Exactly what is the Orthodox Church?
Many people have heard of the Russian Orthodox Church, which
celebrated its one thousandth birthday in 1988, or the Greek Orthodox
Church, which was born centuries earlier. But Orthodoxy itself- what
is it, and what are its historic roots?
The Church in the New Testament
To answer the question, go
back to the pages of the New Testament, specifically to the Book of
Acts and the birth of the Church at Pentecost. On that day the Holy
Spirit descended on the Twelve Apostles and those gathered in the
Upper Room, and by afternoon some three thousand souls believed in
Christ and were baptized. The Scriptures record that when the first
Christian community began, "they continued steadfastly in the
apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in
prayers" (Acts 2:42).
From Jerusalem, faith in
Christ spread throughout Judea, to Samaria (Acts 8:5-39), to Antioch
and to the Gentiles (Acts 11:19-26). Soon there were new converts and
new Churches throughout Asia Minor and the Roman Empire as recorded
in Acts and the Epistles.
The Church, of course, was not
simply another organization in Roman society. The Lord Jesus Christ
had given the promise of the Holy Spirit to "guide you into all
truth" John 16:13). With the fulfillment of that promise
beginning with Pentecost, the Church bore more than mere
institutional status. She is not an organization with mystery, but a
mystery with organization. St. Paul called the Church "a
dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (Eph. 2:22). The Church is
a dynamic organism, the living body of Jesus Christ. She makes an
indelible impact in the world, and those who live in her life and
faith are personally transformed. But the New Testament also
reveals that the Church had her share of problems. All was not
perfection. Some individuals within the Church even sought to lead
her off the path the apostles established, and they had to be dealt
with along with the errors they invented. Even whole local
communities lapsed on occasion and were called to repentance. The
church in Laodicea is a vivid example (Rev. 3:14-22). Discipline was
administered for the sake of purity in the Church. But there was
growth and maturation, even as the Church was attacked from within
and without. The same Spirit who gave her birth gave her power for
purity and correction, and she stood strong and grew, eventually
invading the whole of the Roman Empire.
The Early Centuries
As the Church moves from the
pages of the New Testament and on into the succeeding centuries of
her history, her growth and development can be traced in terms of
specific categories. The first is a category important for all
Christian people: doctrine. Did she maintain the truth of God as
given by Christ and His Apostles? Second, what about worship? Is
there a discernible way in which the people of God have offered a
sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to Him? Third, consider Church
government. What sort of polity did the Church practice?
1. Doctrine: Not only did the Church
begin under the teaching of the Apostles, but she was also instructed
to "stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught,
whether by word or our epistle" (2 Thess. 2:15). The Apostle
Paul insisted that those matters delivered by him and his fellow
apostles, both in person and in the writings that would come to be
called the New Testament, be adhered to carefully. Thus followed such
appropriate warnings as "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ .
. . withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not
according to the tradition which he received from us" (2 Thess.
3:6). The doctrines taught by Christ and His disciples are to be
safeguarded by "the church of the living God, the pillar and
ground of the truth" (I Tim. 3:15) and are not open for
renegotiation. And the Church was still young when a way had to be
found for providing this safeguard.
Midway through the first
century, a dispute arose in Antioch over adherence to Old Testament
laws. The matter could not be settled there; outside help was needed.
The leaders of the Antiochian Church, the community which had earlier
dispatched Paul and Barnabas as missionaries, brought the matter to
Jerusalem for consideration by the apostles and elders there. The
matter was discussed, debated, and a written decision was
forthcoming.
James, the brother of the Lord
and the first bishop of Jerusalem, put forth the solution to the
problem. This settlement, agreed to by all concerned at what is known
as the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-35), set the pattern for the
use of church councils in the centuries ahead to settle doctrinal and
moral issues that arose. Thus, throughout the history of the Church,
we find scores of such councils on various levels to settle matters
of dispute and to deal with those who do not adhere to the apostolic
faith.
