Sacramentum Mundi Online

A. General Notions In the Greek of the Septuagint and of the New Testament the verb άποϰαλύπτω (Hebrew gālāh, Aramaic gelā’) means “to reveal”, and the noun άποϰάλυψις means “revelation”. Apocalyptic is the form taken by the literature of revelation in Judaism from the 2nd century B.C. on. By its very success, it had a marked influence on the literary expression of revelation in the NT, and it retained a considerable place in early Christianity, while it suffered a decline in rabbinical Judaism. The revelation furnished by this literature bears on all the mysteries which are i…

The Greek term apocatastasis, like the corresponding verb, is used to express the cure of a disease, the return of goods taken, of a hostage or of an exile, the restoration of a State, or the return of the stars to their previous positions. The restoration need not be a necessary process, it may be the fulfilment of a free promise. The astronomical sense forms part of the philosophical doctrine of the “great year” or of the “eternal return”: the return of the stars to their former positions marks the beginning of a new cycle in the history of the world which reproduces the one that went before. The NT…

Part of Apocrypha: 1. Introduction 2. Old Testament Apocrypha 3. New Testament Apocrypha 4. The Significance of the Apocrypha The “apocrypha” were understood by the ancient Church as secret “hidden” (= απόϰρυφος) books, in contrast to those which were publicly acknowledged and used by the Church (cf. Origen, in Mt, X, 18, on Mt 13:57, GCS, XL, p. 24). Their claim to stem from prophets or apostles being implausible, they were, with a few exceptions, excluded from public worship and theological debate (cf. Origen, Comment, ser. 28 in Mt, 23:37, GCS, XXXVIII, p. 51). The absence of trad…

Part of Apocrypha: 1. Introduction 2. Old Testament Apocrypha 3. New Testament Apocrypha 4. The Significance of the Apocrypha A. Gospels Though many of the apocryphal gospels have been lost, a number of examples of this type of writing survive, of which the most important are mentioned here. 1. Jewish-Christian Gospels. Clement of Alexandria ( Stromata, II, 45, 5; cf. V, 96, 3), Origen ( In Jo., II, 12 [87]) and Eusebius ( Hist. Eccles., III, 25, 5; 27, 4; 39, 17; IV, 22, 8) mention a Gospel according to the Hebrews. Eusebius also mentions ( Hist. Eccles., IV, 22, 8) a “Syrian” gospel, alre…

Part of Apocrypha: 1. Introduction 2. Old Testament Apocrypha 3. New Testament Apocrypha 4. The Significance of the Apocrypha A. Narrative Works 1. The Book of Jubilees, or “Little Genesis”, called in the Damascus Document (16:3) the “Book of the Divisions of the Times according to their Jubilees and their Weeks”, gives the history of the world from its creation till the law of Sinai (Gen 1 — Exod 12), in “Jubilees”, that is, in seven times seven weeks of years (periods of 49 years), whence the name of the book. It tells how an …

Part of Apocrypha: 1. Introduction 2. Old Testament Apocrypha 3. New Testament Apocrypha 4. The Significance of the Apocrypha The writings discussed above amply demonstrate the wide field covered by the designation “apocrypha”. They differ notably in origin, mentality and purpose, though they are at one in being rather alien to the modern mind. Their world has vanished and much of what they say appears entirely antiquated. But it would be wrong to dismiss them as curiosities of human naivety and to leave their stu…

Part of Apologetics: 1. Apologetics in General 2. Immanence Apologetics A. Theological Situation Apologetics, in a general and fundamental way, is a permanent feature of all Christian theology. The effort to answer for the faith is as old as Christian theology as such and is inspired by the testimony contained in the bible itself (see B). As a result of the new cultural and political situation of the Enlightenment, where Christianity and religion in general were no longer identified, and Christianity ceased …

Part of Apologetics: 1. Apologetics in General 2. Immanence Apologetics Immanence apologetics is the name given to certain considerations, developed in particular by M. Blondel and L. Laberthonnière, on the philosophical preparation for faith. It is an effort to bring about the subjective dispositions for the assent of faith by showing the value and relevance of the Christian revelation as the fulfilment of a fundamental “natural desire” of man. So far from being a particular historical form of apologetic…

Position in Church history. The era of the Apologists in the 2nd century is marked by two movements which led to a new understanding of the faith and of the Church Pagans with an educated grasp of their religion, culture and philosophy received Christian baptism. Christianity responded to changing conditions by abandoning the mentality of the self-contained group to enter the public life of the non-Christian world, which for its part did not remain indifferent to Christianity. Definition. The term Apologists is used for the 2nd century writers who were the first to debat…

