the catholic church started being called catholic in mid - 1st century.
the catholic church started being called catholic in mid - 1st century.
when did the catholic church start being called catholic?
mid - 1st century
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this is the earliest occurrence in christian literature of the phrase 'the catholic church' (ἡ καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία). the original sense of the word is 'universal'. thus justin martyr ("dial". 82) speaks of the 'universal or general resurrection', using the words ἡ καθολικὴ ἀνάστασις. similarly here the church universal is contrasted with the particular church of smyrna. ignatius means by the catholic church 'the aggregate of all the christian congregations' (swete, "apostles creed", p. 76). so too the letter of the church of smyrna is addressed to all the congregations of the holy catholic church in every place. and this primitive sense of 'universal' the word has never lost, although in the latter part of the second century it began to receive the secondary sense of 'orthodox' as opposed to 'heretical'. thus it is used in an early canon of scripture, the muratorian fragment ("circa" 170 a.d.), which refers to certain heretical writings as 'not received in the catholic church'. so too cyril of jerusalem, in the fourth century, says that the church is called catholic not only 'because it is spread throughout the world', but also 'because it teaches completely and without defect all the doctrines which ought to come to the knowledge of men'. this secondary sense arose out of the original meaning because catholics claimed to teach the whole truth, and to represent the whole church, while heresy arose out of the exaggeration of some one truth and was essentially partial and local.
catholic (term)