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114-634: The earliest recorded official reference to Höchberg dates from 748. Jewish families resided in Höchberg at least since the late 1600s. They established a Jewish cemetery and erected a synagogue in 1721, which was plundered in the November pogrom in 1938 by SA members. Since 1951, the building has served as a Protestant church . Today, a plaque at the church entry and a monument at the Jewish cemetery commemorate these facts. This Würzburg district location article

228-399: A crucifix ) in the circle of a ringed cross (in the form of Celtic cross ) surrounded by four angels. Three Syriac manuscripts from the early 19th century and earlier—they were edited into a compilation titled The Book of Protection by Hermann Gollancz —containing a number of illustrations which are more or less crude. These manuscripts prove the continuous use of images. Moreover,

342-650: A Christian to come to God through Christ without human mediation. He also maintained that this principle recognizes Christ as prophet , priest, and king and that his priesthood is shared with his people. Protestants who adhere to the Nicene Creed believe in three persons ( God the Father , God the Son , and the God the Holy Spirit ) as one God. Movements that emerged around the time of

456-684: A certain part of Protestantism rather than to Protestantism as a whole. The English word traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States . Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran , preferring the term evangelical , which was derived from euangelion , a Greek word meaning "good news", i.e. " gospel ". The followers of John Calvin , Huldrych Zwingli , and other theologians linked to

570-479: A complex term, equivalent for Greek term hypostasis ), unmingled, but everlastingly united in the one prosopon (person) of Christ. The precise Christological teachings of Nestorius are shrouded in obscurity. Wary of Monophysitism, Nestorius rejected Cyril's theory of a hypostatic union , proposing instead a much looser concept of prosopic union . Nestorianism has come to mean radical Dyophysitism , in which Christ's two natures are eternally separate, though it

684-567: A handful of Protestant denominational families; Adventists , Anabaptists , Anglicans/Episcopalians , Baptists , Calvinist/Reformed , Lutherans , Methodists , Moravians , Plymouth Brethren , Presbyterians , and Quakers . Nondenominational , charismatic and independent churches are also on the rise, having recently expanded rapidly throughout much of the world, and constitute a significant part of Protestantism. These various movements, collectively labeled "popular Protestantism" by scholars such as Peter L. Berger , have been called one of

798-582: A less critical reading of the Bible developed in the United States—leading to a " fundamentalist " reading of Scripture. Christian fundamentalists read the Bible as the "inerrant, infallible " Word of God, as do the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran churches, but interpret it in a literalist fashion without using the historical-critical method . Methodists and Anglicans differ from Lutherans and

912-513: A life-size male stucco figure was discovered in a church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon from the late 6th century. Beneath this church were found the remains of an earlier church. Although it cannot be determined which Nestorian Church was involved, the discovery nevertheless proves that the Church of the East also used figurative representations. The Assyrian Church of the East is governed by an episcopal polity ,

1026-664: A local lord ( malik ), while each malik was ultimately subject to the patriarch, who mediated between Christian Assyrians and the Ottoman authorities. In 1780, at the beginning of the patriarchal tenure of Eliya XII (XIII) (1778–1804), a group seceded from the Eliya line in Alqosh and elected Yohannan Hormizd , who entered full communion with the Catholic Church and was officially appointed Archbishop of Mosul and patriarchal administrator of

1140-465: A number of changes to the church, including liturgical reform, the adoption of the Gregorian calendar , and the shortening of Lent . These changes, combined with Shimun's long absence from Iraq, caused a rift in the community there, which led to another schism. In 1968, traditionalists within the church elected Thoma Darmo as a rival patriarch to Shimun XXI Eshai, forming the independent Ancient Church of

1254-467: A priest with possessions, such as a pope, was in such grave sin), may have translated the Bible into vernacular English , and preached anticlerical and biblically centred reforms. His rejection of a real divine presence in the elements of the Eucharist foreshadowed Huldrych Zwingli's similar ideas in the 16th century. Wycliffe's admirers came to be known as " Lollards ". Beginning in the first decade of

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1368-657: A reaction against abuses in the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church, which purported to offer the remission of the temporal punishment of sins to their purchasers. The term, however, derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical . In the 16th century , Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark–Norway , Sweden , Finland , Livonia , and Iceland . Calvinist churches spread in Germany, Hungary ,

1482-752: A revolt erupted. Hussites defeated five continuous crusades proclaimed against them by the Pope . Later theological disputes caused a split within the Hussite movement. Utraquists maintained that both the bread and the wine should be administered to the people during the Eucharist. Another major faction were the Taborites , who opposed the Utraquists in the Battle of Lipany during the Hussite Wars . There were two separate parties among

1596-613: A student of law to discipline the city of Geneva . His Ordinances of 1541 involved a collaboration of Church affairs with the city council and consistory to bring morality to all areas of life. After the establishment of the Geneva academy in 1559, Geneva became the unofficial capital of the Protestant movement, providing refuge for Protestant exiles from all over Europe and educating them as Calvinist missionaries. The faith continued to spread after Calvin's death in 1563. Assyrian Church of

