The Orthodox Church especially puts forth another dimension of the "image", commenting on God's word to man: "and subdue the earth and have dominion..." (Gen. 1,28). A prayer states "...So that the honour might be distinguished from the life of the others, He planted a garden in Eden, graced with all types of plants, free from sadness and care, making me a partaker of divine life, and making me slightly lower than the angels upon the earth".

The Fathers of the Church say that the "according to the image",, refers to the similarity of authority. Man was placed as "having authority" over the rest of God's creation; he was raised to the level of becoming God's collaborator. This "authority" however should not be exercised in an arbitrary manner: contrary to man's nature and to his responsible place in God's world or contrary to the nature of the other creatures.

God determined a certain meaning for man's life. Likewise, all the other creatures came into existence with a specific purpose. All of creation constitutes an unique unity and harmony which in the Old Testament is expressed with the words: " And God saw all that He created, and behold it was very good" (Gen. 1,31). Man's authority over the rest of creation must be in harmony with God's will and His plan for all of cre­ation.

This dominion and authority is not infinite. God placed man in paradise "to till it and keep it" (Gen. 2,15). The fulfilment of man's mission required a deep knowledge of the creation. Man could have brought this task to a blessed conclusion. As the "according to the image" of the all-wise and almighty God, he could have developed science and knowledge to a wondrous degree and realized God's command to "subdue it and have dominion" (Gen. 1,28). This does not mean, as we have already said, that man has the right from God to make egoistic use of the world. Such a thing would shatter the unity and harmony which man was called, in accordance with God's plan, to serve.

But the personal God is also defined by freedom. And every man, being created "according to the image" of God Himself, has been created a free being.

This means that apostasy is not to be found in man's nature, but in his disposition. If man were by nature an apostate, i.e. a sinner, then apostasy would be a necessity in his life. No one could then choose the path of virtue and communion with God. This is why we mention that apostasy has its roots in man's free choice, i.e. his will.

Man therefore has the possibility of accepting a communion of love with God and serving creation in accordance with God's plan. Indeed, the Creator endowed man with His grace so as to easily be in a position to increase in virtue.

But one could ask, why didn't God create man virtuous without the possibility of apostasy? If apostasy did not exist as a possibility within man's will, then the exercise of virtue would be compulsory, something which would completely negate its value; because that which is done out of force is not virtue but necessity. If we now should want to correlate man's freedom with God's command "to subdue", we would say that man is able to enter into a communion of love with creation, serving it, or to proceed to an egoistic use of the environment with unforeseeable consequences for himself and for all of God's creation.

God therefore offers man the possibility of salvation without crushing him. He desires to have man's free consent. Even the most sacred of purposes which refers to the deeper meaning of man's life, i.e. his communion with God, does not move God to violate man's will, "for his own good". Here we are dealing with a communion of love which is possible only "in freedom". For that matter, what would paradise itself be if man were obliged to live there by force?

The Orthodox Church believes that man's fall was preceded by the fall of the spiritual world. The angels, being God's creatures, were good. They were not "immutable" towards evil however; i.e. their virtue was not the result of necessity but of free choice. After their free choice of the good, being sanctified by the Spirit, they would remain immovable towards evil, becoming divinized through their ascent towards the first Good. This is stressed by one of the hymns of our Church:

"Being sanctified by the Spirit, The multitude of the Angels Remain immovable towards evil, Being divinized through their Ascent to the prime Good."

This however was not the case with Lucifer and his angels, who moved towards evil, towards apostasy. According to the Christian faith, Lucifer is not a condition or a negative element in God's creation, but a distinct person. That is to say, we believe in the exist­ence of Lucifer, who after his fall was transformed into the Devil or Satan.

According to the Orthodox faith which is supported by divine Revelation, two eternal principles do not exist. Everything, all that came into existence, was created by God "very good" (Gen. 1,31). Lucifer's fall and that of his angels therefore was not due to their nature. The source of their fall is to be found in their evil disposition. Lucifer's choice aimed at his personal exaltation autonomously, i.e. cut off from God's love. The result was the exact opposite of the aim: " I shall ascend to heaven; above the stars of heaven shall I set my throne...I shall become similar to the Most High; Now, behold, you shall descend to Hades and to the founda­tions of the earth" (Is. 14,13-15).

The Devil, out of enmity for man, lured him to apostasy. He put into his mind the evil thought that he could achieve the purpose of his life, the likeness of God, autonomy. The Devil's aim was to detach man from his communion with God and in this way to set at nought God's plan for man. He certainly knew that man had been created according to God's image, i.e. free, and that God, out of love, would not violate man's freedom.

In order to help man make his conscientious choice, God instituted a prohibition: that of eating from the "tree of knowledge of good and evil", and forewarned man that if he transgressed this commandment, he would cut himself off from union with Him, i.e., he would die (Gen. 2,17).

The Devil appeared to man in disguise, and reversed God's word, maintaining that the transgressing of God's commandment would lead to theosis (Gen.3,5). Yet still man's fall would not have come about if he with his free will had not responded to the Devil's call. Man's act of eating of the forbidden fruit was an act of communion with the Devil, and not with God, Hence, it was an act that was aimed against man's very nature, since man was by nature a communion of love with God and with His works.

The consequences of the fall were fearful. The centre of man's life was moved from God to himself. He did not take into consideration the difference between created and uncreated, between creation and the Creator. He thought that he could, by himself, overcome the ontological chasm. The result was that he distanced himself from the only road that led to the fulfilment of his life's purpose, as it had been determined by the Creator Himself. This independence of man signified his being stripped of God's grace and being led to spiritual death. These fearful ramifications of the fall are outlined in the verses of the "Great Canon":

"I have lost the beauty with which I was created, and my propriety, And now I am naked and ashamed".

God, however, did not cease to love His creature. He allowed natural death as a consequence of the fall: not as a punishment but as a protection, so that man might not sin eternally and evil become immortal. Death then is a pedagogical measure from God with a purpose to restore the apostate to the communion of love and life with the eternal and immortal God.

This truth is especially underlined in the prayer of the Burial Service:

"O Lord our God, who in thine ineffable wisdom hast created man, fashioning him out of the dust, and adorning him with comeliness and goodness, as an honourable and heavenly acquisition, to the exaltation and magnificence of thy glory and kingdom, that thou mightest bring him into this image and likeness; but forasmuch as he sinned against the command of thy statute, having accepted the image but preserved it not, and because, also, evil, should not be eternal: Thou hast ordained remission unto the same, through thy love toward mankind; and that this destructible bond, which as the God of our fathers thou hadst sanctified by thy divine will, should be dissolved, and that his body should be dissolved from the elements of which it was fashioned, but that his soul should be translated to that place where it shall take up its abode until the final Resurrection....."

Death, however, remains for the mind of the faithful a fearful and unapproachable mystery. This is expressed in a unique way in the sacred texts of the Burial Service:

"I weep and I wail when I think upon death,

and behold our beauty, fashioned after the image of God,

lying in the tomb disfigured, dishonoured, bereft of form.

Ο marvel! What is this mystery which doth befall us?.."

"Indeed most fearful is the mystery of death:

how the soul is violently separated from its harmony with the body,

and how the most natural bond by which they grew together

is severed by the divine will.."

For the believer, however, this is not a dead-end: "Brethren, we would not have you ignorant concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep...Therefore comfort one another with these words." (I Thessalonians 4, 13-18).

Another consequence of the breaking off of the love between God and man was the weakening of human nature itself. When Adam first saw his fellow—man, Eve, he said that she was not anything different from himself but bone from his bones and flesh from his flesh (Gen. 2,23). This attitude changed completely after the fall: Adam was not willing to share the blame for Eve's disobedience (Gen. 3,12). After the fall, man no longer saw himself in the face of his brother; he no longer understood the unity of human nature.

In the condition that came about after the fall, men lost the feeling that they constitute a communion of persons and acquired the self-awareness of particular individuals, which led to the severing of the one mankind that God had created. Even language, that instru­ment of communication between men, when apostasy reached its height on the tower of Babel, was trans­formed into an instrument hindering communication.

Man's autonomy had fearful consequences upon God's creation. Enmity and disharmony were also transferred to man's relations with the rest of creation. Man is no longer able to hold his sovereign position within creation, and be the centre of unity and harmony of all that God created. He began making egoistical use of the world and to drag with him everything into servitude to corruption. All of creation was thus subdued unto "futility", we are told by St. Paul, not willingly but because of "him who subjected it", because of man. (Rom. 8, 20-21).

Holy Scripture says: "And to Adam he [God] said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree...cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life...in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, out of which you were taken..." (Gen. 3, 17-19).

This was a means of teaching man and aimed at his return, from within the state of corruption, to incorruption and to immortality for which God had predestined him: a new challenge for man's will.

Man, however, was not moved to repentance or nostalgia for God's paradise where he had freely submitted his personal will to God's will. Hence, the march along the path of separation and fall continued. But God never ceased loving man; He never ceased challenging afresh his predisposition or preparing his final restoration.

After the fall, man, we are told by Holy Writ, was cast out of paradise (Gen. 3,24). God, however, through this expulsion, did not lead man to despair, for He simultaneously sowed within Him the hope of salvation.

