The Church, as a society of
believers, consists of the invisible and the visible, of soul and body.
The Church – an
Invisible Society
The invisible, which constitutes
the object of faith (Heb. 11:1), or the soul of the Church, is the grace of the
Holy Spirit, invisibly and mysteriously acting both in the entire composition
of the Church and in each believer. To the invisible side of the Church belong
all the gifts of God which Jesus Christ, as Head, communicates to His mystical
body — the Church — especially faith, hope, and love, and the gifts of
wonderworking and of prophecy.
Such a concept of the invisible
Church is found in the Word of God. The Holy Apostle Paul calls the Church the
living body of Christ and the house of God (Eph. 4:15–16; Col. 1:18, 24; 1 Cor.
12:27).
The Church – a
Visible Society
The Church is not only an
invisible spiritual society, but also a visible one. According to its visible
side, it is a harmonious assembly of Orthodox believers, arranged in seemly
rank and order, or, as it is expressed, an organic whole consisting of visible
members, closely united among themselves. The Lord Jesus Christ established a
visible society of His disciples; in a sensible and visible manner the Holy
Spirit on the day of Pentecost descended upon the disciples gathered together
in one place, and so closely united by love as though all had one soul, one
heart. It did not please the Holy Spirit to come only in an inward invisible
manner; but as the Word became flesh, so also the Holy Spirit descended upon
the Church in a form accessible to the senses (Acts 2:1–2). Jesus Christ
established in the Church visible pastors, visible sacred rites and sacraments,
for their visible imparting to the faithful.
To the body of the Church belong
all Orthodox believers in Jesus Christ who have received holy baptism. Some of
them are pastors, others are the flock; some are teachers, others are
instructed; some impart sanctification, others receive it. “As in the body one
part rules and as it were presides, while another is under rule and governance,
so also in the Church all are appointed in such a way that some, for whom this
is more beneficial, remain among the flock and under authority, while others
are pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the Church and have toward the
others the same relation as the soul to the body and the mind to the soul, so
that both the deficient and the abounding, being, like the bodily members,
joined and knit together into one composition, united and bound by the bond of
the Spirit, may present one body, perfect and truly worthy of Christ Himself —
our Head” (St. Gregory the Theologian, Orations, Oration 3).
Christians
Belonging to the Composition of the Church
The true living members of the
Church are only those Orthodox Christians who live holy lives and, with the
help of the grace of God, bring forth the fruits of eternal life. But from the
purpose of the Church to lead men to eternal salvation, it is evident that not
only saints belong to her composition, but sinful people as well. Upon her has
been laid by the Lord Jesus Christ the duty to preach His word, to perform the
sacraments, to correct those who err, to renew the fallen through repentance,
to cut off from herself her stubborn opponents, and to govern the faithful. If
the Church consisted of saints alone, she could not fulfill these duties; it
would never be possible to know who belongs to the Church, for only the Lord
God knows those who are His (2 Tim. 2:19).
Thus taught the Fathers of the
Church, especially those who refuted the Novatians and the Donatists — St.
Cyprian and Blessed Augustine.
The Eastern Patriarchs say: “We
believe that the members of the catholic Church are all, and indeed only, the
faithful, that is, those who undoubtedly confess the pure faith of Christ the
Savior, which we have received from Christ Himself, from the Apostles, and from
the Ecumenical Councils, even though some may be subject to various sins… they,
notwithstanding that they are subject to sins, remain and are recognized as
members of the catholic Church, provided only that they do not become apostates
and hold fast to the catholic Orthodox faith” (Epistle of the Patriarchs of
the Eastern-Catholic Church on the Orthodox Faith, Article 11).
Christians Not
Belonging to the Church
But not all sinners belong to the
Church.
a) Those who have fallen away
from the Church of Christ do not belong to her — those who through apostasy
have trampled upon the Son of God and do not regard as holy the blood of the
covenant by which they were sanctified, and who insult the Spirit of grace
(Heb. 10:29).
b) Heretics, who reject or
distort the dogmas of the faith of Christ (Gal. 1:7–8; 2 Tim. 3:8–9; 1 John
2:19). St. Irenaeus testifies that from the very earliest times the
Cerinthians, the Ebionites, and other heretics were cut off from the Church
(Irenaeus of Lyons, Exposure and Refutation of Falsely So-Called Knowledge
[Against Heresies], Book I, Chapter XXVIII). Heretics who appeared in
later times were likewise continually cut off from the Church both by local and
by Ecumenical Councils.
c) Schismatics, who although they
do not distort the dogmas of the faith, nevertheless do not submit to the
Church. The Savior says: “If he neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto
thee as a heathen man and a publican” (Matt. 18:17); Canon 33 of the Council of
Laodicea forbids praying with schismatics. St. Basil the Great writes: “It is
necessary to be very bold and senseless to call members of Christ those who do
not work for holy peace, but create divisions in the Church, or who assert that
they are governed by Christ” (St. Basil the Great, On Asceticism,
Epistle 69).
d) Finally, all those whom the
Church, for particular and grave reasons, recognizes it necessary to
excommunicate from the Church (Matt. 18:17–18).
It must be added that only
manifest, obstinate, and malicious heretics and schismatics do not belong to
the Church. But those among them who have not themselves openly separated
from the Church, or have not been excommunicated by her, belong to her,
although by the invisible judgment of God they may be out of communion with the
Church. [Emphasis added.]
Source: Сокращённое изложение
догматов веры по учению Православной Церкви [A Concise Exposition of the
Dogmas of the Faith According to the Teaching of the Orthodox Church], Archbishop
Platon of Kostroma and Galich (+1877), “Lestvitsa” Publishing House, Moscow,
1999.
Online:
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