1710-413: Is Jovinian , who lived in the fourth century AD. He attacked monasticism , ascetism and believed that a saved believer can never be overcome by Satan. In the 9th century, the theologian Gottschalk of Orbais was condemned for heresy by the Catholic Church. Gottschalk believed that the salvation of Jesus was limited and that his redemption was only for the elect. The theology of Gottschalk anticipated

1824-470: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Protestant church Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes justification of sinners through faith alone , the teaching that salvation comes by unmerited divine grace , the priesthood of all believers , and the Bible as the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice. The five solae summarize

1938-532: Is composed of metropolitan bishops and diocesan bishops , while lower clergy consists of priests and deacons , who serve in dioceses (eparchies) and parishes throughout the Western Asia , India , North America , Oceania , and Europe (including the Caucasus and Russia ). The Assyrian Church of the East considers itself as the continuation of the Church of the East , a church that originally developed among

2052-665: Is diverse, being divided into various denominations on the basis of theology and ecclesiology , not forming a single structure as with the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy . Protestants adhere to the concept of an invisible church , in contrast to the Catholic, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East , and the Ancient Church of

2166-515: Is doubtful whether Nestorius ever taught such a doctrine. Nestorius' rejection of the term Theotokos ('God-bearer', or 'Mother of God') has traditionally been held as evidence that he asserted the existence of two persons (dyoprosopism) — not merely two natures — in Jesus Christ, but there exists no evidence that Nestorius denied Christ's oneness. In the controversy that followed the Council of Ephesus,

2280-716: Is in communion with it. Membership is estimated to 385,000 adherents, although some sources say as high as 500,000. According to scholar James Minahan around 19% of the Assyrian people belong to the Assyrian Church of the East. In its own 2018 Report on Religious Freedom, the United States Department of State put the Assyrian Church of the East adherents at approximately 20% of the Christians in Iraq . The patriarchal seat

2394-886: Is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran, Calvinist, and United (Lutheran and Reformed) Protestant traditions in Europe, and those with strong ties to them. Above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area , such as the Protestant Church in Germany . Thus, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, while the German evangelikal , refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism . The English word evangelical usually refers to evangelical Protestant churches, and therefore to

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2508-447: Is the guiding principle of the work of Luther and the later reformers. Because sola scriptura placed the Bible as the only source of teaching, sola fide epitomizes the main thrust of the teaching the reformers wanted to get back to, namely the direct, close, personal connection between Christ and the believer, hence the reformers' contention that their work was Christocentric. The other solas, as statements, emerged later, but

2622-462: Is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone: just as it is the heat alone of the sun which warms the earth, and yet in the sun it is not alone." Lutheran and Reformed Christians differ from Methodists in their understanding of this doctrine. The universal priesthood of believers implies the right and duty of the Christian laity not only to read the Bible in

2736-515: The Antiochene theological tradition of the early church. The founders of Assyrian theology are Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia , both of whom taught at Antioch . "Antiochene" is a modern designation given to the style of theology associated with the early church at Antioch, as contrasted with the theology of the Church of Alexandria. Antiochene theology emphasizes Christ's humanity and

2850-629: The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London , and elected Dinkha as the 120th Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East. On 17 October he was consecrated as Dinkha IV at St Barnabas Church, Ealing, in an area where many Assyrians lived. Dinkha, who was then aged 33, operated his see at Tehran until the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988, when he went into exile in the United States and transferred

2964-680: The Assyrians during the first century AD in Assyria , Upper Mesopotamia and northwestern Persia , east of the Byzantine Empire . It is an apostolic church established by Thomas the Apostle , Addai of Edessa , and Bartholomew the Apostle . Contrary to a widespread opinion, the Apostle Saint Peter never visited the Church of Babylon . The historical distinctiveness of the Assyrian Church of

3078-596: The British mandate there, and joined the already existing indigenous Assyrian communities of both Eastern Orthodox and Catholic rites in the north, where they formed communities in Baghdad , Basra , and other areas. In the aftermath of World War I, the British-educated Patriarch Shimun XXI Eshai , born into the line of patriarchs at Qodchanis, had agitated for an independent Assyrian state. Following

3192-676: The Catholic Church . On 31 October 1517, known as All Hallows' Eve , Martin Luther allegedly nailed his Ninety-five Theses , also known as the Disputation on the Power of Indulgences, on the door of the All Saints' Church in Wittenberg , Germany, detailing doctrinal and practical abuses of the Catholic Church, especially the selling of indulgences . The theses debated and criticized many aspects of

3306-647: The Chaldean Catholic Church , in 1783. Only after the death in 1827 of the last representative of the Josephite line, Joseph V Augustine Hindi , was Yohannan recognized as the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch by the Pope, in 1830. By this official appointment, the final merger of various factions committed to the union with the Catholic Church was achieved, thus forming the modern Chaldean Catholic Church. At

3420-533: The Chaldean Catholics . The next Assyrian Patriarch Shimun XVII Abraham (1820–1861) also governed his church from Qodshanis . During years marked by political turbulence, he tried to maintain good relations with the local Ottoman authorities. In 1843, he was faced with renewed hostilities from Kurdish warlords, who attacked and looted many Christian villages, killing 10,000 Christian men and taking away women and children as captives. The patriarch himself

