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THE ORTHODOX CHURCH Its Faith, Worship and Life Rev. Antonios Alevisopoulos, Th.D., Ph.D To my wife, Presvitera Antonia Translated by Rev. Stephen Avramides Taken from: http://users.hellasnet.gr/panelppv/orthodfa.htm |
ATHENS 1994 DIALOGUE Publications, No. 7.
Published by the Information, Dialogue and Culture Services of the Archdiocese of Athens in collaboration with "The PanHellenic Parents Union for the Protection of Greek Orthodox Culture the Family and the Individual".
Copyright 1994: Antonios Alevisopoulos, Iasiou 1, Athens Gr. 115 21.
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LETTER OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH
Very Reverend Protopresbyter Antonios Alevisopoulos, our beloved son in Christ, Grace and Peace from God be with you. It was with joy that we were informed through your letter of 15th February of the content and purpose of your book, "The Orthodox Church, its Faith, Worship and Life", as well as of your intention to publish it in other languages. For this purpose you have asked for the prayers and blessings of our Lowliness and those of the Mother Church.
We consider as completely justified your anxieties over the ideological confusion existing in the world and over the activity of various sects in Orthodox countries, which for some years now are becomning more and more systematic.
Our most Holy Orthodox Church constitutes, especially today, the Ark of Salvation for man and the world; her unadulterated theology, which is true knowledge about God, her saving anthropology made known to man through the incarnation of the Word, and her attestation to the value of the human person wrought through theosis by Grace, fully comfort man, and the presentation of the Church's ascetic spirit, expressed as it is in her daily Services and in the fulfilling of the divine commandments constitute in our ever increasingly secular society the necessary pastoral aids for the salvation of God's children, for whom Christ came into the world, died, and rose from the dead.
Assuredly, it is towards all these things that your Reverence aims in translating your book into other languages. We therefore paternally bless your labour and wholeheartedly congratulate you, invoking upon you and your co-workers all of God's strength in your most valuable ministry for His glory.
Your ardent intercessor before God
BARTHOLOMAIOS OF CONSTANTINOPLE
ENCYCLICAL NOTE
HELLENIC DEMOCRACY HOLY SYNOD OF THE CHURCH OF GREECE Protocol No. 766 Athens, 20 February 1992 Dispatch No. 287 ENCYCLICAL NOTE To: The Holy Archdiocese of Athens and the Sacred Metropolitanates of the Church of Greece.
By decision taken during its session of 4th February 1992 the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece hereby informs you that recently a work written by the Rev. Protopresbyter Antonios Alevisopoulos, Secretary of the Synodical Committee dealing with sects, and entitled: The Orthodox Church, its Faith, Worship and Life, has been published. It is dogmatic and liturgical in content, and we recommend it to you for wide distribution and circulation, for the benefit of the holy clergy and the faithful of our Holy Orthodox Church.
By command of the Holy Synod
THE CHIEF-SECRETARY Archimandrite Damaskenos Karpathakis
From the Prologue to the Romanian translation of this book
..."This book, as all the works of Father Antonios Alevisopoulos, betray a soul ablaze with zeal for Orthodoxy, for that part of Christianity which down through the ages - despite the fearful attacks of its enemies - remained holy and unblemished.
For a long time now, Father Alevisopoulos' name has been known to us, and we now rejoice since this book brings him near to us and reveals to us all the richness of his spiritual depth.
God has always preserved unto Himself a remnant, an holy portion, great men, in order to lead truth to its final and complete victory. Father Antonios is numbered among them and our hearts are filled with joy and hope, seeing that Holy Orthodoxy always has its champions. The value of this book will surely be incalculable, and we present it to our Orthodox faithful as a special blessing of God. We congratulate all who laboured: the author, the translator and the publisher."
Protopresbyter Dimitru Staniloae
The plethora of ideological currents, the various theories regarding the cosmos and the multitude of religious groups that are active in our world today are a cause of confusion and uncertainty for many. This confusion is further multiplied by the fact that many of our Christian terms are used in a new context and with a different meaning.
Thus the need for a fixed point upon which one can depend in order to orientate himself, for a "standard" by which to correctly evaluate things, becomes apparent. This book was written to provide such a standard. In an age when syncretism dominates the ideological and religious spheres, the defining of our faith becomes an urgent necessity. With this book we have tried to offer a synopsis of the Orthodox faith in direct relationship with Orthodox worship and life. The basic motivation behind its authorship was to fill the lack of a concise text that seriously took into account the various currents of our time and provided Orthodox solutions to existential problems faced by people of today, and informed the interested reader, whether Orthodox or not, as to what Orthodoxy is and as to the solutions she offers to the impasses faced by our world today.
