Ecclesiology of the Last Times and the Problem of Pastoral Care

Protopresbyter Dimitrios Athanasiou | January 27, 2026

 

 

The Orthodox Church confesses that Christ is “everywhere present and filling all things,” timeless and eternal, beyond every historical limitation. This truth, however, does not negate the fact that Christ Himself established a visible and historical Church, situated in time, with apostolic succession, priesthood, sacraments, and canonical order. The divine transcendence of Christ does not lead to a formless or individual-centered ecclesiology, but rather establishes His Church as a concrete body within history.

The Holy Scripture and the patristic tradition clearly warn of times of apostasy, the fall of shepherds, and spiritual confusion. The words of the Lord concerning the “little flock,” the prophecies about the last times, and the apostolic admonitions regarding “grievous wolves” are not marginal references, but an essential element of the Church’s self-consciousness. The Church knows that her historical journey is not one of continuous triumph, but a cruciform path.

Nevertheless, the patristic eschatology never abolished the Church nor her conciliarity. The Fathers did not equate the fall of the shepherds with the annulment of the Church, nor did they consider that the “little flock” is constituted as a parallel or headless ecclesiastical reality. The “little flock” are those who remain faithful to the Orthodox faith and to the ecclesiastical mindset, even when their shepherds prove to be unworthy or deluded.

The distancing of the faithful from heretical or ecumenist shepherds may, under conditions of emergency, constitute an act of confession and spiritual self-protection. However, it cannot be transformed into a permanent ecclesiological model, nor can it lead to the wholesale rejection of the priesthood, apostolic succession, and the conciliar life of the Church. The Church was not handed down as a union of “right opinions,” but as the Body of Christ, in which the faith is lived within order and communion.

Apostolic succession does not depend on the personal sinlessness or pastoral success of the bishops. If its validity were annulled by every human fall, the Church would have collapsed already in the early centuries, when fearful, weak, or even heretical bishops coexisted with saints and confessors. The judgment concerning heresy and the severance from the ecclesiastical body is primarily a conciliar event and not the object of individual judgment.

The problem of our time is not the absence of ecclesiastical responsibility, but that many of its bearers fail to live it according to the apostolic standard. The command of the Apostle Paul, “take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock,” remains in force even in times of apostasy. The existence of unworthy shepherds does not abolish the office, but weighs upon the conscience of those who bear it and foreshadows divine judgment.

Orthodox Ecclesiology teaches that even in periods of widespread fall, there always exists an Orthodox remnant. This remnant does not constitute “another Church,” nor does it legitimize the self-sufficiency of groups or the dissolution of canonical life, but serves as a witness of faith within the Church, awaiting healing through conciliarity. The search for and discernment of Orthodox shepherds is not an optional luxury, but an ecclesiological necessity.

If, instead of patience and a conciliar perspective, the self-sufficiency of walled-off groups is adopted as a permanent solution, then a serious danger of ecclesiological shift lurks. The replacement of the episcopocentric and conciliar structure of the Church by formations of brotherhoods or “house” gatherings objectively leads to a presbyterian or protestant-type ecclesiology, even if an anti-ecumenist mindset is maintained.

Ultimately, the Church is not saved either by unworthy shepherds or by human groups, but by Christ Himself, her Head. Christ saves His Church not outside of it, nor by annulling its order, but by keeping it upright within historical trial, until her health is restored through repentance, confession, and conciliar judgment.

 

Greek source: https://fdathanasiou-parakatathiki.blogspot.com/2026/01/blog-post_58.html