{"id":94912,"date":"2025-05-16T07:00:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T15:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/?p=94912"},"modified":"2025-05-16T09:08:30","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T17:08:30","slug":"pope-leo-xiv-met-with-churches-of-the-east-what-did-1st-century-christians-believe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/doctrine\/pope-leo-xiv-met-with-churches-of-the-east-what-did-1st-century-christians-believe\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV met with ‘Churches of the East’–what did 1st century Christians believe?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nLogo of the Chaldean Catholic Patriarche<\/em>
\n(Via Wikipedia)<\/em><\/p>\n

COGwriter<\/a><\/p>\n

Pope Leo XIV met with leaders from the ‘Churches of the East’ this week:<\/p>\n

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Eastern church leaders welcome election of Pope Leo XIV<\/span><\/h2>\n

May 16, 2025<\/p>\n

Church leaders in the Christian East welcomed the election of Pope Leo XIV on May 8, noting his first words to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square were about peace.<\/p>\n

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople was at an event in his honor in Athens when he learned of the election, according to a report in The Orthodox Times. …<\/p>\n

The ecumenical patriarch, who had hoped to visit Iznik, Turkey, with Francis in May to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, said he hoped Leo would “combine a visit to Nicaea with an official visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, on the occasion of our feast of St. Andrew on Nov. 30.”\u00a0https:\/\/www.ncronline.org\/news\/eastern-church-leaders-welcome-election-pope-leo-xiv<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was the Council of Nicea that declared that certain aspects of original Christianity be officially changed. This was not a proper Christian things to do. Nor is it to celebrate that. True Christians, according to the Bible are to diligently contend for the original faith:<\/p>\n

1 JUDE, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to the Gentiles who have been called and are beloved by God the Father and are protected by Jesus Christ: 2 Mercy and peace, with love, be multiplied to you. 3 My beloved, I write to you with all diligence concerning our common salvation, and it is needful that I should write and exhort you also to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. (Jude 1-3, Lamsa Bible)<\/p>\n

3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write to you about our common life, it was necessary for me to write to you, as I am to persuade you to compete for the faith, which was once delivered to The Holy Ones. (Jude 3, Aramaic Bible in Plain English)<\/p>\n

3 My dear friends, at a time when I was eagerly looking forward to writing to you about the salvation that we all share, I felt that I must write to you encouraging you to fight hard for the faith which has been once and for all entrusted to God’s holy people. (Jude New Jerusalem Bible)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note the three above are used by various “Churches of the East” (including the first group which is NOT in communion with the Church of Rome) with the last one a Roman Catholic translation.<\/p>\n

Anyway, those at Nicea agreed to changes that were NOT part of the “faith once delivered to the saints.”<\/p>\n

That said, here is more related to Pope Leo XIV’s visits with leaders from the ‘Churches of the East’ \u00a0(bolding<\/strong> in source):<\/p>\n

May 15, 2025<\/p>\n

Pope Leo XIV welcomed Eastern Catholics to the Vatican with the traditional Easter greeting, \u201cChrist is risen! He is truly risen!\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing the faithful from the 23\u00a0sui iuris<\/em>\u00a0Churches in full communion with Rome,\u00a0… \u201cThe Church needs you!\u201d Pope Leo said. \u201cThe contribution that the Christian East can offer us today is immense,\u201d … \u201cIt is vital then, that you preserve your traditions without attenuating them,” he said. …<\/p>\n

\u201cWho better than you,\u201d he asked, \u201ccan sing a song of hope even amid the abyss of violence.\u201d …<\/p>\n

He went on to thank God for all those who are \u201csowing peace,\u201d\u00a0…<\/p>\n

“Today more than ever,” concluded Pope Leo XIV, “the splendour of the Christian East demands freedom from all worldly attachments, and from every tendency contrary to communion, in order to remain faithful in obedience and in evangelical witness.\u201d\u00a0https:\/\/www.vaticannews.va\/en\/pope\/news\/2025-05\/pope-leo-xiv-to-eastern-catholics-the-church-needs-you.html<\/a><\/p>\n

May 14, 2025<\/p>\n

On the morning of Wednesday, May 14, the Pope received in a special audience in the Paul VI Hall of the Vatican City Catholics from various Eastern rites, accompanied by their Patriarchs, Major Archbishops, and clergy. … We now offer the English translation of the Pope\u2019s words.<\/p>\n

