Editing Catholic (term) (section)

==Etymology==

The Greek adjective ''katholikos'', the origin of the term ''catholic'', means 'universal'. Directly from the Greek, or via [[Late Latin]] ''catholicus'', the term ''catholic'' entered many other languages, becoming the base for the creation of various theological terms such as ''catholicism'' and ''[[catholicity]]'' ([[Late Latin]] ''catholicismus'', ''catholicitas'').

The term ''catholicism'' is the [[English language|English]] form of [[Late Latin]] ''catholicismus'', an abstract noun based on the adjective ''catholic''. The Modern Greek equivalent {{lang|el|[[:el:Καθολικισμός|καθολικισμός]]}} ''{{lang|grc-Latn|katholikismos}}'' is back-formed and usually refers to the [[Catholic Church]].<!--did the people citing "καθολικισμός" even check a dictionary?--> The terms ''catholic'', ''catholicism'', and ''catholicity'' are closely related to the use of the term ''Catholic Church''. (See [[Catholic Church (disambiguation)]] for more uses.)

The earliest evidence of the use of that term is the ''[[Letter to the Smyrnaeans]]'' that [[Ignatius of Antioch]] wrote in about 107 to Christians in [[Smyrna]]. Exhorting Christians to remain closely united with their [[bishop]], he wrote: "Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]] is, there is the Catholic Church."<ref name="Smyrnaeans 8">{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.v.vii.viii.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030511185837/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.v.vii.viii.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 May 2003|title=Chapter VIII.—Let nothing be done without the bishop|publisher=Christian Classics Ethereal Library|access-date=21 November 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Angle|first=Paul T.|title=The Mysterious Origins of Christianity|publisher=Wheatmark, Inc.|year=2007|isbn=978-1-58736-821-9}}</ref>

From the second half of the second century, the word "catholic" began to be used to mean "orthodox" (non-heretical), "because Catholics claimed to teach the whole truth, and to represent the whole Church, while heresy arose out of the exaggeration of some one truth and was essentially partial and local".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/srawley/smyrnaeans.html|title=Ignatius Epistle to the Smyrnaeans}}</ref> In 380, Emperor [[Theodosius I]] limited use of the term "Catholic Christian" exclusively to those who followed the same faith as [[Pope Damasus I]] of Rome and [[Pope Peter II of Alexandria|Pope Peter of Alexandria]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/theodcodeXVI.html|title=Medieval Sourcebook: Theodosian Code XVI|access-date=9 April 2007|archive-date=27 February 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070227120555/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/theodcodeXVI.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Numerous other early writers including [[Cyril of Jerusalem]] (c. 315–386), [[Augustine of Hippo]] (354–430) further developed the use of the term "catholic" in relation to Christianity. The 5th century Vincentian Canon, published in ''[[Commonitory]]'', defined "catholic" as "what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all."<ref name="Bettenson1963"/><ref name="ArmentroutSlocum2000"/>