Features of the doctrine, worship and church organization in Catholicism. Role of the Pope as head of the Catholic Church. Monasticism in Christianity.
History of the Catholic Church Catholic Orders during the Crusades. The Inquisition and its role in the history of Christianity. Missionary activity of Catholicism in the countries of the East and its results. Features of the doctrine and worship.
There are seven sacraments in the Catholic Church:
1) Baptism (water is poured on the head, not dipped).
2) Marriage (you cannot divorce, but you can declare the marriage invalid).
3) Confirmation (at the age of 7 - 12 years, not in infancy).
4) Eucharist (communion. Unleavened bread, not leavened. Laymen can be given one thing).
5) Confession (those same booths).
Promotional video:
6) Blessing of oil (the sick are smeared with oil).
7) Priesthood (ordination to the priesthood).
Some of the tenets that distinguish the Catholic Church:
- the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary and the dogma of Her bodily ascension - this means that the Virgin Mary is not burdened with original sin, like everyone else. And after death she kind of ascended and now there, and we are here.
- purgatory. There, everyone burns in a purifying fire, and only then can they go to heaven.
- the infallibility of the Pope. He speaks for God and his authority in the field of doctrine is beyond question.
- Important! The Holy Spirit comes from God the Son and God the Father, not just from the Father.
- the obligatory vow of celibacy for the clergy - priesthood.
Plus, the features of the ceremony and decoration of the church: you can sit, getting up only for certain prayers; fewer icons, more sculptural images, there are obligatory icons (12 pieces representing the way of the cross of Christ); singing to the organ; differences in architecture, of course. Finally, an important thing: in addition to the Western Catholic Church with the Latin rite, there is the Eastern Catholic Church, in which some points in the ritual are different. But she is still part of the Catholic Church. Organization and role of the pope.
The organization of the Catholic Church is strict. At the head is the pope, elected from the highest ranks of the priesthood for a life term. He sits in the Vatican, being at the same time its secular ruler (according to the constitution, he has all three branches of government). The Pope appoints hierarchs of various levels to regional churches. The Vatican has a strong financial influence, is a member of the UN, UNESCO, MOGATE and other organizations, has a huge stock of nuclear weapons.
At the regional level, dioceses or other units, if a full-fledged diocese cannot be formed (for example, military ordinaries - Catholic priests in armies). The primary (smallest) unit is the parish. At the regional level, they can meet themselves and discuss all sorts of issues. Monasticism and orders. The clergy - the priesthood - consists of white clergy and black monasticism (Afromonakhs). Blacks can occupy higher positions. Celibacy - a vow of celibacy - is obligatory for both, except for the lowest rank - deacons. They can no longer rise higher. Monastic orders are characteristic of Catholicism. In theory, originally monks are hermits who renounce worldly affairs, but no! In the Middle Ages, abbeys and orders had significant economic power and political influence.
Some science fiction writers (like Dan Brown) believe that even today they twist the world as they want, but this is unlikely. During the Renaissance, they lost their influence with the coming to power in many European states of new layers that did not rely on the church. Further. The question refers to the Catholic orders of the times of the crusades. I dare to suggest that we are talking about orders of knights. Their main task is to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land and steal loot. These are: the hospitallers (they treated the sick), the Templars (the order of the temple), the Teutons (since 1834 - the monastic order), the order of St. Lazarus and others. Now some purely monastic orders: Jesuits (for a long time played the role of informants and agents), Benedectines, Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites and many others. The overwhelming majority of monastic orders still exist. Inquisition. I won't write much about this,the topic is well-known. 1229 - Pope Gregory IX issued a bull (decree) establishing the Inquisition. A tool for fighting heresy - teachings that do not share all the dogmas of Catholicism. Means: torture, burning at the stake (so as not to shed blood).
Three stages:
1. Before Dominican (persecution of heretics until the XII century) - a temporary and accidental character of persecution. Duty of Local Bishops.
2. Dominican (since the Toulouse Council of 1229) - the creation of permanent tribunals under the jurisdiction of the Dominican Order.
3. Spanish Inquisition - is closely related to the centralization of Spain and the struggle for hegemony in Europe. After - the fight against the Reformation.
1542 - the first Portuguese arrive. They come from the south, which is why they are called southern barbarians. At first, the sermons were successful, about 30 thousand people were converted.
1596 - Franciscans arrive and directly tell one of the Japanese princes that with the help of sermons they are preparing distant countries for the capture, they were executed. Later, English and Dutch traders (they are NOT Catholics) drove the Portuguese and Spanish out of Japan.
In 1616, Tokugawa officially banned Christianity in Japan. From 1639 to the 19th century, the country was closed to foreigners. In general: - the missionaries collected useful information about the life of the countries of the East - conversion to Christianity was in most cases limited - to date, missionaries have the most obvious successes in Africa, according to some reports, the number of Christians is growing in the East.
Author: Elvira Nailevna
