A good person is one thing, and a Christian is another.

Dimitrios Panagopoulos, preacher (+1982)

 

It is true that there is a portion among so-called "good people" which rests complacently upon the faults of others and holds the opinion that it is possible for Christ to take into account the faults and weaknesses of others in order to cover their own.

It is also true that many of the churchgoing priests, chanters, sextons, wardens, members of religious organizations and various charitable funds, as well as simple lay Christians, are not in order in their private life.

This, of course, is seen by the world, especially by the one seeking an excuse in order to reject the Church and the clergy. And he says: “In comparison with this one, who says he is a Christian and a man of the Church and of religion, I am better. For he, although he attends church, steals in his business, lies, makes shady deals, goes to court, takes oaths or makes others swear, gets angry, blasphemes, avoids procreation, is not consistent in his dealings, etc.” “How can I go to Church,” says another, “when I know someone in my neighborhood who is of the Church and of preaching, and she separated her child from his wife because she was poor?”

How can I attend church, says another woman, when an acquaintance of mine, a lady who also belongs to a religious circle, forbids her daughter from having children?

How can I go to Church, says another, when the warden in my parish, although he belongs to a religious organization and even hosts a circle in his home, does not pay his workers and becomes a cause for God to be blasphemed?

How can I go to Church, says another, to listen to the chanter, whom I know to be a blasphemer, a drunkard, a man who spends the night with women, serenades, guitars, dances, etc.?

What then should I do in the Church? I stay in my little house and listen to the Liturgy on the Radio, and in this way I do not go to see all these disgraceful things...

Hearing all these objections, we are, unfortunately, obliged to say: You are right, gentlemen. And not only do the things you mentioned take place on the part of many churchgoers, but many others as well. What takes place, both outside and within the Orthodox Church, and specifically at its candle box, on the part of inconsistent wardens and sextons, at its Chant Stand, on the part of inconsistent, impious and often unbelieving chanters, and within its sanctuary—wherein the sacred space is often transformed into a place of tavern-keeping, since from outside it or through the loudspeaker there are at times heard insults, quarrels, due to selfish disputes between the priests or the young ones serving within the Altar—are unfortunately unimaginable in extent and inconceivable in inventiveness and cunning.

Concerning all these things which take place within her, and often in secret, the Prophet Ezekiel speaks in his second chapter. And we speak only of the Orthodox Church, because on the one hand, only she exists as the Church having Christ as her head, and on the other hand, because only she is attacked and slandered.

All the others, the so-called Churches, are not Churches, because Churches with a man as their head—e.g., the Pope as in the Papist, Luther as in the Protestant, Russell as in that of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc.—are human constructions, which have their foundation upon egoism or self-interest.

The one, the only, the one having Christ as its head, is the Orthodox. That is why all the armies of the Demons strike against her. And in order to verify this, enter, if you wish, into a so-called Papist Church or a Protestant one or into the Synagogue of the so-called Scripture students, or into an Ottoman mosque or anywhere else outside the Orthodox, and you will observe quiet, order, harmony, etc. Whereas, when you enter an Orthodox, from the candle box to the Sanctuary you will verify disorder, well-arranged conversations, laughter, jokes, noises, voices of children, quarrels among Priests, etc.

You immediately perceive that you have entered into an electrified atmosphere. Well then, this is proof that the Devil is present in this Church. And for the Devil to be present is proof that the Truth is present in it—that Christ is present.

In all the non-Orthodox, so-called Churches, there is one Devil upon the roof thereof, guarding its faithful. Whereas in the Orthodox Churches, there is not only one on the roof, but hundreds within, who tempt and trouble its faithful. Wherever therefore the truth is, there also is the Devil.

Therefore, let us not think that we are secure and that it is better not to attend church because those who go to church are not in order.

Christ never preached that one who attends church may do evil, and one who does good may abstain from attending church. No, Christ preached the opposite, saying, "These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone" (Matt. 23:23).

That is to say, you must both go to Church and not do evil. You must go to Church and not separate your child from his wife. You must go to Church and cut off your tongue. You must go to Church and pay your employees.

He did not set us to choose between two things, namely between church attendance and doing evil, or between doing good and not attending church. He did not say that you will go to Church and do the opposite of what it preaches, or that you will do what is right and not go to Church, but He said that we must do both. Therefore, we must go to Church and also be good, so that others may see us being consistent and return to Christ—not the inconsistent ones. For it is, unfortunately, a bitter truth that if we Christians were, in our private lives, worthy of our title, the unbelievers would be few, as the divine Chrysostom also says: “Indeed, there would be no idolater if we were Christians as we ought to be, if we kept the things of Christ. If we were wronged, if we were exploited, if when reviled we blessed, if when suffering evil we did good, there would be no one so beast-like as not to run toward piety” (Homily X on First Timothy).

Also, the matter of Church attendance is not only for one to hear the Liturgy, but to also partake in the Supper—to eat, to be nourished—something which the radio does not offer. One hears through the radio, but is not filled. And it is very ridiculous for someone to claim that, because he heard the clatter of plates or cutlery as others were eating, that he himself was nourished. Therefore, not even this holds, that the churchgoers are bad and we hear it through the radio.

 

Greek source: Αλλο καλός άνθρωπος και άλλο Χριστιανός [A good person is one thing and a Christian is another], by Dimitrios Panagopoulos, Nektarios Panagopoulos Publications, 2017.