3534-642: The Common Christological Declaration in 1994 between the Church of the East and the Catholic Church , and a 2001 theological dialogue between the churches, they drew up guidelines for faithful to have mutual admission to the Eucharist between the Chaldean Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East. The Assyrian Church of the East has a traditional episcopal structure, headed by the Catholicos-Patriarch . Its hierarchy

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3648-556: The Council of Ephesus (431) and the Council of Chalcedon (451), and still adheres to the Church of the East 's traditional Christology , that is often labeled as Nestorian . The use and exact meaning of that term has been the subject of many debates, not only throughout history but also in modern times, since the Assyrian Church of the East has distinctive views on several Christological questions and claims that its theological doctrines and traditions are essentially Orthodox, while admitting

3762-721: The Divine Liturgy of Saints Addai and Mari belonging to the East Syriac Rite . Its main liturgical language is Classical Syriac , a dialect of Eastern Aramaic , and the majority of its adherents are ethnic Assyrians who speak differing Akkadian influenced dialects of Eastern Aramaic in everyday life. The Assyrian Church of the East is officially headquartered in the city of Erbil , in northern Iraq ; its original area encompassed Iraq , southeastern Turkey , northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran , corresponding roughly to ancient Assyria . The current Catholicos-Patriarch of

3876-537: The Holy Spirit and personal closeness to God. The belief that believers are justified , or pardoned for sin, solely on condition of faith in Christ rather than a combination of faith and good works . For Protestants, good works are a necessary consequence rather than cause of justification. However, while justification is by faith alone, there is the position that faith is not nuda fides . John Calvin explained that "it

3990-565: The Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier . The term protestant , though initially purely political in nature, later acquired a broader sense, referring to a member of any Western church which subscribed to the main Protestant principles. A Protestant is an adherent of any of those Christian bodies that separated from the Church of Rome during the Reformation, or of any group descended from them. During

4104-596: The Netherlands , Scotland , Switzerland , France , Poland , and Lithuania by Protestant Reformers such as John Calvin , Huldrych Zwingli and John Knox . The political separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church under King Henry VIII began Anglicanism , bringing England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement, under the leadership of reformer Thomas Cranmer , whose work forged Anglican doctrine and identity. Protestantism

4218-762: The Patriarchate of Seleucia-Ctesiphon . On 18 September 2015, the Holy Synod of the Assyrian Church of the East elected the Metropolitan of Iraq, Jordan, and Russia, Warda Sliwa, to succeed the late Dinkha IV as Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East . On 27 September 2015, he was consecrated as Catholicos-Patriarch in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Baptist, in Erbil , Iraq. Upon his consecration, he assumed

4332-606: The Persian Gulf , is the largest diocese of the church. Its history goes back to the Church of the East that established a presence in Kerala , but the two communities maintained only a sporadic connection for several centuries, and consistent relations were only established with the arrival of the Portuguese in India around 1500. The church is represented by the Assyrian Church of the East and

4446-447: The Protestant Reformation and summarize the reformers' basic differences in theological beliefs in opposition to the teaching of the Catholic Church of the day. The Latin word sola means "alone", "only", or "single". The use of the phrases as summaries of teaching emerged over time during the Reformation, based on the overarching Lutheran and Reformed principle of sola scriptura (by scripture alone). This idea contains

4560-409: The Reformed tradition also began to use that term. To distinguish the two evangelical groups, others began to refer to the two groups as Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed . The word also pertains in the same way to some other mainline groups, for example Evangelical Methodist . As time passed by, the word evangelical was dropped. Lutherans themselves began to use the term Lutheran in

4674-446: The Unitas Fratrum —"Unity of the Brethren"—which was renewed under the leadership of Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf in Herrnhut , Saxony , in 1722 after its almost total destruction in the Thirty Years' War and the Counterreformation ("Catholic Reformation") . Today, it is usually referred to in English as the Moravian Church and in German as the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine . In the 15th century, three German theologians anticipated

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4788-410: The vernacular , but also to take part in the government and all the public affairs of the Church. It is opposed to the hierarchical system which puts the essence and authority of the Church in an exclusive priesthood, and which makes ordained priests the necessary mediators between God and the people. It is distinguished from the concept of the priesthood of all believers, which did not grant individuals

4902-402: The 15th century, Jan Hus —a Catholic priest, Czech reformist and professor—influenced by John Wycliffe's writings, founded the Hussite movement. He strongly advocated his reformist Bohemian religious denomination. He was excommunicated and burned at the stake in Constance , Bishopric of Constance , in 1415 by secular authorities for unrepentant and persistent heresy. After his execution,

5016-491: The Assyrian Church of the East hang a Christian cross (without the corpus) on the eastern wall of the main room. The Assyrian Church of the East does not make use of icons , and the interiors of its houses of worship are simple. Iconography has been present in the Church of the East's history; opposition to religious images eventually became the norm due to the spread of Islam in the region, which forbade any type of depictions of saints and biblical prophets . As such,