The final outcome of his vicissitude would be accomplished with the coming of the offspring of the "woman", who would crush the "head" of the "serpent" (Gen. 3,15). Man had to prepare himself systematically for this advent, for his restoration was not the result of force but the fruit of God's love which man accepted. Man had to accept once again in freedom the saving action of God.

The Orthodox Church believes that God wanted to prepare mankind for His saving intervention through the election of the people of Israel and the preaching of the Old Testament Prophets. The prophetical message had as its centre the awaited offspring of the "woman".

This Saviour of mankind was Jesus Christ in whom God united Himself with man and in this way man became a partaker of God's life. Christ is not two persons, a human and a divine, but one: a theandric person. He was one Christ, not two.

God's union with man in the person of Christ did not shatter the human nature, because the union of the divine and the human nature in the One Christ took place "without confusion, without separation, without change, without division". The two natures are not confused between themselves in a mixture, nor does the one separate itself from the other. Moreover, the human nature does not change into the divine nature nor does the divine change into the human. In this way the Son and Word of God took on human nature and in His unique person He led him to communion with God. One of the hymns of the Church states:

" You assumed my corrupt and mortal nature,

You clothed me in incorruption,

and You raised me up to eternal and blessed life,

where, Ο compassionate Lord,

do thou give rest to those whom you assumed".

The Orthodox Christian does not attempt to approach the God-manhood of Christ rationally; he accepts it with humility as revelation from God, as a "great mystery" (I Timothy 3, 16), which identified with man's very salvation.

Salvation through Christ, then, is not to be found in the showing of some "way" outside his person, or in the keeping of certain commandments on man's part. No effort whatsoever on the part of the created could ever lead to the uncreated, i.e. to freedom from the bondage to corruption and death. The uncreated and eternal God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, transcends the ontological abyss separating the created from the uncreated. This is accomplished, not that God might live the life of the created, but that He might raise created man to divine life beyond corruption and death. This communion of mortal man with immortal and eternal God is commu­nion "according to energy" and not "according to essence"; this means that man does not partake of God's essence, that he is touched by God's energy, i.e. His Grace. And because the divine energy is from the essence of God, the communion between God and man is a real communion which grants life to man without doing away with him; it does not constitute a confusion or mixture of human nature in God's. God saves man while respecting his person; He attributes to it inesti­mable value.

All that we have mentioned shows that faith in Christ's God-manhood constitutes man's only hope, because he finds in this faith λ deeper meaning in life even beyond the grave. St. Paul calls salvation in Christ a great mystery of piety; "Truly great is the mystery of our piety: God was revealed in the flesh, vindicated through Spirit, appeared to the angels, proclaimed to the nations, believed in throughout the world, ascended in glory" (I Timothy 3,16).

Man's salvation therefore is identified with the event of God's incarnation. God through this manner assumes man and saves him. Belief that we will make this fact, this event, of our salvation our own possession is the great mystery of piety.

Christ is now the new head of the human race. Holy Scripture underlines the fact that He is the saviour of God's new people: the Church, which constitutes "His Body", having Him as its very head (Math. 1,21. Ephes. 5,23). In speaking about the Church He describes her as the "kingdom of God". For in the Body of Christ the heavenly and the earthly, i.e. angels and men, are to be "recapitulated" (Ephes. 1,10), so as to be under the one Head and to be ruled by Christ.

This is what Christ meant when He said that with His coming, the kingdom of heaven was at hand (Matth. 4,17. 10,7). Indeed, with the re-formation of the Church the mystery of the kingdom is now "within you" (Lk. 17,21); all of mankind is touched by the grace of God, is sanctified in its totality and ruled by the Head, which is Christ.

Man is inaugurated into the kingdom of God (into the Body of Christ) through Holy Baptism, and he is called to live the life of the Body, i.e. to become a partaker of salvation in Christ, of the life in Christ. In this sense, he can now say along with St. Paul, " I no longer live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2,20). For this reason, Paul's task aimed at "...such time as Christ shall be formed within you" (Gal.4,19). The Lord Himself assures everyone who shall love him in truth, that he shall be loved by God the Father "and we will come to him and make our home with him"; we will dwell with Him! (Jn. 14,23).

It is important to underline that the body which Christ assumed was no different than our body. It was a created body and thus suscepitible to corruption and death. And indeed, Christ subjected Himself to these in order to meet death and destroy it through His death in the flesh on the Cross, and to liberate us from its bonds, thus becoming the first born from the dead (I Cor. 15, 55-58). In this way the believer, incorporated into the human flesh which Christ assumed, in the body of Christ, makes his own that communion which was brought about in the person of Christ and is led to theosis; In Christ the uncontained God becomes contained and in Christ man becomes a "partaker of the divine nature" (II Peter 1,4).

The path which God chose in order to save man is the path of love and honour towards His creature. God Himself undertook the task of man's salvation. In God's eyes apostate man did not cease to be something precious. For this reason He did not search him out and summon him back through "a representative or a messenger"; He Himself set out in search of him and "emptied Himself out, taking the form of a servant". He humbled Himself (Philp. 2,7-8), in order to raise man up from the state of dishonour to the heights of honour. He offered him the communion of His love without crushing him, without violating man's personality.

 That which now remains for man is his disposition. He is still free and can make his own choice; the believer knows that there is but one road to salvation: Christ, who said, "I am the way...no one cometh unto the Father except through me" (John 14,6). There is no other way to salvation outside the God-man Jesus Christ; neither can our brother save us. How then can someone else save us? No one can offer anything to God to atone for him. He does not have the price to pay for his soul, even if he were to labour all his life.

This is underlined by Holy Scripture: "No one can ransom a brother, there is no price one can give to God for it. For the ransom of life is costly and can never suffice" (Psalm 48, 8-9). In harmony with Holy Scripture one of the hymns of the Church emphasizes:

"Being crucified, ο Christ,

tyranny has been done away with;

the power of the enemy has been trampled upon;

for neither angel nor man,

but the Lord Himself has saved us.

Glory to Thee".

Here then every idea of self-development, self-realisation, self-discovery and self-salvation is overthrown and shown to be incompatible with the Christian faith. Man's participation is found in his free and total consent to the saving work of God in Jesus Christ.

 

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Evil in the World

[...]Holy Scripture emphasizes that everything, all that exists in the world, has a beginning; nothing is eternal, save God. Everything came into existence through God's creative act, as the fruit of freedom and love. St. John's Gospel begins by stating: "In the beginning was the Word...All through Him was made and without Him nothing was made that was made". And the Apostle St. Paul adds: "for in Him all that is in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible...all things have been created through Him and for Him" (Col. 1,16). Nothing exists that has not been created "from the Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit". All of God's creation however, was created "very good" (Gen. 1,31); there is nothing evil among it.

 

The Orthodox Church preaches that evil does not exist as a spirit co-eternal with God, or that it has its source in Him. She also teaches that sin has its source in free will, and not in nature, and that this is true both in regard to the apostasy of the angelic order of Lucifer and to the fall of man. Of course Holy Scripture states that the Devil "has been sinning from the beginning" (I Jn 3,8), but this refers to Lucifer's fall and not to his creation. For Lucifer became the Devil through his free disposition and not from his nature (Is. 14,12-15). This is the reason why he will be punished together with his angels (Mtth. 25,41; Rev. 20,10).

 

The Devil is a real person; he is not a "condition" or "state" in man, nor a negative element which together with the divine element supposedly serve God's plan, as certain heresies proclaim. The Devil has no authority over man's nature. Through evil thoughts he provokes only man's disposition. Man's "co-operation" is not something compulsory. If he so desires, he can immediately reject the evil thought and refuse to give any further continuation to it. [...]

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The God-Man Redeemer

[...] We have already mentioned that the Son and Word is the Second Person of the one triune Godhead; He is born pre-eternally from the Father, Who is the source of divinity, and that in the one person of Jesus Christ the Word became flesh (Jn 1,14) and sought out apostate man and led him back to communion with the Triune God, i.e. to eternal life. The Creed states synoptically:

 

"And [I believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ,

the Son of God, the Only-begotten,

who was begotten of the Father before all ages.

Light of light; true God of true God;

begotten, not made; consubstantial with the Father,

through whom all things were made.

Who for us men and for our salvation

came down from heaven,

and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit

and Mary the Virgin; and became man.

And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate,

and suffered and was buried.

And rose on the third day,

according to the Scriptures.

And ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right

hand of the Father.

And He shall come again with glory

to judge both the living and the dead;

Whose kingdom shall have no end".

In this text one finds inscribed the mystery of our salvation "in Christ". He who "became man" isn't an angel or some other creature but the Son and Word of God who is consubstantial with the Father, the "one Lord" (I Cor. 8,7).

 

"Fearful, indeed and ineffable, O Immaculate One,

is the mystery which took place in Thee",

 

chants our Church to the Virgin Mary, and states:

"Surpassing reason and logic,

you did give birth to the Word,

the cause of all things, who was incarnate.

