InChristianity, theGreat Apostasy is the notion thatmainstream Christian Churches have fallen away from the faith founded byJesus and promulgated through hisTwelve Apostles.[1]
A belief in a Great Apostasy has been characteristic of theRestorationist tradition of Christianity, which includes unrelated groups emerging after theSecond Great Awakening, such as theChristadelphians, Swedenborgians,Non-Denominational,Latter Day Saints,Jehovah's Witnesses, andIglesia ni Cristo.[2][3][4] These groups hold that traditional Christianity, represented byCatholicism,Protestantism andOrthodoxy, has fallen into error and thus, the true faith needs to be restored.[1]
The term has been used to describe the perceived fallen state of traditional Christianity, especially the Catholic Church, sometimes claiming that it changed the doctrines of the early church and allowed traditionalGreco-Roman culture (i.e.,Greco-Roman mysteries, deities of solarmonism such asMithras andSol Invictus,pagan festivals andMithraic sun worship andidol worship) into the Church on its own perception of authority.[5] Because it made these changes using claims oftradition and not fromscripture, the Church – in the opinion of those adhering to this concept – has fallen intoapostasy.[6][7] A major thread of this perception is the suggestion that, to attract and convert people to Christianity, the Church in Rome incorporated pagan beliefs and practices within the Christian religion, mostlyGraeco-Roman rituals, mysteries, and festivals.[8]
The term is derived from theSecond Epistle to the Thessalonians, in which theApostle Paul informs theChristians of Thessalonica that a greatapostasy must occur before thereturn of Christ, when "theman of sin is revealed, the son of destruction" (chapter2:1–12). TheCatholic Church,Lutheran Church,Eastern andOriental Orthodox Churches have interpreted this chapter as referring to a future falling-away, during the reign of theAntichrist at theend of time.[9]
Some modern scholars[10] believe that the Christian Church in the early stages picked up pagan oral teachings from Jewish and Hellenistic sources, which formed the basis of a secretoral tradition, which in the 4th century came to be called thedisciplina arcani. Mainstream theologians believe it contained liturgical details and certain other pagan traditions which remain a part of some branches ofmainstream Christianity (for example, some Catholic theologians thought that the doctrine oftransubstantiation was a part of this).[11][12][13] Importantesoteric influences on the church were the Christian theologiansClement of Alexandria andOrigen, the main figures of theCatechetical School of Alexandria.[14]
Restorationists teach that thePapacy slowly became corrupted as it strove to attain great dominion and authority, both civil and ecclesiastical.[15][16] For example, they say, it reinstated the pagan ceremonies and obligations of theCollegium Pontificum and the position ofPontifex Maximus and created Christianreligious orders to replace the ancient Roman ones such as theVestal Virgins and theflamines. It brought into the church the ancient pagan festivals and made them 'Holy Days'.[17] Catholics as well as the Reformers pointed to the office of the Papacy as responsible for the fallen state of the church as they considered the conduct of those in power had grown so spiritually or morally corrupt that it was called theAntichrist power by those within as well as outside of the church.[18][19][20]
Reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and others disagreed with the papacy's claim of temporal power over all secular governments and the autocratic character of the papal office, and challenged papal authority as a corruption from the early church and questioned the Catholic Church's ability to define Christian practice.[21]
The defenses of the right belief and worship of the church resided in thebishops, and Protestants theorize that the process of unifying the doctrine of the church also concentrated power into their own hands (see alsoIgnatius of Antioch, who advocated a powerful bishop), and made their office an instrument of power coveted by ambitious men.[22] They charge that, through ambition and jealousy, the church has been at times, and not very subtly, subverted from carrying out its sacred aim. For the Reformers, the culmination of this gradual corruption was typified, in a concentrated way, in the office of the pope who took on ancient titles such asPontifex Maximus and supreme power in the church.[23]
Calvin, Luther, and multiple later churches and preachers have held that Scripture points out theCatholic Church as the fallen church of biblical prophecy.[24][25]
Martin Luther believed and taught that the church had strayed and fallen away from the true teachings of the scripture. He challenged the authority of thepope of theRoman Catholic Church by teaching that theBible is theonly source ofdivinely revealed knowledge,[26] and opposedsacerdotalism by consideringall baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood.[27]
AlthoughLutherans andCalvinists hold that theEcumenical Councils of the early andmedieval church are true expressions of the Christian faith, some assert[weasel words][who?] the councils are at times inconsistent with one another, and err on particular points. The true church, they argue, will be mixed with alien influences and false beliefs, which is necessary in order for these impurities ultimately to be overcome and the truth to be vindicated.
