Overview
History shows that the early church especially in Rome, was influenced by pagan rituals and beliefs from the Roman imperial cult, Hellenistic philosophy, notably Neoplatonism, and Gnosticism. Some modern scholars believe that the church in the early stages picked up pagan oral teachings from Palestinian and Hellenistic sources which formed the basis of a secret oral tradition, which in the 4th century came to be called the disciplina arcani. Mainstream theologians believe it contained liturgical details and certain other pagan traditions which remain a part of some branches of mainstream Christianity (for example, the doctrine of Transubstantiation is thought to have been a part of this by Catholic theologians). Important esoteric influences on the church were the Christian theologians Clement of Alexandria and Origen, the main figures of the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Origen wrote about 6,000 books - and it is unclear whether pagan traditions such reincarnation and the pre-existence of souls formed part of Origen's beliefs.
Protestants, most significantly starting with Martin Luther, who wrote the 95 Theses, and Evangelical Christians not following the rites of Latin Catholic and Orthodox Christian denominations, have formally taught that the Bishop of Rome, along with the Catholic Church, greatly abused the original teachings and practices of the primitive or original Christian church as depicted in the Acts of the Apostles. They teach that the Papacy arose after the Roman Empire and slowly became corrupted as it strove to attain great dominion and authority, civil and ecclesiastical, and retained pagan beliefs held during the Empire. It arrayed itself in a Christian garb on the heathen one that had dominated during the Roman Empire. For example, it reinstated the ceremonies and obligations of the Collegium Pontificum and the position of Pontifex Maximus of the ancient Roman polytheistic religion and created Christian orders to replace the ancient Roman ones such as the Vestal Virgins and the flamines.
Following the Protestant Reformation, Protestantism separated itself from Catholicism, and the subsequent denominations spawned from the Reformation have considered their own teachings to be restorative in nature, falling back to the basic tenets of Biblical Christianity and Sola Scriptura. Although each denomination may differ in application, the essential ideas of the Reformation remain foundational. In turn, these views are taught in the modern descendant denominations, and historically these types of doctrinal stances account for the continuing separation of the denominations from the Catholic Church.
Protestant groups differ slightly in their perception of the types and the extent of errors evident in Catholic-Anglican-Orthodox traditions, and therefore their proposed corrections also differ, but all agree that the Catholic-Anglican-Orthodox tradition is to some important degree counter-biblical in the sense that it moves away from Scripture to reconcile many of its teachings and doctrine. This alleged "corruption" and resistance to reform by the traditional, especially Catholic, churches may sometimes be called The Great Apostasy by some religious groups. Although Protestant Christianity, as a whole, rejects the overall concept that the original Church (established by Jesus Christ) was thrown into complete anarchy and chaos through Catholicism, it does however assert that there was gross abuse of Biblical authority (especially by the Papacy) and a wandering from clear Biblical teachings prior to the Reformation.
In effect, some groups see themselves as uniquely restoring original Christianity. In their case, the term Great Apostasy is used more technically than above, directed in a sweeping way over all of Christianity beyond their group, indicating that true Christianity has not been preserved, but rather restored. These various groups differ as to exactly when the Great Apostasy took place and what the exact errors or changes were, but all of them make a similar claim that true Christianity was generally lost until it was disclosed again in themselves. The term Great Apostasy appears to have been coined in this narrower, technical sense, by "Restorationists". The term may sometimes be used in this sense by other groups claiming their unique authority as representing Christianity.
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