Searching for the Truth
The problem of where the truth lies has occupied mankind down through the ages; it is a problem that is always contemporary and of its very nature leads man to seek an answer.
The Philosophers, especially the ancient Greeks, posed the question: "What is the truth?" and most men have searched for it rationally. Some said that truth is an Idea, a "principle of all things", the "prime mover unmoved" and called it God.
But this "God", the God of the philosophers, cannot redeem. He touches only man's rational faculty, and not man as a whole; no one can come into personal communion with him since he is not a person, but something impersonal; an universal Mind that acts blindly, or is so distant and so transcendental that he has no interest in man or in the world.
There can be no doubt that anyone with a good disposition, upon observing creation and using his human potential, can discover evidence of God's existence. However, he will discover only the concept of God, but not God Himself, salvific truth. Others, down through the ages, have created world idols and a multitude of deities. They established "divine" laws and rules and created systems of worship of human provenance. All these, however, are simply expressions of man himself; they do not transcend the created realm, created reality; they do not, in other words, reveal the one true God Who transcends the created world.
Again, still others believe that man is by nature God. It remains simply for him to understand "his true self"; nothing need change save his stance vis-a-vis his Godself, rejecting any thought that might differentiate him from his own divinity and recognize the existence of a God outside and beyond him.
In the final analysis, such an approach to God cannot satisfy man. It leads to an infinite loneliness which is contrary to human nature. By nature, man seeks warmth, love, communion with others and not only with himself; Without these things, he cannot exist. That is why he continuously seeks them. He is not satisfied with manmade concepts concerning God. He desires to rise above created reality, above creation and seek the meaning of life in communion with the uncreated and eternal God.
This void which is created in man who seeks saving truth is filled by the Church. The Christian does not seek man-made truth; rational truth, an idea or some cosmic Mind, called God.
He seeks truth which transcends human limits and all of creation. Moreover, he seeks God who can enter into personal communion with him, into a communion of love, i.e. he seeks God who is a person.
For the Christian, the knowledge of God has a different significance. It is not simply an object of rational approaching or an impersonal delving into a Principle of the Universe which excludes every personal relationship. Christian knowledge of God is an event of personal communion between God and man, a communion related to man's entire existence and not relegated simply to his rational faculty.
"Knowledge" therefore, according to the Christian concept, is not the product of rational activity, separated from love; indeed in the Holy Scriptures the term is used to express the consummation of interpersonal communion within marriage (Gen. 4,1). Such a communion does not abrogate man's person within some sort of "cosmic" principle; rather it protects it! Through this communion mortal man transcends the condition of creatureliness, that is, his createdness, and participates in the life of the uncreated and eternal God.
Man, however, cannot realize this transcendence through his own abilities and potential, which out of necessity are limited to the realm of created reality. Man's very nature is an insurmountable hindrance which makes his passing over or "ascent" to, and approaching God impossible. An ontological abyss, i.e. an impassable chasm related to God's and man's essence, separates man from God. Man cannot transcend this abyss.
But that which man cannot do, God does out of love for His creature: He "descends" or rather "condescends" i.e. He adapts to man's condition, transcends the abyss, reveals Himself to His creature and offers him the possibility of a real communion of love and life.
Christian knowledge of truth, i.e. eternal life, is and remains the great gift of our affectionate Heavenly Father. It is not the result of our human endeavours. That which God offers us is not conditioned by our strivings. It is the fruit of God's freedom and love. This gift is offered freely and ought to be accepted always with gratitude. No one can force the donor to offer his gifts.
Moreover, God does not violate man's will. He lets him make his own free choice. He allows him to respond with his love to God's love or to reject that love. Such a choice does not belong to man's rational domain, i.e. a rational turning towards God on man's part is not enough. Man must participate in totality. What is needed is tangible proof of man's holistic turning toward God that includes his struggle for spiritual catharsis, the carrying out of God's commandment. Without this basic presupposition it is impossible to find God:
"For perverse thoughts separate men from God, and when his power is tested, it convicts the foolish; because wisdom will not enter a deceitful soul, nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin. For a holy and disciplined spirit will flee from deceit, and will rise and depart from foolish thoughts, and will be ashamed at the approach of unrighteousness." (Wisdom of Solomon 1,3-5).
