Sometimes, in contact with various Christian denominations, we find, to our surprise, that the name “Christian” is almost completely replaced with other appellations. After the Great Schism between the West and the East in 1054, we speak of “Catholics” and “Orthodox.” Then, with the Protestant Reformation, the number of denominations of Protestant and neo-Protestant communities increased rapidly. Today, we know of “Lutherans,” “Calvinists,” “Unitarians,” “Baptists,” “Adventists,” “Pentecostals,” and many other such communities. More serious is the fact that even within the Church “one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic,” divisions have appeared as indicated by the names used. Thus, most often we hear about “liberal” (or “progressive”), “conservative,” and “traditionalist” Catholics.
Some of these denominations have strictly negative connotations, linked to a modernist understanding of the Church that should adapt to the spirit of the times until it becomes unrecognizable. Moreover, the outward forms of Catholic faith and worship can no longer be recognized by the distinctive marks of a century ago, a millennium ago, or two millennia ago. Very likely, the Holy Apostles Peter, John, and Paul, as well as saints like Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, or Francis de Sales, would not recognize the “Novus Ordo” liturgy and certain teachings transmitted even by some current hierarchs of the Church. And the founders and continuators of religious orders like Saints Benedict, Dominic, Hildegard of Bingen, Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Ávila, and Rafaela Mary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (to name just a few) would hardly recognize their own monastic communities. It seems, therefore, that the multiple denominations cover a diversity of Catholic communities that have almost forgotten that the primary reference is the name “Christian.”
Every authentic Christian is also a “Traditionalist.” This indicates that he respects not only the Holy Scripture as the source of Revelation but also the Holy Tradition of apostolic origin, transmitted and defended by worthy Popes and all faithful hierarchs of the Church in communion with the successors of Peter.
Therefore, before all possible appellations, some positive and justified, others negative and unacceptable, what we must remember is that essentially, all those validly baptized in the Church of the Savior Jesus Christ are “Christians.” This is the noun to which the accompanying adjectives refer. All other denominations, starting with those primordial ones of “Catholic” and “Orthodox,” are only determinants and adjectives meant to indicate certain fundamental traits of an authentic Christian.
Thus, every Christian must follow and believe in the authentic and integral Revelation transmitted to us through the Church. For this, he must be “Orthodox” (= to have the right faith briefly expressed in the Credo and defended as a precious treasure by the Magisterium of the Church). We must not allow this essential attribute of our supernatural faith to be understood exclusively confessional and sectarian, as when it is used to indicate the schismatic community of the Eastern Churches that broke communion with Rome in 1054. Also, our faith of apostolic origin is “Catholic.” This attribute indicates the universality of the faith that was revealed by Christ not only to the Jews but to all nations. At the same time, every authentic Christian is also a “Traditionalist.” This indicates that he respects not only the Holy Scripture as the source of Revelation but also the Holy Tradition of apostolic origin, transmitted and defended by worthy Popes and all faithful hierarchs of the Church in communion with the successors of Peter. We can also say that we are “reformed,” but not in any way in a (neo)Protestant sense, but in the sense that we “reform” our lives continuously through continuous penance, fully embraced.
However, a true Christian will never define himself as “liberal” or “progressive.” The main motivation for this reservation is related to the eternal values he assumes, values that never change. As G.K. Chesterton pointed out, he knows that the only possible “progress” is the interior (i.e., spiritual) one, on the path of humility and holiness, not the external one of worldly fashions. The fact that the “world” continuously changes its morals and “values” should not in any way be reflected in our Christian values.
Having noted these brief remarks, I return to the main subject of this article: the name “Christian.” The question to which I will show what Saints John Chrysostom and Gregory of Nyssa respond is one of the most important: What does it mean to be a Christian?
How serious it is that someone who calls themselves a “Christian” in words does not honor this priceless name through the testimony of their own life! All the “practical heresies” we have spoken of in previous articles do just that: they contradict, through sinful actions committed or accepted, the name proclaimed with the lips.
The emergence of this name is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, in an account from which we learn that Barnabas brought the Holy Apostle Paul to Antioch:
“And Barnabas went to Tarsus to seek Saul: whom, when he had found, he brought to Antioch. And they conversed there in the church a whole year; and they taught a great multitude, so that at Antioch the disciples were first named Christians” (Acts 11:25-26).