Through the Holy Spirit

He received flesh from thee

while maintaining His own nature without change;

and since both collaborated

in a self-existing hypostasis,

He is born dual in nature: total God and total man,

manifesting with active characteristics [idiomata]

the union of the two."

[...]

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The Mission of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit was not revealed in the same manner in which the Son was revealed; He remains unapproachable to man. He is however recognized in His divine energies, through the gifts which He bestows upon the faithful. He is "the treasury of good things and the bestower of life", according to the prayer of the Church.

Many texts in our liturgical books ascribe the work of our salvation to the Holy Spirit:

 

"The Holy Spirit hath ever been and is,

and shall be, neither beginning nor ending;

but He is ever ranked and numbered

together with the Father and the Son.

He is Life, and life-creating;

Light and light-bestowing;

by nature good, and the source of goodness;

through Him the Father is known,

and the Son is glorified;

and thereby all men acknowledge

a single sovereignty, single covenant, one adoration

of the Holy Trinity."

 

The Orthodox Church rejects the false doctrine of heretics who maintain that the Holy Spirit is an imper­sonal power or "state" within us. The Holy Spirit has self-awareness (Acts 10,19-20. 13,2), will (Jn 16,8. Acts 2,4. I Cor. 12,11) and acts as a person; He is the third person of the Holy Trinity (Mtth. 28,19. Jn 15,26. II Cor. 13,13) and is distinguished from the power of God (II Cor. 6,6-7. Rm. 15,13. I Cor.1,5).

The Holy Spirit participated in the creation of the world (Gen. 1,2) which was accomplished from the Father, through the Son and "in the Holy Spirit". Then, when man was created the "first putting-on of the Spirit" (πνευματοφορία) took place (Gen. 1,26-27. 7,7). During the new creation, the Holy Spirit was restored to man. A beautiful hymn of the Church states:

 

"In the Holy Spirit

is all creation renewed,

and doth return to its pristine state,

for He is of equal power

with the Father and the Word".

 

In the restoration and recreation of man, the Holy Spirit is "the active principle": From the Holy Spirit, through the Son to the Father; this is the road to salva­tion. There is no other; "no one can say Lord Jesus except in the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 12,3), no one can recognize Christ as Lord, i.e. to enroll in the Church under one Head, Christ, save "in the Holy Spirit" alone; and "no one cometh unto the Father, save through me" (Jn 14,6). No one comes unto the Father save through Jesus Christ!

In order to reach the Father through the Son, we must be "in the Holy Spirit". The Holy Spirit reveals Christ to each and every believer personally and individ­ually (Jn 15,25-26. 16,13-14). He "plants" him through the Holy Spirit into Christ's body, and man regains that from which he fell, a unity in the one human nature, i.e. to be "one in Christ" this is man's rebirth (Jn 3,5. Titus 3,5. Gal. 3,26-28). Through Baptism and Holy Commu­nion the believer becomes "one in body" {σύσσωμος) and "one in blood"(σύναιμος) with Christ and the relationship which exists between Jesus Christ and God the Father is conveyed and given to him through the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is why the Holy Spirit is also called "The Spirit of Christ" and "the Spirit of Adoption" (Rom.8,10. 15-16).

Christ kept His promise: during Pentecost He "sent" the Holy Spirit to the disciples in a personal manner:

The Spirit "rested upon each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them ability" (Acts 2,3-4).

Language is a means of communication. At the Tower of Babel, as the result of man's apostasy from God and his autonomy, language became a means of non-communion and non-communication. And now during Pentecost, the restoration of unity, the gathering of the scattered children of God "into one" (Jn 11,52) was declared to those outside the circle of the disciples through a sermon preached in the tongue of the Holy Spirit which was comprehensible to all and is an instru­ment of man's unity (Acts 2,4).

This unity and return of man to the "one nature", to the "one man", i.e. to "one in Christ" does not do away with the special personality of each believer. The Holy Spirit offers His charismata (gifts) to every believer.

 

"The Holy Spirit provideth all things;

He gusheth forth prophecy;

He perfecteth the priesthood;

He hath taught wisdom to the illiterate.

He hath shown forth the fishermen as theologians.

He holdeth together

the whole institution of the Church.

Wherefore, Ο Comforter, one in essence and throne

with the Father and the Son, glory to Thee".

 

Within the unity of the one Body, each believer continues to be the concrete person that he is; he is not absorbed by the whole. This is why both in divine worship and in the sacramental life each individual is commemorated by name. He received from the Holy Spirit his own gift, and he is called to use it not egotisti­cally, but for the edification of the other members and for the growth of the overall body, together with his own growth "in Christ". The Apostle St. Paul states: " To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To me is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, to another the utterance of knowl­edge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are advocated by one and the same Spirit, who allows to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members are the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body...You are the body of Christ and individually members of it ( I Cor. 12,7-27).

"Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing. Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?", St Paul asks with emphasis (I Cor. 12, 29-30) and shows that the mystery of the human personality is not abrogated through the presence of the Holy Spirit, but that it is broadened, for as a member of the overall body he becomes a partaker of the great mystery of the unity "in Christ".

The Holy Spirit does not act independently of the personality and body of Christ, which is the Church. Concerning the Holy Spirit, Christ assured us that" He [the Paraclete-Comforter] will glorify me because He will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that He will take what is mine and declare it to you" (Jn 16,14-15). No one can possess the charismata of the Holy Spirit apart from the unity with Jesus Christ, i.e. outside the Church.

Furthermore, the gifts of the Holy Spirit do not constrain; they are offered on the basis of the divine will (John 3,8. I Cor. 12,12. Heb. 2,4) and not by human methods. If these gifts were the result of human efforts, they would belong to the "created order" and would not constitute true communion with God. This helps us to understand why the Orthodox Church gives special significance to the teaching concerning "uncreated grace" while at the same time discerning divine grace from the divine essence.

If grace were created, then it could not lead us to salvation since communion with something which is created cannot lead man to overcome his created reality and to union with the uncreated God. If again, there is no difference between the essence and the grace of God, then communion with the Divine essence would do away with man's personality. There is then a distinction between God's essence and His grace which is uncreated. (It [grace] does not have its source outside of the divine essence), for this reason in the Orthodox Church both are preserved: both the true communion with God and the human person.

Divine Grace however is not offered without man's active participation. The holy Mysteries of the Church are not magical acts; they presuppose the participation of each individual believer. The Angel of the Lord announced to the Virgin Mary: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you". But she, however, had to say, "Let it be!" (Lk. 1,35-38).

The believer receives the gift of the Holy Spirit, "the panoply of God" and he is strengthened to begin his spiritual struggle and to victoriously resist "the wiles of the Devil" (Eph. 116,10-20). Man must, however, want to carry on this struggle. The believer has the feeling that he is not struggling alone, but that he is being "strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of His power!".

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Spiritual Experiences

Man can have the feeling of the presence of Divine Grace in his life, i.e. he can have spiritual experiences. Holy Scripture, however, recommends to the faithful: "Beloved, do not believe in every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God". It further underlines that many false prophets have come into the world and it further shows ways in which one can judge and discern the spirit of truth from the spirit of error, i.e. the genuine from the counterfeit experiences (I Jn 4, 1-6).

It must be emphasized at the outset, that Holy Scripture does not place experience at the centre of our interests, nor does it elevate it to something absolute. Faith in Jesus Christ, and not personal experience, is placed at the centre of the Christian confession. This confession differentiates the Christian Church from the Hebrew Synagogue; whosoever confessed Christ was thought to have denied the Jewish Synagogue; and was declared an outcast from it (Jn 2, 22. 12,42). The Christian's experience is modified by this confession [of Jesus Christ] and is not independent of it (Rom. 10,9). The confession of faith is not the result of experience, but exactly the opposite: experience is acquired in unity with the confession and the life of the Church; these two factors also modify and determine the genuineness of the spiritual experience. In this way the Orthodox Christian is not in danger of falling into subjectivity and error, through personal experience.

The Apostle Paul does not base the gospel which he preaches on his own individual experience, but on the experiences of others: Peter's, that of the twelve, that of the five hundred, James' and the rest of the Apostles. He refers to himself as the last of all; he says, "last of all, as one untimely born, he appeared also to me", in order to add further along that he is what he is through the Grace of God. " Whether, then it was I, or they," he concludes, "so we proclaim and so you come to believe" (I Cor. 15 1-11). He does not severe himself from the Church, nor does he base himself on his own personal experience, which he does not even emphasize.

The content of the faith, then, is neither conditioned nor shaped by each one's personal experience, but is handed down and is received in the Church (I Tim. 6,20. II Tim. 1,14. 2,2. Jude 3). " As the prophets saw, as the apostles taught, as the Church received, as the teachers dogmatized...as the truth was proven.. .so do we believe, so do we speak, so do we declare" (the Seventh Ecumenical Council).

That the content of the faith constitutes the norm and standard by which the genuineness of the experience is measured, can be seen in the example of St. Thomas for whom, like the Jews, "the sign", the experience of the miracle, had paramount significance. This, however, is overcome by the words of Christ: "Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe", i.e. blessed are those who do not base themselves on their own personal experience (Jn 20, 28-29).

