Ecclesiasticus I: Introducing Eastern Orthodoxy
Ecclesiasticus II: Orthodox Icons, Saints, Feasts and Prayer
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A Discussion of the Orthodox Church’s World Outlook
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An
Orthodox Christian senses and is filled with joy and hope of the Resurrection
not only during the holy Paschal night—he is never without it. Even during
the Great Fast, when an Orthodox Christian concentrates on the test of
his deeds and penitence, with his whole spiritual entity, with all his
heart, soul and thoughts—even then while prostrate before the Cross, he
glorifies the Holy Resurrection of Him Who was crucified thereupon: even
on Good Friday morning, he sings, “We bow down to Thy Passion, O Christ;
show us Thy glorious Resurrection” (ANTIPHON 15).
Christ’s Resurrection is the triumphant fulfillment of the Lord’s
descent to earth. The victory of Christ over the power of the Devil indicates
liberation from this power for those who believe and follow Christ. His
conquest over death in His Resurrection is a guarantee of the future Resurrection
and Eternal Life for those who believe in Him. It is because of this reason
that the Resurrection of Christ occupies such an important place in the
world-outlook of the Orthodox Church. The Resurrection is the basis of
our faith and hope, as well as the source of the spiritual life of Orthodoxy.
We have shown above that the coming of the Son of God upon earth
opened the road to salvation and eternal life for us. However, neither
salvation, nor participation in the higher, more beautiful life in Christ,
nor the restoration and transfiguration of a human being are given to
a person automatically, externally, or in a wholly objective manner without
the participation of the individual himself. In all truthfulness, the
flow of a beautiful life came into the world with the coming of the Saviour,
and it permeates the world whether we accept it or not. But the union
of individual with the communal living in this life comes into being only
through a free and inner act on the part of the individual himself. Similarly
does the sun send down its life-giving rays upon the earth, but it is
our choice, as to whether we take advantage of its warmth and light, or,
whether we do not allow its rays to enter our home, in which we hide ourselves
after closing the windows and doors. First of all, we must have the desire
to stand upon the path of salvation, and secondly, we must have the
will to travel along this road. When these two suppositions are
deeply rooted in the inner convictions of an individual, then there will
be no doubt of receiving God’s help along the way toward acquiring all
the results of union with the beautiful life.
What is the meaning of eternal life in Christ? In the Orthodox
understanding, this ideal state cannot present itself in the form of a
subjective assurance in which merely faith is lacking in the efforts for
salvation, or which is attainable by belonging to one or another denomination.
The ideal also cannot be one of exactness alone, e.g., the formal fulfillment
of all decisions and laws of the Church, etc. It was due to such an understanding
of piety that Our Heavenly Saviour bitterly rebuked the Pharisees. The
ideal of true Christian life is a road of sacrifice, the participation
in Christ’s sufferings, the bearing of His Cross, the constant battle
against sin and the sinful nature of man, the incessant striving for perfection—the
highest ideal being the perfection of the Father (MATT. 5: 48). In this
life we observe the harmonious union of faith, hope, love, good deeds,
sincere prayer, and a deeply organic (but not externally formal or rationalistic)
Christian participation in the life of the Body of Christ—His Church.
The voluntary abasement of the Son of God, His maltreatment and
suffering on the Cross, and death, preceded Christ’s Resurrection. The
radiant joy of Pascha is preceded each year by the spiritual act of the
Great Fast, when an Orthodox Christian bows his head and bends his knees
in humility and piety before the Crucified One. Utilizing much self-control
and with all humility, he renounces many comforts of life and subdues
his passions and cravings, crucifying within himself his “old man.” that
is, his sinful nature, making himself dead to sin (Rom. 6:6) —for without
being crucified with Him we are not able fully to enter, accept and become
participants in the joy of the Resurrection. This may be applied to the
entire life of an Orthodox Christian. The source of true Christian joy,
and the anticipative participation in His Life lies only in Christ, in
participation in His Sacrifice and in being crucified with Him (MATT.
16:24). All of the Church’s teachings cry out to the Orthodox Christian
to deny himself and voluntarily take up His Cross.
As he travels along his thornlike path, man alone is powerless
and impotent——being unable to achieve anything through his own efforts
in his battle against sin and the evil doings of the Devil. We may be
saved neither with the exertion of our own efforts, nor with the help
of others, but only through God’s Grace. We are merely able to entreat
God for His help and Grace. As a Christian travels upon his road to perfection,
he gains a better understanding of his deep inability and insignificance,
and becomes more conscious of God’s power.
God’s love never leaves a Christian without sustenance and help.
One of the greatest gifts of God’s Grace is faith, which, even in the
most trying times, gives endless strength for life’s battle. We approach
God through our deep and sincere faith: we unite ourselves with Him in
an indivisible union, becoming filled thereby with His strength, against
which no deed of evil intention may prevail. Another virtue which is of
no less importance in the life of a Christian is hope, the basis of which
is Our Lord Jesus Christ (1 TIM. 1:1). It is this hope that fills us with
the assurance that God is with us,” that He is ever looking after us and
our salvation, bestowing upon us all things which in faith we ask of Him.
