By: Weronika Domagała

World religions – Christianity

Christianity - monotheistic religion of revelation, based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Its followers recognize in him the promised Messiah and Saviour,

who established the Kingdom of God by his resurrection. The canon of the Christian faith has been written in the New Testament, and shall be forwarded

by the churches. According to Acts In Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. With time, the faithful began to express individuality. The first

recorded use of the term Christianity was found in the Letter to the Corinthians.

Christianity was originally symbolised by the fish, then it a cross became a symbol. The name was established by joining the first two letters of the Greek

word Christos and the crucifixion of Jesus.

Fundamentals of faithAccording to the Christian faith, God revealed himself to the

humanity in the history of Israel and the Church. This process reached its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Along with the Jews, Christians confess that God is one and that He is the Creator of the visible and the invisible (the spiritual) worlds. Man is the crown jewel in the level

of His creation, the image of Himself, revealing the mind of the Creator. Part of the Christian religion is the belief that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, but God is in three persons - Father, Son and

the Holy Spirit. The most important belief in this religion is that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has

brought salvation to the world.

First centuriesHistorically, during the first six centuries of the

existance of this faith the Christianity was spread orally. The Christianity members understood their faith as the community which members share the same beliefs, and treated themselves as a Church

which had the same values such as: unity, holiness, catholicy (universality) and apostolicity. The main dogmatic truths about the mystery of Christ and

the Persons of the Holy Trinity were defined in the first four Ecumenical Councils – in Nicea (325),

Constantinople (381), Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451).

StatisticsChristianity is now the most numerous religion in the world.It is now professed by about 33% of the world population. Among the nearly 2.5 billion Christians we distinguish among(as of 2011):

approximately 1.16 billion Catholics

approximately 1.04 billion Protestants (approximately 612 million charismatic,

approximately 426 million classic)

approximately 271 million Orthodox

about 87 million Anglicans,

about 35 million Christians who belong to other denominations.

To the last position we also include various sects of Christian origin.The Christianity predominates the religious structure of Europe, both Americas and Australia, in Africa only around 38% of the population is Catholic, in Asia catholics are in the minority.Today, there are already 42 thousand churches and ecclesial communities.

Main branchesThe Christianity is divided into three main branches:

     Catholicism – including the Roman Catholic Church with the Latin, Greek-Catholic and other Eastern rites, old catholic creeds, including Mariavitism and traditionalist and

liberal mainstreams    

Eastern Churches - which include the Orthodox and Oriental and the Assyrian churches    

Protestantism - a series of confessions derived from the sixteenth-century Reformation among which evangelical churches such as Lutheranism, Calvinism and

Presbyterianism, Methodism are distinguished, evangelical religion, also called revival, such as Baptist,

In addition, two other trends are often distinguished:

     Anglicanism and Episcopal religion;     Oriental Churches include: Oriental Orthodox churches and Assyrian churches.

Thus, according to this classification there are five mainstreams in Christianity. Another separate category is the Unitarianism – it negate the knowledge about the Holy Trinity.

Persecution of ChristiansToday, in many countries there is a persecution of

Christians because of their faith. According to the report of the Aid of the Church in Need christians are

discriminated in more than 70 countries around the world. According to this study, persecutions affect

approximately 200 million people, and more than 170 thousand people are killed each year. The most difficult conditions for the christians are in the countries such as

Afghanistan, China, North Korea, Mjanmar, Pakistan, Nigeria, Sudan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

Representatives of the Aid to the Church in Need said that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the

world today.

Women in ChristianityThe basic vision of a Christian woman, her role in the family, in society and in the Church, emphasizes her equality

with man in the relation to human dignity. At the same time it points out the obvious fact that both sexes are not identical. Differences make the

possibility of mutual complementarity.

The most important rituals in Christianity

Baptism

Holy Communion

Confirmation

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