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Rite Of Christian Initiation Of Adults
The Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (), or OCIA, known as the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) in many English-speaking countries, is a process developed by the Catholic Church for its catechumenate for prospective converts to the Catholic faith above the age of infant baptism. Candidates are gradually introduced to aspects of Catholic beliefs and practices. The basic process applies to adults and children who have reached catechetical age. In the United States, the name was changed from Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) to the OCIA in 2021 to reflect greater fidelity to the original Latin, although this change has yet to be officially approved by the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Some Catholic movements, like the Polish Light-Life promote post-baptismal formation based on the OCIA. Similarly, the Knights of Columbus provides a free correspondence course under the Catholic Information Services (CIS) program. ...
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Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. The texts include instructions, stories, poetry, prophecies, and other genres. The collection of materials accepted as part of the Bible by a particular religious tradition or community is called a biblical canon. Believers generally consider it to be a product of divine inspiration, but the way they understand what that means and interpret the text varies. The religious texts were compiled by different religious communities into various official collections. The earliest contained the first five books of the Bible, called the Torah in Hebrew and the Pentateuch (meaning 'five books') in Greek. The second-oldest part was a collection of narrative histories and prophecies (the Nevi'im). The third co ...
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Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manuscripts and Christian traditions. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, and a shorter form in the Gospel of Luke when "one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. Scholars generally agree that the differences between the Matthaean and Lucan versions of the Lord’s Prayer reflect independent developments from a common source. The first-century text '' Didache'' (at chapter VIII) reports a version closely resembling that of Matthew and the modern prayer. It ends with the Minor Doxology. Theologians broadly view the Lord’s Prayer as a model that aligns the soul with God’s will, emphasizing praise, tr ...
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Creed
A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets. Many Christian denominations use three creeds: the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, the Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian Creed. Some Christian denominations do not use any of those creeds. The term ''creed'' is sometimes extended to comparable concepts in non-Christian theologies. The Islamic concept of '' ʿaqīdah'' (literally "bond, tie") is often rendered as "creed". History The earliest known creed in Christianity, " Jesus is Lord", originated in the writings of Paul the Apostle. One of the most significant and widely used Christian creeds is the Nicene Creed, first formulated in AD 325 at the First Council of Nicaea to affirm the deity of Christ and revised at the First Council of Constantinople in AD 381 to affirm the trinity as a whole. The creed was further aff ...
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Lent
Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Mark and Gospel of Luke, Luke, before beginning his Ministry of Jesus, public ministry. Lent is usually observed in the Catholic Church, Catholic, Lutheranism, Lutheran, Moravian Church, Moravian, Anglican Communion, Anglican, United and uniting churches, United Protestant and Eastern Orthodoxy, Orthodox Christian traditions, among others. A number of Anabaptism, Anabaptist, Baptists, Baptist, Methodism, Methodist, Calvinism, Reformed (including certain Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continental Reformed, Presbyterianism, Presbyterian and Congregational church, Congregationalist churches), and Nondenominational Christianity, nondenominational Ch ...
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Sacraments
A sacrament is a Christian rite which is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence, number and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the reality of God, as well as a channel for God's grace. Many denominations, including the Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, and Reformed, hold to the definition of sacrament formulated by Augustine of Hippo: an outward sign of an inward grace, that has been instituted by Jesus Christ. Sacraments signify God's grace in a way that is outwardly observable to the participant. The Catholic Church, Hussite Church and the Old Catholic Church recognize seven sacraments: Baptism, Penance (Reconciliation or Confession), Eucharist (or Holy Communion), Confirmation, Marriage (Matrimony), Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick (Extreme Unction). The Eastern Churches, such as the Eastern Orthodox Church and Orien ...