Another "measure and standard" for determining the authenticity of experience is the obedience to Christ's teachings; the Apostle underlines that he who violates and does not abide in the teachings of Christ "does not have God" (II Jn.,9). The entire spiritual life of the believer is understood of course as life in the Holy Spirit, as a gift of the Holy Spirit which is the fruit of God's love. As we have already mentioned, gifts of God which are an offering of love, presuppose the complete acceptance of this love on man's part. Man proves his deep desire to accept God's love by offering to Him his complete love; he must humble his mind, his flesh, together with his passions and desires and offer his entire self to God (Matth. 22,37. Rom. 5, 1-2. Gal. 5,24). God accepts this offering and with His Grace He sanctifies and transforms the labours of humble man into gifts of the Holy Spirit which are joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control and above all, love (Gal. 5, 22-23), the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit. Without this total humility on man's part, spiritual experiences are not granted; and if they do exist, the do not come from the spirit of God (James 4, 6. I Peter 5,5).

The experiences of the saints in Jesus Christ have all the characteristics which we have mentioned. They were experiences of the Church and not of individuals. Consequently, all those who put forth spiritual experiences and "signs" without the characteristics that we have mentioned accompanying them have been deceived by the spirit of error. Such false experiences are already known from the Old Testament, and indeed appear outwardly as being similar to the genuine experiences (Ex. 7, 10-11; 20-22. 8, 18). Christ Himself informed us that false messiahs, false teachers and false prophets would work "signs" in order to bring about confusion and to deceive even the elect, if possible (Matth. 24, 24-25. cf. Rev. 13, 12-18).

The Apostle Paul informs the Christians of Corinth that the reference here is to false apostles and "deceitful workers" who disguise themselves as Apostles of Christ, just as Satan "transforms himself into an Angel of Light". It is not surprising then, the Apostle concludes, if the Devil's servants also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Their end will match their deeds! (II Cor. 11, 13-15).

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The Church

The Church as the Body of Christ is a Divine-human (theanthropic) organism, i.e. an invisible and visible reality. The invisible dimension of the Church refers to the communion between God and man having as its model the communion between the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. With the creation of the angels the heaven­ly Church was constituted; to this Church man was added: " but ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the just men made perfect" (Heb. 12, 22-23).

Man's fall broke off his communion with the heavenly Church. God, however, did not abandon His creature, but had already pre-eternally planned man's salvation. In order to prepare man's return to communion with God He chose "the chosen people of Israel" who were the prefiguration of the new Israel, i.e. the Church (Rom. 9,7-8. Gal. 3,29).

The Apostle Paul speaks of the pre-eternal mystery of God which was revealed to man and to the angels with the incarnation of the Son and Word of God. It was the economy of the mystery that was hidden for centuries by God... for the multifaceted wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which was revealed through Jesus Christ our Lord to be recognized now ...through the Church (Eph. 3,9-11. cf. Col. 1,26).

In Christ Jesus the Church has been reconstituted; angels and men united in order once again to constitute the Church:

 

"Through Your Cross, Ο Christ,

One fold has come into being;

Of Angels and men, and One Church.

Heaven and Earth rejoice.

Lord, glory to Thee".

 

The unity of the Body of the Church is realized from the one Head, Christ; "man is the head of the woman, just a Christ is the head of the Church and He is the saviour of the Body" (Eph. 5,23). This communion between God and man has an absolute character: this is why in the Old Testament God is called a jealous God (Ex.1 20,5. Deut. 5,9). Every apostasy on the part of God's people is characterized as fornication and adultery (Judges 2.17. Iez. 6,9).

In the Church the "regathering" i.e. the gathering of the scattered children of God (Jn 11,52) was accomplished - the structuring of the one body under the head: Christ; He is the savior of the body". Christ "loved the Church and gave Himself for her in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the Church to Himself in splendour without a spot, or wrinkle or anything of the kind - so that she might be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5, 23-27).

"With the washing of water by the word" ("in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" (Matth. 28,19) we are sanctified and incorporated into the body under the one Head, Christ; we become "one in Christ" (Gal. 3,26-28). Therefore, when we speak about the Church, we do not mean simply the people of God, without Christ, nor the Lord, the Head, without the body. We mean both together, the Head of the Church together with all its other members, the Christians. The Holy Spirit Who descended upon the Church on the day of Pentecost abides in her, renews the faithful and incorporates them into the one Body of Christ. Christ is "the firstborn among many brothers" (Rom. 8,29); in Himself He reconciled all unto God (II Cor. 5,18. Col. 1, 18-20).

In this way we understand that the Church as the Body of Christ is equated with salvation. In her, the relationship of Christ with the Father is transferred to each one of us: "I in them and you in me, so that they may become completely one" (John 17, 23). The Church is not the workshop of man's salvation but salvation itself. The "gathering" of the scattered children of God and their incorporation into the "unity" of Christ is not a fact of secondary importance, but the very event of salvation (Jn 11, 52). One can neither be a Christian nor call himself a Christian apart from his incorporation into the Body of Christ, which at the same time is also communion with the brethren ( I Cor. 12, 12-28). The salvation of each man cannot constitute the separate concern of each individual, independent of his incorpor­ation into, and his life within, the Church. He who in "self-love" retreats and immerses into himself, hoping thereby to find salvation within himself without reference to the person of Jesus Christ and without incorporation into His Body, cannot be considered a Christian.

The Church, being the Body of Christ, is one (Eph.4,4) and Christ is not "divided" (I Cor. 1, 13); one cannot be Christ's if he is not at the same time with the brethren in Christ. This is why division or schism is a crime.

The Christian synaxis or gathering is not simply a congregation of Christian people but a gathering in which the unity of the one Body of Christ is expressed: the unity of the body with the Head. This is why wher­ever two or three are gathered there is Christ, the entire Catholic Church. They must, however, gather in Christ's name (Matth. 18,20).

This means that this synaxis must be carried out in the spirit of Christ in order that the work of Christ be performed, and not to serve human goals in the name of Christ. The work of Christ was the gathering of the scattered children of God "into one"; it is accomplished wherever the Holy Eucharist is performed as an act of unity and not division. The Apostle Paul, referring to these gatherings "in Christ's name" declares: "For I received from the Lord what also I handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread...as said, 'take, eat..."(I Cor. 11,23). " For we the many are one loaf, one body", St. Paul elsewhere affirms, thereby identifying the Holy Eucharist with the return of men to the unity of "the one nature", to the "one in Christ".

The synaxis or gathering, then, "in Christ's name", even if it is a synaxis "of two or three" must realize and express the unity of the Catholic Church and not its division into small groups and fragments that have no communion amongst themselves. This unity in the Apostolic Church extended even to the point of possessing all things in common: "now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common...and great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4, 32-33. 2, 42). In such a gathering "in the name of Christ" schisms and divi­sions had no place. For this reason the Apostle repri­mands the Corinthians, because in their synaxes which gathered the Church together there were divisions" "...I hear that when you come together as a Church, there are divisions among you..." (I Cor. 11, 18). A synaxis then "of two or three" cannot take place in Christ's name" when it constitutes a schism or conventicle — even when those who gather together contend that their gathering is done "in Christ's name".

The Church, moreover, has its visible dimension. Jesus Christ Himself chose His twelve disciples and called them Apostles. Before His glorious Ascension He promised them "power from on High" (Luke 24 49. Acts 1,8) and He sent them forth to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to make disciples of those who would believe, incorporating them into the Church through Holy Baptism (Matth. 28,19). This promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost on which three thousand souls were added to the Church (Acts 2, 41).

This first Church was a concrete community and society; it included the exercise of the holy virtues of Christ (I Cor. 11.1) and had as its centre the performance of the Holy Eucharist on the Lord's day and included a common confession which was the Apostolic teaching (didache), common prayer and the communion of love, which as we have already mentioned, reached to the point of common possession of all things (Acts2,42. 4,42). Whoever participated in this synaxis was included among the Christians. Whoever did not participate was not considered a Christian. In the Apostolic Church there existed specific structures: the Apostles, the Presbyters, the Deacons and other cadres, such as Timothy, Titus, et al. Whenever serious problems concerning the faith arose, they were solved in broader councils under the guidance of the Holy Spirit as was the case with the Apostolic Council which was in some way "the mouth" or voice of the Church (Acts 15,22-29. cf. I Tim. 3,15). The Church about which Holy Scripture speaks was visible and concrete. Among its members were num­bered individuals who were very weak and even gravely ill spiritually; who were called to repentance so as not to be cast out (Matth. 13,30. 47. I Cor. 5,1; 11. Jude 12, 23).

The Orthodox Church has condemned any notion whatsoever concerning a supposed "Church of the pure" (catharoi), and declares that the "separation of the clean from the unclean" will take place "at the time of the harvest", during the Second Coming of Christ and certainly not by man; no one is to attempt such a separation before the Lord's coming, for in such a case the criteria and standard of judgment would be human and the evaluation subject to error (Matth. 13, 29-30).

