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Catholic is an adjective derived from the Greek adjective ?a??????? (katholikos), meaning "whole" or "complete".[1] In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For Roman Catholics, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the Church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, including both the Western particular Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches. Protestants sometimes use the term to refer to the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ. Eastern Orthodox and Anglican Christians hold that their churches are catholic in the sense that they are in continuity with the original catholic (universal) church founded by the apostles. Catholicity is one of Four Marks of the Church, the others being unity, sanctity, and apostolicity.[2] according to the Nicene Creed of 381 "I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church." A letter written by Ignatius to Christians in Smyrna[3] around 106 is the earliest surviving witness to the use of the term Catholic Church (Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 8). By Catholic Church Ignatius designated the Christian Church in its universal aspect, excluding certain heretics of his time, who disavowed that Jesus was a material being who actually suffered and died, saying instead that "he only seemed to suffer" (Smyrnaeans, 2),[4] contrary to belief in the reality of his flesh, which did suffer and was raised up again (Smyrnaeans, 7).[5] He called such people "beasts in the shape of men, whom you must not only not receive, but, if it be possible, not even meet with" (Smyrnaeans, 4). The term is also used in the Martyrdom of Polycarp in 155 and in the Muratorian fragment, about 177. The term Catholic Christians entered Roman Imperial law when Theodosius I, Emperor from 379 to 395, reserved that name for adherents of "that religion which was delivered to the Romans by the divine Apostle Peter, as it has been preserved by faithful tradition and which is now professed by the Pontiff (Pope) Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria ...as for the others, since in our judgement they are foolish madmen, we decree that they shall be branded with the ignominious name of heretics, and shall not presume to give their conventicles the name of churches." This law of 27 February 380 was included in Book 16 of the Codex Theodosianus.[7] It established Catholic Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. The use of the term Catholic to distinguish the "true" church from heretical groups is found also in Augustine who wrote
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