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(05/06/09)
A Brief Glimpse at Christian History Also see A Graphical Timeline of the Christian Church UNESCO (United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization) estimates there are over 25,000 groups today who lay claim to being the Christian...
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(05/06/09) A Brief Glimpse at Christian History Also see A Graphical Timeline of the Christian Church UNESCO (United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization) estimates there are over 25,000 groups today who lay claim to being the Christian Church, or at least the direct descendants of the Church described in the New Testament. But for the first thousand years of her history, the Church was essentially one. Five historic Patriarchal centers (called the "Pentarchy") - Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Alexandria, and Constantinople - formed a cohesive whole and were in full communion with each other. There were occasional heretical or schismatic groups going their own way, but the Church was unified until the 11th century when, in 1054 AD, the Roman Patriarch pulled away from the other four, pursuing his long-developing claim of universal headship of the Church. Today, nearly a thousand years later, the other four Patriarchates remain intact, in full communion, maintaining that Orthodox... See less