5130-468: The Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Awa III , was consecrated in September 2021. The Assyrian Church of the East claims continuity with the historical Church of the East , and it is not in communion with the Catholic, Oriental Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox churches. The faction of the original Church of the East in that came into full communion with the Holy See of Rome is the Chaldean Catholic Church , whose members are mostly ethnic Assyrians . After

5244-433: The Assyrian defense under Agha Petros , but they were pursued into Iranian territory despite the fact they were fleeing. Later, in 1918, after the murder of their de facto leader and Patriarch Shimun XIX Benyamin and 150 of his followers during a negotiation, fearing further massacres at the hands of the Turks and Kurds, most of the survivors fled by train from Iran into what was to become Iraq. They sought protection under

5358-411: The Bible as the highest source of authority for the church. The early churches of the Reformation believed in a critical, yet serious, reading of scripture and holding the Bible as a source of authority higher than that of church tradition . The many abuses that had occurred in the Western Church before the Protestant Reformation led the Reformers to reject much of its tradition. In the early 20th century,

5472-489: The Catholic Church. By 1215, the Waldensians were declared heretical and subject to persecution. Despite that, the movement continues to exist to this day in Italy, as a part of the wider Reformed tradition . In the 1370s, Oxford theologian and priest John Wycliffe —later dubbed the "Morning Star of Reformation"—started his activity as an English reformer. He rejected papal authority over secular power (in that any person in mortal sin lost their authority and should be resisted:

5586-419: The Church and the papacy, including the practice of purgatory , particular judgment , and the authority of the pope. Luther would later write works against the Catholic devotion to Virgin Mary , the intercession of and devotion to the saints, mandatory clerical celibacy, monasticism, the authority of the pope, the ecclesiastical law, censure and excommunication , the role of secular rulers in religious matters,

5700-406: The East The Assyrian Church of the East ( ACOE ), sometimes called the Church of the East and officially known as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ( HACACE ), is an Eastern Christian church that follows the traditional Christology and ecclesiology of the historical Church of the East . It belongs to the eastern branch of Syriac Christianity , and employs

5814-464: The East , based in Baghdad , Iraq . In 1972, Shimun decided to step down as patriarch, and the following year he got married, in contravention to longstanding church custom. This led to a synod in 1973 in which further reforms were introduced, the most significant of which included the permanent abolition of hereditary succession — a practice introduced in the middle of the fifteenth century by Patriarch Shemon IV Basidi (who had died in 1497) — and it

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5928-457: The East , the modern Assyrian Church of the East recognizes the first two ecumenical councils : the First Council of Nicaea (325), and the First Council of Constantinople (381). The Assyrian Church follows trinitarian doctrines, expressed in the Nicene Creed , and professes the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father . Theologically , the Assyrian Church of the East does not accept doctrinal definitions that were adopted at

6042-405: The East , which all understand themselves as the one and only original church—the " one true church "—founded by Jesus Christ (though certain Protestant denominations, including historic Lutheranism, hold to this position). Some denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of church membership , while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of

6156-418: The East had about 380,000 members, mostly living in the United States, Iran , Iraq , Syria , and Turkey. On 6 September 2021, Mar Gewargis III formally stepped down as Catholicos-Patriarch during an Extraordinary Session of the Holy Synod of the Assyrian Church of the East, leaving the Patriarchal See vacant. On 8 September 2021, the Holy Synod elected Mar Awa Royel , Bishop of California and Secretary of

6270-399: The East resulted from the series of complex processes and events that occurred within the Church of the East during the transitional period that started in the middle of the 16th century, and lasted until the beginning of the 19th century. That turbulent period was marked by several consequent splits and mergers, resulting in the creation of separate branches and rival patriarchal lines. During

6384-552: The East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church and Assyrian Protestants) entered into a war of independence and allied themselves with the United Kingdom , the Russian Empire and the Armenians against the Ottomans and their Islamic Kurdish, Iranian and Arab allies. Despite the odds, the Assyrians fought successfully against the Ottomans and their allies for three years throughout southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran and northeastern Syria. Eventually, however, they were abandoned by their allies,

6498-400: The Holy Synod, to succeed Mar Gewargis III as the 122nd Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East . He was Consecrated and Enthroned as Catholicos-Patriarch on 13 September 2021, on the Feast of the Holy Cross, in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Baptist in Erbil, Iraq, and assumed the ecclesiastical name Mar Awa III. Following doctrinal traditions of the ancient Church of

6612-424: The Hussites: moderate and radical movements. Other smaller regional Hussite branches in Bohemia included Adamites , Orebites , Orphans , and Praguers. The Hussite Wars concluded with the victory of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund , his Catholic allies and moderate Hussites and the defeat of the radical Hussites. Tensions arose as the Thirty Years' War reached Bohemia in 1620. Both moderate and radical Hussitism

6726-408: The Patriarchal See to Chicago. Much of his patriarchate had been concerned with tending to the Assyrian diaspora community and with ecumenical efforts to strengthen relations with other churches. On 26 March 2015, Dinkha IV died in the United States, leaving the Assyrian Church of the East in a period of sede vacante until 18 September 2015. During that time, Aprem Mooken served as the custodian of

