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Word origin
As stated in previous answers, the "X" in "Xmas" comes from the Greek word for Christ, Χριστός. However, since precision is important, I want to clarify when the abbreviation was first used in English. The 1511 date comes from the Oxford English Dictionary entry for ''Xmas'', which reads:
1551 in E. Lodge Illustr. Brit. ...
23
There is much negative information on the internet on this subject making it very difficult to earnestly study it and where the belief that the Archangel Michael is Jesus Christ originated.
The Jehovah's Witnesses surely inherrited it from Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the movement that led to the formulation of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
He equates ...
19
Without question, Theophilus of Antioch (d. 183) is your man. He wrote in Greek:
[God's creations on the first three days--light, sky, and vegetation--] are types of the Trinity [Τριάδος], of God, and His Word, and His wisdom. And the fourth [day, the creation of the moon and stars,] is the type of man, who needs light, that so there may be God, the Word, ...
19
Great Britain monks used "X" for "Christ" nearly a thousand years ago. They used "X" for "Christ" while transcribing manuscripts in Old English. They did so because the Greek word for Christ, ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, begins with the letters "chi" (or “X”) and "rho" (or "P"). And the monks used either "X" or "XP" in writing as an abbreviation for "Christ." The first ...
16
Attitudes on birthdays
In the early church, birthdays (in general) were not seen as something to celebrate. For example, in Origen's 8th homily on Leviticus he writes:
But the saints not only do not celebrate a festival on their birth days, but, filled with the Holy Spirit, they curse that day.
According to an article by Andrew McGowan (Bible Review, ...
16
I can't find this doxology in the lords prayer as recorded in
scripture
It is in the King James Version:
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine
is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
but the underlying Greek is missing in some manuscripts. Metzger's Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (...
16
Sub Tuum Praesidium
The earliest known, extant petition prayer to Mary the Θεοτόκος (Theotokos), or Dei Genetrix (the Greek and Latin, respectively, for 'God-bearer' or 'Birthgiver-of-God') is found in an Egyptian papyrus from the 3rd century (commonly dated to around A.D. 250-280 but as late as 300—I could not find a dating later than the 4th century) and ...
15
Protestantism and Tradition
I'm coming at this answer from a Protestant perspective. Since I've seen a variety of folk in my branch of Christianity hold hands during prayer, I'll assume you've been observing my people. We've inherited from Paul a suspicion of traditional rites and practices. When we do observe some custom, we are very likely to either:
...
15
It appears to be a custom that predates establishment of the Christian religion, but you can find a scriptural example in 1 Corinthians 11:23-25(KJV)
That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took
bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take,
eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance
...
14
Augustine of Hippo is basically universally credited with the coinage of the phrase. It is an idea which can easily be supported by the Bible, but he was the first to say it in a form close to its present proverbial form. He probably didn't think he was coining a cliche, since it was neatly hidden away in a letter to a convent. This blog has a summary of the ...
14
It's from Jerome's Commentary on Galatians, 6:10:
The blessed John the Evangelist lived in Ephesus until extreme old age. His disciples could barely carry him to church and he could not muster the voice to speak many words. During individual gatherings he usually said nothing but, "Little children, love one another." The disciples and brothers in ...
answered Nov 23 '15 at 16:23
Nathaniel is protesting
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13
The story is found in the Apocryphal Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour:
(23) And turning away from this place, they came to a desert; and hearing that it was infested by robbers, Joseph and the Lady Mary resolved to cross this region by night. But as they go along, behold, they see two robbers lying in the way, and along with them a great number ...
13
This practice is attested as early as the first half of the third century, by Tertullian and particularly Hippolytus.
Tertullian addresses the topic tangentially while addressing the dangers of women marrying non-Christians. Their husbands will notice their Christian practices, such as fasting before taking communion, and may put pressure on them to stop:
...
answered Jul 5 '17 at 11:55
Nathaniel is protesting
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12
The Mystery of the Temple's 'Molten Metals'
Two recent apologists told the story, apparently independently, of molten gold seeping between the temple`s foundation stones during the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Both implied the source was Josephus, but neither provided references. Unfortunately, both had theological motivations for adding these details to ...
