The Church is the holy community (not a worldly institution) founded by our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of humankind, bearing His holy sanction and authority, and composed of the faithful having one and the same faith, and partaking of the same Holy Mysteries (“sacraments”). It is divided into the clergy and laity. The clergy trace their descent by uninterrupted succession from the Apostles and through them from our Lord Jesus Christ (Apostolic succession). The Church is ONE because our Lord Jesus Christ founded not many, but only one Church; HOLY because her aim, the sanctification and salvation of her members through the Holy Mysteries, is holy; CATHOLIC because she is above local limitations; and APOSTOLIC because she was “built upon the foundation of the Apostles, Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20). The head of the Church is not a Pope or Patriarch, but solely our Lord, Jesus Christ.
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