The free exercise of the divine virtues leads man away from autonomy. It functions within the realm of God's love. Man, through his obedience and through the carrying out of God's commandments humbles his body and his mind, recognizing that by himself he can neither embark nor continue upon the path of the true knowledge of God. His entire life becomes a cry unto God.
God then condescends and offers to man the grace of the knowledge of Himself. Man becomes a partaker in this grace, which is God's gift, and which is called uncreated divine energy. Of course grace is not identical with God's essence. God' essence remains unapproachable and incomprehensible for man. Grace however, springs from God' essence which is its source. Hence it is not created but uncreated. This is why God's condescension signifies for man true knowledge of God, eternal life and salvation. This is the Christian concept concerning the knowledge of God.
For the faithful to reach this saving knowledge it is necessary that he "bow his head", that he submit in love to the merciful Lord. It is for this reason that the priest-celebrant of the divine services, after the command "bow your heads unto the Lord", prays:
"O Lord our God, Who didst bow the heavens and come down for the salvation of the race of men, look upon Thy servants and upon Thine inheritance. For unto Thee, the fearful and man-befriending Judge, have Thy servants inclined their heads and bowed their necks, looking for succour not from men, but abiding Thy mercy and awaiting Thy salvation..."
With the Christian concept of truth and its "knowledge", man's life acquires a deeper, a true meaning and eternal destiny.
It sufficeth that man consider the "knowledge" of God as the most precious treasure in his life, and that he seek it out properly.
Then will God's grace touch him and desire for God will become so great that nothing can stand between him and God or separate him from God's love:
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Romans 8, 35-39).
This is the path that the holy martyrs of our Church followed; Thus the hymn of the Church states:
"Neither tribulation, nor distress, nor famine, nor persecution, nor whip, nor anger of beasts, nor sword, nor fire, can threaten you, all-laudable Martyrs, with separation from God; for you have escaped nature in disdaining death by your yearning for Him and struggling as if in bodies foreign to you...".
God in Trinity - A Communion of Persons
We Orthodox Christians believe in a Trinitarian God. God is not an isolated being, but communion and love. He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit; He is not one Person but three. Between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit there exists a pre-eternal communion of love. This does not imply, however, that we Christians believe in three Gods, but in One. There is but one divine essence and it is indivisible. This is why we speak of one God in Trinity. The unique source of the one divine essence is the Father. He it is who transmits pre-eternally, (προαιωνίως) i.e. without beginning, existence to the Son through pre-eternal generation, and to the Holy Spirit, through pre-eternal procession.
Here we must note that in the Orthodox Church "procession" is contrasted to "sending". The Holy Spirit proceeds pre-eternally from the Father alone. "In time" (temporally) He is sent from the Son for the salvation of man. In other words a distinction is made between the pre-eternal transmission of the divine essence from the Father, and the Divine Economy, i.e. the mystery of man's salvation (John 15,26). The Orthodox Church does not accept the so-called "Filioque", the teaching that the Holy Spirit proceeds "and from the Son".
Our faith in the Triune God is not a man-made discovery, but revelation from God. He who is unapproachable for man, reveals Himself to man and becomes approachable.
Already in the Old Testament the Triune God appears as the Creator of man and the entire world. He is created not by the Father alone, but from the Father through the Son and is perfected "in the Holy Spirit", with one will and one energy. "In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth...and the spirit of God was moving over the face of the water", the Old Testament tells us characteristically, using in Hebrew the word Elohim for God, which is a plural form. And for the creation of man God spoke and said: "let us make man according to our image and likeness" (Gen.1,26).
We confess that there is only one will and one energy for the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. The Father wills and acts those things which the Son and the Holy Spirit will and act. Many passages in Holy Scripture manifest the unity of will and energy of the divine Persons which make up the One and Trinitarian God. That is why they are characterized as "Lord" (Kyrios), "The Lord God" or even " The Lord Pantocrator" (Almighty). These characteristics are at times attributed to the Father, at other times to the Son and at other times to the Holy Spirit. Thus, the "Lord" whom Isaiah saw (Isaiah 6,1-10) is, according to John 12,36-41, the Son, while according to Acts 28,25-27, the Holy Spirit.
This Trinitarian faith is expressed by Orthodox Christians by the manner in which they baptize and in the way they glorify God: they are baptized "in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (Mtth. 28,19) and they glorify the Triune God: "glory to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit". Orthodox Christians then are baptized in the way that they believe and glorify God: in harmony with their Trinitarian faith. The three Persons of the Holy Trinity are not separated, neither are they confused; they exist one in the other (perichoresis); i.e. each one of the divine persons is always within each of the other two. There where the Father is, is also the Son and the Holy Spirit. And wherever the Son is, there also is the Father and the Holy Spirit. Where the Holy Spirit is, there also are the Father and the Son.
