The Early Churches

potlight - 4

Hagia Sophia: Catholic or Orthodox?

During the time of Constantine -I, there was no “Catholic Church” in the West versus an “Orthodox Church” in the East. There was only one state church, and both sides called themselves Catholic (meaning “universal”) and Orthodox (meaning “right-believing”).

The West (Rome): Over centuries, the Bishop

of Rome (the Pope) claimed supreme authority over all Christians. The West continued to use the title Catholic as their primary identifier to emphasize their “universal” jurisdiction under the Pope.

The East (Constantinople): The Patriarch

of Constantinople and other Eastern bishops rejected the Pope’s claim of absolute power. They began to emphasize the title Orthodox to signal that they were the ones preserving the “original, unchanged” traditions of the early Church.