6840-467: The Pope decided to appoint Yohannan Sulaqa as "Patriarch of Babylon" and named the breakaway Church as 'The Church of Assyria and Mosul" in April 1553. Upon consecration, Yohannan Sulaqa took the name Shimun and by the end of the year he returned to his homeland. He started to organize the pro-Catholic party by appointing several metropolitans and bishops. Union with Rome was actively opposed by Patriarch Shemon VII Ishoyahb , who continued to reside in

6954-412: The Pope. By that time, the movement towards full commitment to the traditional faith was constantly growing stronger within the Shimun line. When the next Patriarch Shimun XII Yoalaha decided to send his profession of faith to the Pope, he was deposed by his bishops because of his pro-Catholic attitude. The Pope tried to intervene on his behalf, but without success. Final resolution of conflicts within

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7068-407: The Pope. That interlude was ended by his successor Shimun IX Dinkha (1580–1600) who restored full communion with the Catholic Church, and was officially confirmed by the Pope in 1584. After his death, the patriarchal office was made hereditary, and Patriarchs of this line continued to use the name Shimun , thus creating the Shimun line. Hereditary succession was not acceptable to Rome, and during

7182-455: The Protestant Reformation, but are not a part of Protestantism (e.g. Unitarianism ), reject the Trinity . This often serves as a reason for exclusion of the Unitarian Universalism , Oneness Pentecostalism , and other movements from Protestantism by various observers. Unitarianism continues to have a presence mainly in Transylvania , England, and the United States. The Five solae are five Latin phrases (or slogans) that emerged during

7296-418: The Protestant reformation. Ratramnus also defended the theology of Gottschalk and denied the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist; his writings also influenced the later Protestant reformation. Claudius of Turin in the 9th century also held Protestant ideas, such as faith alone and rejection of the supremacy of Peter. In the late 1130s, Arnold of Brescia , an Italian canon regular became one of

7410-492: The Rabban Hormizd Monastery near the ancient Assyrian town of Alqosh . He was succeeded by his nephew Eliya (1558–1591), who was designated as Eliya "VII" in older historiography, but renumbered as Eliya "VI" in recent scholarly works. The same renumbering was applied to his successors, who all took the same name thus creating the Eliya line . During his patriarchal rule, the Eliya line preserved its traditional christology and full ecclesiastical independence. His successor

7524-407: The Reformation and put heavy stress of holiness and piety, Starting in 1475, an Italian Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola was calling for a Christian renewal. Later on, Martin Luther himself read some of the friar's writings and praised him as a martyr and forerunner whose ideas on faith and grace anticipated Luther's own doctrine of justification by faith alone. Some of Hus' followers founded

7638-480: The Reformation, the term protestant was hardly used outside of German politics. People who were involved in the religious movement used the word evangelical ( German : evangelisch ). For further details, see the section below. Gradually, protestant became a general term, meaning any adherent of the Reformation in the German-speaking area. It was ultimately somewhat taken up by Lutherans, even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or evangelical as

7752-595: The Reformed on this doctrine as they teach prima scriptura , which holds that Scripture is the primary source for Christian doctrine, but that "tradition, experience, and reason" can nurture the Christian religion as long as they are in harmony with the Bible ( Protestant canon ). "Biblical Christianity" focused on a deep study of the Bible is characteristic of most Protestants as opposed to "Church Christianity", focused on performing rituals and good works, represented by Catholic and Orthodox traditions. However, Quakers , Pentecostalists and Spiritual Christians emphasize

7866-456: The Russian Empire and the First Republic of Armenia , due to the Russian Revolution and the collapse of the Armenian defense, leaving the Assyrians vastly outnumbered, surrounded, and cut off from supplies of ammunition and food. During this period, their See at Qodchanis was completely destroyed and the Turks and their Islamic allies massacred all of the Assyrians in the Hakkari Mountains. Those who survived fled into Iran with what remained of

7980-406: The Shimun line occurred under the next Patriarch Shimun XIII Dinkha (1662–1700), who definitively broke communion with the Catholic Church. In 1670, he gave a traditionalist reply to an approach that was made from the Pope, and by 1672 all connections with the Catholic Church were terminated. At the same time, Patriarch Shimun XIII moved his seat from Amid to Qochanis . After the final return to

8094-492: The Shimun line to become the sole primate of both Assyrian traditionalist branches. Consolidated after 1804, the reunited traditionalist Church led by patriarchs of the Shimun line became widely known as the "Assyrian Church of the East". Still based in Qodchanis, Assyrian Patriarch Shimun XVI Yohannan was not able to secure control over the traditional seat of the former Eliya line in the ancient Rabban Hormizd Monastery; and around 1808 that venerated monastic institution passed to

8208-526: The basic theological beliefs of mainstream Protestantism. Protestants follow the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation , a movement that began in the 16th century with the goal of reforming the Catholic Church from perceived errors, abuses, and discrepancies . The Reformation began in the Holy Roman Empire in 1517, when Martin Luther published his Ninety-five Theses as

