We Believe in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church

Millions of people worldwide say "I believe in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church" every week, yet rarely reflect on the meaning. This article gives a brief history of the Catholic Church, and explains what the Catholic Church is.

The word "catholic" comes from the Greek word katholikos, which is a combination of the words kata (according to) and holos (the whole). Besides meaning, "according to the whole,"katholikos has the common meaning of "universal" or "general." To be a Catholic Christian is to be a Christian according to the whole, to possess the fullness and completeness of Apostolic Faith and Praxis. In the early Church, "Catholic" designated a Christian who confessed the ancient faith, a Christian in communion with the united and worldwide Church. This was in contrast to the regional and novel sects. Apostolic just simply means "from the apostles," the source of Catholic belief and practice. In the early Church, even in St. Paul's day, competing versions of Christianity began to arise, primarily early versions of Ebionism, Gnosticism, and Docetism. These sects so mangled the gospel received from the apostles that early Christian bishops spoke out against these heretics' particular views, opposed to the universal (Catholic) views of the Church, derived from the apostles themselves. St. Ignatius of Antioch (d. AD 110) was bold to write, "wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic Church," implying of course that Jesus was only truly preached and proclaimed within the borders of the universal Church. He also implies that the Catholic Church, under the authority of bishops, was sanctified with Jesus' presence, being holy and set apart (Ignatius to the Smyrneans).

In Against Heresies, St. Irenaeus (d. AD 200), bishop of Lyons, testifies to the prolific, yet united, character of the universal and apostolic Church. The Catholic Church, derived from the apostles, Irenaeus argues, is spread throughout the whole world, yet agrees as one mind. The heretics do not have this universality or ancient origin, and are thus not "according to the whole" because their doctrines and practices are confined to local regions, or are recent, non-apostolic developments. Lactantius (313 AD) writes about the various sects named after their leaders or originating locales, including the Phrygians (Montanists), Novatians, Valentinians, and Marcionites. Then he contrasts these to the universal, worldwide Church that is descended from the apostles, that "alone retains true worship" (The Divine Institutes, IV:30). The major creeds of Christianity, the Apostles and Nicene Creeds, both require belief in the Catholic church, although some modern translations incorrectly "soften" the text to say "Christian" rather than "Catholic" (1). The writings of the Church Fathers all attest to the importance of being both catholic and apostolic, i.e. universal and ancient. For them, there was no other option except heresy (false belief) or schism (willful separation from the church). After all, the early Christians were not modernist individualists. Faith was not just an individual matter, but had serious communal implications, and assenting to the beliefs and practices of the whole Church was the only way to guarantee genuineness of belief. The Greek word from which our word heresy is derived is haireo, to choose. This underscores the particularity of heretics, who "choose" their own way forward, as opposed to the universality of Catholics, whose wills are aligned with Christ.

source: Google.com