“It is called Catholic then because it extends over all the world, from one end of the…”
It is called Catholic then because it extends over all the world, from one end of the earth to the other
Cyril of Jerusalem · The Catechetical Lectures · NPNF2 VII, Catechetical Lectures, Lecture XVIII, 23
The oldest surviving explanation of what the creed means by "catholic", given to candidates for baptism while the word still had to be explained. Geography is only the first of Cyril’s four reasons.
How this is known
These words were matched, word for word, against this project’s own copy of the volume cited.
Read in Gifford, NPNF series 2 vol. 7 (1893) · Edwin Hamilton Gifford
Also by
- Cyril of Jerusalem every saying recorded of this person, and their page