TheWestminster Confession of Faith (Calvinist), states:
The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error; and some have so degenerated as to become no churches of Christ, butsynagogues ofSatan. Nevertheless, there shall be always a church on earth, to worship God according to his will.
TheHistoricist biblical interpretation was the viewpoint of most major Protestant Reformers, beginning with the accusations of Martin Luther. Refuting these claims was accordingly a major objective of theCounter-Reformation, both in the Catholic Church's initial response to Luther and especially in the aftermath of theCouncil of Trent. This required a renewed effort to interpret the relevant scriptural passages in light of the arguments put forth by the early Protestants. Two particularly noteworthy theories were proposed during the Counter-Reformation to address the historicist claim that the Antichrist was actually the Roman Catholic church.[28]
Francisco Ribera andLuis de Alcazar, both 16th-century SpanishJesuits, rose to meet the challenge by introducing counter-interpretations of the prophecies in Daniel and Revelation.[29] Their approaches became known as thePreterist andFuturist schools, and both theologies quickly gained traction throughout Catholic Europe.[30]
Gradually, Preterism and Futurism gained currency even in Protestant thought. Few mainstream Protestant leaders today still employ the vocabulary of "apostasy" and "anti-Christ" when discussing the papacy, although some conservative Evangelical andfundamentalist churches still accept these teachings to varying degrees.
The spread ofdispensationalist doctrine has led multiple conservative Protestants to drop the traditional interpretation of the Book of Revelation as prediction of events that have taken place throughout history (historicism) and shifted it to future events (futurism), eliminating any relation between the prophecies and the Catholic Church. This has resulted in a re-interpretation of theend times. Although Protestant fundamentalists still largely object to Catholic doctrine concerning the papacy, most have dropped the harsher Reformation view and no longer identify the pope as the Antichrist.[31][better source needed]
According to theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the Great Apostasy started not long after theascension of Jesus and continued untilJoseph Smith'sFirst Vision in 1820.[32] To LDS Church members, orLatter-day Saints, the Great Apostasy is marked by:
Beginning in the 1st century and continuing up to the 4th century AD, someemperors of theRoman Empire carried out violent persecutions against early Christians.[37]
The LDS Church believes that all priesthood leaders with authority to conduct and perpetuate church affairs were either martyred, taken from the earth, or began to teach impure doctrines, causing a break in the necessaryapostolic succession.[32] It is a belief that what survived was a portion of the light and truth that Jesus had established: the Church of Jesus Christ, as established by him, was no longer to be found on the earth. Survivors of the persecutions were overly-influenced by various pagan philosophies either because they were not well indoctrinated in Jesus' teachings or they corrupted their Christian beliefs (willingly, by compulsion, or with good intentions but without direct revelation from God to help them interpret said beliefs) by accepting non-Christian doctrines into their faith. LDS Church doctrine is that multiple plain and simple truths of the gospel of Christ were, therefore, lost.[32]
The LDS Church and its members understand various writings in theNew Testament to be an indication that even soon after the ascension of Jesus the Apostles struggled to keep early Christians from distorting the teachings of Jesus and to prevent the followers from dividing into different ideological groups.[38] The doctrine highlights statements from the Scriptures that various Old Testament and New Testament scriptures, like 2 Thessalonians 2:3, that Jesus Christ prophesied this "falling away" or "apostasy." The Christian believers who survived the persecutions took it upon themselves to speak for God, interpret, amend or add to his doctrines and ordinances, and carry out his work without proper authority and divine direction from God. During this time, important doctrines and rites were lost or corrupted.