As we have mentioned, there is only one source which pre-eternally provides the divine essence: the Father. That which has been revealed to us concerning the distinction of the divine persons is the manner in which the divine essence is imparted: to the Son: through pre-eternal generation; the Father pre-eternally begets the Son; to the Holy Spirit: through pre-eternal procession; the Holy Spirit pre-eternally proceeds from the Father.
This divine revelation of the Triune God was given for man's salvation and not in order to satisfy his curiosity. According to the Christian teaching, man was created according to God's image. Knowing therefore that God is a communion of persons, man delves into the knowledge of his own nature; he realizes that he also is not condemned to isolation, but created for communion and love. If God, who is man's archetype, were not Triune, then man could never realize that which he so deeply desires: communion and love. His entire life would be without any release. This is why we declare that our faith in the Holy Trinity constitutes man's only hope: "we have found true faith in worshipping the Trinity undivided; for the Trinity has saved us" epigrammatically states one of the hymns of the Divine Liturgy.
In regard to this faith, the Orthodox Christian does not try to convince others with logical arguments so that they will accept it. For should he do so, he is obliged to move about in the field of purely human searching and not on the level of God's revelation.
Addressing himself to the Corinthians, St. Paul underlines: "God has revealed [these things] to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God...So also no one comprehends God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed upon us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit. The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one." (I Cor. 2, 10-15).In unity with the Trinitarian faith the Orthodox Church chants:
"Come, O ye peoples, let us worship the Godhead of three Hypostases: the Son in the Father, with the Holy Spirit; for the Father timelessly begat the Son, Who is co-eternal and of one throne; and the Holy Spirit was in the Father, glorified with the Son;
one Might, one Essence, one Godhead, which we all worship saying:
Holy God, Who didst create all things through the Son, with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit. Holy Mighty, through Whom we have known the Father, and through Whom the Holy Spirit came to the world. Holy Immortal, the Comforting Spirit, Who proceedest from the Father and resteth in the Son. O Holy Trinity, glory be to Thee
(the Doxastikon of Pentecost Vespers).
Orthodox Christians believe that God is "the Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible". The world is not eternal; only God is eternal. He created the entire world out of nothing: "for he spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood forth" (Ps. 33,9).
Man "according to the image" of God
As we have already stated, man was created according to God's image; the Triune God is man's archetype. Consequently man is by nature not an isolated being but a communion of persons. It is impressive and moving to ponder upon the fact that God did not create individuals but a communion of persons. Holy Scripture observes: And God created man "according to the Image of God"; "male and female He created them" (Gen.1,27). While Scripture refers to the creation of man, it underlines that God created man as a pair and not as two isolated individuals.
God created human nature, the "one man" who has myriads of persons. Thus to the mystery of the Triune God is added the mystery of man. Hence we cannot approach the mystery of man independently of faith in God, Who is his prototype, for without this faith we are unable to accept the unity and the simultaneous distinction between men, and out of necessity are led either to the confusion of the persons or to isolation.
According to the Christian faith every human person possesses a specific, unique and unrepeatable being and this entity includes all of man. Thus the entity of the human species is not due to factors outside of human nature itself. It aims not at serving common goals nor is it based on common concerns and interests; it is not of a sociological, but rather of an ontological nature: it refers to man's essence. Man "is" man only in communion with all of mankind. Without this communion he denies his very nature, i.e. he is alienated and lives the tragedy of hell.
The Orthodox Church believes that man's fall was preceded by the fall of the spiritual world. The angels, being God's creatures, were good. They were not "immutable" towards evil however; i.e. their virtue was not the result of necessity but of free choice. After their free choice of the good, being sanctified by the Spirit, they would remain immovable towards evil, becoming divinized through their ascent towards the first Good. This is stressed by one of the hymns of our Church:
"Being sanctified by the Spirit, The multitude of the Angels Remain immovable towards evil, Being divinized through their Ascent to the prime Good."
This however was not the case with Lucifer and his angels, who moved towards evil, towards apostasy. According to the Christian faith, Lucifer is not a condition or a negative element in God's creation, but a distinct person. That is to say, we believe in the existence of Lucifer, who after his fall was transformed into the Devil or Satan.
