Genuflection

Another sign used by Catholics is genuflection, which consists of touching the right knee to the floor while bending the left knee. The sign of the cross is made during genuflection. Catholics only do this in the presense of the Holy Eucharist. Catholics believe the Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Christ, so they show the ultimate form of respect by genuflecting or kneeling before him. The Holy Eucharist is usually kept in a large metal container known as a tabernacle. Sometimes, it may be displayed behind glass in a gold container known as a monstrance.

The Sign of the Cross

The most common gesture used by Catholics is the sign of the cross. Latin (Western) Catholics make the sign by using their right hand to touch the forehead, the breast, and then the left and right shoulders. As they do this, they say "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen." This one, long gesture makes a cross with the intersection of the vertical line from forehead to chest and the horizontal line between shoulders.

Byzantine Catholics make a similar sign, but they go from right to left on the shoulders. Byzantine Catholics are former Eastern Orthodox Christians who split from the Church in 1054, but returned into communion in the 17th century when they accepted the authority of the Bishop of Rome as Pope. This group includes: Ruthenian, Ukranian, and Greek Catholics, along with the Melkite, Romanian, and Italo-Albanian Byzantine Churches. Eastern Catholics also include Maronite, Coptic, and Chaldean Catholic Churches, also in communion with Rome.

More importantly, the sign of the cross symbolically reminds Catholics of two essential Christian doctrines: the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and humankind's salvation through Christ's death.

Sunday Off-Topic: Avoiding Extremes

Every Introduction course always has its off-topic tangents, and Catholicism 101 is no different. On Sundays, we'll delve into some aspects of Catholicism that we might not otherwise get to. These areas are kind of up to my whim, but they will usually focus on unusual parts of Catholicism.

The Catholic Church tries to avoid two extremes when it comes to Jesus's life. The first is seeing Jesus as merely the greatest human who ever lived. Catholicism teaches that Jesus wasn't adopted by God because of his actions, but was always (and always will be) the Son of God. Christians are "adopted" by their baptism. Catholics believe they are born as humans, then adopted by God through Baptism. However, they believe Jesus was always divine and always the Son of God. His human side has a beginning, just like ours, at the Annunciation (when Gabriel announced to Mary that she would have a son), but his divine nature is eternal.

The other extreme is seeing Jesus as some sort of hero. Some scholars try to make Jesus out as the hero of humankind. Heroes are those who go first so others can follow. For example, Sir Isaac Newton discovered the laws of gravity, but he didn't have to be. Someone else could have come along later and done the same thing. Catholicism teaches that no one else could ever repeat what Jesus did (save the human race through his sacrifice). Only Jesus, the God-Man could pull it off, since he's the only person to have been both human and divine.

In the eyes of the Church, overemphasizing Jesus's humanity to the detriment of his divinity is just as bad as downplaying his humanity to exalt his divinity.

Worshipping

The most noticeable aspect of Catholicism and yet its most mysterious is the method of worship, which is filled with ancient rituals and rites. Catholic Mass is centered around the idea that humankind is situated between the material and spiritual world. In other words, humans interact in the material world with their body, and in the spiritual world through divine grace in their soul. The way that Catholics worship (burning incense, using symbols, standing, etc.,)centers on this dynamic relationship between material and spiritual worlds.

Christians believe that a human being consists of a body and a soul; both are created by God and are therefore good. In addition to this, the connection between the two is absolutely necessary, since Jesus had a human body and soul united to his divine nature. Catholic worship expounds on this relationship between body and soul- the material and spiritual world. That's why the entire person is engaged in Mass ritual.

Rites are the necessary words, actions, and gestures of a religious ceremony. For example, the Rites of Baptism and the Rite of Christian Marriage are the exact words spoken and actions performed for these two sacraments.

Rituals are the established forms for rites. They detail the order and means for proper celebration of the rites. An example of this is the Roman Ritual, which is the book used by priests and deacons when they celebrate the rites. It instructs on the necessary materials, the sequence of events, and states what the words and actions should be. The Ritual used to be only one volume, but now consists of individual editions for each sacrament (one for marriages, another for baptisms, and so on).

During the Mass, words are spoken, heard, or read. Bodies stand, sit and kneel. Physical symbols, such as baptismal water or annointing oil, are used for the senses. These outward symbols are used to remind the faithful of the invisible action of divine grace entering their souls.

Monophystism

The last significant heresy about Jesus is known as Monophysitism. This theory centered around the notion of Jesus's human nature being absorbed by his divine nature. For example, if a drop of honey was put into an ocean, the honey would quickly be overcome by the massive amount of water. In the same way, Monophysitists argued, Jesus's human nature was completely overwhelmed by his divine. The Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.) condemned Monophysitism. The Church said Jesus consisted of two natures (human and divine) and that was final-there was no engulfing of one nature by the other. These two natures were hypostatically united to one person. This Hypostatic Union (the name of the Chalcedon doctrine) explained:

-Jesus had a human mind like any other man. It had to learn human traits. Therefore, the infant Jesus didn't speak to the shepherds or wise men. He had to learn how to walk, talk, and so on. His human will, like our own, was free to decide between good and evil. In other words, Jesus's human nature led to his decision to embrace God. He also freely conformed his will to God's. However, his divine nature allowed Jesus special insights that only God would know. His divine mind (in contrast to his human one) was infinite. His divinity revealed divine truths to him, such as the fact that he was the Son of God and that he came to Earth to save mankind.