The first three hundred years
of Christian history were also marked by the appearance of certain
heresies or false teachings such as secret philosophic schemes for
the elite (Gnosticism), dazzling prophetic aberrations (Montanism),
and grave errors regarding the three Persons of the Trinity
(Sabellianism). Then, in the early fourth century, a heresy with
potential for Church-wide disruption appeared, propagated by one
Arius, a presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt. He denied the eternality of
the Son of God, claiming contrary to the apostles' doctrine that the
Son was a created being who came into existence at a point in time,
and thus was not truly God. This deadly error struck the Church like
a cancer. Turmoil spread almost everywhere. The first Church-wide, or
Ecumenical, Council met in Nicea in A.D. 325 to address this issue.
Some 318 bishops, along with many priests, deacons, and laymen
rejected the new teaching of Arius and his associates, upholding the
apostles' doctrine of Christ, affirming the eternality of the Son and
His consubstantiality with the Father. Their proclamation of the
apostolic teaching concerning Christ included a creed, which, with
the additions concerning the Holy Spirit made in 381 at the Council
of Constantinople, forms the document today called the Nicene Creed.
Between the years 325 and 787,
seven such Church-wide conclaves were held, meeting in the cities of
Nicea, Ephesus, Chalcedon, and Constantinople. Known as the Seven
Ecumenical Councils, all dealt first and foremost with some specific
challenge to the apostolic teaching about Jesus Christ. The Third
Ecumenical Council (431 A.D.), for instance, condemned the
Nestorians-those who would divide Christ into two persons, one human
and the other divine. The Nestorians were concentrated in Persia and
eastward, and when some of the Nestorian bishops would not accept the
decision of the Council, the Church experienced the first territorial
schism. Evangelistically active, the Nestorians formed communities in
Arabia, India, and as far away as China. A remnant still carries on a
precarious existence in Kurdistan, Iraq, Syria, and the United
States.
Among the issues addressed by
the Fourth Ecumenical Council (451 A.D.) was the heresy of the
Monophysites, who claimed that there is but one nature in Christ.
Some claimed that the two natures in Christ were mingled into one,
making Him neither God nor man. Others believed that the divine
nature had swallowed up the human nature, and still other
Monophysites believed that the Son had left His divine nature behind
when He became man. Again, a segment of the church departed with the
heretics. The Monophysite church still exists in Syria, Armenian, and
Egypt. There is encouraging news, however, for the churches which
left after the Council have worked out an agreement with the Orthodox
Church, satisfying Orthodox theologians of their doctrinal
correctness. Consequently, a break of some 1500 years is on the verge
of being healed.
For the first thousand years
of Christian history, the entire Church, save for the heretics,
embraced and defended the New Testament apostolic faith. There was no
consequential division. This one faith, preserved through all trials,
attacks and tests, this apostolic doctrine was called "the
Orthodox faith."
2. Worship: Doctrinal purity was
tenaciously maintained, but true Christianity is far more than
adherence to a set of correct beliefs alone. The life of the Church
is centrally expressed in her worship and adoration of God the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself told the woman at the
well, "the hour is coming and now is, when the true worshipers
will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is
seeking such to worship Him" John 4:23).
At the Last Supper, Jesus
instituted the Eucharist, the communion service, when He took bread
and wine, gave a blessing, and said to His disciples, "This is
My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me"
and "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for
you" (Luke 22:19, 21). The Church participated in communion at
least each Lord's Day (Acts 20:7, 11). From such first and second
century sources as the Didache, the letters of St. Ignatius of
Antioch and the writings of St. Justin Martyr, we are assured the
Eucharist is the very center of Christian worship from the apostolic
era on.
Also, just as the Law, the
Psalms, and the Prophets were read in the Temple worship and the
synagogue in Israel, so the Church also immediately gave high
priority to the public reading of Scripture and to preaching in her
worship, along with the Eucharistic meal.
Even before the middle of the
first century, Christian worship was known by the term liturgy which
literally means "the common work" or "the work of the
people." The early liturgy of the Church's worship was composed
of two essential parts: (1) the liturgy of the word, including hymns,
Scripture reading, and preaching and (2) the liturgy of the faithful,
composed of intercessory prayers, the kiss of peace, and the
Eucharist. From virtually the beginning, Christian worship has had a
definable shape or form which continues to this day.
