Why is the Catholic Church called the Catholic Church if catholic means general?

Question

Why did Constantine call it the general church? Does this have anything to do with the Nicene Creed?

Answer 1

The Catholic Church has consistently referred to itself as the “Catholic Church” at least since 107 AD, when the term appears in the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch.

This was long before the Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed from 325 A.D. which states, "We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church."

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

--is Catholic--

Constantine had little to do with the creation of the Nicene Creed. The term Catholic had been used for centuries.

The first known usage of the term is by St. Ignatius in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans, written about the year 110. "Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, there is the Catholic Church."

In the fuller context of the letter, St. Ignatius is saying that you know where the REAL community of the followers of Christ is by knowing where an apostolically ordained bishop consecrates the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar, the Eucharist.

The term "catholic" is Greek for universal but when we read the term in its theological context of "Catholic Church", it means "that community who's faith is universal in the terms that the faith is the only true faith, that the faith contains the fullness of truth (all other religions have only part of the truth), that it is the completion and fulfillment of the Jewish faith, is the faith that is intended for all people, there never has been nor will there ever be a greater faith, that all peoples throughout time and space are bound by this faith, and that it is necessary for all people to somehow come into this faith and community in order to be saved."

In other words, the "universal" meaning of catholic is taken to be at the fullest extent of its meaning, that the Church is for all people, across all time and space, THE ONE AND ONLY Church.

In other words, the Church and its Faith is like the universality of the Law of Gravity.

Answer 3

The more pertinent meaning of "catholic" is "universal". Does that now make more sense?

Answer 4

The word Catholic does not mean general or universal. I know, I come from the Greek part of the Church.

It has two meanings and comes from the combination of two Greek words. The first meaning is "all embracing," the second is "according to the whole."

The first meaning means that to be Christian, you may not be a member of a denomination. There is but one body to Christ not many. It means what Protestants now call non-denominational. It means you cannot split off your group just because you have a different interpretation of a passage. If you must fight over something you must do it within the family of God. You don't get to start your own group no matter how bad the group gets, you just have to pray harder for God to act.

The second meaning is "according to the whole." The bible wasn't canonized until the year 405 by Pope Innocent I, (some consider it 397 by Pope Damasus). A Catholic belief is a belief held by all of Christianity across all time and in all places. It was part of the beliefs handed down by the apostles (what Catholics call Tradition or paradosis in the New Testament in Greek). If they were held everywhere that meant that the apostles must have spread the belief everywhere, which means it must be part of the apostolic teaching. Apostolic teaching includes stories, the New Testament, songs, services, teachings and art (Luke painted).

Constantine had nothing to do with it. It was obviously long in use by 107 when its oldest use occurs in a letter from Irenaeus, who was trained by Peter and John and succeeded Evodius who succeeded Peter as bishop of the Church of Antioch. As such, he was a successor to Peter. See Acts 1:46 for the apostolic succession. All Catholic bishops are successors to the apostles, the first apostolic successor being Mathias in Acts 1:46. If you read his letter it is clear he was using a word long since in use. As such, and given that John died very late, the word itself is a word from the period of the lives of the apostles.

Paul, however, gets the same message across in Corinthians as the word Catholic and he covers both meanings.

10 I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.
11 For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by Chloe's people, that there are rivalries among you.
12 I mean that each of you is saying, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to Christ."
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I give thanks (to God) that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15 so that no one can say you were baptized in my name.
16 (I baptized the household of Stephanas also; beyond that I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.
18 The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of the learned I will set aside."
20 Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish?
21 For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith.
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
24 but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
26 Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
27 Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,
28 and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something,
29 so that no human being might boast before God.
30 It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
31 so that, as it is written, "Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord."

When people say the Nicene creed they are rejecting anyone who would split the church and any decision making that does not include the entire apostolic message which is more than just what is in the bible. Most Protestants don't realize that.

One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church

No division, no creator except God (hence apostolic succession), all embracing and holding fast to the truth, and grounded only in the faith of the apostles not doctrine men can reason out by putting passages together carefully.

Constantine had very little to do with the Council at Nicaea. He had just recently stopped killing the participants. He was seeking peace in the Empire when he called it. They didn't trust him and contrary to mythology of Protestants he didn't make Christianity the official religion. Paganism still was. What he did was end the killing and returned 300 years of seized property.