According to the Orthodox faith which is supported by divine Revelation, two eternal principles do not exist. Everything, all that came into existence, was created by God "very good" (Gen. 1,31). Lucifer's fall and that of his angels therefore was not due to their nature. The source of their fall is to be found in their evil disposition. Lucifer's choice aimed at his personal exaltation autonomously, i.e. cut off from God's love. The result was the exact opposite of the aim: " I shall ascend to heaven; above the stars of heaven shall I set my throne...I shall become similar to the Most High; Now, behold, you shall descend to Hades and to the foundations of the earth" (Is. 14,13-15).
After the fall, man, we are told by Holy Writ, was cast out of paradise (Gen. 3,24). God, however, through this expulsion, did not lead man to despair, for He simultaneously sowed within Him the hope of salvation. The final outcome of his vicissitude would be accomplished with the coming of the offspring of the "woman", who would crush the "head" of the "serpent" (Gen. 3,15). Man had to prepare himself systematically for this advent, for his restoration was not the result of force but the fruit of God's love which man accepted. Man had to accept once again in freedom the saving action of God.
The Orthodox Church believes that God wanted to prepare mankind for His saving intervention through the election of the people of Israel and the preaching of the Old Testament Prophets. The prophetical message had as its centre the awaited offspring of the "woman".
This Saviour of mankind was Jesus Christ in whom God united Himself with man and in this way man became a partaker of God's life. Christ is not two persons, a human and a divine, but one: a theandric person. He was one Christ, not two.
God's union with man in the person of Christ did not shatter the human nature, because the union of the divine and the human nature in the One Christ took place "without confusion, without separation, without change, without division". The two natures are not confused between themselves in a mixture, nor does the one separate itself from the other. Moreover, the human nature does not change into the divine nature nor does the divine change into the human. In this way the Son and Word of God took on human nature and in His unique person He led him to communion with God. One of the hymns of the Church states:
" You assumed my corrupt and mortal nature, You clothed me in incorruption, and You raised me up to eternal and blessed life, where, O compassionate Lord, do thou give rest to those whom you assumed".
Here then every idea of self-development, self-realisation, self-discovery and self-salvation is overthrown and shown to be incompatible with the Christian faith. Man's participation is found in his free and total consent to the saving work of God in Jesus Christ.
Holy Scripture emphasizes that everything, all that exists in the world, has a beginning; nothing is eternal, save God. Everything came into existence through God's creative act, as the fruit of freedom and love. St. John's Gospel begins by stating: "In the beginning was the Word...All through Him was made and without Him nothing was made that was made". And the Apostle St. Paul adds: "for in Him all that is in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible...all things have been created through Him and for Him" (Col. 1,16). Nothing exists that has not been created "from the Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit". All of God's creation however, was created "very good" (Gen. 1,31); there is nothing evil among it.
The Orthodox Church preaches that evil does not exist as a spirit co-eternal with God, or that it has its source in Him. She also teaches that sin has its source in free will, and not in nature, and that this is true both in regard to the apostasy of the angelic order of Lucifer and to the fall of man. Of course Holy Scripture states that the Devil "has been sinning from the beginning" (I Jn 3,8), but this refers to Lucifer's fall and not to his creation. For Lucifer became the Devil through his free disposition and not from his nature (Is. 14,12-15). This is the reason why he will be punished together with his angels (Mtth. 25,41; Rev. 20,10).
The Devil is a real person; he is not a "condition" or "state" in man, nor a negative element which together with the divine element supposedly serve God's plan, as certain heresies proclaim. The Devil has no authority over man's nature. Through evil thoughts he provokes only man's disposition. Man's "co-operation" is not something compulsory. If he so desires, he can immediately reject the evil thought and refuse to give any further continuation to it.
The God-Man Redeemer
We have already mentioned that the Son and Word is the Second Person of the one triune Godhead; He is born pre-eternally from the Father, Who is the source of divinity, and that in the one person of Jesus Christ the Word became flesh (Jn 1,14) and sought out apostate man and led him back to communion with the Triune God, i.e. to eternal life. The Creed states synoptically:
"And [I believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten, who was begotten of the Father before all ages. Light of light; true God of true God; begotten, not made; consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and Mary the Virgin; and became man. And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried. And rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of the Father. And He shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end".
In this text one finds inscribed the mystery of our salvation "in Christ". He who "became man" isn't an angel or some other creature but the Son and Word of God who is consubstantial with the Father, the "one Lord" (I Cor. 8,7).
"Fearful, indeed and ineffable, O Immaculate One, is the mystery which took place in Thee", chants our Church to the Virgin Mary, and states: "Surpassing reason and logic, you did give birth to the Word, the cause of all things, who was incarnate. Through the Holy Spirit He received flesh from thee while maintaining His own nature without change; and since both collaborated in a self-existing hypostasis, He is born dual in nature: total God and total man, manifesting with active characteristics [idiomata] the union of the two."
