What Constitutes Ecclesiality

Bishop Mikhail (Gribanovsky) of Taurida and Simferopol (+1898)

December 14, 1886

 

The idea of ecclesiality has only quite recently begun to attract public attention and, up to the present, has been very little clarified and even less understood. Each of its friends and enemies puts into it such content as seems good to him. In various spheres it appears in entirely different coloration and evokes the most opposite views and judgments. To clarify, as far as possible, on every convenient occasion, the great idea of ecclesiality constitutes the moral duty of its bearers and defenders.

The most general, the most fundamental concepts of ecclesiality still appear very vaguely and in the form of certain indefinite and scattered shadows before our social consciousness. The most clear and widespread is that understanding of ecclesiality according to which it embraces the external liturgical and ritual aspect of our Orthodox faith. Such an understanding has taken root among us because, first, it is very easy and evident, and second, taken by itself, it is indisputably correct, insofar as ritual constitutes a necessary and essential attribute of Orthodoxy. But both defenders and opponents of this understanding must always remember that it is far from exhausting the entire content of the concept of ecclesiality; the latter is incomparably richer and immeasurably higher, since it embraces, besides the external, also the internal aspect of church life.

Ecclesiality—according to the direct meaning of the word—is that which is proper to the Church, that which distinguishes it from the rest of the world standing outside ecclesial grace: ecclesial is that upon which lies the seal of the Church. We must call that person ecclesial who lives by the spirit of the Church of Christ, is sanctified by her Mysteries, loves her ordinances and is guided by them in all his affairs. That society we must consider ecclesial in which the spiritual authority of the Church reigns, in which her representatives have a decisive moral influence on all forms of private, social, and state life, in which, finally, all individual persons and institutions freely and lovingly bow before her divine directives and receive from them the strength and direction of their activity.

Called by her divine origin to give direction and character to all aspects of life, the Church in no way restrains their free growth, in no way imposes upon them a uniform, deadening coloration.

Ecclesiality is such a direction of life in which the transforming action of the Holy Spirit, inherent in the Church, is visible. Through ecclesiality, He penetrates into our earthly elemental life, regenerates and strengthens it. This active participation of the Spirit of God illumines the idea of ecclesiality with divine light and imparts to it the character of indestructible firmness and heavenly grandeur, however much the children of the world may neglect it in their frivolity, however much its enemies may struggle against it, however much its friends may distort it and reduce it to trifles. In vain do they think that ecclesiality is the banner only of this or that social or political party and therefore has a transient interest. No, it is the banner of the Holy Spirit. It is the banner of those who look upon the temporal course of personal and social life from the point of view of eternity. Nations and states have passed, pass, and will pass from the face of the earth; the Church will abide forever. Only that people and only that state can stand firm and grow which will subject its unstable natural life, exhausted in its own development, to the mighty, unconquerable, and even for Hades itself irresistible grace-filled power of the Holy Spirit. They are mistaken who think that ecclesiality is an incidental secondary current in the general course of national development. No, it is the sole conduit of the divine creative forces on earth, and upon it entirely depends the growth and prosperity of every nation. Whoever does not graft himself onto this vine of Christ, does not draw in its life-giving sap into all the branches of life, both internal and external, will morally wither and perish forever, whether an individual man or an entire, even great, nation.

But to introduce ecclesiality into the particular aspects of life, opponents will say, does this not mean to drive this life into outdated and petrified ecclesial frameworks which it has long since outgrown? Is this not the same as suppressing and destroying all the inexhaustible richness of individual forms of development which constitute all the color and beauty of our existence?

Called by her divine origin to give direction and character to all aspects of life, the Church in no way restrains their free growth, in no way imposes upon them a uniform, deadening coloration. Bearing within herself an infinite authoritative height, ecclesiality at the same time is distinguished by boundless loving breadth. It gives full scope to all particular manifestations of life, only deepening, directing, and elevating them toward the true ideal. It is false to suppose that if a people takes ecclesiality as its banner, it will cease to develop and will become frozen in established forms. Quite the contrary. There is not a single living blade of grass in the field of a people which, having received within itself a ray of ecclesiality, would not blossom in all its ideal divine beauty. Ecclesiality does not kill life, but its discord, its evil struggle, its painful contradictions. It is not the fullness of life that withers, but its illusory, merely beguiling illusions disappear under the radiant sun of ecclesial truth. Not outdated, outlived frameworks are imposed by ecclesiality upon society, but ideal, heavenly, ever-youthful frameworks; they do not hinder, do not distort the shoots of life, but only direct them to their true norm of life in Christ—in all the fullness and harmony of its divine powers. And can a believing Christian admit the possibility that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of life, would kill life? Does this not mean to admit the Kingdom of God divided against itself? Only a weak lack of faith in the power of the Holy Spirit acting in the Church could have produced an unfounded fear for the development of life upon its reception of ecclesiality. Quite the opposite. The real growth of life is possible only in the Church, as in the kingdom of the life-giving, all-powerful love sent down by God. Therefore only he walks on the right path of development who brings into all its even most subtle turns the light of true ecclesiality. “But how is this to be done?—you will ask.—Granted that we, as believers, are convinced that ecclesiality is necessary for life, but how is it to be applied to the particulars of the latter? How is ecclesiality to be manifested in current reality, in the order of our ordinary everyday life?” Here we enter into a realm completely obscure for social consciousness. We do not have sufficient acquaintance with the life of the Church either in her dogmatic teaching and moral teaching, or in her canons, or in her historical development. And without this acquaintance, how can we illumine ourselves and our surroundings with her light? We often do not know even the most initial simple requirements of the Church concerning the structure and character of one or another aspect of life. It would be desirable to outline the most general and fundamental points of these requirements.

