Rabu, 13 April 2016

To Know The History Of Churches Westfield NJ Is The Way To Go

By James Peterson


The term church can take on different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. In this article, the term church is used to refer to the building that is used for religious activities, specifically worshiping services. The term is often used by Christians to refer to religious buildings. Although the term is often used by Christians, it can be used by religious groups too. When in need of understanding the history of most churches Westfield NJ is the best place to visit.

The earliest church has been determined to have been established somewhere between 233 and 256. The Church of Saint Simeon Stylites is among the oldest surviving churches worldwide today. The Church of Saint Simeon Stylites is located in Aleppo, a Syrian city. Many ancient buildings that served as church buildings are now under other uses. Similarly, many modern buildings that were not meant to be church buildings as being used for worship.

The word church has its origins in the Greek language where it refers to anything pertaining to the Lord Jesus Christ. Initially the word ecclesia was in wide usage in the English language before it started losing its popularity. However, some languages such as the Greek and Latin languages retained this initial term. As a result, all Latin-derived languages such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Italia have retained the term up to this day.

Breton, Irish, Welsh among other Celtic languages as well as Turkish also started using the term ecclesia and they still do to this moment. Conversely, church was adopted in English instead of ecclesia. Churche was the initial spelling prior to its change to church. Derivatives of the word church are also in use in other languages like Scottish, Russian, and German.

In accordance to the Bible, construction of churches was not done by the earliest Christians. The books of Acts and both first and second Corinthians state that people who believed in Christ could gather in temples, homes, and synagogues. Western European communities are responsible of starting the construction of church buildings. This started during the 11-14 centuries.

Medieval churches served more functions apart from worshiping. Other communal activities were also performed in the buildings. Some of the activities include acting as halls for meetings and banquets. Sometimes they could be used for holding mystery plays and fairs. In addition to that, when it was harvesting period, the buildings could be used for threshing and storing grain. Renaissance saw a lot of these structures constructed in Europe before the Americas followed suit.

Churches are typically constructed in the shape of a cross in their architectures. The architecture comprises of a long rectangle, two rectangles on the sides, and a smaller rectangle at the front. The front rectangle serves as the sanctuary or alter space. The rectangle is the place where the congregation sits.

Church buildings are of many different types. Some of them include basilicas and cathedrals. Cathedrals are church buildings in which the seat of the bishop is housed. They are normally Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, or Catholic.




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