The Mission of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit was not revealed in the same manner in which the Son was revealed; He remains unapproachable to man. He is however recognized in His divine energies, through the gifts which He bestows upon the faithful. He is "the treasury of good things and the bestower of life", according to the prayer of the Church.
Many texts in our liturgical books ascribe the work of our salvation to the Holy Spirit:
"The Holy Spirit hath ever been and is, and shall be, neither beginning nor ending; but He is ever ranked and numbered together with the Father and the Son. He is Life, and life-creating; Light and light-bestowing; by nature good, and the source of goodness; through Him the Father is known, and the Son is glorified; and thereby all men acknowledge a single sovereignty, single covenant, one adoration of the Holy Trinity."
The Orthodox Church rejects the false doctrine of heretics who maintain that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal power or "state" within us. The Holy Spirit has self-awareness (Acts 10,19-20. 13,2), will (Jn 16,8. Acts 2,4. I Cor. 12,11) and acts as a person; He is the third person of the Holy Trinity (Mtth. 28,19. Jn 15,26. II Cor.13,13) and is distinguished from the power of God (II Cor. 6,6-7. Rm. 15,13. I Cor.l,5).
Spiritual Experiences
Man can have the feeling of the presence of Divine Grace in his life, i.e. he can have spiritual experiences. Holy Scripture, however, recommends to the faithful: "Beloved, do not believe in every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God". It further underlines that many false prophets have come into the world and it further shows ways in which one can judge and discern the spirt of truth from the spirit of error, i.e. the genuine from the counterfeit experiences (I Jn 4, 1-6).
It must be emphasized at the outset, that Holy Scripture does not place experience at the centre of our interests, nor does it elevate it to something absolute. Faith in Jesus Christ, and not personal experience, is placed at the centre of the Christian confession. This confession differentiates the Christian Church from the Hebrew Synagogue; whosoever confessed Christ was thought to have denied the Jewish Synagogue; and was declared an outcast from it (Jn 2, 22. 12,42). The Christian's experience is modified by this confession [of Jesus Christ] and is not independent of it (Rom. 10,9). The confession of faith is not the result of experience, but exactly the opposite: experience is acquired in unity with the confession and the life of the Church; these two factors also modify and determine the genuiness of the spiritual experience. In this way the Orthodox Christian is not in danger of falling into subjectivity and error, through personal experience.
The Church as the Body of Christ is a Divine-human (theanthropic) organism, i.e. an invisible and visible reality. The invisible dimension of the Church refers to the communion between God and man having as its model the communion between the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. With the creation of the angels the heavenly Church was constituted; to this Church man was added: "but ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the just men made perfect" (Heb. 12, 22-23).
Man's fall broke off his communion with the heavenly Church. God, however, did not abandon His creature, but had already pre-eternally planned man's salvation. In order to prepare man's return to communion with God He chose "the chosen people of Israel" who were the prefiguration of the new Israel, i.e. the Church (Rom. 9,7-8. Gal. 3,29).
The Preservation of Christ's Teachings throughout the Ages
As we have already mentioned, the Apostolic Succession ensures us of the purity of the Apostolic teaching. The Apostles intrusted the teaching of Christ to the Pastors of the Church who find themselves in continuous and unbroken Apostolic Succession and ensure the safe transmission of the Apostolic teaching to the coming generations.
This "tradition" or "deposit" (I Tim. 6, 20) which was transmitted "once and for all times" to the saints (Jude 3) is transmitted throughout the ages "without gaps" or "disruption" in the Church. It is not made up of the "commandments of men" but is the result of the continuous presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church, which has Christ as its Head (John 14,16. 26,15, 16, 16,13) The Pastors of the Church fulfil their mission in as much as they remain united with the Body of Christ and do not express personal points of view.
The Mysteries or Sacraments of the Church
In the Church man is completely sanctified and saved. Not only is man's soul sanctified, but his body is sanctified as well. All of God's creation acquires an incalculable value, and redemption from corruption awaits it (Rom. 8,19- 21). In the life of the Church, with the sacred Mysteries and the liturgical acts, this hope of the entire creation is prefigured and pre-announced. God uses the water, oil, etc. ώ material and sensate things ώ in order to transmit His invisible Grace. This is certainly an expression of God's love for man: in order to transmit His Grace to us, He uses in His condescension for our salvation material things, adapting the Holy Mysteries to our reality. At the same time however, it also constitutes proof of the worth and honor to be accorded to material creation.