12
The first recorded instance of the tradition comes from Hegesippus, a second century Christian writer. Unfortunately, his works have been lost, except for a small portion of his writings quoted by later authors.
In his Church History (c. 325), Eusibius writes:
But Hegesippus, who lived immediately after the apostles, gives the most accurate account in the ...
12
Paragraph 937 of the Catechism is part of an "In Brief" section that occurs at the end of every topic of the Catechism. The "In Brief" sections are intended to summarize the paragraphs that have gone before. In this case, the paragraph is restating material that occurs in paragraphs 881 and 882. In particular:
"For the Roman Pontiff,...
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Calvin
The first extant writing to contain the phrase is John Calvin's Antidote to the Council of Trent (1547).
First, for context, Calvin was responding to Canon 11 of the sixth session of the Council of Trent (which you can read at the above link):
Whosoever shall say that men are justified by the mere imputation of Christ's righteousness, or by the ...
11
Foundations: Taxation and private property are in tension
The commandment (Exodus 20) "Thou shalt not steal" implies the right to private property, and this is everywhere assumed in Scripture (even in Acts 5). If princes had the unlimited right to tax, to any extent and for any purpose, there could be no private property. All would belong to the ...
10
In Heaven: A History (1995: Yale University Press) the authors, Drs. Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang, state that Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) had a pivotal role in bringing about a changed view of heaven, including the idea that angels are humans who have died and gone on to heaven, rather than a separate race of pre-created beings as mainstream ...
10
Within Christianity, the belief that humans become angels seems to stem from a misinterpretation of Jesus' words:
For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. (Matthew 22:30)
And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain ...
10
Tertullian: Earliest extant use of term
Tertullian (155 - 240) was, famously, the first Latin writer to use the word "trinity" in his anti-Sabellian treatise Against Praxeas. It also contains the earliest known uses (16 total) of the word "persons" in reference to the Godhead.
The mystery of the dispensation is still guarded, which distributes the Unity ...
10
There is no biblical support for Satan or any of his demons torturing people in Hell. Rather, the adversary, Satan is said to travel around the world (Job 1:7) and even to have access to God's presence (Job 1:6). In the gospel and Acts accounts, we find demonic figures not in Hell but on earth, dwelling in men (Matthew 12:22). Interestingly, in Matthew 12:43-...
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Origen's commentaries do indeed appear to be the earliest surviving line-by-line, self-contained biblical commentaries. This becomes evident when we examine his closest competitors. We'll look first at Greek-speaking authors, and then at Latin.
Greek
About a hundred years before Origen's commentaries were written, Papias of Hierapolis wrote a lengthy work ...
answered May 26 '17 at 13:57
Nathaniel is protesting
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Several commentators before Jerome make this connection. We'll mention three,1 starting with Cyril of Jerusalem (313–386), who indicates that he is not the originator of this interpretation:
The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall surpass all kingdoms. And that this kingdom is that of the Romans, has been the tradition of the ...
answered Jul 27 '17 at 13:08
Nathaniel is protesting
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9
John Darby (1800-1882), often considered the father of dispensationalism and one of the founders of the Plymouth Brethren, tends to be given credit for inventing the doctrine, or at least for having "provided the intellectual mantle that helped make it respectable." (1 2 3 4). Anti-pre-trib sources often allege that he got it from a certain Margaret ...
9
It seems this interpretative tradition goes back millennia to the ancient Jews. BioLogos has a short article on the development of the tradition that Adam and Eve "wore" garments of light, attributing it to the Jewish squeamishness regarding the naked body, then exacerbated by Greek culture, rampant with nudity, flooding the Jewish populations at the time of ...
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A Catholic priest, Father William Saunders, answers here:
Who Added The Doxology?
To summarize:
The doxology is very old, going back to the first century. To quote the article:
In the early Church, the Christians living in the eastern half of the
Roman Empire added the doxology "for thine..." to the Gospel text of
the Our Father when reciting the ...
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As with many doctrines in the first few hundred years of the church, they tended not to be explicitly defined until heretics arose forcing the church to define doctrine.
This is why history is scarce on people speaking of this doctrine until the Antidicomarites show up in the mid to late 300s.
With that said, here's the records we have:
~100 AD: Ignatius ...
8
The concept is biblical:
John 7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'" 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were ...
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