8322-512: The body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ. They disagreed with one another concerning the presence of Christ and his body and blood in Holy Communion. Protestants reject the Catholic doctrine of papal supremacy , and have variant views on the number of sacraments , the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist , and matters of ecclesiastical polity and apostolic succession . Many of

8436-650: The church as a body works), they had a different understanding of the process in which truths in scripture were applied to life of believers, compared to the Catholics' idea that certain people within the church, or ideas that were old enough, had a special status in giving understanding of the text. The second main principle, sola fide (by faith alone), states that faith in Christ is sufficient alone for eternal salvation and justification. Though argued from scripture, and hence logically consequent to sola scriptura , this

8550-613: The church was forced to get rid of her icons. A Nestorian Peshitta Gospel book written in Estrangela , from the 13th century, resides at the State Library of Berlin . This illustrated manuscript from Upper Mesopotamia or Tur Abdin proves that in the 13th century the church was not yet aniconic . The Nestorian Evangelion preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France , which contains an illustration depicting Jesus Christ (not

8664-418: The church's and the general Assyrian community's disorganized state as a result of the conflicts of the 20th century, Patriarch Shimun XXI Eshai was forced to reorganize the church's structure in the United States . He transferred his residence to San Francisco in 1954, and was able to travel to Iran , Lebanon , Kuwait , and India , where he worked to strengthen the church. In 1964, the patriarch decreed

8778-411: The contemporary world's most dynamic religious movements. As of 2024 , Protestantism has a total of approximately 625 million followers. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities , who issued a protest (or dissent) against the edict of the Diet of Speyer (1529) , were the first individuals to be called Protestants. The edict reversed concessions made to

8892-552: The ecclesiastical name Gewargis III . Church leaders proposed moving the Patriarchal See from Chicago back to Erbil. There have also been talks of reunification. In the Common Christological Declaration Between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East in 1994, the two churches recognized the legitimacy and rightness of each other's titles for Mary . In 2005, the Assyrian Church of

9006-424: The end of the 19th century, the Assyrian Church of the East consolidated itself as the sole representative of all traditionalist Assyrians. It also managed to secure a certain level of autonomy within the highly complex system of Ottoman local governance in the bordering regions. On several occasions, Assyrian patriarchs refused to enter communion with the Catholic Church or merge with the Chaldean Catholic Church. On

9120-653: The end of the British mandate in 1933 and a massacre of Assyrian civilians at Simele by the Iraqi Army, the patriarch was forced to take refuge in Cyprus . There, Shimun petitioned the League of Nations regarding his people's fate, but to little avail, and he was consequently barred from entering Syria and Iraq. He traveled through Europe before moving to Chicago in 1940 to join the growing Assyrian diaspora community there. Due to

9234-491: The entire 18th century, residing in the ancient Monastery of Rabban Hormizd, which was eventually attacked and looted by muslim Turks in 1743, at the beginning of the Ottoman–Persian War (1743–1746) . Faced with a centuries-old rivalry and frequent conflicts between two mighty Islamic empires ( Ottoman and Persian ), all Christian communities in the bordering regions were constantly exposed to danger – and not only in

9348-473: The entire period, one of the main questions of dispute was the union with the Catholic Church . Ultimately, the pro-Catholic branches were consolidated as the Chaldean Catholic Church , while the traditional branches were consolidated as the Assyrian Church of the East. During the patriarchal tenure of Shemon VII Ishoyahb (1539–1558), who resided in the ancient Rabban Hormizd Monastery near Alqosh , an internal dissent occurred over several issues, including

9462-528: The excommunication of Luther and condemnation of the Reformation by the Pope, the work and writings of John Calvin were influential in establishing a loose consensus among various groups in Switzerland, Scotland, Hungary, Germany and elsewhere. After the expulsion of its Bishop in 1526, and the unsuccessful attempts of the Bern reformer William Farel , Calvin was asked to use the organizational skill he had gathered as

9576-595: The first theologians to attempt to reform the Catholic Church. After his death, his teachings on apostolic poverty gained currency among Arnoldists , and later more widely among Waldensians and the Spiritual Franciscans , though no written word of his has survived the official condemnation. In the early 1170s, Peter Waldo founded the Waldensians. He advocated an interpretation of the Gospel that led to conflicts with

9690-482: The four main doctrines on the Bible: that its teaching is needed for salvation (necessity); that all the doctrine necessary for salvation comes from the Bible alone (sufficiency); that everything taught in the Bible is correct (inerrancy); and that, by the Holy Spirit overcoming sin, believers may read and understand truth from the Bible itself, though understanding is difficult, so the means used to guide individual believers to

9804-414: The individual ideas that were taken up by various reformers had historical pre-cursors; however, calling them proto-reformers is controversial, as often their theology also had components that are not associated with later Protestants, or that were asserted by some Protestants but denied by others, or that were only superficially similar. One of the earliest persons to be praised as a Protestant forerunner

9918-548: The middle of the 16th century, in order to distinguish themselves from other groups such as the Philippists and Calvinists . The German word reformatorisch , which roughly translates to English as "reformational" or "reforming", is used as an alternative for evangelisch in German, and is different from English reformed ( German : reformiert ), which refers to churches shaped by ideas of John Calvin , Huldrych Zwingli , and other Reformed theologians. Derived from

