The Oriental Churches - Their sects and peculiar beliefs - Their reform hopeless - The native demand for organization - Wisdom of the step - Protest of the Anglican Church - The Greek Church and baptism - Ikons. THE Oriental Churches may be divided into six great classes, comprising fourteen different sects : 1. The Monophysite, Eutychian or anti-Chalcedonian sects, who reject the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon held in 541. These are four; the Armenians, Jacobites (or Syrians), Copts and Abyssinians. They all have their own distinct ritual and calendar, are hostile to each other and all other Christian sects, have a married parish c...

What is religion? This question has puzzled theologians throughout human history. But how did religion start in the first place? Why did it start? In order to understand some of these issues, let us have a look at the etymology of the word “religion” itself, and see that when and where this word was used for the very first time in the human history.

The word religion was used for the very first time in the Latin language. The actual word used in Latin was “religio”, which changed into religion when came into English. The roots of the Arabic word “Mazhab” or “Deen” can also be traced back to “religio”. In the Latin language, the word “religio” had three basic meanings; which are Faith, Trust & Belief.

If you further analyse these three words, faith, trust and belief; then you realize that there are actually three different characteristics