Modern Christians advocating
freedom from liturgy in worship are sometimes surprised to learn that
spontaneity was never the practice in the ancient Church! A basic
pattern or shape of Christian worship was observed from the start,
and, as the Church grew and matured, liturgy matured as well. Hymns,
Scripture readings, and prayers were intertwined in the basic
foundation. A clear, purposeful procession through the year was
forthcoming, which marked and joined in word, song, and praise the
birth, ministry, death, Resurrection, and Ascension of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and sanctified crucial aspects of Christian life and
experience. The Christian life was lived in reality in the worship of
the Church. Far from being just a boring routine, the ritual worship
of the historic Church participated in the unfolding drama of the
richness and mystery of the Gospel itself!
Further, specific landmarks in
our salvation and walk with Christ were celebrated and sanctified.
Baptism and the anointing with oil, or chrismation, were there from
the start. Marriage, healing, confession of sin, and ordination to
the ministry of the gospel are other early rites in the Church. On
each of these occasions Christians understood that in a great
mystery, grace and power from God were being given according to the
individual need of each person. The Church saw these events as holy
moments in her life and called them mysteries or sacraments.
3. Government: No one seriously
questions whether the apostles of Christ led the Church at her
beginning. They had been given the commission to preach the Gospel
(Matt. 28:19, 20) and the authority to forgive or retain sins John
20:23). Theirs was by no means a preaching-only mission! They built
the Church under Christ's headship. To govern it, three definite and
permanent offices, as taught in the New Testament, were in evidence.
a. The office of bishop. The
apostles themselves were the first bishops in the Church. Even before
Pentecost, after Judas had turned traitor, Peter declared in applying
Psalm 109:8, "Let another take his office" (Acts 1:20).
This refers, of course, to the office of bishop. Some have mistakenly
argued the office of bishop was a later invention. Quite to the
contrary, the apostles were themselves bishops, and they appointed
bishops to succeed them to oversee the Church in each locality.
Occasionally, the objection is
still heard that the office of bishop and presbyter were originally
identical. The terms are used interchangeably in the New Testament
while the apostles were present, with a bishop being the presiding
elder in a local church. After the apostles' deaths, however, the
offices of bishop and presbyter became distinct throughout the
Church. Ignatius of Antioch, consecrated bishop by A.D. 70 in the
Church from which Paul and Barnabas had been sent out, writes just
after the turn of the century that bishops appointed by the apostles,
surrounded by their presbyters, were everywhere in the Church.
b. The office of presbyter.
Elders or presbyters are mentioned very early in the life of the
Church in Acts and the Epistles. Evidently in each place a Christian
community developed, elders were appointed by the apostles to pastor
the people.
As time passed, presbyters
were referred to in the short form of the word as "prests,"
then as "priests," in full view of the fact that the Old
Covenant priesthood had been fulfilled in Christ and that the Church
is corporately a priesthood of believers. The priest was not
understood as an intermediary between God and the people nor as a
dispenser of grace. The role of the priest was to be the presence of
Christ in the Christian community, and in the very capacity of being
the presence of the Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ, the priest was to
safeguard the flock of God.
c. The office of deacon. The
third order or office in the government of the New Testament Church
was the deacon. At first the apostles fulfilled this office
themselves, but with the rapid growth of the Church, seven initial
deacons were selected (Acts 6:1-7) to help carry the responsibility
of service to those in need. One of these deacons, Stephen, became
the first martyr of the Church.
Through the centuries, the
deacons have not only served the material needs of the Church but
have held a key role in the liturgical life of the Church as well.
Often called "the eyes and ears of the bishop," many
deacons have become priests and ultimately entered the episcopal
office.
The authority of the bishop,
presbyter, and deacon was not anciently understood as being apart
from the people but always from among the people. In turn the people
of God were called to submit to those who ruled over them (Heb.