In his commentary, Saint John Chrysostom emphasizes the exceptional privilege granted to the Antiochians, a privilege indicated by the fact that they were taught the Faith by the great Apostle of the Gentiles for a whole year. Not coincidentally, they are the ones of whom we are told were first called “Christians:”
“This is no small praise for the city, but enough to meci it against all cities. For Antioch was the first city, before all the others, to have the benefit of listening to Paul for so long, and because of this the people there were the first to be deemed worthy of the name. Look at the success of Paul, to what heights it raised, like a standard, that name! Elsewhere, three thousand or five thousand or so great a number believed, but nothing like this. Elsewhere, the believers were called ‘they of the way;’ here, they were given the name Christians.”
So whenever we mention the name “Christian,” we implicitly mention the worthiness of the Antiochians who were the first to be called so. Considering that this is mentioned in the sacred text of the Holy Scriptures, we can easily understand that God Himself appreciated the Antiochians in such a way as to offer them such a gift. Why do I say this? To understand how important the name “Christian” is and also how important it is to bear it worthily, so that God may be honored in these times when many of His representatives dishonor Him through their deeds.
But what does the name “Christian” imply? Alongside Saint John Chrysostom, another genius of the patristic period, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, extensively commented on the passage from the Acts of the Apostles. His words are both extraordinary and challenging. Extraordinary because they explain the great value of the name “Christian” and what is at stake in bearing it worthily. Challenging because he tells us without mincing words what is required of us, what are the demands we must strive to fulfill to be worthy of being called so. If the name “Christian” derives from the name of God Himself, Jesus Christ, then our life itself must be a living and visible testimony of this divine filiation by which we have been raised and transformed from “sons of perdition” into sons and children of God:
“Those honored by the name of Christ being called Christians, it is necessary that there be seen in us also all of the connotations of this name, so that the title be not a misnomer in our case but that our life be a testimony of it.”
How serious it is that someone who calls themselves a “Christian” in words does not honor this priceless name through the testimony of their own life! All the “practical heresies” we have spoken of in previous articles do just that: they contradict, through sinful actions committed or accepted, the name proclaimed with the lips. Taking the Apostle Paul as a model, Gregory of Nyssa shows that “most of all, [he] knew what Christ is, and he indicated, by what he did, the kind of person named for him, imitating him so brilliantly that he revealed his own Master in himself, his own soul being transformed through his accurate imitation of his prototype, so that Paul no longer seemed to be living and speaking, but Christ himself seemed to be living in him.” Following the example of the apostle, we understand and learn that “it is necessary to show through our life that we ourselves are what the power of this great name requires us to be.”
Nothing attacks our spiritual life more violently today than the “practical heresies” spread on the scale of the entire Church. Contradicting the faith professed with the mouth through actions opposed to it is the most serious symptom of the great apostasy in the midst of which we are caught like in a tsunami. As you may remember, in the description of the traits of the Antichrist, Saint Hildegard mentions the anti-Gospel he will preach, which will encourage those immoral acts, especially in matters of sexuality, that have always been condemned by the revealed teachings of Holy Scripture. The teaching of Saint Hildegard faithfully echoes the extremely grave warnings of Saint Paul, who, referring to those “dangerous times” in “the last days,” names the deeds of the antichrists. Despite the appearance of faith, they will deny its power through their actions:
“Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God: having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
The reference text of the of Saint Jerome, the Biblia Sacra Vulgata, provides the following translation for the last quoted verse: “…Habentes speciem quidem pietatis, virtutem autem ejus abnegantes.” Specifically, the apostates of the latter times will appear to be pious, calling themselves such while denying the faith through their actions. Saint John Chrysostom reminds us, commenting on this passage, that “faith without works is fitly called a mere form without power.” Similarly, Saint Augustine mentions Simon Magus who, though baptized, showed through his sinful deeds that “he had the form of the sacrament, but the power of the sacrament he did not have.”
From all these commentaries, we understand how important it is to meditate seriously on the axiom announced in the epistle of Saint James the Apostle: “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). If faith is necessary to know what we must believe, works are necessary to prove our real attachment to the teachings of our Savior Jesus Christ. Only this can truly make a baptized person worthy, no matter what rank he may hold – Pope, Cardinal, Bishop, priest, or layperson – to bear the glorious name of “Christian.”
Sancta Maria, auxilium Christianorum, ora pro nobis!
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