Bearing within itself an infinite authoritative height, ecclesiality at the same time is distinguished by boundless loving breadth.

First of all, how is one to introduce ecclesiality into one’s thoughts, into one’s worldview? What counsels does the Church offer to seekers of theoretical truth? The Church requires that, before wandering along the tangled paths of natural human thought, they turn their attention to her teaching, as it has been expressed in the Gospel and at the Ecumenical Councils. Then she requires that this acquaintance with her teaching be free from all prejudices, from every preconceived notion, that it be simple and natural, as befits impartial seekers of truth. Finally, she requires that, in this, one avoid as much as possible a one-sided evaluation of it, not to be carried away by arguments of reason alone or by images of imagination, not to trust the inclination of a single feeling or the protests of a single will, but to strive to receive her teaching with the whole being, in full harmony of the powers of the soul, after one has succeeded in concentrating, in deepening within oneself, in attuning one’s heart and spirit in an elevated manner. Then the Church promises to give the testimony of her truth. Then the seeker, in the depth of his being, will see that here precisely, in this teaching, is contained that which his soul, thirsting for truth, asks for and strives toward. Then there will remain only to clarify and polish the discovered precious pearl. The Church here proposes as guides the holy Fathers, who in their writings have presented the greatest examples of the elucidation of Christianity. Finally, following the example of the same holy Fathers, one must make use of all possible aids of science and philosophy. Through this, with even greater sharpness and clarity, there will appear before the spiritual vision of the seeker of truth all the divine grandeur of the Church’s teaching, its complete and incomparable superiority even over all the dim and one-sided inventions of the human mind and imagination.

No less definite indications can also be found concerning the question of how to introduce ecclesiality into the sphere of one’s feelings, how to relate, from the point of view of the Church, to those one-sided impulses and strivings of the soul and to those passions which fill and violently agitate our elemental sinful nature. If the world looks upon all this with indifference and even considers affects and passions to be useful and necessary motors of life, then the Church commands that they be eradicated with all possible energy. For the Church, purity of heart and a joyful spiritual peace constitute the highest ideal of life and the chief condition of unfailingly fruitful practical activity. Further, the Church proposes an entire system of struggle against the passions, a system tested by many experiences and sealed by the greatest feats of self-denial and ardent love for Christ.

A multitude of ascetical works provide an inexhaustibly rich aid to everyone who wishes to become acquainted with the ecclesial experience of this kind. As a necessary condition for success in the struggle, the Church commands, first of all, to renounce the feeling of proud self-reliance. She declares that if a man relies only on his own personal powers, then failure and defeat will certainly await him, for the enemy is undoubtedly stronger than he. According to her teaching, one must constantly call upon the higher help of Christ and of His saints, with a sincere acknowledgment of one’s powerlessness and one’s sinfulness. Only with such a feeling of unconditional humility is victory over evil, with God’s help, possible, and the approach to that moral purity to which the Church calls each of her members. Finally, throughout the entire difficult path of struggle, she proposes as guides pastors and ascetics, from whom one must seek practical counsel, help, consolation in sorrow, and elevation of spirit, and through whom she imparts her most saving Mysteries, at all the falls of life, of repentance and Communion.

If we pass from personal life to family life, then here also we shall hear the entirely clear voice of the Church concerning the true aim and proper ordering of family relations. The Church unconditionally forbids marriages for the sake of mere personal pleasure, on account of gain, or other extraneous considerations. She recognizes only one aim—mutual self-sacrificing love for the sake of the glory of Christ. In the family she desires to see a sanctuary, in which, above all, faithful servants of Christ would be brought up. What the constant moral atmosphere in the family must be, what religious character all its everyday details must bear in view of such a lofty aim—this can already be understood by everyone who sincerely resolves to order his family life according to the ecclesial ideal. But, of course, even for one who has made such a resolve, there may arise in the family such misunderstandings in which it will be very difficult for him to discern impartially. In such cases, according to the instruction of the Church, the authoritative participation of her pastor is necessary, who, by his very calling, is obliged with all his strength to safeguard the family well-being of his flock, entering into their spiritual needs and reconciling their mutual disagreements. As a confessor, as a teacher, as a minister of the sacred rites, he possesses all possible means to act successfully in this direction and is a necessary and guiding member of the family, ordered upon the principles of ecclesiality.

If we turn our attention to social activity, then, according to the ecclesial view, it is entirely only a manifold feat of love for one’s neighbors for the glory of Christ. All selfish, power-loving, and self-loving motives for it are a direct overthrow of the fundamental requirements of the Church. According to the meaning of the latter, every social actor must have one thing in view—to assist by his activity in the building up of the Kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of love and truth, in the inner and external life of men.

…We must with all our soul beseech God that we may finally understand that all our salvation—as individuals, as a society, as a state, as an entire people—lies in introducing everywhere the Christian-ecclesial spirit and in being guided by the moral authority of the Church and her representatives at every step of our personal and social life.

 

Russian source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Mihail_Gribanovskij/v-chem-sostoit-tserkovnost/