Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Yesterday, I answered a note from a person who asked me about the Church, and it made me think. In his note he said that he is in a PCA congregation because he needs fellowship and teaching. As I read what he wrote, it had me thinking about G.K. Chesterton and some of his writings, so with a great apology to Mr. Chesterton, let me write a small letter to “John Doe.”
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Dear Mr. Doe,
You wrote me yesterday about your confusion about which Christian body to join. You commented on how you liked the music of this one body, the theology of this other body, the sacraments of that body, but the fellowship you experience in yet a fourth body. And, I wonder not at your confusion, because the Church itself appears to be confused. Is the Church one body or is she many bodies? Even among us Orthodox, we appear to be a set of bodies rather than One. How can you not be confused when Mother Church appears to be confused?
And, that really is at the root of our problems with our Holy Mother Church. We expect better of her. We expect her to be ever so pure and ever so right in all she says and does. But, that is a child’s view of his/her parents. A child living a normal childhood always assumes that mother is correct. A child receives sustenance and support from his/her mother without questioning his/her mother’s decisions or actions. But, the reality is that mother is not perfect and mother makes wrong decisions and takes some wrong actions. It is as we mature that we can have a balanced view of our mother and realize her great love for us and her sustenance of us, in spite of her many mistakes. Have you guessed already that I am speaking of Holy Mother Church?
All of us need to grow up and have a mature view of our Holy Mother, while at the same time coming to her for sustenance and love as little children do. It is a hard set of attitudes to maintain, yet we must in order to be able to have a right view of Mother Church. If we err and demand perfection, we shall always be disappointed. We shall then always go around from group to group seeking that which we shall never find on this side of the grave (or of His Glorious Appearance). But, if we are unable to see her mistakes, we will be unable to take our proper part in the counsels of the Church, so that Our Lord may continue to wash His Church and cleanse her. In fact, if we are unable to have a balanced view of Mother Church, we shall be unable to have a balanced view of ourselves; and we shall be unable to grow correctly in personal holiness.
Let me caution you about one mistake. It is easy to see the imperfections of Mother Church and thereby decide that no group is really the Church–which is to say that every group is the Church–and that you are free to attend any group which calls itself a church and which agrees with certain criteria that you hold in your mind. It is even easier to see groups that may hold better to some of the criteria you consider important, and to thereby decide that such a groups are really Mother Church. But, let me assure you, there really is a Holy Mother Church. She is imperfect, and at times hard to see, but she is there. It is much harder to submit to an imperfect Mother Church and to receive from her, especially when there are some bodies that are better than Mother Church at following the evangelical counsels of the Church.
Nevertheless, let me encourage you to seek Holy Mother Church. She is the presence of the promised Kingdom that is to come. She is the herald and the harbinger of Our Lord Jesus Christ. She gives us sustenance through the Word and the Sacraments. She points to Our Savior and brings us to Him and Him to us. She cleanses us in Holy Baptism and presents us to Our Lord. She feeds us with his Body and Blood. Do not despise her. Do not merely say that you will go directly to Jesus as though you would throw away the Body of Christ. You would be throwing away a pearl. Come to her as a Prodigal Son and see that Our Father in Heaven will be standing right there beside her. We stand by to welcome you home.
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
How does one balance this imperfection when looking at teachings, creeds, etc… that are considered authoritative?
Are they tainted?
Not that I am questioning them, I am just looking at where the imperfection/perfection meet and how one can distinguish between the two.
As one looks at Church history, some interesting things are seen that are most helpful:
1. All self-proclaimed Christians have the same New Testament.
2. With the exception of some rather extreme groups, all self-proclaimed Christians accept the dogmatic declarations of the first three Ecumenical Councils. They may not accept them as “rule” but they will discipline any who stray from them.
3. Only the non-Chalcedonians do not accept the fourth through sixth Ecumenical Councils. With slight exceptions, all the rest of the self-proclaimed Christians accept the dogmatic declarations of the fourth through the sixth Ecumenical Councils. They may not accept them as “rule” but they will discipline any who stray from them.
4. The non-Chalcedonians, Roman Catholics, other Catholic groups, some Anglo-Catholics, and the Eastern Orthodox accept the Seventh Ecumenical Council.
This basically means that all self-proclaimed Christian groups–except the non-Chalcedonians–accept the first six Ecumenical Councils as authoritative for dogma. And, all groups accept the same New Testament as authoritative.
There are also some similarities in worship that speak to what is important. For instance, all self-proclaimed Christian groups have come to regularly use some form of the Corinthian passage on the Lord’s Supper as the passage which should be recited/remembered during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
I could go on, but all too often we concentrate on the differences rather than the likenesses. The likenesses are a worthwhile study on their own.
OK, now read this next sentence carefully. All that I have described above comes under the heading of the phenomenology of religion. However, I do not live in that field of endeavor. I live in the Church. This means that the distinguishing of imperfection/perfection is not my individual role. Rather, I am part of a community that stretches from the creation of Adam through today, and includes patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, hierarchs, priests, deacons, subdeacons, laity, etc., etc. It includes the Church in glory and the Church militant. I study; I read; I question; I agree; I disagree; I have my personal opinions. But, the field within which I function is the Church and the basic trust that Our Lord is slowly cleansing her.
