Message from @FreshWholeMilk
Discord ID: 541462228831043604
So let me ask you this, do you actually believe that the true Church is a small sect that is mostly restricted to a specific geographical location
"Even if Catholics faithful to tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the one who are the true Church of Jesus Christ."
that's St Athanasius
I hope you're not suggesting that truth is decided by a majority of bishops
It may not be so, but the Church is universal, it isn’t shut off somewhere
We agree
The church has historically been much bigger, it is at its weakest right now
That doesn't detract from its truth
It’s been at it’s weakest for 1500 years?
No?
The CotE was huge up into the 14th century
Fresh is Orthodox
it started declining after that
it was under very heavy persecution in the 20th century during the Assyrian genocide
yea, the church being based in Assyria was bad news
fuckin muzzies
Well, I don’t believe God would allow His Church to decline to such an extent. The gospel was said to be preached to all nations
A semi-Arian could have said that to an Orthodox Christian in the 4th century
The CotE spread Christianity to as far as China, Mongolia, and Japan
And it has been preserved in India to this day
Since the 14th
Before that, it was by many estimates larger than the Latin church
I would rather talk on theological grounds than appeals to the size of the church
one can say the catholic church and the orthodox church suffered the same
^
The church is probably leaving its period of decline now, at least it seems so to me
Are you Assyrian?
No
Along with about 15% of the church
Well, I’m no theologian, so I’m not exactly equipped to debate that matter, but as a rule I don’t take seriously small sects claiming to be the true Church. Same with the Sedevecantists and those sorts of people
The difference with the Sedevecantists is that they do not occupy any apostolic see
Depends, there are Conclavists with their own ‘Popes’
Their elections weren't valid though
Church of the East has her own Sedevacantists, they are called Old Calendarists and elected their own Patriarch
Maybe not, but I don’t believe your hierarchy is valid either
Respectfully it is valid whether you believe it or not
The issue of our apostolic succession has been firmly settled
You might have ‘Apostolic succession’ in a physical sense, but it doesn’t mean you’re spiritually descended from the apostles. The Lutheran Church of Sweden will also claim apostolic succession
Stockholm isn't an apostolic see though
Bawai Soro proved Selecuia-Ctesiphon developed independently from Antioch in his book