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[German Version] I. History – II. The Present – III. Orthodox Church – IV. The Study of Canon Law and Church Law – V. Practical Theology – VI. Oriental Orthodox Canon Law I. History …

[German Version] an early Anti-montanist from Asia Minor, composed c. 200 (?) a lost polemic against Montanism. It is said to have refuted the prophecies of the Montanists (Eusebius Hist. eccl. V 18.1); ibid. 2–11 preserves 6 …

[German Version] “Alogi” is the name given by Epiphanius to certain heretics who rejected John and Revelation on the grounds that they were written by the Gnostic Cerinthus. The word is probably a collective term for…

[German Version] I. New Testament – II. History – III. Ethics I. New Testament The summary descriptions in Acts paint a picture of the first Christian community in Jerusalem in which the ¶ unanimity of the believers finds expression in the community of goods (2:44f.; 4:32–35). This community is depicted as free, not forced (5:4), and not egalitarian: The goods offered to the community were divided according to the needs of each individual (2:45; 4:35). The community of goods is only an element of the koinōnía of worship, prayer and Eucharist that charact…

[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Church History – III. Dogmatics and Canon Law – IV. Missiology I. New Testament The NT contains no evidence of the episcopate in…

[German Version] By the early 2nd century at the latest, the church included women who chose to live as virgins; they enjoyed great respect. In the late 2nd century, there developed an order of virgins, which attracted many women. Originally they bound themselves by private pledges, later by public consecration and vows, the breaking of which incurred severe ecclesiastical and civil penalties. These virgins lived primarily with their families, but after the 4th century also in domestic communities…

[German Version] The German Sprengel, originally an implement for sprinkling (holy) water, denotes the area of a priest’s responsibility (and in Austria, also a secular administrative area). Historically, it first denoted the area of a bishop’s responsibility (bishopric). As a synonym of parish, in pre-Carolingian times it could also already stand for the area of a priest’s responsibility. Beginning with the Reformation reor-¶ dering of church …

[German Version] (217–222), bishop of Rome. His life and teachings are known almost exclusively from the portrayal by his competitor and opponent Hippolytus ( Haer. 9.11f.; 10.27), who depicts him as a social climber and careerist. Born a slave, Callistus was entrusted with the banking affairs of his Christian master. A conflict with Roman Jews (debtors?) led to his condemnation as a Christian and to forced labor in the Sardinian mines. After a pardon, manumission, and a decade-long sojourn in …

[German Version] The Letter to Diognetus (titled simply “To Diognetus” in the authoritative manuscript) is not a letter at all but an anonymous apologetic and protreptic tract. After an introduction …

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