The fact that in the Church there are weak members does not mean that the entire Church has fallen into apostasy. When Moses was on the mountain and speak­ing to God nearly the entire "chosen people" fell into apostasy; and yet for God it still remained His people; He did not reject them (Exodus 32,1-8).

The Church of the New Testament, the new people of God, are not simply an episode in history which took place during the time of the Apostles, but a continuous event, extending to the time of Christ's Second Coming. The Holy Spirit remains eternally in the Church and leads to the truth (John 14, 16); Christ is Head of the Church, and as the Head, He is and ever remains united with the body. He leads the body and is not led by it. This is also why the Church, the Body of Christ, can never fall into apostasy — only individual members can become independent and separate themselves from the body, fall into apostasy and be led to spiritual death. Even pastors of the Church and "stars from heaven" can fall into apostasy, but never the Church (Acts 20,30. II Thessal. 2,3. Rev. 9,1.1 Tim. 3, 15). There will always be a small "remnant" and remainder of the faithful people, united with the Head and that will be the Church, because according to Christ's promise even " the gates of Hell" will not prevail against her (Matth. 16,18).

 The Church then, is unique and invisible (Matth. 16,18). It exists throughout the ages and is the "pillar and foundation of Truth"; the truth is founded upon the Church and not the Church on the truth. The Church is the Truth, because its Head is Christ, i.e. the Truth (I Tim 3, 15, Jn 6). Without Christ there is no Church (Matth. 16,18) and without the Church there is no truth (I Tim. 3,15).

Since the Church is also a visible reality, it exists throughout the centuries and is discerned by visible signs or marks. These outward signs modify and determine the identity of Christ's Church and distinguish it from self-styled "churches" and heresies.

These marks are the continuous and unbroken continuity of the Church in the faith, organization and life in accordance with the will of Christ and the praxis of the Apostles. The most visible focus of the Church's continuity is the Apostolic Succession. Here we do not have an arbitrary act which was decided upon and later enforced. Apostolic Succession has its source in the Divine will as it is expressed in Holy Scripture. Already before the day of Pentecost the ministry of the Apostle is distinguished from the specific person. The Apostles proceed to elect Matthias to assume the "episcope" of Judas, this in accordance with the prophecy of the Old Testament (Acts 1, 26. Ps. 108,8). This proves that in the Church there exists the ministry of the "episcope", for which the Apostles chose suitable believers, and conveyed to them through ordination, the gift of the Priesthood (I Tim. 4,14. II Tim. 1,6), and gave to them the commandment to undertake the pasturing of the local Church and to ordain in every city presbyters and deacons in the manner which was shown unto them (Acts 14,23. II Tim. 2,2. I Tim. 3, 8-12).

All these pastors of the Church were in an unbroken Apostolic succession, which was the guarantee and assurance of the preservation of the purity of the Apostolic teaching and of the one accord ("make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being of full accord and of one mind" (Philip. 2,2). The Orthodox Church has all these marks and characteristics of the Apostolic Church: the Apostolic teaching and the entire hierarchic structure of the first Church, the Apostolic teaching and the Apostolic mind.

The Orthodox Church knows two different expressions of the Catholic Church in a given place: the monastic coenobium and the parish. In the Orthodox monastic coenobium the primitive form of the Church is preserved inviolate, as it is described in the Acts of the Apostles and includes holding all possessions in common (Acts 2, 42-47).

The Holy Eucharist in the parish, transforms the parish synaxis into the Catholic Church (I Cor. 10, 16-17) and gives to the term "parish" a deeper meaning extending beyond its purely geographical significance. Because the synaxis "in the Church" (I Cor. 10, 16-17) is Christ and hence, there one finds the Church Catholic. This means inner - not external or geographical -catholicity; the Apostle Paul implies this in I Cor. 11, 18-23, which we have already mentioned, when he writes: "When, therefore, you gather as the Church, I hear that there are divisions among you... or that you disdain the Church of God... for I have received from the Lord that which I handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night that he was betrayed took bread and having given thanks, broke it and said: Take eat..."

The term Church is used here in a dynamic sense and is identified with the gatherings of the Christians of Corinth in order to perform the Holy Eucharist. Each time that the Christian of an area (parish) gather with this purpose, the gathering becomes the Church; here the entire Church - and not just part of it - is to be found (cf. Rom. 16,23).

The catholicity of a parish is manifest also from the fact that the entire life of the faithful transpires within its boundaries. There are priests who belong to the canoni­cal Orthodox bishop of the area, who guarantees the presence of Christ in the liturgical life and the unity of the faithful among themselves and with the Head of the Church. In the parish, Holy Baptism, Holy Myrrh and all the Sacred Mysteries are solemnly performed. Here the parishioners gather together "in Church" (ei>βκκλη-σίςΟ; each member, through the parish belongs to the Catholic Church. The parish, just as a monastic coenobi­um, is not part of the Church but the entire Church, since its catholicity is inwardly determined.

The parishioners are called to realize in their daily life the experience of the one body through their partici­pation in the Holy Eucharist; this is also implied in the exhortation at the end of the Divine Liturgy: "let us depart in peace". The deep unity and peace of the one body and the one Spirit, of the one hope, of the one Lord, the one faith, the one Baptism and the one God and Father of all (Eph. 4,4-6) must be put into practice in the everyday life of the faithful. To each one of them various charismata have been granted. Thus each one has his own function within the one Body of the Church and uses his charisma for the edification of the other members and of the entire body. They were not given to be used egotistically (I Cor. 12, 7- 27. 14, 12,26). They must not be isolated from the brethren; they must use their gifts for the benefit and edification of the body (Matth. 24,45-51. 25, 14-30. I Peter 4, 10-11). This possibility of offering becomes a reality when the entire spiritual life of each believer is exercised with the specific liturgical synaxis as its centre into which it is incorporated harmoniously.

Unfortunately, in the larger cities, the large parishes with a great number of parishioners no longer function within the framework of "one in Christ" and "members of each other". It is a matter with which the Church must deal, and seek other structures. But regardless of whatever structures are to be sought, they must safeguard the basic Apostolic organizational elements of the Church, and must not be creations of man's conception, nor human methods, and especially must not imply criteria and models "of this world" - something which would mean the secularization of the Church.

The entire organizational structure of the Apostolic Church has as its centre the Divine Eucharist and ensures the continuity of the authenticity of the Church, the continuous communion and unity with the Head, Christ, because He it is "Who is ever eaten and never consumed" as it says in one of the prayers of the Divine Liturgy. This means that the new structures are not allowed to be severed from the communion with the bishop and must have as shepherds presbyters who are in unity with the bishop. For the bishop stands in the image and in the place of Christ, and the presbyters who receive their ordinal ion from the bishop stand in the place of the council of the Apostles.

St. Ignatius of Antioch, a bishop of the primitive Christian Church, who makes the above statements, underlines the unity of the Church by saying that wher­ever the bishop is, there the multitude of the faithful must be; one cannot perform the Holy Eucharist outside the unity with the bishop.

In the communion with the bishop the unity of the entire Church is preserved. Each bishop must belong to the local synod of bishops which is recognized by all other synods of bishops of the Orthodox Church throughout the world. In this way, through the local synod each bishop is in unity with all the bishops throughout the world.

According to early Christian Tradition the local synods were presided over by the bishops of the capital of a nation and in this way the self-governing Orthodox Churches were created (Patriarchates, Archdioceses, Metropolitanates) through a more general decision and recognition in the Orthodox Church, the Patriarchate that has the "primacy" of honour among the self-governing Orthodox Churches, and serves the unity and the cooperation of all the Orthodox Churches is the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. All the Orthodox Churches are in unity of faith and worship and preserve the primitive Christian hierarchic structures. If extremely serious matters should arise that threaten the faith and the life of the Church, they are dealt with by local or more general synods or councils.

The entire organizational structure of the Church is based upon the Eucharisticsynaxis. For this reason there is no "pyrammidical" hierachal structure. The Ecumenical Patriarch is in relationship with the other presidents of the local Churches, and in general with all the bishops, the first among equals, primus inter pares.

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The Preservation of Christ's Teachings throughout the Ages

As we have already mentioned, the Apostolic Succession ensures us the purity of the Apostolic teaching. The Apostles intrusted the teaching of Christ to the Pastors of the Church who find themselves in continuous and unbroken Apostolic Succession and ensure the safe transmission of the Apostolic teaching to the coming generations.

This "tradition" or "deposit" (I Tim. 6, 20) which was transmitted "once and for all times" to the saints (Jude 3) is transmitted throughout the ages "without gaps" or "disruption" in the Church. It is not made up of the "commandments of men" but is the result of the continuous presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church, which has Christ as its Head (John 14,16. 26,15, 16, 16,13) The Pastors of the Church fulfil their mission, inasmuch as they remain united with the Body of Christ and do not express personal points of view.

The "deposit" about which the Apostle speaks is not a book, but, as we have said, the result of the presence of the Holy Spirit within the Church and of life within the Church, which is the "pillar and ground of Truth" (I Tim. 3, 15); of the life of communion with the Head of the Church and with all the saints. Outside of this communion one finds only heresy, which leads to perdition (II Peter 2,1). Christ did not come to write books but to lead the scattered children of God to unity under Himself as Head. Neither did He give to His disciples a commandment to write books, but to preach and assured them that He would always be with them (Matth. 28,20).