-The divine nature of Jesus had the same divine intellect as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. As God, Jesus knew and willed the same things as the other persons of the Trinity.

-As both God and man, Jesus bridged the gap between humanity and divinity. He actually saved humankind by becoming man, but his death had eternal value because of his divine nature. If Jesus had only been a man, his death would not have had any supernatural effect. His physical death atoned for sin and offered redemption for humans.

The bottom line of Catholic theology is that the faithful fully believe Jesus was one divine person with both a fully human and fully divine nature. Each nature had its own intellect and will. No one intellect dominated the other.

Note: Some modern scholars have proposed that Jesus was not aware of his divine nature because of his human intellect. However, the Catholic Church opposes this view, pointing to Luke 2:42-50. In that passage, Mary and Joseph find a 12-year old Jesus preaching in the Temple. Jesus tells Mary that he is in Father's house and is about to do his Father's will. Even a young Jesus was aware of his divine nature. Further passages such as "The Father and I are one" (John 10:30) and "before Abraham came to be, I AM," (John 8:58) dispel the notion of an identity crisis in the human Jesus. He was seemingly aware of who he was and that he was a part of the Trinity.

Nestorianism

Another early heresy was Nestorianism, named (again) after its founder, Nestorius. This doctrine maintained that Jesus had two hypostases (persons) - a divine one and a human one. Nestorius hated the word Theotokos, which is Greek for mother of God. From Nestorius's view, if Jesus had two separate natures, then the most Mary could do was give birth to the human person of Jesus, and not the divine.

Another ecumenical council was convened in 431 A.D., this time in Ephesus, and the participants hammered out a doctrine that dictated Jesus had only one person, not two, and consisted of two natures-human and divine. Since Christ was only one person, Mary could still be said to be the Mother of God, because she gave birth to that one person. In other words, Jesus didn't come in two parts, but in one body with two distinct natures. The Church calls Mary the Mother of God, since she gave birth to the human Jesus, but she was not the source of his divinity. This is not a contradiction: consider how your own mother gave birth to you, but God gave you a soul.

Arianism

Arianism was probably the most dangerous and prolific of the heresies in the early Church. (Don't confuse Arianism with Aryanism, which is the racial anti-Semitic ideology of Nazi Germany) Arianism comes from a cleric named Arius in the third century A.D., who denied that Jesus was of a divine nature. Arianism is the opposite extreme of Docetism, which believes Jesus had no human nature.

Arius proposed that Jesus was not of the same substance as God-he was higher than any other angel or person, but still not on par with the Almighty. He was an "adopted" son of God, not a true one. According to Arian belief, Jesus became the Son of God, whereas Catholicism taught that Jesus always was and always will be the Son. Arianism was a very popular viewpoint, since it appealed to most peoples' understanding that there was only one God. In their eyes, it was impossible for God to have two different natures.

Emperor Constantine was afraid that this religious discord would tear apart his Eastern European realm. He ordered the formation of a council of bishops, patriarchs, and the Pope to settle the issue permanently. The imperial city of Nicea was chosen for its security and safety. Once in Nicea, the bishops decided to compose a creed that every believer would profess as being the Christian faith. That same creed is still in use today, recited every Sunday at Masses around the world. It's called the Nicene Creed, since it was written at the Council of Nicea in 325.


The line in the Creed that ended the controversy was "one in being with the Father." The more accurate English translation of the Greek and Latin used would be "consubstantial (of the same substance) as the Father." This was specifically aimed at Arianism, by saying that Jesus was equal in substance to God.

It should be noted that Jehovah's Witnesses hold some views the Church considers Arianism. For example, the Watchtower (the society that publishes the group's literature) says that Jesus was created by God, and that he is the second-greatest person in the universe.

Gnosticism & Docetism

Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis, meaning knowledge. During the 1st Century to 5th Century A.D., Gnostics believed in secret knowledge, whereas Judeo-Christians were free and public about the divine truths they believed were revealed by God. Gnostics believed the material world to be evil and the only way to salvation was through discovery of the "secrets" of the universe. This belief went contrary to Christian belief that God created the world and that his creation was inherently good. Christians also believed that faith was a public act and something to be celebrated.

Docetism comes from the Greek dokesis, meaning appearance. Docetists were a spin-off of Gnosticism (around 1st-2nd centuries A.D.) who believed Jesus only appeared to be human. They believed that the material world was so corrupt that an entirely good being like God would have been incapable of inhabiting it. They reasoned that God only pretended to come to Earth and that Jesus was not a true man. The Church's response was that Jesus's suffering and death (his Passion) would have been meaningless if he were not truly man (since he wouldn't truly be suffering).

