de ordinum validitate ), the Church does not and will not recognise their ordination ( ipsorum ordinationem ), and will consider them, for all legal effects, as still in the state in which they were before, except that the ... penalties remain until they repent " ( Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Decree Episcopi qui alios of 17 September 1976-Acta Apostolicae Sedis 1976, page 623 ).

On the one hand, the seventeenth century divine, John Cosin, held that episcopal authority is jure divino, but that it stemmed from " apostolic practice and the customs of the Church ... absolute precept that either Christ or His Apostles gave about it " ( a view maintained also by Hooker ).

Describing his new bishopric, Gregory lamented how it was nothing more than an " utterly dreadful, pokey little hole ; a paltry horse-stop on the main road ... devoid of water, vegetation, or the company of gentlemen ... this was my Church of Sasima!

... the Church does not consider at all illicit the use of those therapeutic means necessary to cure bodily diseases, even if a foreseeable impediment to procreation should result therefrom — provided such impediment is not directly intended.

The Second Vatican Council did not speak of any of these concrete methods … This is a different standpoint than that taken under Pius XI some thirty years which was also maintained by his successor ... we can sense here a clear development in the Church, a development, which is also going on outside the Church.

His son, Jay, who is now a minister at Revolution Church in New York City, wrote of the PTL years in his book, Son of a Preacher Man: " The world at large has focused on my parents ' preaching of prosperity, but ...

In July of the same year, in Seoul, South Korea, the Member Churches of the World Methodist Council ( WMC ) voted to approve and sign a " Methodist Statement of Association " with the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification ( JDDJ ), the agreement which was reached and officially accepted in 1999 by the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation and which proclaimed that " Together we confess: By grace alone, in faith in Christ ’ s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works ... as sinners our new life is solely due to the forgiving and renewing mercy that God imparts as a gift and we receive in faith, and never can merit in any way ," affirming " fundamental doctrinal agreement " concerning justification between the Catholic Church, the LWF, and the World Methodist Council.

In 1848, the General Conference stated, “ when the Church has collected ... a great population born within bosom, she cannot fulfill her high mission unless she takes measure to prevent this population from being withdrawn from under her care in the period of its youth .” The first two American bishops of the Methodist Church, Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury, opened a preparatory school in Abingdon, Maryland in 1787.

... We are now entering a period of our history where our Church development and family orientation are strong enough that we can turn our attention toward ending the widespread misunderstanding about our founder and the Unification movement.

According to LDS Church general authority Monte J. Brough, " Mormons who baptized 380, 000 Holocaust victims posthumously were motivated by love and compassion and did not understand their gesture might offend Jews ... they did not realize that what they intended as a ' Christian act of service ' was ' misguided and insensitive .'".

Both sides agree ... that Rome, as the Church that ' presides in love ' according to the phrase of St Ignatius of Antioch ( To the Romans, Prologue ), occupied the first place in the taxis, and that the bishop of Rome was therefore the protos among the patriarchs.

In 189, assertion of the primacy of the Church of Rome may be indicated in Irenaeus of Lyons's Against Heresies ( 3: 3: 2 ): " With Church of Rome, because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree ... and it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition.