PROTESTANT, PRAHT us tunt, is the general name for all Christian denominations outside the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches.
Protestants number about 264 million. This total includes official church members, as well as persons not formally connected with special denominations.
For membership of the various Protestant denominations in the United States, see RELIGION (table).
Protestantism resulted from a great religious and political movement, the Reformation, which began in Europe in the 1500's. The word protestant comes
from the Latin protestant, one who protests. It was first used in Germany in 1529. At that time a Diet (special assembly) at Speyer decreed that the Bible should
be taught only along the lines authorized by the Roman Catholic Church. The assembly also decreed that the Mass should be restored in the German
states where it had been discontinued. Several princes and 14 imperial cities made a formal protest against the decrees. Because of their protest, they
became known as Protestants. The name soon came to mean all those who separated from the Catholic Church.
Adventists
African Methodists
Amanites
Amish
Anabaptists
Assemblies of
God, General
Council of the
Baptists
Brethren,
Church of the
Christian Churches,
International
Convention of
Christian Reformed
Church
Christian
Scientists
Church of England
Church of God in
Christ, The
Church of the
Nazarene
Churches of Christ
Congregational Mormons
Christian
Pentecostal
Churches
Churches
Episcopalians
Presbyterian
Evangelical
Reformed
United
Churches i
Brethren
America
Free Methodist Schwenkfe, : Friends,
^Seventh- :
Society of
" Advent
House of David Shakers
Hutterites
Swedenbcr. --:
Jehovah's
Unitarian
Witnesses
Universe--'
Latter Day
Associa:-::
Saints,
United Chur
Reorganized
of Canaci
Church of
United ChurJesus
ofChr:;"
Christ of
Universal:;:
Lutherans
Church :•:
Mennonites
America
Methodists
Wesleyan
Moravians
Methodise
Universal Standard Encyclopedia
SUNDAY, first day of the week, observed by Christians almost
universally as a holy day in honor of them resurrection of Christ. The hallowing of
Sunday appears incontestably as a definite law of the church in the( "beginning of the 4th
century. The emperor Constantine confirmed the custom by a Law of the state.
Throughout the medieval period the authority of the church was so universally
recognized that secular legislation in this regard was almost unnecessary, the Catholic
Church then required, and still requires, abstinence from servile work on that day, and the
assistance at Mass of all who are not lawfully hindered
World Book Encyclopedia Vol. 17
SABBATH, SAB uth, is the rest day of the Jews. It comes on Saturday, the seventh day of the week. Today, Christians also
use the word Sabbath for their Sunday.
In ancient Hebrew history, the Sabbath was a joyous, holy day. On the Sabbath people stopped working, visited the
temple, and offered a double number of sacrifices. One of the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:8-11) is about observing the
Sabbath.
A Pictorial History of The Italian People, Page 69
By adjusting the Bible to the intellectual and practical requirements of his time through free allegorical interpretation, Saint Gregory in his writings clarified the distinctive Catholic position. His belief in a Christianity dedicated to the care of the souls of the departed, praying to the Virgin and the saints as intermediaries between man and God, peopling the afterlife with a hierarchical order of angels and demons,
appealed to Italians whose Roman forebears had honored the souls of their ancestors, worshiped deities, and
felt :the fascination of Eastern mother-goddess creeds. Saint Gregory was repelled by Graeco-Roman
civilization and, paradoxically, did more than anyone else to facilitate the absorption of pagan residues into
Italian Christianity. Through that process of absorption, any paganism hostile to Christianity remaining in
Italian rural communities faded away. A Benedictine monk himself, Saint Gregory promoted the spread of
monastic life in Italy. He instigated missionary activities among the Lombards, who had previously embraced
Christianity in its Arian interpretation, and among the German invaders of Britain.
History
Scholars do not know the exact date of Christ's birth
or more than 300 years, people observed His birthday!
on various dates. In A.D. 354, Bishop Liberius of Rome?
ordered the people to celebrate on December 25." He^
probably chose this date because the people of Rome;
already observed it as the Feast of Saturn, celebrating''
the birthday of the sun. | Christians, honored Christ,
instead of saturn as the Light of the World. The
Christians of Egypt celebrated Christmas on January 6,'
and many members of the Eastern Orthodox Church
still observe this date.
Pagan rites absorbed
By a stroke of tactical genius the Church, while
intolerant of pagan beliefs, was able to harness
the powerful emotions generated by pagan
worship. Often, churches were sited where
temples had stood before, and many heathen
festivals were added to the Christian calendar.
Easter, for instance, a time of sacrifice and
rebirth in the Christian year, takes its name
from the Norse goddess Eostre, in whose honour
rites were held every spring. She in turn was
simply a Northern version of the Phoenician
earth-mother Astarte, goddess of fertility.
easter eggs continue an age-old tradition in
which the egg is a symbol of birth; and cakes
which were eaten to mark the festivals of
astarte and Eostre were the direct ancestors of
our hot-cross buns. )
The mission of St Augustine
Although the British Church was revitalized by the Irish arriving from the west, a Church based
on remote monastic settlements could not cater for the spiritual needs of the ordinary people. To
deal with this situation, Pope Gregory, at the end of the 6th century, sent St Augustine to
England at the head of a band of missionaries. The Church they founded was closer in organization to
the continental model with central bishoprics at Canterbury and York and subsidiary sees at places
like Rochester and Dorchester. Their mission was largely successful, and by the middle of the 7th
century paganism was dwindling in England. Worship of the old gods did not die out at once; Oregon
himself advised his missionaries to leave the pagan shrines alone, and to try to introduce Christian
worship only gradually alongside pagan practices. This mingling of Christianity and paganism is
the reason why Christ' birthday is celebrated on December 25th date of the pagans' winter
festival.