The Struggle for Orthodoxy in the Early Church
St John the Theologian dictates the Revelation: Cave of the Apocalypse, Patmos
The Church began at Pentecost and has continued unchanged in its faith to this day. But its faithfulness, which came to be called 'orthodoxy,' did not just happen. It was the result of a constant struggle against false doctrine. That struggle compelled the Church to clarify, step by step, right doctrine.
This is the story of that struggle.
This is the story of that struggle.
'Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.'
St Paul's 2nd Epistle to Timothy, 4: 2–4.