Editing Openai/691a45a6-8ed0-8010-a7d9-24657a41a9aa (section)

==== In Catholic (and Orthodox) thought, the continuity is not a fragile line that snaps when the last apostle dies. It’s more like a living organism: ====
# Jesus establishes a community, not a blueprint. The details develop as the community learns and adapts.
# Authority is handed down through apostolic succession. The successors aren’t apostles in the same sense, but they preserve continuity.
# Diversity in early Christianity is normal, not evidence of collapse.
# Doctrines mature through councils, debate, and sometimes major course corrections.
# No single moment counts as “the end” of the true church. Even deep corruption or political entanglement affects individuals, not the church’s continuity as a whole.
# So by their view, the Church of the 200s, 500s, 1000s, and 1500s is still the same entity, changing but unbroken.

This model only works if early Christianity always was varied and evolving — which the historical record supports much more clearly.