God condescends to human weakness and uses for the Mystery [Sacrament] of Confession, men who have the same imperfections with us, without this weakness of theirs hindering Grace, for Grace comes from God and not from the holiness of the confessor.
Holy Baptism, with three immersions in water, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the Mystery with which the Church acquires its new members (Gal. 3, 26-29) and in this way the entire body grows through the "birth" ("rebirth") of new members (Jn 3,5-7, Tit. 3,5). The incorporation into the body of Christ of a new member is not simply a great event in his personal life or in the life of his family, but also a celebration of the entire Church, which receives him into her bosom.
When he who is baptized is immersed three times in water, he participates in Christ's three-day sojourn in Hades. And when he rises from the water the old nature of Adam has died within him, and he has made the new and resurrected nature of Christ his own. This new reality in Christ, who destroyed death and rose unto life eternal and incorruptible, is granted to every believer through Baptism. Thus his name is enrolled in the catalogue of the citizens of heaven, and he is numbered among the living (Rom. 6,3-9; Heb. 12, 23). Baptism then is not a simple symbol or a "confession" but spiritual rebirth, salvation (Cf also Mark 16,16; Acts 2, 37-38).
The Orthodox Church relates Holy Baptism to the sacred Mystery of Chrism, with which our induction into the body of the Church is completed, and the faithful, armed with the charismata of God can now grow spiritually, and conscientiously live the life in Christ; the life of the entire body.
With Holy Baptism the neophyte is "edified" and "planted" into the Body of Christ, the Church, and becomes "one in Christ". This means a return to the "one man", i.e. man's rebirth into the one integral human nature from which he was cut off through the fall (Jn 3-6). The faithful, however, after Baptism is on the one hand sanctified and justified in Christ, yet he finds himself in the spiritual condition of a child. He has to be protected from external threats and to grow spiritually "unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the full stature of Christ" (Eph. 4,13).
The Holy Eucharist
The Holy Eucharist is the central event in the life of the Church. Through it the faithful become partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ (Matth. 26, 26-28; Mark 14,22-24; Luke 22, 15-20; Jn 6, 51-56; I Cor. 11, 24-26).
How can Christ offer us His Body to eat and His Blood to drink? This was also a question which the Jews raised, and even some who followed Christ and were His disciples. Christ, however, insisted that they must do so, and explained that He was not referring to dead flesh but to His Body, which was united with the Holy Spirit, which vivifies (John 6, 52; 60- 63). In the Holy Eucharist bread and wine are offered and God accepts this oblation of man. He changes these elements and in turn offers them to man as His Body and Blood, as participation in the sacrifice which Christ offered on Golgotha "once and for all". (Heb. 7,27; 9,12,28). Before His sacrifice on the Cross, Christ celebrated this "Supper" and commanded His disciples to do the same until His Second Coming, declaring that the "food" of His Body and the "drink" of His Blood were necessary for salvation (Jn 6, 31-50; I Cor. 11,23-29).
The Priesthood
Through Holy Baptism all are incorporated into the "royal" and "priestly" nation which is the people of God (Ex. i9,5-6. Is. 61,6. I Peter 2,5. Rev. 6,5). They are summoned to offer to God their bodies as "a living sacrifice, pleasing unto God"; their entire selves and God's entire creation. In this way the faithful regain the royal priestly ministry which they possessed before the fall (Rom. 12, 1. Gen. 1, 28- 30).
The Christian also offers his love and the fruit of his labor to God through the brethren (Prov. 29,17. Matth. 25, 40). Without this offering, no other offering is acceptable to God. When, however, man offers his labor to the Lord, through the brethren:
"Then shall he call, and God shall hear him, and when he prays, He shall say to him, Behold, here I am", I am present, I am near you (Is. 58, 7-9).
Whatever a Christian does, he does it with his heart, as the Lord's work (Col. 3, 23-24). Everything in man's life, even the fruits of his labor, are God's gifts. This is why he must offer his works that they may be blessed, and he must never make egoistical use of them. He must always be mindful of, and exercise his "royal and priestly" ministry.
Repentance – Confession
After Baptism and Holy Chrism, the faithful is called to struggle so as to preserve God's grace active within himself and to produce spiritual fruit. Towards this aim, the faithful must, with all his being, turn to Christ, the Head of the body. This means that he must relinquish his autonomy and humble himself. If on life's journey, the believer misses his mark, changes path, or orientation, he must repent, that is change his mind [metanoia=repentance in Greek and means change (meta) of mind or noetic faculty (nous)], he must turn once again to the Lord, and follow the life of the Church.
