23. It is called Catholic then because it
extends over all the world,
from one end of the earth to the other; and because it teaches
universally and completely one and all the doctrines which ought to
come to men’s knowledge, concerning things both visible and
invisible, heavenly and earthly Bishop Lightfoot
(Ignatius, ad Smyrnæos, viii.) traces the original and
later senses of the word “Catholic” very fully.
“In its earliest usages, therefore, as a fluctuating epithet of
ἐκκλησία,
‘catholic’ means ‘universal,’ as opposed to
‘individual,’ ‘particular.’ In its later
sense, as a fixed attribute, it implies orthodoxy as opposed to heresy,
conformity as opposed to dissent.” Commenting on this
passage of Cyril, the Bishop adds that “these two latter reasons,
that it (the Church) is comprehensive in doctrine, and that it is
universal in application, can only be regarded as secondary
glosses.”; and because
it brings into subjection to godliness the whole race of mankind,
governors and governed, learned and unlearned; and because it
universally treats and heals the whole class of sins, which are
committed by soul or body, and possesses in itself every form of virtue
which is named, both in deeds and words, and in every kind of spiritual
gifts.