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.

In its beginnings the nation-state had to struggle to assert itself -- internally, against feudal groups, and externally, against the power and influence of such other claimants for loyalty as the Church.

To the pope, head of the universal Church, to the duke of Burgundy, taking full advantage of his position on the borders of France and of the Empire, or to Othon, who found it quite natural that he should do homage to Edward for Tipperary and to the count of Savoy for Grandson, Flotte's outspoken nationalism was completely incomprehensible.

Secondly, a whole series of addresses and actions by the Pope and by others show that concern for Christian unity is still very much alive and growing within the Church.

Peter Caroli had come to Geneva, saying that he had been a bishop of the Church of Rome and had been persecuted in Paris for his Reformed faith.

The grounds for the Church's position are Scriptural ( Old Testament ), the teachings of the fathers and doctors of the early Church, the unbroken tradition of nineteen centuries, the decisions of the highest ecclesiastical authority and the natural law.

Continue on the Via D. Baullari to the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, then turn right for a couple of hundred yards to the Church of Sant' Andrea Della Valle.

The First Christian Church of Pampa was the setting for the wedding last Sunday of Miss Marcile Marie Glison and Thomas Earl Loving Jr., who will live at 8861 Gaston after a wedding trip to New Orleans, La.

Funeral services for Mrs. Kowalski and her daughter, Christine, 11, who died of burns at the same hospital Monday, have been scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow in St. Anne's Catholic Church, 31978 Mound, in Warren.

More than 300 teenagers last Sunday proved there is and as many more are expected to prove it again for Jim Kern and his wife Lynn from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at First Presbyterian Church.

Of particular meaning to the Charles MacWhorter family, 3181 SW 24th Ter., will be the Family Dedication Service planned for 10:50 a.m. Sunday at First Christian Church.

For while the past needs of the Church in this country may have been adequately met by collegiate institutions, which in temper and tone closely resembled junior colleges and finishing schools, it would seem that today's need is for the college which more closely resembles the university in its `` pursuit of excellence ''.

a report that 200 Protestant clergymen and laity attended a votive Mass offered for Christian unity at a Catholic church in Slough during the Church Unity Octave.

One can even argue -- though this is a delicate matter -- that every justification existed for their returning the Public Lecture to the First Church, and so to suppress it, rather than let Parker use it as a sounding board for his propaganda when his turn should come to occupy it.

It is important that persons desiring to unite with the Church be prepared for this experience so that it may be meaningful and spiritually significant.

Preparation for Church membership begins immediately after the commitment is received.

They will have a greater appreciation for the Church and a deeper devotion to it if membership requires something of them.

The Roman Catholic Church has excommunicated one of its priests, Father Feeney, for insisting that there is no salvation outside the visible church.

We do well to remind ourselves that from men and women of New England ancestry also issued the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Seventh Day Adventists, Christian Science, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the American Home Missionary Society, the American Bible Society, and New England theology.

* Robert Owen Evans is a minister of the Uniting Church in Australia and an amateur astronomer who holds the all-time record for visual discoveries of supernovae.

Some, for example the Church of Ireland, the Scottish and American Episcopal churches, and some other associated churches have a separate name.

According to the orthodox Thomism of the Roman Catholic Church, Aristotle rightly regarded reason as a facility of the individual soul.

The islands are overwhelmingly Christian ( 84 %) with the largest individual Christian denominations being Methodist ( 23 %), Anglican ( 12 %), Church of God ( 11 %) and Catholic ( 9 %).

Orthodoxy considers apostolic succession to exist only within the Universal Church, and not through any authority held by individual bishops ; thus, if a bishop ordains someone to serve outside of the ( Orthodox ) Church, the ceremony is ineffectual, and no ordination has taken place regardless of the ritual used or the ordaining prelate's position within the Orthodox Churches.

Like the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church also traces its heritage to the foundation of Christianity through Apostolic succession and has an episcopal structure, though the autonomy of the individual, mostly national churches is emphasized.

People in the Middle Ages did not always know to which of the many lords, the Church and the individual churches, the towns, princes, and kings, they were subordinate.

While bishops and their autocephalous synods have the ability to administer guidance in individual cases, their actions do not usually set precedents that affect the entire Church.

It is believed that the Holy Spirit guides the Church through the decisions of the entire council, not one individual.

Magus had been a contemporary of Jesus Christ's, and like the Biblical Jesus had supposedly performed miracles, but had been demonised by the Medieval Church as a devil-worshipper and evil individual.

Some hymns praise or address individual saints, particularly the Blessed Virgin Mary ; such hymns are particularly prevalent in Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and to some extent " High Church " Anglicanism.

However, John Paul also said, “ It is not right then to regard the moral conscience of the individual and the magisterium of the Church as two contenders, as two realities in conflict.

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.

The notion of calling meant that each individual had to take action in order to be saved ; just being a member of the Church was not enough.

In Orthodox Church tradition, Mary of Bethany is honored as a separate individual from Mary Magdalene.

This is the received text of the Eastern Orthodox Church, with the exception that in its liturgy it changes verbs from the plural by which the Fathers of the Council collectively professed their faith to the singular of the individual Christian's profession of faith.

According to both rabbinic tradition and the tradition of the Orthodox Church, this is the same individual as the prophet.

In 1059 the electorate was restricted to the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, and the individual votes of all Cardinal Electors were made equal in 1179.

( b ) Fourteen questions dealt with themes of individual volumes, such as the question how Pius viewed the role of the Church during the war.

They point out that the Church and its teaching existed before it assembled and canonized the New Testament, and even before any individual part of the New Testament was written.

Eventually, the so-called Methodists started individual societies or classes for members of the Church of England who wanted to live a more religious life.

Now in middle life he decided that the individual conscience would have to replace authority as the inner citadel of the Church.

The Vatican criticized certain strains of liberation theology for focusing on institutionalized or systemic sin, apparently to the exclusion of individual offenders / offences ; and for allegedly misidentifying Catholic Church hierarchy in South America as members of the same privileged class that would had long been oppressing indigenous populations since the arrival of Pizarro onward.

Certain Lutheran denominations such as the Church of Sweden do have individual dioceses similar to Roman Catholics.

In The Unthinkable Swift: The Spontaneous Philosophy of a Church of England Man Warren Montag argues that Swift was concerned to refute the notion that the individual precedes society, as Defoe's novel seems to suggest.