13:17), and they were also called to give their agreement to the
direction of the leaders for the Church. On a number of occasions in
history, that "Amen" was not forthcoming, and the bishops
of the Church took note and changed course. Later in history, many
Church leaders departed from the ancient model and usurped authority
for themselves. In the minds of some, this brought the ancient model
into question, but the problem was not in the model. It was in the
deviation.
Also it was the ministry of
the apostles that brought the people of God together as the laity.
Far from being just observers, the laity are vital in the
effectiveness of the Church. They are the recipients and active users
of the gifts and grace of the Spirit. Each member of the laity has a
role in the life and function of the Church. Each is to supply
something to the whole (I Cor. 12:7). The responsibility of the
bishops, the priests, and the deacons is to be sure that this is a
reality for the laity.
The worship of the Church at
the close of its first one thousand years had substantially the same
shape from place to place. The doctrine was the same. The whole
Church confessed one creed, the same in every place, and had
weathered many attacks. The government of the Church was recognizably
one everywhere, and this One Church was the Orthodox Church.
Disagreements Between West and East
Tensions began to mount as
the first millennium was drawing to a close. While numerous
doctrinal, political, economic, and cultural factors were working to
separate the Church in an East-West division, two major issues
ultimately emerged above others: (1) that one man, the Pope of Rome,
considered himself the universal bishop of the Church and (2) the
addition of a novel clause to the Church's creed.
1. The Papacy: Among the
Twelve, Saint Peter was early acknowledged as the leader. He was
spokesman for the Twelve before and after Pentecost. He was the first
bishop of Antioch and later bishop of Rome. No one challenged his
role.
After the death of the
apostles, as leadership in the Church developed, the bishop of Rome
came to be recognized as first in honor, even though all bishops were
equals. But after nearly three hundred years, the bishop of Rome
slowly began to assume a role of superiority over the others,
ultimately claiming to be the only true successor to Peter. The vast
majority of the other bishops of the Church never questioned Rome's
primacy of honor, but they patently rejected the Roman bishop's claim
as the universal head of the Church on earth. This assumption of
papal power became one major factor in rending the Roman Church, and
all those it could gather with it, from the historic Orthodox Church.
2. The Addition to the Creed: A
disagreement concerning the Holy Spirit also began to develop in the
Church. Does the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father? Or does He
proceed from the Father and the Son? Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches,
"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the
Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will
testify of Me" John 15:26). This is the basic statement in the
New Testament about the Holy Spirit "proceeding," and it is
clear: He "proceeds from the Father." Thus, when the
ancient council at Constantinople (A.D. 381) reaffirmed the Creed of
Nicea (A.D. 325), it expanded that Creed to proclaim these familiar
words: "And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Life-Giver, Who
proceeds from the Father, Who is worshiped and glorified together
with the Father and the Son . . ."
Two hundred years later,
however, at a local council in Toledo, Spain (A.D. 589), King
Reccared declared, "The Holy Spirit also should be confessed by
us and taught to proceed from the Father and the Son. " The king
may have meant well, but he was contradicting Jesus' teaching,
confessed by the entire Church, concerning the Holy Spirit.
Unfortunately, the local Spanish council agreed with his error, and,
centuries later, in what was at least partially a politically
motivated move, the Pope of Rome unilaterally changed the universal
creed of the Church without an ecumenical council. Though this change
was initially rejected in both east and west even by some of Rome's
closest neighboring bishops, the Pope managed to eventually get the
West to capitulate. The consequence, of course, in the Western Church
has been the tendency to relegate the Holy Spirit to a lesser place
than God the Father and God the Son. The change may appear small, but
the consequences have proven disastrously immense. This issue, with
the Pope departing from the Orthodox doctrine of the Church, became
another instrumental cause separating the Roman Church from the
historic Orthodox Church, the New Testament Church.
The Great Schism
Conflict between the Roman
Pope and the East mounted---especially in the Pope's dealings with
the bishop, or patriarch, of Constantinople. The Pope even went so
far as to claim the authority to decide who should be the bishop of
Constantinople in marked violation of historical precedent. No longer
operating within the government of the New Testament Church, the Pope
appeared to be seeking by political means to bring the whole Church
under his domination.