Christ did not, however, abrogate or do away with the Old Testament but fulfilled and completed its law. The true meaning of the Holy Scriptures is not found in the letter but in the spirit, which gives life to the letter (II Cor. 3,6) and reveals the Person of Christ, leading to a personal union with Him in the Church. The entire Old Testament prepares the calling of the new people of God, that will walk within the desert of this present life, with the sure direction towards "the promised land" i.e. the Kingdom of God (cf. I Peter 1,10-11. II Peter 1,21).

At the centre of the Old Testament are the events which were realized during the age of the New Testa­ment. For this reason one can understand the Old Testament only "in Christ" (II Cor. 3, 14), i.e. in the light of the New Testament (cf. also John 5, 88-89). In the New Testament God no longer speaks through the prophets but "in the Son" (Heb. 1,2). This means that the word of the Holy Scriptures is not separate from the person of Christ. God's revelation does not only refer to what Christ said, but chiefly to what Christ is. The Holy Scriptures when separated from the person of Christ and from His Body, the Church, are without foundation (I Tim. 3, 15) and are changed into a dead letter which cannot transmit life; those who study it without basing themselves on this foundation are not led to salvation but to perdition, because, as the Apostle Peter says, there is in Holy Scripture things which are difficult to under­stand, and which those who are not firmly grounded in them distort to their destruction (II Peter 3, 16). Apart from the Church, anyone can interpret the Scriptures any way he wants to. This is precisely why so many Christian heresies and self-styled "churches" have come into being.

The Apostles did not have as the centre of their interest the purpose of writing sacred texts. Whatever they wrote had a circumstantial character. " I write you these things, trusting to come quickly near you" (I Tim. 3, 14). All the sacred texts were later collected by the Church and thus the New Testament was formed. Undoubtedly, the New Testament constitutes a part of the evangelical message but not however the entire deposit of the faith.

For one to attempt to interpret Holy Scripture outside of and apart from the Church is impermissible. This, at times, however, is done and consequently, as we have said, endless separate groups, schisms and heresies are thereby created which "amputate" or cut off members from the Body of Christ and jeopardize the salvation of the faithful.

That which the Church calls Tradition constitutes the sacred memory of the Church, the experience " of all the saints" and not human injunctions. It is expressed as the common conscience of the Church, its "mouth" being the Ecumenical Councils.

These Ecumenical Councils are convoked whenever certain individuals within the Church, chiefly pastors, preach heretical teachings which disturb the entire Church. In these Councils the bishops responsible for the shepherding of the Local Churches participate. This means that the bishops express in the Councils the faith and common conscience of the Church - not their own personal opinions. The Dogmatic texts of the Ecumenical Councils are called "horoi" (decrees) [literally terms, limits] boundaries "horia" beyond which if anyone were to proceed, he would become a heretic; for this reason all who disagree are cut off from the Church.

The presence of the bishops therefore and their unbroken succession from the Apostles' times up to the present as well as the Synodical system of the Church guarantee the purity of the teaching of the Church, the safeguarding of it from the danger of heresy and error and its transmission, whole and unadulterated, to the succeeding generations.

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The Mysteries or Sacraments of the Church

In the Church man is completely sanctified and saved. Not only is man's soul sanctified, but his body is sanctified as well. All of God's creation acquires an incalculable value, and redemption from corruption awaits it (Rom. 8,19- 21). In the life of the Church, with the sacred Mysteries and the liturgical acts, this hope of the entire creation is prefigured and pre-announced.

God uses the water, oil, etc. - material and sensate things - in order to transmit His invisible Grace. This is certainly an expression of God's love for man: in order to transmit His Grace to us, He uses in His condescen­sion for our salvation material things, adapting the Holy Mysteries to our reality. At the same time however, it also constitutes proof of the worth and honor to be accorded to material creation.

God condescends to human weakness and uses for the Mystery [Sacrament] of Confession, men who have the same imperfections with us, without this weakness of theirs hindering Grace, for Grace comes from God and not from the holiness of the confessor. God could regenerate man only in and from the Spirit, in contra­diction, that is to say, of John 3, 3-5, which states that in order for one to enter the Kingdom of God he must be reborn "of water and the Spirit". But He does not do so; He condescends to our weakness and He offers us tangible elements, in order to free us from uncertainty and to eliminate subjectivity.

All the sacred Mysteries constitute the expression of God's love for His people and the Church's care. They are not "individual services" of the Church to her individual members, independent of their relationship to the entire body. They are ecclesiastical acts which serve the sanctification and growth of the members in relation­ship with the entire body. This is why in the sacred Mysteries there is no private element.

If the Church is indeed salvation, then it is not possible for the Christian to participate in the life of God, that is in salvation, outside of the Church. His entire spiritual life is carried on within the framework of the life of the body of the Church. This is where the sacred Mysteries have their true place. Hence the sacred Mysteries do not separate the individual faithful from the body of the Church nor do they single him out. On the contrary, they initiate him into the body so that he can thus experience salvation, i.e., live the life of the body and not a private spiritual life.

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Baptism

Holy Baptism, with three immersions in water, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the Mystery with which the Church acquires its new mem­bers (Gal. 3, 26-29) and in this way the entire body grows through the "birth" ("rebirth") of new members (Jn 3,5-7, Tit. 3,5). The incorporation into the body of Christ of a new member is not simply a great event in his personal life or in the life of his family, but also a celebration of the entire Church, which receives him into her bosom.

When he who is baptized is immersed three times in water, he participates in Christ's three-day sojourn in Hades. And when he rises from the water the old nature of Adam has died within him, and he has made the new and resurrected nature of Christ his own. This new reality in Christ, who destroyed death and rose unto life eternal and incorruptible, is granted to every believer through Baptism. Thus his name is enrolled in the catalogue of the citizens of heaven, and he is numbered among the living (Rom. 6,3-9; Heb. 12, 23). Baptism then is not a simple symbol or a "confession" but spiritual rebirth, salvation (Cf also Mark 16,16; Acts 2, 37-38).

Baptism cannot be administered to individuals who are conscientiously unbelievers, for where it to be administered, it would violate their personal volition; they must believe in order to be baptized (Mark 16,16). This faith, however, is not something abstract, or an emotional state, but something essential. It must include the individual's free will for complete change of life. For this reason, in the Orthodox Church Baptism is preceded by the renunciation of Satan, i.e., man's distancing from every satanical throught and deed, the joining of one's self unto Christ, the confession of the Orthodox faith, and the worship and adoration of Christ, that is to say, the complete and unreserved recognition of Christ as the unique Lord of our life.

The Orthodox Church, through Holy Baptism, incorporates even babies into the body of Christ. She does not hinder the children to come unto Christ; she does not shut the door of salvation unto them. In this she follows the command of Christ (Matth. 19, 14-15; Mark 10, 13-16; Lk. 18 15-17). Indeed, Christ underlines that adults must imitate children in their sanctity, and not children imitate the adults. Thus, the Orthodox Church in no way hinders the baptism of children. Moreover, Baptism was prefigured in the Old Testament through circumcision which was performed during the infant age (Gen. 17,12; Lev. 12,3; Col. 2, 11-12). The child accepts the Grace of God without putting forth any conscious resistance. When however he becomes an adult, he must conscientiously accept his new situation and grow in faith and in his new life. He may, however, freely choose to reject God's Grace. Baptism does not signify the suspension of man's freedom. The child must gradually be introduced to the "atmosphere" of spiritual life, so that with the Grace of God, he can be assisted in his spiritual growth and accept it conscientiously upon reaching the proper age.

Moreover, in order for a man to conscientiously decide his induction into the Body of Christ, his will must have been enlightened by God's Grace. This Grace is offered by the Church through child-baptism.

 In this is also focused the parents' great responsibility and that of the Godparent who receives the child from the font. This means that they must care with love and affection for the instruction and Christian upbringing of the child so that the Grace which he received may be preserved and bring forth abundant spiritual fruit.

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Holy Chrism

The Orthodox Church relates Holy Baptism to the sacred Mystery of Chrism, with which our induction into the body of the Church is completed, and the faithful, armed with the charismata of God can now grow spiritually, and conscientiously live the life in Christ; the life of the entire body.

With Holy Baptism the neophyte is "edified" and "planted" into the Body of Christ, the Church, and becomes "one in Christ". This means a return to the "one man", i.e. man's rebirth into the one integral human nature from which he was cut off through the fall (Jn 3-6). The faithful, however, after Baptism is on the one hand sanctified and justified in Christ, yet he finds himself in the spiritual condition of a child. He has to be protected from external threats and to grow spiritually "unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the full stature of Christ" (Eph. 4,13).

This does not mean that his personality is confused or done away with through his union "in Christ"; he continues to constitute a separate personality. For this reason the neophyte who enters the spiritual palaestra in order to struggle and grow in virtue, needs his personal spiritual armor. This is given him through Holy Chrism, which in the ancient Church was transmitted through the laying on of hands by the Apostles. (Acts 8, 15-17) and constituted the engagement or earnest of our inheritance (Eph. 1, 13-14; cmp also II Cor. 1,22 and I Jn 2,20).