[39] The doctrine of theTrinity adopted at theCouncil of Nicaea is an example shown of how pagan philosophy corrupted the teachings of Jesus. The LDS Church believes that Joseph Smith's visions and revelations taught an important and sacrosanct doctrine that God, the Eternal Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are notone substance, but three separate and distinct beings forming oneGodhead.[40] Latter-day Saints reject the earlyecumenical councils for what they see as misguided human attempts without divine assistance to decide matters of doctrine, substituting debate or politics for divinerevelation. The LDS Church teaches that the often heated proceedings of such councils were evidence that the church was no longer led by revelation and divine authority. Indeed, the normative Christian view is that public revelation, or revelation that is binding on all Christians, concluded with the death of the last Apostle.[41]
As a result, LDS Church members refer to the "restitution of all things" mentioned inActs 3:20–21 and believe that arestoration of all the original and primary doctrines and rites of Christianity was necessary.[38] Church members believe that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Smith, then a 14-year-old boy, and called him to be a prophet.[42] Later Peter, James, and John, three of Christ's apostles in the New Testament, appeared from heaven to Smith and ordained him an apostle.[43] Through Christ's priesthood authority and divine direction, church members believe that Smith was called and ordained to re-establish Christ's church. Hence, members of the faith refer to their church as "The Church of Jesus Christ," a name which they believe to have been revealed to Smith after the church's founding on 6 April 1830, originally called theChurch of Christ. Latter-day Saints is a term members believe refers to members of Christ's church who were originally called "saints" and that the LDS Church is Christ's restored church in these days, believed by a number of Christian denominations to be the last days prior to the prophesied second coming of Jesus.[44]
Ellen White wrote
His word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution.[45]
— Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy: Between Christ and Satan, page 581
Seventh-day Adventists believe that themark of the Beast refers to the apostate church which in theend times will legally enforce Sunday-worship. "Those who reject God's memorial of creatorship – the Bible Sabbath – choosing to worship and honor Sunday in the full knowledge that it is not God's appointed day of worship, will receive the 'mark of the beast.'"[46] "Sunday Sabbath is purely a child of the Papacy. It is the mark of the beast."[47] They see an apostate church that changed God's law, preferred pagan traditions, allowed pagan beliefs and ceremonies into the church, and brought oppression against and persecuted the true believers throughout the Dark Ages for 1260 years as prophesied in Revelation 12:6, 14–16.[48][49]
Hyperdispensationalism is a niche view in Protestantism which views Pauline Christianity or the beliefs and doctrines espoused by the apostle Paul through his writings as the purest form of Christian faith and worship from which the church fell away.E. W. Bullinger framed the position for early apostasy thus:
We are told, on every hand, today, that we must go back to the first three centuries to find the purity of faith and worship of the primitive church! But it is clear from this comparison of Acts xix.10 and 2 Tim.i.15, that we cannot go back ... even to the apostle's own life-time! ... It was Pauline truth and teaching from which all had "turned away".[50]
— Juanita Carey,E. W. Bullinger: A Biography, page 148, quoting from Bullinger's "The Church Epistles"
Regarding "forbidding to marry" and the "commanding to abstain from meats" in 1 Timothy 4 (Paul might have spoken in general in regard to any new sects or doctrines which could arise), the Catholic Church responds:
Regarding the Church's discipline of celibacy, men and women freely abstain from the high and holy good of marriage so that they can more fully give themselves to God and His work. Marriage is not "forbidden". Neither is it considered evil. See the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Catechism), numbers 1618–20, especially the quote from St. John Chrysostom. 1 Timothy 4:1–5 needs to be read in context. There were those in Paul's time that forbade marriage on heretical presuppositions that marriage was intrinsically evil, a teaching based in turn on the false belief that the body or all matter was evil, and only the Spirit was good. ThisGnostic heresy became prevalent again in the second century. The heresy became manifest in later centuries as well, with groups like the Albigensians, who also fell away from the Catholic Faith. ... With regard to foods, none are forbidden to Catholics. Unlike vegetarians, we may eat meat; unlike Jews and Muslims, we may eat pork, shellfish, and other non-kosher foods. Fasting – a practice actively promoted in Scripture – and abstinence from certain foods at particular times are good spiritual disciplines, but there is no food from which Catholics must abstain at all times. ... So who is Paul condemning regarding abstinence? He is referring toGnostics and their spiritual descendants. In ascetic Gnosticism, we find both practices Paul condemned in his First Letter to Timothy. Ascetic Gnostics categorically forbade marriage (which libertine Gnostics also did) and abstained from sexual intercourse and meat all the time.[51]
— Doesn't St. Paul Condemn Celibacy, Fasting, and Abstaining From Meat?
Martin Luther, who spearheaded theReformation, sought toreform the Catholic Church, as opposed torestoring it.[52] TheLutheran Church traditionally sees itself as the "main trunk of the historical Christian Tree" founded by Christ and the Apostles, holding that during the Reformation, theChurch of Rome fell away.[53][54] As such, theAugsburg Confession, the Lutheran confession of faith, teaches that "the faith as confessed by Luther and his followers is nothing new, but the true catholic faith, and that their churches represent the true catholic or universal church".[55] When the Lutherans presented the Augsburg Confession toCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor, they explained "that each article of faith and practice was true first of all to Holy Scripture, and then also to the teaching of the church fathers and the councils".[55]
...to distinguish the goal of their restorationist efforts from other forms of Christianity, whether Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, denomination, or sectarian. They viewed modern Christianity as corrupt, apostate, or spurious, while New Testament Christianity was, in the words of Alexander Campbell, 'the gospel of our Lord as proclaimed originally by the apostles.'
Like other Restorationists, Russell held the theory of the Great Apostasy, the belief that Christianity had fallen away from its original purity. To the simple early message of Christianity, he believed, later teachers and political leaders had added unwarranted beliefs and practices.
The Second Great Awakening (1790–1840) spurred a renewed interest in primitive Christianity. What is known as the Restoration Movement of the nineteenth century gave birth to an array of groups: Mormons (The Latter Day Saint Movement), the Churches of Christ, Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Though these groups demonstrate a breathtaking diversity on the continuum of Christianity they share an intense restorationist impulse. Picasso and Stravinsky reflect a primitivism that came to the fore around the turn of the twentieth century that more broadly has been characterized as a "retreat from the industrialized world.
Amillennialism has been the primary perspective of the church though most of history and still outside of the U.S., as well as in the orthodox (Catholic and Eastern Orthodox) and reform (Presbyterian and Lutheran) groups within the U.S.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)When the Lutherans presented theAugsburg Confession before Emperor Charles V in 1530, they carefully showed that each article of faith and practice was true first of all to Holy Scripture, and then also to the teaching of the church fathers and the councils and even the canon law of the Church of Rome. They boldly claim, 'This is about the Sum of our Doctrine, in which, as can be seen, there is nothing that varies from the Scriptures, or from the Church Catholic, or from the Church of Rome as known from its writers' (AC XXI Conclusion 1). The underlying thesis of theAugsburg Confession is that the faith as confessed by Luther and his followers is nothing new, but the true catholic faith, and that their churches represent the true catholic or universal church. In fact, it is actually the Church of Rome that has departed from the ancient faith and practice of the catholic church (see AC XXIII 13, XXVIII 72 and other places).
