Christianity and Orthodoxy

AS FAR BACK AS the earliest Apostolic times, Christ’s disciples were known as those who “call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 1:2; cf. Acts 9:14, 21). From the very beginning, the Holy Apostles were persecuted as those who “teach in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18; cf. 5:28). They rejoiced when they suffered from persecution and violations “for His Name’s sake” (Acts 5:41). In consequence of this, by the end of the first decade after the foundation of Christ’s Church, “the disciples were called Christians” (Acts 11:26). This appellation was given to them first at Antioch, and probably by the local Gentiles, which implies that Christianity was no longer recognized as a Judaic sect, but as a distinct religious teaching.[¹] Later, St. Cyril of Jerusalem observes, in his Tenth Catechetical Homily (Chapter XVI): “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, honored us to call ourselves Christians,” [²] whereas St. Athanasios the Great, in his First Homily against the Arians (Chapter II), states that “through Christ we are, and call ourselves, Christians.”[ ³]