Bizarre intrigues followed,
one upon the other, as a series of Roman popes pursued this
unswerving goal of attempting to control all Christendom. Perhaps the
most incredible incident of these political, religious, and even
military schemes occurred in the year 1054. A cardinal, sent by the
Pope, slapped a document on the altar of the Church of Holy Wisdom in
Constantinople during the Sunday worship, excommunicating the
Patriarch of Constantinople from the Church.
The Pope, of course, had no
legitimate right to do this, but the repercussions were staggering.
Some dismal chapters of Church history were written during the next
decades. The ultimate consequence of the Pope's action was that the
whole Roman Catholic Church ended up divided from the New Testament
faith of Orthodox Christianity. The schism has never been healed.
As the centuries passed,
conflict continued. Attempts at reunion failed, and the Roman Church
drifted farther from its historical roots.
Further Divisions in the West
During the centuries after
A.D. 1054, the growing distinction between east and west was becoming
indelibly marked in history. The eastern Church maintained the full
stream of New Testament faith, worship, and practice--all the while
enduring great persecution. The western or Roman Church bogged down
in many complex problems. Then, less than five centuries after Rome
committed itself to its unilateral alteration of doctrine and
practice, another upheaval occurred--this time inside the western
gates.
Although many in the west had
spoken out against Roman domination and practice in earlier years,
now a little-known German monk named Martin Luther inadvertently
launched an attack against certain Roman Catholic practices which
ended up affecting world history. His list of Ninety-Five Theses was
nailed to the Church door at Wittenberg in 1517, signaling the start
of what came to be called the Protestant Reformation. Luther had
intended no break with Rome, but he could not be reconciled to its
papal system of government as well as other doctrinal issues. He was
excommunicated in 1521, and the door to future unity in the west
slammed shut with a resounding crash.
The reforms Luther sought in
Germany were soon accompanied by demands of Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich,
John Calvin in Geneva, and hundreds of others all over western
Europe. Fueled by complex political, social, and economic factors in
addition to the religious problems, the Reformation spread like a
raging fire into virtually every nook and cranny of the Roman Church.
The ecclesiastical monopoly to which it had grown accustomed was
greatly diminished, and massive division replaced unity. The ripple
effect of that division impacts even today as the Protestant movement
continues to split.
If trouble on the European
continent were not trouble enough, the Church of England was in the
process of going its own way as well. Henry VIII, amidst his marital
problems, replaced the Pope of Rome with himself as head of the
Church of England. For only the few short years that Mary was on the
throne did the Pope again have ascendancy in England. Elizabeth I
returned England to Protestantism, and the English Church would soon
experience even more division.
As decade followed decade in
the west, the branches of Protestantism continued to divide. There
were even branches that insisted they were neither Protestant nor
Roman Catholic. All seemed to share a mutual dislike for the Bishop
of Rome and the practices of his Church, and most wanted far less
centralized forms of leadership. While some, such as the Lutherans
and Anglicans, held on to certain forms of liturgy and sacrament,
others, such as the Reformed Churches and the even more radical
Anabaptists and their descendants, questioned and rejected many
biblical ideas of hierarchy, sacrament, historic tradition, thinking
they were freeing themselves of only Roman Catholicism. To this day,
many sincere, modern, professing Christians will reject even the
biblical data that speaks of historic Christian practice, simply
because they think such historic practices are "Roman Catholic."
To use the old adage, they threw the baby out with the bathwater
without even being aware of it.
Thus, while retaining in
varying degrees portions of foundational Christianity, neither
Protestantism nor Catholicism can lay historic claim to being the
true New Testament Church. In dividing from the Orthodox
Christianity, Rome forfeited its place in the Church of the New
Testament. In the divisions of the Reformation, the Protestants--as
well-meaning as they might have been--failed to return to the New
Testament Church.