Through Holy Chrism the Church receives and accepts the entire man and sustains the human person; it is for this reason that the entire person is anointed, sanctified and armed in order to progress victoriously in his spiritual struggles, in which he participates with all his being. In this way the personal character of the gift of the Holy Spirit shows us that the human personality is not done away with by the induction of each and every believer into the Body of Christ. This union takes place without confusion of the various persons, who remain distinct and different; their unity in the one Body of Christ does not abrogate them, but to the contrary, shows them forth and elevates them.

All the members of the body of the newly-illuminated are anointed and sealed with the "seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit" and with the visible sign of Holy myrrh, and the entire man becomes God's property "God's dwelling-place" and "temple of the Holy Spirit" (I Cor. 3,16-17; 6, 19). The gifts of the Holy Spirit are transmitted to the newly-illuminated and he becomes in his entirety charismatic, putting on the the panoply of God, ready for spiritual battle (Eph. 6,10-18).

This struggle can become very arduous (Eph. 6. 10-13). A Christian must labor in order to acquire the evangelical virtues. God accepts man's efforts and pains, He sanctifies him and offers him His Grace and mercy abundantly, showing him forth to be a victor (Rom. 9,16; I Cor. 3,7; Eph. 2,8).

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The Holy Eucharist

The Holy Eucharist is the central event in the life of the Church. Through it the faithful become partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ (Matth. 26, 26-28; Mark 14,22-24; Luke 22, 15-20; Jn 6, 51-56; I Cor. 11, 24-26).

How can Christ offer us His Body to eat and His Blood to drink? This was also a question which the Jews raised, and even some who followed Christ and were His disciples. Christ, however, insisted that they must do so, and explained that He was not referring to dead flesh but to His Body, which was united with the Holy Spirit, which vivifies (John 6, 52; 60- 63). In the Holy Euchar­ist bread and wine are offered and God accepts this oblation of man. He changes these elements and in turn offers them to man as His Body and Blood, as participa­tion in the sacrifice which Christ offered on Golgotha "once and for all". (Heb. 7,27; 9,12,28). Before His sacrifice on the Cross, Christ celebrated this "Supper" and commanded His disciples to do the same until His Second Coming, declaring that the "food" of His Body and the "drink" of His Blood were necessary for salva­tion (Jn 6, 31-50; I Cor. 11,23-29).

This "Supper" as "food" and "drink" of the Body and Blood of Christ is not understood apart from, and independent of, the sacrifice on Golgotha; it constitutes "participation" in this unique sacrifice. The fact that the Holy Eucharist was celebrated before Christ's sacrifice demonstrates that its identity with the sacrifice celebrated "once and for all" cannot be comprehended by human logic; it can be understood only "in mystery". The same holds true with the Holy Eucharist celebrated today within the Church.

Of course the Holy Eucharist also constitutes a remembrance of Christ's passion (Lk 22,19; I Cor. 11,24-25), but it is not only a remembrance. Already in the Old Testament it was prophesied concerning the messianic age, i.e. the Church, that "a pure sacrifice" would be celebrated (Malachi 1,11). Here is meant the sacrifice which according to the New Testament is offered on the Christian "altar" from which the Jews cannot eat (Heb. 13,10).

St. Paul proceeds to a comparison of the Christian altar (the "table of the Lord"), with that of Israel of the flesh, and that of the idolaters. He underlines that participation in the Christian altar makes Christians partakers of the Body and Blood of the Lord. On the contrary the participation in the altar of the idols makes the idolaters "partakers of demons". The "Lord's table" then, is according to St. Paul, the only true altar of the living God.

The Holy Eucharist constitutes the expression of God's great love for man. In the person of Christ He Himself sought out apostate man. Now he feeds us with His own Body and Blood, just as a mother, full of tenderness and compassion, feeds her child, not with other food, but with her very own milk, which is her very blood. He condescends to our weakness and employs basic elements from our daily fare, bread and wine, which He changes into His Body and Blood.

Through the Holy Eucharist the purpose of the divine dispensation is realized in the person of Christ, for it is the synaxis or gathering "into one" of God's scattered children (Jn 11,52), into one Body (I Cor. 10,17), and the constituting of His Church. It is for this reason that the gathering <>r synaxis for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist is call a gathering "in Church" [η Εκκλησία] I Cor. 11, 18) and "Kingdom of God". This is why the Liturgy begins with the phrase: "Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit". A beautiful prayer of one of the early Christian liturgies expresses precisely this: "Just as this particle from the bread was as sheaves of wheat scattered on the mountains and became one bread, thus let Your Church be gathered from the ends of the earth into Your Kingdom".

The Holy Eucharist is presided over by the bishop or by a presbyter. It is not he, however, who performs the Eucharist: Christ is He "who offers and is offered"; the priests are Christ's ministers, stewards of His Mysteries (I Cor. 4,1). The laity also actively participate in what takes place; they are not passive witnesses. Liturgy means the "work or task of the people" [in Greek, λαού έργον], that of God's entire people, not only the clergy, for the latter are included within God's people and do not stand above them.

Each member has his ministry, in accordance with the gift he has received. The laity do not have as their own the special priesthood of the clergy, but neither do the clergy understand the lay element to be passive recipients of "what is being performed." Such a distinction between "performers" and "witnesses" in the Orthodox Liturgy is unacceptable.

The active participation of the faithful in the Holy Eucharist, the communicating of the Body and Blood of Christ is essential for salvation, for by it the faithful are kept alive spiritually. This is why the Orthodox Church offers Holy Communion to infants as well, in obedience to Christ's commandment (Matth. 18,2-5. 19, 13-15). The Orthodox Christian does not consider Holy Commu­nion to be common food. He thus properly prepares for its reception through prayer and fasting. He follows the injunction of St. Paul who assures us that Holy Communion is indeed true communion of Christ's Body and Blood, and declares: "Let each man examine himself, and thus eat of this Bread and drink from this cup" (I Cor. 10, 16-21. 11, 26-28).

But how can a believer realize that a specific Eucharistic gathering belongs in truth to the Orthodox Church? How can he discern whether or not a Divine Liturgy is in all its aspects orthodox? In this, it is not enough that there be certain external similarities, or even that the orthodox text of the Divine Liturgy is followed.

St. Ignatius of Antioch gives us the answer to this question: Orthodox is that liturgy which is performed by the bishop, or by a presbyter in communion with the bishop and has the necessary authorization. The bishop is the guarantor of Christ's presence, because he has his priesthood from Christ Himself, through Apostolic succession, which is a continuous and unbroken chain of unity proceeding back to the Apostles.

It is thus necessary that the priest who performs the Holy Eucharist possess a valid ordination and be in union with the bishop of the local Church. The bishop's presence at every orthodox liturgy is manifested in that the Divine Liturgy is performed upon an antimension which bears the bishop's signature, and that during the Liturgy the bishop's name is commemorated. Indicative is the fact that the priest who performs the liturgy does not commemorate the name of the bishop who ordained him but that of the bishop in whose diocese the liturgy is being performed.

For a Divine Liturgy to be Orthodox, the bishop whose name is commemorated during it, must be in union with the Orthodox Church in that country. But even this is not sufficient. The Synod of bishops of that country must be recognized by, and in communion with, the other Orthodox Churches throughout the world. If these presuppositions exist, then the Divine Liturgy is orthodox and every orthodox faithful can freely participate in the Holy Eucharist.

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The Priesthood

Through Holy Baptism all are incorporated into the "royal" and "priestly" nation which is the people of God (Ex. i9,5-6. Is. 61,6. I Peter 2,5. Rev. 6,5). They are summoned to offer to God their bodies as "a living sacrifice, pleasing unto God"; their entire selves and God's entire creation. In this way the faithful regain the royal priestly ministry which they possessed before the fall (Rom. 12, 1. Gen. 1, 28- 30).

The Christian also offers his love and the fruit of his labor to God through the brethren (Prov. 29,17. Matth. 25, 40). Without this offering, no other offering is acceptable to God. When, however, man offers his labor to the Lord, through the brethren: "Then shall he call, and God shall hear him, and when he prays, He shall say to him, Behold, here I am", I am present, I am near you (Is. 58, 7-9).

Whatever a Christian does, he does it with his heart, as the Lord's work (Col. 3, 23-24). Everything in man's life, even the fruits of his labor, are God's gifts. This is why he must offer his works that they may be blessed, and he must never make egoistical use of them. He must always be mindful of, and exercise his "royal and priestly" ministry.

Within the framework of this ministry he is called to become a proclaimer of God's rule or kingdom, not only through his words, but also by the manner of his life (Matth. 5, 16, Lk. 9, 60). The fact that during the Baptismal Service the Evangelical lesson containing the phrase: "Go ye forth and teach all nations" (Matth. 28, 19) is read, demonstrates that this mandate is addressed to every baptized Christian. Every one must be ready "to give account" - when it shall be demanded of him - "for the hope that is within us", "with meekness and fear" (I Peter 3, 15-16).