(MATT. 21: 22; John 14: l3-14).
The Church of Christ, founded by Our Heavenly Saviour for the attainment
of our salvation, is the crown of God’s love and the guide for His creation.
It is only through the Church, and by no other means, that one is able
to attain the fullness of a transfigured life. Our presence in the Church
makes us members of Christ’s Mystical Body. We are thereby in deep organic
union with Jesus Christ, the Church’s Supreme Head. This union is manifested
with unusual power in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist which is the
center of Church life. Through the Church a Christian also unites himself
with his brethren in Christ, who are all members of the great ecclesiastical
organism headed by the One Eternal Head. They all acknowledge the same
Faith, partake of the Life-giving Body and the Precious Blood of Christ,
and are animated by the very same Gifts of the Holy Spirit through the
Holy Sacraments. The aim of all Christians is identical: It is the acquirement
of eternal life. Through the Church a Christian also binds himself with
his brethren in communal prayer with those righteous Orthodox— the Saints,
and with the highest and most Orthodox of all Creation, the exceedingly
blessed Mother of God and Ever-virgin Mary. It is in the Church and through
the Church that a Christian is able to perceive the Eternal, which unveils
itself in the fullness of the Body of the Church and in which the Holy
Spirit abides and remains without change.
The source of comprehension for the Church is the Holy Spirit.
As the human spirit gives man the possibility of comprehending himself,
the Holy Spirit, Who is of God, enables us to perceive God and Eternity
(I C0R. 2: 11-12). The Holy Spirit is infallible by nature, and for this
reason the Church, which is animated and blessed by the Holy Spirit, and
in which the Holy Spirit resides as the basis of the Church’s existence,
is sinless and infallible. It must be stressed that it is the Church in
its entirety that is sinless—the whole of its Mystical Body bound
with love, and not an individual member or a group of members of the earthly
Church, even though some authority may have been bestowed upon them. Due
to this very factor the Orthodox Church will never accept the Roman Catholic
doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope of Rome in things concerning
faith, as well as the Protestant view about the subjective infallibility
of the individual in comprehending the truth.
The Orthodox Church regards unity with the ancient Tradition of
the early Church as of great importance. The present-day Church is governed
by the doctrine which is accepted and embodied within the unchangeable
Tradition by the “undivided” Church. Our Church has always retained the
deep conviction that the possibility of comprehending the truth is given
only to the whole of the Church. When an epistle of the Eastern Patriarchs
was sent in reply to an epistle of Pope Pius IX in 1849 it was formulated
exactly in accordance with this conviction. Its contents were as follows:
Only the Church, as the living organism comprised of all the faithful—both
laity and ecclesiastical hierarchy—may maintain its infallibility, guard
against the changing of dogmas, and uphold the purity of the Liturgy.
The Church lives by the truth and has the truth within itself; a believer
is not able to understand it merely by learning or by the acceptance of
a arbitrarily announced doctrine, but by living in communion with the
Body of the Church.
In order that we may be able to understand Orthodoxy in general,
we must first have a proper understanding of the essence of the Church.
It should be noted at this point that Roman Catholic theology has greatly
strayed from the teachings of the Universal Church, as is also the case,
in varied degrees, with the teachings of Protestantism. For this reason
let us consider the most important moments of the essence and life of
the Church as they are contained in the teachings of the Orthodox Catholic
Faith.
As was mentioned above, the Church of Christ is the Mystical Body
of Christ, the Head and Chief Cornerstone of which is Our Savior Jesus
Christ (EPH. 1:22; 2:20-22; 4:15, 5:23: COL. 1:18; 1 C0R. 3:11; MATT.
21:42). All who acknowledge their faith in Him, and who through the Holy
Sacrament of Baptism enter into the life of rebirth in Christ, and are
joined together in the Body of Christ’s Church, are members of the Church
(EPH. 1:23; 4:16; 1 COR. 12:27; C0L. 2:17, 19). The life of the Church
is the continuation of the Incarnate Life of Christ in His Faithful. After
fulfilling the Mystery of our salvation, Our Saviour ascended into Heaven,
but He remains perpetually within the Mystical Body of His Church in His
Divine, Life-giving and all-regenerating Entity.
We may then conclude that the Church of Christ cannot be considered
as similar to an organization or a union in the ordinary worldly understanding
of these words. It is a living organism in which God and man are united
in profound inner spiritual union. Within it the goal of our understanding,
salvation, love, joy and blessing is born, developed and achieved. The
Church is a new life which we are unable to comprehend unless we are born
again of water and of the Spirit (JOHN 3:3, 5) into the life in the Church’s
Mystical Body, and partake of the Holy Sacraments which are so generously
extended by the Church to all its Faithful.
How could we comprehend the essence of human life if we were not
humane ourselves? We would only perceive the outward appearance of this
life, i.e., the actions, language, laughter, the various facial expressions,
etc. But we know that these are not the only things of which we are conscious.