The Orthodox Church Today
That original Church, the
Church of Peter, Paul, and the apostles-despite persecution,
political oppression, and desertion on certain of its
flanks--miraculously carries on today the same faith and life of the
Church of the New Testament. Admittedly, the style of Orthodoxy looks
complicated to the modern Protestant eye, but given a historical
understanding of how the Church has progressed, it may be seen that
the simple Christ-centered faith of the apostles is fully preserved
in its doctrines, practices, services, and even in its architecture.
In Orthodoxy today, as in
years gone by, the basics of Christian doctrine, worship, and
government are never up for alteration. One cannot be an Orthodox
priest, for example, and reject the divinity of Christ, His virgin
birth, Resurrection, Ascension into heaven, and Second Coming. The
Church simply has not left its course in nearly two thousand years.
It is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. It is the New Testament
Church.
Orthodoxy is also, in the
words of one of her bishops, "the best kept secret in America."
Although there are more than 225 million Orthodox Christians in the
world today, many in the west are not familiar with the Church. In
North America for example, the Orthodox Church has, until recently,
been largely restricted to ethnic boundaries, not spreading much
beyond the parishes of the committed immigrants that brought the
Church to the shores of this continent. Still, the Holy Spirit has
continued His work, causing new people to discover this Church of the
New Testament. People have begun to find Orthodox Christianity
through the writings of the early Church Fathers and through the
humble witness of contemporary Orthodox Christians. Significant
numbers of evangelicals, Episcopalians, and mainline Protestants are
becoming Orthodox, and Orthodox student groups are springing up on
campuses worldwide. The word is getting out.
What, then, is the Orthodox Church?
It is the first Christian Church in history, the Church founded by
the Lord Jesus Christ, described in the pages of the New Testament.
Her history can be traced in unbroken continuity all the way back to
Christ and His Twelve Apostles.
What is it that's missing in
the non-Orthodox Churches even the best of them? Fullness. For the
fullness of the New Testament faith is to be found only in the New
Testament Church. Being in the Church does not guarantee all those in
it will take advantage of the fullness of the faith, but that
fullness is there for those who do.
For persons who seriously
desire the fullness of Orthodox Christianity, action must be taken.
Being aware of this ancient Church is not enough. There must be a
return to this Church of the New Testament. In our day many people
have taken ample time to investigate and decide about the Roman
Catholic faith, the Baptist, the Lutheran, and so on, but relatively
few have taken a serious look at the Orthodox Church. Three specific
suggestions will provide those interested with a tangible means of
becoming acquainted with Orthodox Christianity on a personal basis.
1. Visit: Look up "Orthodox"
or "Eastern Orthodox" in the "Churches" section
of the yellow pages or ask a neighbor the whereabouts of the nearest
Orthodox parish. Pay a visit--several visits. Meet the priest, and
ask him to help you study and learn. And be prepared to exercise
patience-sometimes a portion of the liturgy is not in English! The
Service Book in the pew will help. 2. Read: There are a number of
books and periodicals immensely helpful to people seeking to learn
about the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church by KALLISTOS (Timothy)
Ware (Penguin); For the Life of the World by Alexander Schmemann (St.
Vladimir Seminary Press); The Apostolic Fathers edited by Jack N.
Sparks (Light and Life Publishers), Becoming Orthodox by Peter E.
Gillquist, and Divine Energy by Jon E. Braun and AGAIN Magazine (both
by Conciliar Press).
In a day when Christians are
realizing anew the centrality and importance of worship, of the
Church as the body of Christ, and the need to preserve true Christian
faith, the doors of Orthodoxy are open wide. The invitation is
extended to "come and see." Examine her faith, her worship,
her history, her commitment to Christ, her love for God the Father,
and her communion with the Holy Spirit. For two thousand years the
Orthodox Church has, by God's mercy, kept the faith delivered to the
saints. Within her walls is the fullness of the salvation which was
realized when "God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life" John 3:16).
Reprinted by permission. "Introducing
the Orthodox Church," The Orthodox Study Bible, 1993, St.
Athanasius Academy.
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