Man with his autonomy rejects the life of the entire body of the Church; his sin is the result of his own, individual, choice, which breaks and "amputates" the body, for it does not accept and participate in the one mind (φρόνημα), the mind of Christ. Those acts characterized as sin are not acts which stem from a communion of love with the Head and with the entire body, but only from a communion with ourselves. This is why sin rejects both God's love and the love of the brethren who constitute the one Body. It is an affliction and harms the entire Body of the Church.
The Church's reaction is not one of revenge and retaliation. She does not look to the punishment of its weak member but rather to its cure. She does not, however, coerce the sinner's free disposition, she does not violate his personal free will. The paedogogical measures which she employs constitute a new challange to the disposition of him who has deviated. If in the end he chooses to remain in his autonomy and does not desire to restore it within the unity of the Body of the Church, he cuts himself off from the life of the Body. This is why until he decides to change direction, he is not allowed to participate in the Holy Eucharist.
If however he desires to return, forgiveness is granted him; he is once again received with love and he once again assumes his former place at the Lord's Table. Forgiveness is not granted by men, but by God Himself (Is. 43,25). Christ, however, sent forth His disciples, just as the Father had sent Him; He gave them the Holy Spirit and the authority to forgive sins (Matth. 18,18. Jn. 20, 21-23.
The Spiritual Father is Christ's instrument and the steward of His grace (I Cor. 4, 1. I Peter 4,10). It is not he who forgives sins but God who uses him as a steward of divine grace; it is not his grace but God's (I Jn 1,9-2,2). That God uses men as instruments of his grace is an act of his philanthropy [love for man]. The confession of one's sin is an act of humility on the part of the sinner; such would not be the case if this confession was made "directly" to God and not before at least one man who represents the entire Church and is the servant of God's grace. This is what differentiates Confession from "an interview" by a psychologist or psychiatrist, from which one leaves without the feeling that his transgressions and omissions have been forgiven and that he has reestablished his bonds of love with God and the brethren. He does not have the feeling that he has received God's grace in order to begin a new life. The help provided by a psychologist belongs to the human order. The psychologist has as a prototype fallen man whom he sets up as an absolute model. He does not take into consideration the factor of sin, nor is he concerned with reconciliation with God. Thus man essentially leaves the psychologist without redemption, and takes away with him all of the guilt that ways upon him and deprives him of the freedom "in Christ".
Prayer Oil or Holy Unction
The Church is concerned not only for the curing of the soul but also for the curing of man's entire being. The Apostle James orders that the presbyters must pray over the sick and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord; the prayer said in faith will cure the sick: "the Lord will forgive him and if he has committed sins they will be forgiven him: (James 5, 13-15). The chief significance of this Mystery is the prayer for the health of the body. It does not replace the Mystery of Confession. The Church connects these two sacraments in the same manner that the Apostle St. James does when he exhorts: "Confess your transgression one to another and pray for one another that you may be forgiven" (James 5, 16). This confession must not be considered as something apart from the gathering or synaxis of the Church. In the Church synaxis, within the framework of the Sacrament of Holy Unction, the prayer of the entire Church is united with that of the presbyters.
The sacrament of Holy Unction expresses and reveals the love and affection of the entire Church for that member of hers who is bodily sick. During the Holy Mystery the Church prays for complete cure, so that the sick member may be given back to her "unharmed and whole" so that he may please God and execute His holy will, as it is stated in one of the prayers of the sacrament that states:
"...We beseech thee, O our God, that thou wilt direct thy mercy upon this Oil, and upon all who shall be anointed therewith in thy Name; that it may be effecutal unto the healing of their souls and bodies, and unto cleansing, and unto the putting away of every infirmity, and disease, and malady, and every defilement both of body and spirit. Yea, Lord, send down from heaven thy healing might; touch the body, quench the fever: soothe the pangs, and banish every hidden ailment. Be thou the physician of thy servant, N. Raise him up from his bed of sickness, and from his couch of suffering, and from his bed of wasting disease, whole and perfectly restored to health, grant him to thy Church working those thing pleasing unto thee and executing thy will. For thy property it is to show mercy and to save us, O our God; and unto thee do we acribe glory, to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen".
Man was created as a communion of persons, male and female, according to the image of the Holy Trinity, which is a communion of persons; "and God created man, according to the image of God he created him, male and female He made them"; "and He took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man He made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, 'This at last is bone of my bones and |