How many religions is Christianity divided into? What is the difference? What's the difference between faith?

There are mainly Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and Protestantism.

Catholicism is also called Catholicism, Roman Catholicism and Roman Catholicism. In most countries in the world, Protestantism, Orthodox Church and Catholicism are collectively called Christianity. In China, Christianity generally refers only to Protestantism, excluding Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism. Because Protestantism is called Christianity (commonly known as Jesus) in China, the word Christianity has two meanings: first, it refers to the general name of various Christian factions recognized worldwide; Second, it refers to Protestantism produced in the European religious reform in the16th century. The word "God" was translated by Jesuit missionaries who borrowed China's original name after they entered China in the 6th century, so they named their religion "Catholicism".

Legend has it that Christianity was founded by Jesus in Palestine. Early Christianity was brutally persecuted and suppressed by the Roman emperor.

In 3 13 AD, Constantine I, the Western Emperor of the Roman Empire, issued the "Decree of Milan" in Milan, declaring that Christianity can enjoy the same freedom as all other religions without discrimination. Since then, Christianity has become an officially recognized legal religion.

1054, the eastern and western Christian churches split. The Eastern Church calls itself the Orthodox Church, while the Western Church calls itself the Catholic Church. The archdiocese and its papacy, as a unique single church and system, have been formally established.

In the Middle Ages, Catholicism was the dominant religion in feudal society in western European countries. /kloc-After the Reformation in the 6th century, Catholicism lost its dominant position in some European countries. In order to resist the Reformation and maintain its unity and authority, the Catholic Church took a series of measures, which were called anti-Reformation.

18th century, under the influence of Enlightenment and rationalism, some European countries, France, Portugal, Spain, etc. More and more biased towards the Vatican. 1809, Napoleon incorporated the papal state into French territory. 1929, Pope Pope Pius XI and Mussolini signed the Treaty of Latoran, and the sovereign party of the independent Vatican city-state owned by the Pope was officially recognized.

1962, Pope Pope John XXIII convened the second Vatican Council. The meeting stressed that Catholicism should keep pace with the times, carry out a series of reforms within the church, adopt an open policy to the outside world, and advocate dialogue with Christian factions other than Catholicism, people of other religions and unbelievers. After the meeting, Catholicism broke the shackles of absolutism and dogmatism in theology, making theology diversified and secular.

At present, there are 130 Catholic dioceses, 628 dioceses and 129 pastoral areas in the world, and there are about10 billion Catholics, accounting for 17.5% of the global population. The current Pope is Polish John Paul II, who took office on 1978 10, and is the 266th Pope.

Catholicism was introduced to China in the Tang Dynasty and to China again in the 3rd century. After the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, Catholicism almost disappeared in China.

/kloc-In the 6th century, Catholicism was introduced to China again with the wave of western colonialism.

1840 After the Opium War, China became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, and missionaries entered China one after another, and Catholicism developed again. Missionaries are protected by their own government in China. They set up churches, monasteries, schools, hospitals and orphanages in various places to spread and develop Catholicism in various ways.

From 1840 to 1949, after more than 100 years of development, although Catholicism has 3 million followers in China, the leadership of the church has always been in the hands of foreign bishops, and Catholicism in China has become a religion dominated by foreign forces.

In 1950s, Catholicism in China launched an anti-imperialist and patriotic movement of "running churches independently". After decades of development, Catholicism in China has become a self-run cause of religious believers in China, and a Catholic patriotic religious organization, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, has been established. Since the implementation of reform and opening up in China, the policy of freedom of religious belief of the Party and the government has been implemented, and various undertakings of Catholicism in China have made great progress.

As mentioned above, Christianity in a broad sense refers to all religions that believe in Jesus Christ, including Catholicism, Protestantism (called Christianity in China) and Orthodox Church. In addition, I want to emphasize that Catholicism only believes in God, and the Virgin Mary is also a human being.

At present, Catholicism and Protestantism in the world often hold * * * prayers (English prayers, when translated into Chinese, Catholicism translates into prayers, and Protestantism mostly translates into prayers).

In addition, some Protestant denominations pursue monotheism, rather than the trinity of most Christian denominations.

Some Protestant sects are quite radical, attacking Catholicism, Orthodox Church and even other Protestant sects. You should know that Protestantism is split from Catholicism, and the most famous split is Lutheranism split by German priest Martin Luther.

