As I was saying...

"Intransigent Historical Claims"

And will be saying again: fully authentic apostolic Christianity - embodied in the Church of the New Testament, the "one holy catholic and apostolic Church" - is visible, historical, and continuous, right up until this very moment, and beyond, until the glorious Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ:

"Thomas and the other disciples who spread the faith to the East left churches in their wake (or at least, nascent Christian communities that would, just as they did in Rome, turn homes into churches and then build basilicas over them). These churches, rooted in the apostolic proclamation but developing within the cultures in which they took root, [became] the churches of the East, in Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria, Persia, and India.

"There were doctrinal disputes among them, and between them and the West, but, as joint statements from those churches and the [Roman] Catholic Church during the pontificate of John Paul II proclaimed, they remained faithful witnesses to Christ. And their faithfulness was costly, especially once the East was overrun by Islam."

They indeed have remained faithful, as have the Churches related to the ancient Patriarchate of Constantinople, and we can use the consensus - despite all "doctrinal dispute"- in faith and practice which exists between these Churches -and the Roman Catholic Church-to elucidate the ancient faith of the Apostles.