10032-406: The need for further inter-Christian dialogue that would resolve various questions in the field of comparative Christological terminology. The Nestorian nature of Assyrian Christianity remains a matter of contention. Elements of Nestorian doctrine were explicitly repudiated by Patriarch Dinkha IV on the occasion of his accession in 1976. The Christology of the Church of the East has its roots in

10146-425: The newly established line of patriarchs who were united with the Catholic Church was continued by Abdisho IV Maron (1555–1570), who remained in full communion with the Catholic Church. He visited Rome and was officially confirmed by the Pope of Rome in 1562. Soon after his death, connections with Rome were weakened for the first time during the tenure of Patriarch Yahballaha IV who did not seek confirmation from

10260-502: The only acceptable names for individuals who professed faith in Christ. French and Swiss Protestants instead preferred the word reformed ( French : réformé ), which became a popular, neutral, and alternative name for Calvinists. The word evangelical ( German : evangelisch ), which refers to the gospel , was widely used for those involved in the religious movement in the German-speaking area beginning in 1517. Evangelical

10374-520: The other hand, by the end of the 19th century some of its communities were converted to Protestantism by various western missionaries, while other communities were drawn to Eastern Orthodoxy . That movement was led by Assyrian Bishop Mar Yonan of Supurghan in the region of Urmia who converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in 1898, through the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Urmia . Among all

10488-585: The patriarchs temporarily resided between Urmia and Salmas , and after 1918 the patriarchs resided in Mosul . After the Simele massacre of 1933, the then Patriarch Shimun XXI Eshai was exiled to Cyprus due to his agitation for independence . In 1940, he was welcomed to the United States where he set up his residence in Chicago , and administered the United States and Canada as his patriarchal province. The patriarchate

10602-665: The priest Yohannan Sulaqa , who decided to legitimize his position by traveling to Rome and seeking confirmation by Pope Julius III (1550–1555). Receiving support from the Franciscan missionaries, he arrived in Rome and entered into full communion with the Catholic Church in February 1553. At that point, officials of the Roman Curia were given incorrect information that the elderly Patriarch Shemon VII had actually died. After some deliberation,

10716-459: The question of hereditary succession to the patriarchal throne, and the question of union with the Catholic Church. By that time, Franciscan missionaries had already gained some influence over several local communities, and they took an active role in organizing the opposition to the Patriarch at that time. By the end of 1552, a pro-Catholic party had been organized in Mosul under the leadership of

10830-546: The reality of the moral choices he faced. In order to preserve the impassibility of Christ's Divine Nature, the unity of his person is defined in a looser fashion than in the Alexandrian tradition. The normative Christology of the Church of the East was written by Babai the Great (d. 628) during the controversy that followed the 431 Council of Ephesus . Babai held that within Christ there exist two qnome ( Syriac : ܩܢܘܡܐ / qnômâ ,

10944-685: The reformation: Wessel Gansfort , Johann Ruchat von Wesel , and Johannes von Goch . They held ideas such as predestination , sola scriptura , and the church invisible , and denied the Roman Catholic view on justification and the authority of the Pope, also questioning monasticism . Wessel Gansfort also denied transubstantiation and anticipated the Lutheran view of justification by faith alone. Electors of Saxony Holy Roman Emperors Building Literature Theater Liturgies Hymnals Monuments Calendrical commemoration The Protestant Reformation began as an attempt to reform

11058-452: The relationship between Christianity and the law, good works, and the sacraments. The Reformation was a triumph of literacy and the new printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg . Luther's translation of the Bible into German was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy, and stimulated as well the printing and distribution of religious books and pamphlets. From 1517 onward, religious pamphlets flooded much of Europe. Following

11172-410: The right to interpret the Bible apart from the Christian community at large because universal priesthood opened the door to such a possibility. There are scholars who cite that this doctrine tends to subsume all distinctions in the church under a single spiritual entity. Calvin referred to the universal priesthood as an expression of the relation between the believer and his God, including the freedom of

11286-405: The same as other apostolic churches. The church maintains a system of geographical parishes organized into dioceses and archdioceses . The Catholicos-Patriarch is the head of the church. Its synod is composed of bishops who oversee individual dioceses and metropolitans who oversee episcopal dioceses in their territorial jurisdiction. The Chaldean Syrian Church , which encompasses India and

11400-441: The same time, the long coexistence and rivalry between two traditionalist patriarchal branches — the senior Eliya line of Alqosh and the junior Shimun line of Qochanis — ended in 1804 when the last primate of the Eliya line, Patriarch Eliya XII (XIII) died and was buried in the ancient Rabban Hormizd Monastery . His branch decided not to elect a new patriarch, thus enabling the remaining patriarch Shimun XVI Yohannan (1780–1820) of

11514-405: The tenure of the next Patriarch Shimun X Eliyah (1600–1638) ties with the Catholic Church were loosened again. In 1616, Shimun X signed a traditional profession of faith that was not accepted by the Pope, leaving the Patriarch without Rome's confirmation. His successor Shimun XI Eshuyow (1638–1656) restored communion with the Catholic Church as late as 1653, eventually receiving confirmation from