The core belief of Christianity is that Jesus physically died to save mankind from its sins. Since this is incompatible with Docetism, that belief was considered hostile to orthodox Christianity (not to be confused with capital "O" Orthodox Christianity, which is the Eastern Orthodox Church). Today, some remnants of gnosticism still exist in some modern religions. New Age spirituality and Dianetics (Scientology) propose to reveal the secrets of the universe and human nature. Docetism seems to have died out, however.

Dealing With Heresy

Christians were persecuted for the first 300 years of the Church, dating from the time of Nero and the burning of Rome (which he blamed on the Christians). So for 300 years, the Church remained an underground organization. Christians learned about Jesus of Nazareth and his teachings through word of mouth. It wasn't until 313 A.D., when the Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in his Edict of Milan, that Christians were even permitted to affiliate themselves with the Church. Once Christianity became legal, however, it quickly became predominant and eventually the official state religion of the Empire.

Upon leaving the catacombs and entering the public sphere, early Christians began devoting themselves to theological questions not explicitly addressed by the Bible. An example was the nature of Jesus: Scripture says that he was God and that he was man. How could he be both? How were his two natures connected? The second 300 years of the Church (4th -7th centuries) saw a Pandora's Box of theological controversy opened.

In the eyes of the Catholic Church, heresy is the denial of a revealed truth (or the distortion of it) so that others are deceived into believing a theological error. Once Christianity was legalized, Christological Heresies (referring to the nature of Christ) became rampant. Debates could rapidly degenerate into violent arguments and civil authorities (such as the Roman Emperor) occasionally intervened, ordering the religuous leaders-Pope, patriarchs, and bishops- to stop the unrest by settling the issues once and for all.

In the coming days, we'll enter into some of the more infamous heresies that nearly tore the early Church apart.

Sunday Off-Topic: Jesus Had Downtime

Every Introduction course always has its off-topic tangents, and Catholicism 101 is no different. On Sundays, we'll delve into some aspects of Catholicism that we might not otherwise get to. These areas are kind of up to my whim, but they will usually focus on unusual parts of Catholicism.

Jesus wasn't a workaholic. The Bible says he occasionally had some R&R. We know he visited his friends Martha, Mary, and Lazarus (John 12:2) for some relaxation and he attended a wedding feast in Cana with his mother (John 2:1-2). He took a nap in a boat while his apostles stayed awake on deck (John 8:22-23) and went to an out-of-the-way place to pray (Matthew 14:23).

He was only following his Father. God rested after creating the known universe (Genesis 2:1-3).

The Gospel According to John

John was the last to write a Gospel, and his is the most theological of the four. The other three are very similar in their content, enough so that they're considered the Synoptic Gospels (from the Greek word sunoptikos, meaning summary). John, who wrote his Gospel much later than the others, was writing for a general Christian audience. He presumed that people had already heard the other Gospels, and wrote a more in-depth, advanced version of Jesus's life and words. As a metaphor, if Matthew, Mark, and Luke's Gospels were college 101 textbooks, John's is a 500-level course.

John set the tone by starting his Gospel off with a philosophical concept of pre-existence: Before Jesus was conceived by Mary, he existed from all eternity in his divinity as the second person of the Holy Trinity. The first line of the Gospel According to John is: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." This is a very theological concept. John wished his audience to see Jesus as actually being the Word of God. He then continues: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." He was saying that Jesus was the incarnate word, that is, the Word of God actually becoming a physical man.

If the phrase "In the beginning" sounds familiar, it's also the first line of the Book of Genesis. According to Genesis 1:3, God said "Let there be light and there was light." In other words, God created by simply speaking the Word. John built on this in his Gospel by saying Jesus was the Word. The Word of God wasn't a thing, but an actual person. Just as God said the word and light was created, so too was Jesus able to cure the sick and dead by simply speaking.

The Gospel According to Mark

Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, due to his audience being mostly Roman. When one is preaching to an imperial police state, one is not concerned about making connections to a Hebrew past, nor does one make lengthy philosophical points. Romans wanted action. This is why the Gospel According to Mark has fewer sermons and more movement. It's a continuous narrative about Jesus's ministry, which would have appealed better to the Romans than any of the other Gospels.

Mark explicitly worked Romans into his Gospel, as well. At Jesus's crucifixion, Mark wrote of a Roman centurion (a commander of 100 soldiers) who proclaimed, "Truly, this was the Son of God" (Mk 15:39). Mark's Roman audience would have definitely perked up when they heard this part of the story, since it was an act of faith by one of their own.

Much like Luke, Mark wasn't one of the 12 apostles. Instead, the two were among the first 72 disciples. The apostles were there to witness Jesus's words and deeds, but disciples learned about it secondhand, told by other sources. Luke is believed to have received much of his information from Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mark from his friend Peter, the chief apostle.