CD wrote:
... didn't birth of the RCC have roots that trace back
to Constantine I, The great in 306 ad-337ad as he fought
under the Christian flag and Christianity became a national
movement under the proceding Emperors?
All Christians can trace their roots back to the time of Constantine. The
Roman Catholics have no special claim to that period. The truth is that
Roman Catholicism as its own sect, separate from other churches of
Christianity, did not exist back then. At that time when many of the
Christian churches were moving toward a more central earthly government,
there were about 150 bishops, with probably 5 being prominent because of the
large cities they oversaw. The bishop of Rome was considered to have
primacy because Rome was the capital of the Roman empire. However, the
meaning of "primacy" to the bishops of that time is not the same as what
Roman Catholicism attaches to the Pope. In fact, in 381, a canon was
decreed at the Second Ecumenical Council which declared that the bishop of
Constantinople should have primacy of honor above the bishop of Rome. This
was done because the capital of the Roman Empire was moved from Rome to
Constantinople. In the decades that followed, the Roman empire was split
into two empires with separate capitals, neither one being Rome. A lot of
interesting history if you dig into it deeper. There was even a short time
when there was no pope in Rome, and a time when there were two popes at
once, each claiming to be the rightful heir to the "throne".
The flag that Constantine made was basically a cross he saw in a vision, and
this insignia is better identified with the Eastern Orthodox churches than
with Roman Catholicism. The insignia for the pope, the tiara, bears no
resemblance to Constantine's banner.
Peace be with you.
David Miller.
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"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you
ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
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