It is the same with the life of the Church. Only when we have organically
entered into the life of the Church, can we understand the true essence
of all the visible external occurrences: The Divine Services, prayer,
church ritual, and the full significance of the invisible things they
indicate.
Christ’s Church is both visible and invisible. It is visible in
its organic forms, which are imperative for its activity upon the earth.
It is also visible in its form of worship, as well as in all the outward
appearances of its activity. The Church is invisible in the mystical existence
of Our Saviour within it; in the life of the Holy Spirit, and in the spiritual
union of the Faithful with their Creator.
There is only one Church just as there is One Body of Christ. Therefore,
no individuals or groups of people, who are separated from the Church,
may live in truth—for the creation if new “churches” and other schisms,
lacking unity with the Church of Christ, contradict the teachings of Our
Saviour (JOHN 15:4-7) and the very nature of the Church. Unity and love
are the basis and the essence of the Church’s existence. We are able to
take an active part in the Eternal Life of the Church and develop toward
perfection only in the love that binds us with God and with all our brethren
in Christ. Only within the Church by binding ourselves to one another
with the unconquerable power of prayer and love, may we comprehend the
Eternal which is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. St. Paul writes the
following on the subject: “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father
. . . that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being
rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the
saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know
the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with
all the fullness of God” (EPH. 3:14, 17-19).
The comprehension of the Eternal comes about by our inner, spiritual
and organic acceptance of it through our participation in the life of
the Church, and not in an external or formal manner. This may also be
said about the nature of the Church in general. The Church is not an external
organization or union apart from its members, nor an external authority
or external legislative power—but a profound inner life in which those
united in the One Body of the Church live. Thus, we may clearly understand
why the Orthodox Church does not expand its influence across the globe
by forcing its ideals upon men’s minds and consciences and by enforcing
a formalistic law—but only through permeating with its eternal teachings
the souls of persons, who, having accepted these teachings for their own,
become indivisible parts of the Church. The idea of an earthly empire,
with a hierarchy playing the role of an absolute civil authority, is foreign
and unacceptable to Orthodoxy. It is the Roman Catholic Church which has
accepted to a great extent this form of organization, a form very similar
to the state governmental system with its legislature, formalism and rationalism.
This is one of the reasons that the Roman Church broke away from the One
Catholic Church—for the Church of Christ “is not of this world” (JOHN
18:36: 17:14). Its Kingdom is the kingdom of the spirit; its authority
is that of love, and its only foundation is Our Saviour Jesus Christ.
The inner spiritual life of the Church unveils itself with exceptional
constancy in Orthodox Divine Services and Sacraments. The Divine Liturgy
is based not only upon the idea that the Church commemorates the life
of Christ, glorifying Him and preaching His Word at the same time; the
true essence and basic meaning of the Liturgy is that the Mystery of our
salvation, the inexpressible greatness of Christ’s mission upon earth,
definitely takes place in the Divine Services and in the Christian life.
During the Divine Liturgy a Christian actually experiences the whole of
the Mystery of the God-Man’s Incarnation—from the Old Testament prophecies,
the Annunciation to the Resurrection, the Ascension and Pentecost. The
union of Christ with His Church takes place not only in a spiritual sense,
but also in conscious form, through the immediate presence of the Saviour’s
Body and Blood in the Holy Sacrament, the Eucharist. The mystical union
of the Faithful with the invisible Eternal Life takes place at the moment
the Precious Gifts are given—and this reception serves to strengthen the
participants in the many difficult battles of life.
This mystical union of the members of Christ’s Church with their
Creator takes place also in the other Sacraments of the Orthodox Church.
These Sacraments are the direct action of the Holy Spirit, Whose Grace
is bestowed upon those of the Faithful who wish to receive it. They are
acts of the Holy Spirit’s force of life-giving, invigoration, strengthening
and blessing. These, are neither merely symbols of Grace, nor only the
confirmation of the subjective assurance of our justification and salvation,
nor a mark of faith in salvation, as is propagated by the Protestants
in their teaching concerning the Holy Eucharist (Communion) — they are
the actual presence of the Holy Spirit’s regenerating power in the blessing
of the Faithful through the Holy Sacrament. Neither may we conclude that
a Sacrament is merely an external act of ritual performed over a Christian
in accordance with the tradition of the Church, without bringing to light
its profound basic content.
Fellow Christians! how many are the various sects in our day, which,
speaking from their own shallow wisdom, disregard the commands of Christ’s
Apostles. They maintain that there is no need for the Holy Tradition of
the Christian Church. They walk along false paths, being guided by their
ego and making a laughing stock of the words of St. Paul the Apostle:
“One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism” (EPH. 4:5). These sectarians do not
recognize the Pastors instituted by God, do not acknowledge the Saints,
condemn Icons, ignore the Cross and disregard the Fasts.
Dear brethren in Christ! do not listen to these sectarians. Remember
the instruction of St. Paul the Apostle, who commanded us to “withdraw
from every brother who lives irregularly and not in accord with the tradition”
of the Apostles (2 THESS. 3:6).
From Word
Magazine
Publication of the Antiochian Orthodox
Christian Archdiocese of North America
November 1957
pp. 241-243
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