There are times to fight for what is right, but within the Church. My first endeavor, decision was to find out where the Church was, even to find out whether there was one visible Church or whether the various pieces into which we are divided are all Church. So, oddly enough, I used the classic American individualism to do my research and make my decision. There is a significant bit of irony in that. But, having decided that there is a Church, I joined it and it is within that “field” that I function. I do not consider Eastern Orthodoxy perfect. But, it is within that field that I function and study. So, it is within that field that I accept what is unchangeable dogma and what is changeable discipline and what is arguable theologumena (theological opinions, but carrying much greater weight).
Eastern Orthodoxy is a Lady in need of cleansing. But, she is my Lady and my Holy Mother Church. This answer may not fully satisfy you, but it is the best I can give at this time.
I have wandered through most of Non-Denominational, Protestant and Catholic Christianity finding a piece here, a piece there–but nothing that was anything more than a few squares of the whole quilt. As I prayed and struggled and read and listened and asked God for guidance, I was led in what some might consider coincidental ways, but that I consider miraculous ways to the Eastern Orthodox Church. Here I have found the whole quilt–a little faded in places and a little ragged in others–even splattered with a little mud here and there–but undeniable the whole quilt. I have wrapped myself in this whole quilt and here I stay–warmed, sheltered, taught (this quilt has squares that tell stories) and even warned when I stray from the pathway (other quilt squares tell THOSE stories).
Alix
As someone who leans towards paleo-orthodoxy (Thomas Oden), there is much you said in your response that I agree with.
Part of my reason for asking that question was my attempt to fit into the shoes of someone who is not a Christian: How would he/she consider your post? Your answer to me might work for that type person as well.
Thanks.
The title “the imperfect Lady…” must refer to a purely external perspective of Orthodoxy from a more scholarly than spiritual point of view. The Church, from a spiritual point of view, is a spiritual organism that includes the “perfected” as well as those “being perfected”. Highly recomend “The Mind of the Orthodox Church” by Metropolitan Hierotheos S. Vlachos.
I think that the mere notion or definition of Church should be further investigated by those who truly seek to know. i would like to share a few excerpts from this book mentioned above. First, an excerpt on the beginning of the Church:
“Many of us have the notion that the Church was created on the day of Pentecost, that is to say, when the Holy Spirit descended into the hearts of the Apostles. And of course we could say that Pentecost is the birthday of the Church from the point of view that it was then that the Church became the Body of Christ. It acquired substance. However, the beginning and existence of the Church is to be found in the time before Pentecost.
“Professor John Karmiris states that there are three phases in the emergence of the Church. The first is the creation of the angels and men, the second is the life of Adam in Paradise, but also the period of the Old Testament, and the third phase of the Church is the incarnation of Christ. Indeed the full revelation of the Church will take place at the Second Coming of Christ.”
Furtheremore, I think that the mindset of some put limits in their search for the “Church”. More importantly, the search for absolute truth coinsides with the search for the Church…from where ever and whatever point one begins on such a quest. I would like to end with a final quotation from “The Mind of the Orthodox Church.”
“After all that has been reported we must end with a few conclusions, without, of course, having exhausted this great theme.
a) Only in Christ is there salvation. Since the saints of the Old Testament saw the unincarnate Word and the saints of the New Testament saw and see the incarnate Word and have close communion with Him, this means that man’s salvation takes place only through Christ. And of course since Christ is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity and salvation is a common action of the Trinitarian God, it means that we are saved when we have communion with the Holy Trinity, when the grace of the Trinitarian God enters our being, when “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit” are with us.
b) The Church is not a human organisation, but a Divine-Human Organism. It is not a human corporation, but the Divine-human Body of Christ. The source of the Church is this God Himself. It is not men’s invention, it is not a fruit and result of men’s social need, but it is the sole place of man’s salvation. That is to say, the impression is created that men made the Church in order to be able to survive in such difficult and tragic social conditions of life. But, as we explained before, the source of the Church is God Himself, and man’s salvation takes place within it. Clement of Alexandria observes: “for just as it is a work of his will and is called the world, so also the salvation of men is his will and this is called the church”. And this means that the Church will never cease to exist, in spite of such difficult and unfavourable circumstances.
c) In the Church all the problems are solved. We are not speaking of an abstract Christianity which we link with an ideology, but of a Church which is a communion of God and man, of angels and men, of earthly and heavenly, of man and world. The Church is “a meeting of heaven and earth”. Peace, justice, etc. , are not simply some social conventions, but gifts which are given in the Church. Peace as well as justice and all the other virtues, such as love etc. are experiences of the Church. In the Church we experience the real peace, justice and love, which are essential energies of God.
d) The Church is the Body of Christ, which has Christ as its head, and the members of the Church are members of the Body of Christ. Members of the Church exist in all the ages and will exist until the end of all time. And when members of the Church cease to exist, the end of the world will come. Thus we are living with many people. The people of God manifest the true communion. As we said at the beginning, on the paten during the Liturgy there are many people. They are the Panagia, the Angels, the Prophets, the holy Fathers, the great martyrs, and, in general, the witnesses of the faith, the saints and ascetics, the living and the dead who have a share in the purifying, illuminating and deifying uncreated energy of God. We are not alone. We are not “foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household” (Eph. 2,19).
The greatest gift of grace which we have is that we belong to the Church. The greatest gift is that we are in this great Family. We should value this gift, we should feel very deeply moved and struggle to remain in the Church, experiencing its sanctifying grace and showing by our lives that we are in its place of redemption and sanctification. Thus we shall also have the great gift of the “blessed ending”, when we are granted to lie asleep “in the midst of the Church”. “