I would also like to mention Pope Leo XIII, the first Pope to devote a specific document to the dignity of your Churches, inspired above all by the fact that, in his words, \u201cthe work of human redemption began in the East\u201d (cf. Apostolic Letter Orientalium Dignitas, 30 November 1894). Truly, you have \u201ca unique and privileged role as the original setting where the Church was born\u201d (SAINT JOHN PAUL II, Orientale Lumen, 5). It is significant that several of your liturgies \u2013 which you are now solemnly celebrating in Rome in accordance with your various traditions \u2013 continue to use the language of the Lord Jesus.<\/strong> … Over a century ago, Leo XIII<\/strong> pointed<\/strong> out that \u201cpreserving the Eastern rites is more important than is generally realized\u201d. (Pope asks to define principles, norms, and guidelines for Latin rite priests accompanying Eastern rite Catholics arriving in the West. ZENIT, May 14, 2025 https:\/\/zenit.org\/2025\/05\/14\/pope-asks-to-define-principles-norms-and-guidelines-for-latin-rite-priests-accompanying-eastern-rite-catholics-arriving-in-the-west\/<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yes, the Church of Rome needs to return to the original beliefs–that would help more than immensely. We have an e-book that would assist the Vatican: Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church: Could a remnant group have continuing apostolic succession?<\/a><\/p>\n

Who better than those who hold to the beliefs of the original catholic church, those of us who have remained pacifists, can sing a song of hope even amid the abyss of violence? That would be us of the Continuing<\/em> Church of God! See also Military Service and the Churches of God: Do Real Christians Participate in Carnal Warfare or Encourage Violence?<\/a> We are sowing peace, not attached to politics of this world, and faithfully looking for the coming Kingdom of God. But telling the Eastern Churches not to attenuate, it seems like Pope Leo XIV is unknowingly advocating for Jude 3.<\/p>\n

Note that while the ORIGINAL eastern rite practices should be retained, what is happening in those eastern churches in communion with the Church of Rome is NOT that. Nor do they speak quite the same language as Jesus did (Was the New Testament Written in Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic?<\/a>)–they speak Syriac Aramaic, whereas Jesus spoke Palestinian Aramaic.<\/p>\n

But we in the CCOG do hold to the liturgy and rites of the ORIGINAL CHURCH OF THE EAST.<\/p>\n

Regarding what else could be called the Church of the East, the 17th century historian and Sunday-keeper William Cave reported that the early Christians, both Jews and those in the east, kept the Sabbath:<\/p>\n

… the Sabbath or Saturday (for so the word\u00a0sabbatum<\/em>\u00a0is constantly used in the writings of the fathers, when speaking of it as it relates to Christians) was held by them in great veneration, and especially in the Eastern parts honoured with all the public solemnities of religion. For which we are to know, that the gospel in those parts mainly prevailing amongst the Jews, they being generally the first converts to the Christian faith, they still retained a mighty reverence for the Mosaic institutions, and especially for the sabbath, as that which had been appointed by God himself, (as the memorial of his rest from the week of creation,) settled by their great master Moses, and celebrated by their ancestors for so many ages, as the solemn day of their public worship, and were therefore very loth that it should be wholly antiquated and laid aside. … they assembled on Saturdays, not that they were infected with Judaism, but only to worship Jesus Christ, the Lord of the sabbath. …<\/p>\n

Thus stood the case in the Eastern Church; (Cave William, D.D. Primitive Christianity: or the Religion of the Ancient Christians in the First Ages of the Gospel. 1840 edition revised by H. Cary. Oxford, London, pp. 83-85)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Notice also the following 19th century report:<\/p>\n

There has been no period since the time of Christ when there were not Sabbath-keeping Christians in the church \u2026 302 A.D. From that time until English missionaries entered Armenia early in the present century, Sabbath keeping continued without interruption. The \u2026 Chaldean Christians have also continued their original practice of Sabbath keeping through the present century. (Sanford EB. A Concise Cyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Biblical, Biographical, Geographical, Historical, Practical and Theological. S.S. Scranton, 1890, pp. 853,854)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Commenting on that 19th century report, then evangelist in the Worldwide Church of God Dean Blackwell wrote, \u201cThey were the ancestors\u201d (Blackwell D. A HANDBOOK OF CHURCH HISTORY: A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Ambassador College Graduate School of Theology. April 1973, p. 182)–meaning they were the spiritual ancestors of certain later faithful Sabbatarian Christians.<\/p>\n

That said, it should be pointed out that the Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church which is in full communion with the Pope in Rome. Like other Greco-Roman Catholic churches, it observes Sunday as the day of worship.<\/p>\n

Roman Catholic priest Malachi Martin lived and worked in Vatican City for years. He was deeply involved in researching and writing about Church history, theology, and the inner workings of the Roman Catholic Church. He wrote:<\/p>\n

Jewish Christians \u2026 occupied the oldest Christian churches in the Middle East and whose leaders were always from the family of Jesus himself.\u00a0 \u2026 their first bishop was James, first cousin of Jesus. \u2026<\/p>\n

Jewish Christians had composed the only church ever in Jerusalem until the year 135<\/strong>. \u2026 Jewish Christian churches were set up all over Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia … observe the Torah \u2026 (Martin M. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church. Bantam edition, 1983, pp. 30-31).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The original Church of God in Jerusalem, throughout the entire first century of it existence, held to Church of God doctrines.<\/div>\n
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Without going through all the different doctrines and practices, there is basically NO DOUBT AMONG SCHOLARS THAT IN THE FIRST CENTURY CHURCH OF THE EAST:<\/div>\n
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