Check.Church

The spine

The spine is the institutional line from the post-apostolic church, the organized church after the apostles, to the mutual excommunications of 1054. Nicaea and Constantinople sit on it as annotations, not forks. Its segments after 431 and 451 are drawing conveniences under the council-reception grammar, not verdicts on which body is the true continuation.

On the tree

The The spine family and the bodies it separated from or was organized out ofAD 33today100431451The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchThe spineThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchThe spineThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchThe spine

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2.

Above the tree

It is unknown at what time the original body from Pentecost ceased to exist. Not that the church ceased to exist, but the ground of gathering based on the truth of the one body.

Bodies in this family

  1. The post-apostolic church100–325 · continued

    The organized church after the apostles: bishops, councils and a shared rule of faith from the end of the first century to Nicaea in 325. It is the first institutional node on this tree and the point every line runs back to. The church at Pentecost above it is a pattern, not an institution, and no body on this tree descends from it.

  2. The conciliar church431 · continued

    The body of churches that received the Council of Ephesus. Rendering note: the continuing trunk is a drawing convenience under the council_reception grammar, not a verdict on which body is the true continuation.

  3. The Chalcedonian church451 · continued

    The Greek East and Latin West in one communion, drifting apart across six centuries of doctrinal, governance, political, and cultural estrangement before 1054.

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-10.