Apostate church organization: From 606 AD to the present time: "Monarchy"

Apostate church organization: From 606 AD to the present time: "Monarchy" This was a departure from the simple bible blueprint of a group of equal elders (presbyters) governing only within their own local church.

Learn from the Bible Blueprint, how the church was organized by the apostles!
Find a local congregation of the New Testament church that is organized exactly as the Bible says

Click to View

John Paul II
Catholic, Bishop of Rome, Pope

Introduction
Graphical Mouse Rollover of gradual change of organization over time
4 Competing views of organization
Outline: 33-150 AD
Outline: 150-250 AD
Outline: 250-451 AD
Outline: 451-588 AD
Outline: 588-606 AD
Catholic organization today
Orthodox organization today
True Bible organization today
Find a local congregation of the New Testament church in your own home town.

Click to View

Bartholomew
Orthodox, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch

From 606 AD to the present time:

622 AD: Muslims change the church in 622 AD leaving only Rome and Constantinople as world powers. This is the way it has been to this very day.

622 AD: The Muslims wipe out Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria leaving Rome and Constantinople as the two dominant centers of power in the church.
"The patriarchates of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria were distracted and weakened in the course of the fifth and sixth centuries by the tedious monophysite controversies, and subsequently, after the year 622, were reduced to but a shadow by the Mohammedan [Muslims, Islam] conquests." (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church)
In this way, the devil created the political environment for the great split of 1054 AD by removing all other authorities, except these two.

Today: The current organizational status of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches:

There are really 15 popes that rule the world today. One in Rome and 14 Autocephalous churches. The West is governed by Rome and the East is governed by 14 Autocephalous churches. The bishop of Constantinople is called the "Ecumenical Patriarch" who is "first among 13 other equals". Although the 14 Autocephalous patriarchs are all considered equal, each one rules his own territory with total monarchal control just like the Pope in Rome does. So if you add Rome to the list of 14 Autocephalous patriarchs you have 15 different popes who are all equal with each other. Although there are both philosophical and functional differences in the way Rome and the 14 Autocephalous patriarchs rule their churches, the functional end result is basically the same. You have 15 monarchs and it is merely a difference of management style. King Arthur was still the sole monarch and commander of the Knights of the Round Table, but his management style of first among equals, may in fact be inspired by the Eastern churches. The 14 Autocephalous churches tend to organize from the bottom up, whereas Rome tends to organize from the top down. The 14 "Popes" of the 14 Autocephalous churches will appoint leaders who are put forward by the grassroots and with their approval, whereas Rome just picks without input, the leaders it wants. In the end though, you have 15 equal monarchs, each of whom rule their territories. The Pope of Rome is just one among 15 but for reasons of pride, refuses to humble itself in the face of reality.

In the 6th century, when the Constantinople (Orthodox) and Roman Catholic churches went their separate paths of organization. They evolved differently. The Orthodox has retained the 6th century a 5 tiered, multi level organization.
The Roman Catholic church has only three levels: Pope, Bishops, Priests, and has actually simplified its organization since the 6th century. Rome took powers away from the Metropolitans and gave them to the Pope. The distinct powers of the offices of Bishops and Archbishops, was united and down graded. Now the titles are merely indicate how large the city they live in is. Bishops are from smaller cities, Archbishops are from larger cities. Cardinals have no powers, and are like Canadian cabinet members chosen from the pool of elected Members of Parliament. (MPs)

The Eastern Greek Orthodox church organization today:
Orthodox organization today

Click to View

Organization and Hierarchy of Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, centered at Constantinople
Orthodox Creed
Orthodox Catechism

Orthodox Hierarchy today is a church that divides the geography of the world up under the control of 14 "Patriarchs" of which Constantinople is considered the top authority or "first among equals". Orthodox organization today

Alexandria calls their man "His Beatitude Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria".

None of the rest call their men popes. But the fact remains, the 14 Patriarchs function exactly like the pope of Rome, within their own territories. One Patriarch cannot interfere with another, not even the "ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople".

It is clear, that the Orthodox is an almost perfect representation of the government of the church at its stage of development between 381-606 AD. Today, the Orthodox rightly criticize the Roman Catholic organization of departing from this organization that was clearly legislated in a number of ecumenical councils. Catholic organization today. Christians, of course, reject all these historic ecumenical councils as apostasy and call the church back to her historic roots of 1st century Christianity that you can clearly read for yourself in the Bible blueprint.

While the Eastern Greek Orthodox church calls the Roman Catholic church back to the organization of 381 AD, Christians call them both back to the organization of the church you read about in the Bible and was maintained from 30 - 150 AD.

Eastern Greek Orthodox organizational titles: There are only 5 levels of government in the Orthodox church. These 7titles do not all directly correspond to the 5 levels:

Position	Title	Number
Ecumenical Patriarch	His All Holiness	One in the world
Patriarch	His Beatitude	13 in the world
Metropolitan or Archbishop	His Eminence	Territorial leaders of country, region or city
Bishop	His Grace	Territorial leaders of region or city
Archpriest, Pastor	Very Reverend	Pulpit preacher
Protopresbyter	Right Reverend	Pulpit preacher
Pastor	Reverend Father	Pulpit preacher

(Click on graphic for high resolution)

The Roman Catholic church organization today:
Catholic organization today

Roman Catholic Organization today:

1 Pope

2946 Bishops/Dioceses (Mother churches over parishes)

219,583 Priests/Parishes (Local churches)

As you can see, there are only three levels of government in the Roman Catholic church, whereas the Orthodox has 5, which they borrowed from the period of 381 - 606 AD.

The Roman Catholic church actually developed from the simple Bible pattern of organization 30 - 150 AD with a single level of government (a plurality of bishops, also called elders within each autonomous local church) , to the complex 5 tier organization seen in the period of 381 - 606 AD, then later simplified itself to a 3 tier organization that consists of 1. Pope, 2. diocesan bishops and 3. local parish priests.

The Orthodox church can rightly claim that the Roman Catholic church has contradicted, ignored and changed several the historic ecumenical councils. Christians, of course, reject all these historic ecumenical councils as apostasy and call the church back to her historic roots of 1st century Christianity that you can clearly read for yourself in the Bible blueprint.

While the Eastern Greek Orthodox church calls the Roman Catholic church back to the organization of 381 AD, Christians call them both back to the organization of the church you read about in the Bible and was maintained from 30 - 150 AD

(Click on graphic for high resolution)

Conclusion: History Repeats Itself!

What is most interesting, is that history has repeated itself. The Old Testament has a period immediately following entering the promised land, where there was no king. Then they demanded a King which made God angry. God took away their king saying, "I gave you a king in My anger, and took him away in My wrath." (Hosea 13:1) This shows that God was never happy when the had kings. In the New Testament period, we have no centralization until 606 AD, when the first universal church "king" (pope) took power. Then during the restoration things were restored back to the way God originally intended. Search for a local congregation of the simple new Testament church that is organized exactly as the Bible says!

Period	No King or centralization	King with centralization	Restored back to no king without centralization
Old Testament	Joshua - Judges	Kings	Ezra Nehemiah
New Testament	33-606 AD	606- 1500AD	Reformation Restoration 1500- present

Learn from the Bible Blueprint, how the church was organized by the apostles!
Find a local congregation of the New Testament church that is organized exactly as the Bible says

by Steve Rudd

Back to START