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Godparents
Within Christianity, a godparent or sponsor is someone who bears witness to a child's baptism (christening) and later is willing to help in their catechesis, as well as their lifelong spiritual formation. In both religious and civil views, a godparent tends to be an individual chosen by the parents to take an interest in the child's upbringing and personal development, and to offer mentorship. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother. The child is a godchild (i.e., godson for boys and goddaughter for girls). Christianity Origins and history As early as the 2nd century Anno Domini, AD, infant baptism had begun to gain acceptance among Christians for the spiritual purification and social initiation of infants. Normally, these sponsors were the birth parents of a child, as emphasized in 408 by St. Augustine who suggested that the sponsors could be other individuals in exceptional circumstances. Within a century, the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' ind ...
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Bishop
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role or office of the bishop is called episcopacy or the episcopate. Organisationally, several Christian denominations utilise ecclesiastical structures that call for the position of bishops, while other denominations have dispensed with this office, seeing it as a symbol of power. Bishops have also exercised political authority within their dioceses. Traditionally, bishops claim apostolic succession, a direct historical lineage dating back to the original Twelve Apostles or Saint Paul. The bishops are by doctrine understood as those who possess the full Priest#Christianity, priesthood given by Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ, and therefore may ordain other clergy, including other bishops. A person ordained as a deacon, pri ...
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Cathedral
A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Catholic Church, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicanism, Anglican, and some Lutheranism, Lutheran churches.''New Standard Encyclopedia'', 1998 by Standard Educational Corporation, Chicago, Illinois; page B-262c. Church buildings embodying the functions of a cathedral first appeared in Italy, Gaul, Spain, and North Africa in the 4th century, but cathedrals did not become universal within the Western Catholic Church until the 12th century, by which time they had developed architectural forms, institutional structures, and legal identities distinct from parish churches, monastery, monastic churches, and episcopal residences. The cathedra ...
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Diocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, provinces were administratively associated in a larger unit, the Roman diocese, diocese (Latin ''dioecesis'', from the Greek language, Greek term διοίκησις, meaning "administration"). Christianity was given legal status in 313 with the Edict of Milan. Churches began to organize themselves into Roman diocese, dioceses based on the Roman diocese, civil dioceses, not on the larger regional imperial districts. These dioceses were often smaller than the Roman province, provinces. Christianity was declared the Empire's State church of the Roman Empire, official religion by Theodosius I in 380. Constantine the Great, Constantine I in 318 gave litigants the right to have court cases transferred from the civil courts to the bishops. This situa ...
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Anointing
Anointing is the ritual, ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person's head or entire body. By extension, the term is also applied to related acts of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing a person or object with any perfumed oil, milk, butter, or other fat. Scented oils are used as perfumes and sharing them is an act of #Hospitality, hospitality. Their use to #Religion, introduce a divine influence or presence is recorded from the earliest times; anointing was thus used as #Health, a form of medicine, thought to rid persons and things of dangerous spirits and demons which were believed to cause disease. In present usage, "anointing" is typically used for ceremonial blessings such as the #Royalty, coronation of European monarchs. This continues an #Judaism, earlier Hebrew practice most famously observed in the anointings of Aaron as high priest and both Saul and David by the prophet Samuel (Bible), Samuel. The concept is important to the figure of the Messiah or the Christ (Hebre ...
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Blessing (Roman Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a blessing is a rite consisting of a ceremony and prayers performed in the name and with the authority of the Church by a duly qualified minister by which persons or things are sanctified as dedicated to divine service or by which certain marks of divine favour are invoked upon them. In a wider sense blessing has a variety of meanings in the sacred writings: * Synonymous with praise; thus the Psalmist, "I will bless the Lord at all times; praise shall be always in my mouth." * A wish or desire that all good fortune, especially of a spiritual or supernatural kind, may go with the person or thing, as the Psalmist says, "Blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee". * The sanctification or dedication of a person or thing to some sacred purpose; e.g., Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it.... * A gift, as when Naaman addresses Eliseus: "Now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant". The Old Testament In the morning of Creation Go ...
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