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Christian Church Terminology.md

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Historical Evolution

  • Apostolic Age (focused on house churches and informal gatherings)
  • Post-Constantinian Era (dioceses and provinces were formalized to reflect the structure of the Roman Empire)
  • Protestant Reformation (simplification of church structures in many denominations like Congregational and Presbyterian)

Church Denominational Structures

  • Congregationalist Structure (independent and self-governing / Baptist, Pentecostal, Evangelical)
  • Episcopal Structure (hierarchical, with bishops governing dioceses / Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox)
  • Presbyterian Structure (governed by elders (presbyters) in a representative system / Reformed, Presbyterian)
  • Synodal Structure (governed by councils or synods, often shared between clergy and laity / Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestant)

Church Organizational Structures

  • Local and Congregational
    • Church (building and community, generally serves a parish or community)
    • Parish (smallest ecclesiastical division, often a single congregation / led by a parish priest or pastor)
    • Mission (a church or community in a region that's expanding in Christianity / often associated with evangelization)
  • Regional and Jurisdictional Levels
    • Diocese (geographical district with multiple parishes / governed by a bishop in Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox Traditions)
      • Metropolitan See (the primary diocese within an ecclesiastical province / governed by a metropolitan archbishop)
    • Eparchy (same as diocese / governed by an eparch in Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches)
    • Deanery (subdivision within a diocese or eparchy, with a group of parishes / led by a dean)
    • Vicariate (a district within a diocese or mission territory / often under the care of a vicar or missionary bishop)
    • Province / Ecclesiastical Province (a cluster of dioceses or eparchies grouped together / led by an archbishop or metropolitan, who oversees the primary diocese (archdiocese))
    • Patriarchate (a jurisdiction of major significance / often led by a patriarch in Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Catholicism and Oriental Orthodoxy)
    • Exarchate (a jurisdiction for missionary regions not yet organized into dioceses / Eastern Catholic, Orthodox)
    • Prelature (a church jurisdiction (not necessarily tied to a geographical area) under the oversight of a prelate (bishop or archbishop))
      • Personal Prelature (serve by circumstance rather than geography)
    • Ordinariate (a structure created to serve specific groups of faithful within a broader church, often with unique liturgical (pubic service or worship) or cultural needs)
      • Military Ordinariate (serves members of the armed forces)
    • Titular See (a diocese that no longer has a resident bishop due to historical reasons, but is retained as a honorary title for bishops)
  • Global and Supra-Regional Levels
    • Autocephalous Church (self-governing church / in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy)
    • Holy See (jurisdiction of the Pope in the Catholic Church, in the Vatican City)
    • Synod (a council or assembly of bishops or church leaders governing a particular church or denomination)

Special Church Buildings and Titles

  • Church (building and community, generally serves a parish or community)
  • Basilica (special designation given to certain churches by the Pope in the Catholic Church / can display the papal insignia)
    • Major Basilicas (Four basilicas in Rome)
    • Minor Basilicas (Everywhere else)
  • Cathedral (principal church of a diocese, where the bishop's official chair (cathedra) is located)
  • Pro-Cathedral (a temporary cathedral used until a permanent one is built)
  • Chapel (smaller place of worship, associated with a school or hospital / not the center of a parish or diocese)
  • Shrine (churches or sacred spaces with special significance, often linked to a saint, relic or miracle)
  • Abbey (part of a monastery or convent / governed by an abbot or abbess)
  • Oratory (a small place of prayer, but with the ability to hold public worship services)
  • Minister (a church historically associated with monastic communities or missionary work)
  • Collegiate Church (a church endowed with a college of canons or priests, but not designated as a cathedral)

More

Ecumenical Councils (First Seven / Later, upto recent), Ecumenical Creeds Non-Trinitarian: Unitarian (rejects Ecumenical Councils and Ecumenical Creeds), Binitarian, Modalism

Concept: Liturgical Rites

  • Catholic Church
    • Universal Church
      • It is Catholicism itself
    • Particular Churches
      • Autonomous Particular Churches (24: Latin Church (Holy See of Rome) + 23 Eastern)
        • Eastern includes Syrio-Malabar Church and the Syrio-Malankara Church
        • They are in full communion with the Catholic Church
      • Local Particular Churches (each diocese)

Establisment by Mission:

All Catholic bishops from all dioceses, come together to form the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, first convened in British India, 1944. The ambassador representating the Vatican City, to the Government of India, is the Apostolic Nuncio to India. The diplomatic mission of the Holy See to India, similar to an embassy, was established as the Apostolic delegation to the East Indies in 1881. It was raised to an Internunciature by Pope Pius XII in 1948, and to a full Apostolic Nunciature by Pope Paul VI in 1967. Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli is the current Apostolic Nuncio, named by Pope Francis on 13 March 2021. The Internunciature is located at 50-C, Niti Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.

Relevance of Works:

Concern with charity was common to Catholics and Protestants, but with one major difference: whilst the former believe that salvation comes from faith in God which manifests itself in good works such as charity, the latter could not rely on such a possibility, since they believe that only one's faith is a requisite of salvation, and that one's works are insufficient to gain or lose salvation. Consequently, Catholic charitable efforts in India have been extensive.