Christ the King

Christ the King is a title of Jesus in Christianity referring to the idea of the Kingdom of God where the Christ is described as seated at the right hand of God. Many Christian denominations consider the kingly office of Christ to be one of the threefold offices: Christ is a prophet, priest, and king. The title "Christ the King" is also frequently used as a name for churches, schools, seminaries, hospitals, and religious institutes. According to a tradition followed most prominently by the Catholic Church, Mary is given the title of Queen of Heaven. In the Gospel of Luke, the angel Gabriel proclaims to Mary, "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Outside of the gospels, the First Epistle to Timothy (6:14–15) explicitly applies the phrase of "king of kings and lord of lords" (Βασιλεὺς βασιλέων καὶ κύριος κυρίων), adapting the Pentateuch's declaration, for the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, to Jesus Christ. In the Book of Revelation it is declared that the Lamb is "King of kings, and Lord of lords". The concept of Christ as king was the subject of an address given by Eusebius about AD 314. Depictions of the imperial Christ arise in the later part of the fourth century. Pope Pius XI's first encyclical was Ubi arcano Dei consilio of December 1922. Writing in the aftermath of World War I, Pius noted that while there had been a cessation of hostilities, there was no true peace. He deplored the rise of class divisions and unbridled nationalism, and held that true peace can only be found under the Kingship of Christ as "Prince of Peace". "For Jesus Christ reigns over the minds of individuals by his teachings, in their hearts by His love, in each one's life by the living according to His law and the imitating of His example.