11628-595: The term "Nestorian" was applied to all doctrine upholding a strictly Antiochene Christology. In consequence, the Church of the East was labelled Nestorian, though its official Christology was in fact defined by Babai the Great , at the council that was held in 612. The church employs the Syriac dialect of Eastern Aramaic in its liturgy , the East Syriac Rite , which includes three anaphoras , attributed to Addai of Edessa and Mari , Theodore of Mopsuestia and later also Nestorius . In their homes, Christians belonging to

11742-506: The thinking they represent was also part of the early Reformation. The Protestant movement began to diverge into several distinct branches in the mid-to-late 16th century. One of the central points of divergence was controversy over the Eucharist . Early Protestants rejected the Catholic dogma of transubstantiation , which teaches that the bread and wine used in the sacrificial rite of the Mass lose their natural substance by being transformed into

11856-420: The times of war, since local, mainly Kurdish , warlords were accustomed to attacking Assyrian and Armenian Christian communities and monasteries and taking their land, often with Ottoman support. Patriarchs Eliya X (XI) (1700–1722) and Eliya XI (XII) (1722–1778) tried to improve the increasingly worsening position of their Christian flock by staying loyal to Ottoman authorities, but the local administration

11970-521: The traditional faith, Patriarchs of the Shimun line decided to keep their independence and after that time there were two independent lines of traditional patriarchs: the senior Eliya line in Alqosh and the junior Shimun line in Qochanis. Such division was additionally caused by the complex structure of local Assyrian communities, traditionally organized as tribal confederations with each tribe being headed by

12084-563: The tragedies and schisms which thinned the church out, no other was as severe as the Assyrian genocide . At that point the Assyrian Church of the East was based in the mountains of Hakkari , as it had been since 1681. In 1915, The Young Turks invaded the region — despite the Assyrians' plea of neutrality during the Caucasus campaign by Russia and their Armenian allies — out of fear of an Assyrian independence movement . In response to this, Assyrians of all denominations (the Assyrian Church of

12198-508: The true teaching is often mutual discussion within the church (clarity). The necessity and inerrancy were well-established ideas, garnering little criticism, though they later came under debate from outside during the Enlightenment . The most contentious idea at the time though was the notion that anyone could simply pick up the Bible and learn enough to gain salvation. Though the reformers were concerned with ecclesiology (the doctrine of how

12312-472: The word "Reformation", the term emerged around the same time as Evangelical (1517) and Protestant (1529). Many experts have proposed criteria to determine whether a Christian denomination should be considered part of Protestantism. A common consensus approved by most of them is that if a Christian denomination is to be considered Protestant, it must acknowledge the following three fundamental principles of Protestantism. The belief, emphasized by Luther, in

12426-473: Was Patriarch Eliya VII (VIII) (1591–1617), who negotiated on several occasions with the Catholic Church, in 1605 and 1610, and again in 1615–1616, but without any conclusion. Further negotiations were abandoned by the next Patriarch Eliya VIII (IX) (1617–1660). David Wilmshurst noted that his successor, Patriarch Eliya IX (X) (1660–1700) also was a "vigorous defender of the traditional faith". The Eliya line of traditionalist Patriarchs continued throughout

12540-513: Was also decided that Shimun should be reinstated. The second matter was supposed to be settled at another synod in 1975; however, Shimun was assassinated in November 1975 by an estranged relative before this could take place. Almost a year after the death of Shimun, Mar Khnanya Dinkha , Metropolitan of Tehran , convened a synod of seven Assyrian bishops which took place at St Paul's Abbey, Alton , in England, from 12 to 17 October 1976. They were joined by two Church of England bishops, representing

12654-570: Was forced to take temporary refuge in Mosul . He was succeeded by Patriarch Shimun XVIII Rubil (1861–1903) who also resided in Qodshanis. In 1869, he received an open invitation from the Vatican to visit Rome to attend the First Vatican Council as an observer, but he did not accept the invitation, In following years, he also rejected other initiatives for union with the Catholic Church. By

12768-402: Was frequently unable to provide effective protection. The Eliya line of traditionalist Patriarchs ended in 1804 with the death of Eliya XII (XIII) (1778–1804). During the second half of the 16th century, traditionalist patriarchs of the Eliya line were faced with the continuous presence of the pro-Catholic movement, led by successors of Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa . After his death in 1555,

12882-463: Was increasingly persecuted by Catholics and Holy Roman Emperor's armies. In the 14th century, a German mysticist group called the Gottesfreunde criticized the Catholic church and its corruption. Many of their leaders were executed for attacking the Catholic church and they believed that God's judgement would soon come upon the church. The Gottesfreunde were a democratic lay movement and forerunner of

12996-585: Was moved several times throughout history. Up to the 1804, patriarchs of the senior Eliya line resided in the ancient Rabban Hormizd Monastery , while patriarchs of the junior Shimun line resided in the Cathedral Church of Mar Shallita, in the village of Qudshanis in the Hakkari Mountains of the Ottoman Empire , and continued to do so up to the First World War . After the beginning of conflict in 1915,

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