Development of the concept. The word in classical Greek means either simply to “stand apart”, to “depart”, or to “abandon an alliance”, to “revolt”. In the Jewish tradition it was then used to signify “abandonment of belief’, “infidelity to Yahweh”; so Jos 22:22; Jer 2:19; 2 Chr 29:19; see also Acts 21:21 and 2 Thess 2:3, where Paul is reproached with having rejected the Torah. It was then the obvious word to use to speak of abandonment of the Christian faith. Tertullian ( De Pudicitia, 8: PL, II, 1047) calls the Jews “apostatae filii”; cf. “dabis apostatae veniam” ( De Pudicitia, 6: PL, II, 104…

Methodological note. The apostolic office will be considered here not only in its origin but also in regard to its permanent presence in the course of the Church’s development. The historical consideration must proceed from an attempt to: understand the original nature of the apostolic office, and must take into account the intentions of Jesus in instituting the office, as well as the significance which it has: for: the constitution of the Church. One can trace with some certainty the constitutiv…

Part of Apostolic Church: 1. Primitive Community 2. Apostolic Church 1. Apostolic Church means the Church of apostolic times and thus covers the period up to about A.D. 70. The apostolic Church is known to us above all through the writings of the NT which either, like the gospels, present its tradition about Jesus Christ, or, like Acts and the epistles, describe its way of life. But a number of ancient non-canonical texts, such as the Didache, the Epistles of Clement and Barnabas contain liturgical, exegetical and disciplinary elements which date back to early Christianit…

Part of Apostolic Church: 1. Primitive Community 2. Apostolic Church Concept and date. The terms “Apostolic Church”, “Primitive Community” and “Primitive Christianity” designate, not very precisely, the Palestinian Christianity of the first decades of the Church. The notion is based on the existence of the NT canon, seen as a mirror of the primitive community, on the important role which the apostles played for a definitely limited period in NT revelation, and also on romantic notions of the ideal and norma…

Definition. By Apostolic Fathers is meant a group of post canonical (and non canonical) early Christian authors, whose number has been differently; determined; according to inconsistent criteria, and, which has recently been reduced with a view to “saving and clarifying the concept” (J. A. Fischer). The decisive feature is direct contact with the apostles, or just an evident nearness; to them according to the time and content of their preaching. The reason for the fluidity of the concept of “Apo…

1. The present issue. The notion of Apostolic Succession presents the office of the Church (hierarchical ministry) as the authority which succeeds the office of the apostles. It is constituted through sacramental admission into ecclesiastical office by means of the visible sign of the laying on of hands. According to the prevalent view, the sacramental laying on of hands is the primary prerequisite for the legitimacy of the office-holder as administrator of (most of) the sacraments. In the era of t…

Part of Archaeology: 1. Biblical 2. Early Christian As late as the 19th century the Bible was almost the sole source of our knowledge of the ancient Near East. The records of secular historians preserved in medieval Latin manuscripts were scarcely able to add anything to the historical picture of the period prior to the 1st millennium B.C. provided by the ОТ. This position was radically altered by archaeological excavations. In accordance with the aims set before the Pontifical Biblical Institute in 1909 by Pius X, the Jesuit Fathers, under the leadership of A. Ma…

Part of Archaeology: 1. Biblical 2. Early Christian A. Concept, Sources, Method, Tasks Early Christian archaeology is a historical science and as such part of Christian antiquities. But the latter is a wider concept, embracing patristics, hagiography, liturgy and Church order in so far as they throw light on the life of the Church in the Graeco-Roman culture up to the death of Gregory the Great (604). Christian archaeology is a subsidiary discipline which confines itself to the investigation of the monuments…

Arianism is the name given to a complex development in the 4th century in ecclesiastical, intellectual and political history. The founder of this movement, Arius (d. 336), was an Alexandrian presbyter, formerly of the Antiochene circle of the Syllucianists. His intellectual forebears were the Antiochene Adoptionists, Paul of Samosata and Lucian. Aetius of Antioch and Eunomius of Cyzicus gave an extreme form to the theology of Arius. Arianism, together with its Athanasian and early Nicaean counterparts, marked the end of an epoch in Christian thought which centr…

Part of Aristotelianism: 1. The Philosophy of Aristotle 2. Historical Influence In antiquity. In the philosophy of antiquity the differences between Plato and Aristotle made themselves felt in the formation of opposing schools. But the general attitude was so eclectic that it is hard to define exactly the influence of Aristotle. His logic was very generally adopted and developed, particularly by the Stoa, with regard to the logic of propositions. The real successor to Aristotle was the Peripatetic school, which continued to exist down to the 3rd century A.D. Its last great figure w…

Part of Aristotelianism: 1. The Philosophy of Aristotle 2. Historical Influence A. Aristotle’s Place in Philosophy The life and work of Aristotle are usually distinguished into three periods: the first or Athenian, when Aristotle was still entirely under the influence of Plato; the intermediate period in Asia Minor; and the second Athenian period, when Aristotle opposed Platonism by his own “Peripatetic” philosophy. The decisive impulse to the study of Aristotle’s development was given by Werner Jaeger’s famous Aristoteles. The significance of Aristotle in the history of…