The following are the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism:

1. In the realization of righteousness, all Christian factions except the Anglican Church advocate that righteousness can be realized only by faith, and there is no need to do good; According to the teaching of Jesus Christ, Catholicism relies on morality on the one hand and does good according to God's will on the other.

2. There are seven sacraments in Catholicism: baptism, firmness, communion (Catholics believe that bread and red wine become the body blood of Jesus Christ after being consecrated by priests, so it is called communion), marriage, confession, sainthood (also known as sacrament, that is, becoming a clergyman) and ultimate happiness (sickness); All Christian denominations have been changed (not sanctified) or deleted. In addition, Catholicism does not allow divorce, but Christianity does.

3. According to the source of doctrine: according to the teaching of God and Christ, there are two sources: Bible and holy biography, also known as the treasure house of faith; Christianity only recognizes the Bible as the only source.

4. Biblical volume catalogue, there are about 73 volumes of old and new Catholic books, including 46 volumes of the Old Testament and 27 volumes of the New Testament; There are only sixty-six volumes of the Christian Bible and thirty-nine volumes of the Old Testament. Christianity wrote seven volumes of the Old Testament in the original Greek (baruch's book written about 200 BC, Tobiya's biography written about the third century BC, Youdide's biography written about the end of the second century BC, and Magabo's book written about 100 BC and 124 BC).

5. In terms of etiquette, Catholicism pays attention to etiquette life, while Christianity simplifies and deletes some etiquette contents.

6. In terms of system, belief content and education administration, the universal Catholic Church pursues unified doctrines, commandments and sacraments; Different Christian sects have their own ways of doing things.

7. For the Virgin Mary, God teaches proper names, because she is the mother of Jesus Christ, who nurtures Christ and shares the spiritual pain for Christ when he atones for others. She has the virtues of obedience, humility and patience, and is an example for us to learn. Christianity does not pay tribute to the Virgin Mary, and some extremists even condemn and misinterpret the original intention of Catholicism to respect the Virgin Mary.

8. With regard to icon worship, Catholicism allows its members to worship icons at home. Members of * * * pay homage, such as worshipping the bitter image of Jesus, which will remind us of Jesus' great kindness in atoning for our crucifixion and so on. Christianity opposes idolatry and thinks idolatry is a sinful act.

9. With regard to ancestor worship, in order to pursue the future cautiously and carry forward the virtues of ancestors, Catholicism held ancestor worship ceremonies at certain times and followed the Ten Commandments of Under the Temptation. Christianity opposes ancestor worship ceremony and thinks it is idolatry. Generally bow, bow.

10, in terms of address, the master has different addresses. Catholicism calls God, and Christianity becomes God, which is the third in the Trinity of God. Catholicism is translated into the Holy Spirit according to the Bible, while Christianity is translated into the Holy Spirit. There are also differences in the translation of place names and names in the Bible, such as Peter in Catholicism and Peter in Christianity, so I won't list them one by one. (This is mainly in China. Because of the different translation basis, most Catholic names are translated in Latin, which doesn't sound as good as Protestant English translation. )

1 1, clergy, Catholic clergy, nuns, etc. It is necessary to swear lifelong loyalty, which is not required by Christianity. In addition, Catholic clergy call priests "priests" (deacons are lower than priests, bishops are higher than priests, and the main difference is the number of sacraments that can be performed), Christians call priests "ministers" according to different sects, and some call elders and so on. Catholicism has nuns, but Christianity doesn't.

Jesus established only one church, which was based on the Apostolic Corps headed by Peter. "I built my church on this rock." (Ma 15: 18)

Roman Catholicism, also known as Catholicism, was founded by apostles headed by Peter. It was introduced into China during the Wanli period of Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty.

Due to political and cultural factors, 1054, the Eastern Church with Constantinople as the center (the area ruled by Greeks) and the Western Church with Rome as the main body split openly. The Eastern Church is called the Orthodox Church and the Western Church is called the Roman Catholic Church. Up to now, there are about 200 million Orthodox Christians and 654.38+0 billion Catholics.

Protestantism is usually called "Christianity" in China. In the west, it is generally called "anti-Romanism", "Protestantism" and "anti-religious oath", which comes from the German word protester. Including/kloc-the major sects that broke away from Catholicism in the European Reformation in the 6th century. There are mainly Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian, congregational, Methodist, Baptist and so on. There are countless factions.

So Christianity refers to Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and Protestantism. There are about 2 billion Christians in the world.