Only in the sense of saying "they were Christian, and we are Christian, so that means we trace our origins to that time period." Of course, it's nonsense since for some of them, the beliefs, the governance, the worship practices, and so much more bear almost no resemblance to what the first Christians did and believed.
A lot of these denominations--but not the ones you referred to--originated when some person of more recent times had a brainstorm and said that he was the one who, out of all history, had gotten it correct! Think Joseph Smith, Emmanuel Swedenborg, Charles Taze Russell, or others of our own times.
No. But I explained this to you. You're just unfamiliar with the facts of history and unwilling to be introduced to them.
It resulted in a split because the churches of the East would not accept as valid the non-Apostolic and unorthodox claims to universal jurisdiction that the Pope was making. That's not what you would like to believe.
And don't forget that the Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated the Pope in the midst of this dispute, so that fact flies in the face of the claim you've been making. It's probably also why you never mention this feature of the Great Schism. .
Those particular churches were. But they are not the only ones to have been independent of the Roman bishop over the centuries before and after.
And I agreed that you were correct on that much at least.
Well, of course they were Christian. We are talking about the Christian Church. The Church had it's origin at Pentecost.
I haven't referred to any denominations. I am speaking of the Church. The various splits in the Church came later. Thsese splits were then from the Roman Catholic Church.
The Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated the Pope after he had been excommunicated. That there had been disagreements before leading up to this split, of course. Just like with the Reformers in the 16th century. And though there are differences between the Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic Church, the Orthodox still bears similarities in both doctrine and liturgy with the Roman Church. Which are a product of the Roman Church.
The same is true with the Reformation. There were those in the Roman Church who disagreed with Rome. The fact that it resulted in a split is proof that the Church was Roman Catholic. And with the Reformation Church, you still see also similarities in doctrine and liturgy carrying over in many Protestant Churches.
There were no particular churches that the Reformers represented. The Reformers were not independent from the Roman Church until the Reformation when they either were excommunicated, left, or were killed. Luther wasn't trying to create a denomination. He was trying to reform the Roman Church.
So, again, the Church, the Catholic Church, the Universal Church of Jesus Christ, at the beginning, which was at Pentecost, was not Roman Catholic. It was simply the Church. And various local churches were started by Christians like Paul, and Barnabas etc. etc. And various leaders would be appointed in those churches, as they should be.
But over time, due to several causes, the church at Rome slowly began to be perceived as the leading church. One of the main causes was Rome being the capital of the Roman Empire. And the Bishop at the Roman Church began to be seen as the leading Bishop, resulting in what later we call the Pope, and the Papacy.
And over time, several hundred years, Rome gained the power over the Church, making it the Roman Catholic Church.
Lees