But the existence of a general priesthood within the Church does not exclude the simultaneous existence of a special priesthood. We see this in the Old Testament: along with the "royal priesthood" there exists simulta­neously the Aaronite priesthood (Ex. 28, 1, 37-38. 29, 9. 30,30. 40, 11- 13. Lev. 8, 1-13), which was indeed inviolate; those who usurped it were severely punished (Num. 16, 31-33. II Chron. 26, 16-21).

Christ was not a priest according to the order of Aaron; it was not necessary that He offer up each time new sacrifices; His priesthood and His sacrifice were unique (Heb. 7, 23-27). It is for this reason that the priesthood of the bishops and the other clergy of the Church is considered as ministry of the Mysteries [Sacraments] which Christ performs and is not independent of Christ's priesthood Bui In this sense, however, it is a real priesthood, just as the Eucharist is a real sacrifice.

The priesthood in the Church, in the new Israel, was already prophesied in the Old Testament (Is. 66, 21). In the New Testament the Holy Eucharist, which is charac­terized as a sacrifice, is contrasted with the Jewish and idolatrous sacrifices, and it is underlined that the Chris­tians possess an altar from which "those who worship the tent [of witness]" do not have the right to eat (I Cor. 10, 16-21. Heb. 13, 10). It is at this altar that the Christian priests serve.

Only the bishop, who is "in the image" [βίς τύτον] of Christ and who holds "the place"[top τοίγορ] of Christ, has the fullness of the priesthood. Just as Christ was sent by the Father, in like manner He Himself sent forth His disciples; whoever listens to them listens to Christ Himself, and whoever receives them, receives Christ (Jn 20,21. 13, 20. Matth. 10, 40. Lk. 10, 16). The Apostles were shepherds, yet they were at the same time "sheep", who had Christ as their shepherd. A hymn of the Church states:

"Apostles who saw God, true,

reason-endowed shepherds,

and sheep and grazing animals of the Lamb,

our Redeemer and God,

unceasingly intercede

that I be redeemed from the noetic wolf [Satan]

and from the painful lot of the goats [the damned]".

The work of the Apostles is today carried on by the bishops of the Church. They are in continuous and direct Apostolic Succession and are surrounded by the presby­ters and deacons. The bishop ordains the deacons and the presbyters and he instates them into the Church's ministry. However, he has the feeling that he acts as God's servant and not of his own authority. This is why when he lays his hand on the head of the candidate who is to be ordained to the diaconate he says: "...for it is not in the laying on of my hands that grace is given to those who are worthy of You, but in the visitation of Your rich mercies".

The task of the presbyter is thus defined by the prayer read at his ordination: "Fill with the gift of thy Holy Spirit this man whom it hath pleased Thee to advance to the degree of Priest; that he may be worthy to stand in innocency before Thine Altar; to proclaim the Gospel of Thy kingdom; to minister the word of Thy truth; to offer unto Thee spiritual gifts and sacrifices; to renew Thy people through the laver of regeneration..."

During the bishop's ordination, his responsibility to preserve "the unity of the faith in the bond of peace" is underlined. This is why he who is to be ordained a bishop confesses belief in the dogmas of the Church and promises neither to add nor subtract from them in any way "adding nothing, subtracting nothing, changing nothing, neither in the dogmas, nor the traditions but remaining steadfast in these, and with fear of God and a good conscience teaching and proclaiming them; and all that She [the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church] has condemned and rejected as foreign teachings, these do I also condemn and reject once and for all".

The ordaining bishop prays for the ordinand; "...Do Thou, Ο Christ, make this man to be an imitator of Thee, the true Shephered, who didst lay down Thy life for Thy sheep; to be a leader of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a reprover of the unwise, a teacher of the young, a lamp to the world; that, having perfected the souls entrusted unto him in this present life he may stand unashamed before Thy throne..."

This position of responsibility which the bishop holds helps us to understand the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch: " Look to the Bishop, the presbyterate and the deacons ...become imitators of Jesus Christ as He was imitator of His Father". The bishop, St Ignatius adds, possesses the "mind of Christ", i.e. his teaching and his actions must reveal the mind of Jesus Christ. And St. Ignatius continues, "Wherever the Bishop appears, let the multitude be there, just as wherever Christ is, there too is the Catholic Church". And of course the Holy Eucharist performed by the bishop or by him whom the bishop has authorized, i.e. a presbyter from the "presbyterate" is genuine.

The priests therefore in the Church are stewards of Christ's Holy Mysteries, and in this sense participate in the unique and "inviolate" priesthood of the one "Priest", Jesus Christ (Heb. 7,27); The Holy Eucharist performed in Church by the Christian priests is a sacrifice "according to participation" in the sacrifice of Golgotha. Thus all Christians throughout the ages become partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ and partake of His life. This is the work of the Christian priests.

 

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Repentance – Confession

After Baptism and Holy Chrism, the faithful is called to struggle so as to preserve God's grace active within himself and to produce spiritual fruit. Towards this aim, the faithful must, with all his being, turn to Christ, the Head of the body. This means that he must relinquish his autonomy and humble himself.

If on life's journey, the believer misses his mark, changes path, or orientation, he must repent, that is change his mind [metanoia=repentance in Greek and means change (meta) of mind or noetic faculty (nous)], he must turn once again to the Lord,and follow the life of the Church.

Man with his autonomy insults the life of the entire body of the Church; his sin is the result of his own, individual, choice, which breaks and "amputates" the body, for it does not accept and participate in the one mind (φρόνημα), the mind of Christ. Those acts charac­terized as sin are not acts which stem from a communion of love with the Head and with the entire body, but only from a communion with ourselves. This is why sin insults both God's love and the love of the brethren who constitute the one Body. It is an affliction and harms the entire Body of the Church.

The Church's reaction is not one of revenge and retaliation. She does not look to the punishment of its weak member but rather to its cure. She does not, however, coerce the sinner's free disposition, she does not violate his personal free will. The paedogogical measures which she employs constitute a new challange to the disposition of him who has deviated. If in the end he chooses to remain in his autonomy and does not desire to restore it within the unity of the Body of the Church, he cuts himself off from the life of the Body. This is why until he decides to change direction, he is not allowed to participate in the Holy Eucharist. If however he desires to return, forgiveness is granted him; he is once again received with love and he once again assumes his former place at the Lord's Table. Forgiveness is not granted by men, but by God Himself (Is. 43,25). Christ, however, sent forth His disciples, just as the Father had sent Him; He gave them the Holy Spirit and the authority to forgive sins (Matth. 18,18. Jn. 20, 21-23.

The Spiritual Father is Christ's instrument and the steward of His grace (I Cor. 4,1.1 Peter 4,10). It is not he who forgives sins but God who uses him as a steward of divine grace; it is not his grace but God's (I Jn 1,9-2,2). That God uses men as instruments of his grace is an act of his philanthropy [love for man]. The confes­sion of one's sin is an act of humility on the part of the sinner; such would not be the case if this confession was made "directly" to God and not before at least one man who represents the entire Church and is the servant of God's grace. This is what differentiates Confession from "an interview" by a psychologist or psychiatrist, from which one leaves without the feeling that his trans­gressions and omissions have been forgiven and that he has reestablished his bonds of love with God and the brethren. He does not have the feeling that he has received God's grace in order to begin a new life. The help provided by a psychologist belongs to the human order. The psychologist has as a prototype fallen man whom he sets up as an absolute model. He does not take into consideration the factor of sin, nor is he concerned with reconciliation with God. Thus man essentially leaves the psychologist without redemption, and takes away with him all of the guilt that ways upon him and deprives him of the freedom "in Christ".

The conviction that grace does not come from the man-Confessor but from God Himself relieves the sinful man and boosts his morale, for it provides him with the certainty that he is not alone but has as his supporter God the Merciful Father Himself. This can be seen from the Church's prayers of absolution. The Spiritual Father asks the Lord in His great mercy to receive the penitent, to overlook and to forgive all his sins, for only He alone is free of all iniquity and only He can forgive sins. The Spiritual Father expresses the awareness that he serves as God's instrument and that forgiveness does not come from him. Regardless of whether he who has confessed has done something voluntarily or involuntarily, in word, deed or thought, the Spiritual Father asks God to grant forgiveness, since only He has the authority to forgive sins and hence to Him belongs the glory.

"O God, our Saviour...receive in you usual love for man [Thy servant] overlooking all that he has com­mitted, Thou who forgives injustices and overcomes iniquities"; "May that same God forgive thee, through me a sinner, all..." "Thou, Ο Lord, all-good and all-merciful, forgive all that my spiritual child has confessed with a contrite heart before Thee to my unworthiness..." "and if he has committed any voluntary or involuntary sin, in word, deed, or in thought, do Thou forgive as a good God who lovest mankind. For Thou art He who alone hath authority to forgive sins and unto Thee do we ascribe Glory, together with thine eternal Father and thine all-holy, good,- and life-bestowing Spirit..."

The confession of one's sins before the Confessor constitutes proof in action of the humble mind of the penitent, with which he inaugurates his new life. This humility at the same time also constitutes the proof of his apostasy and of the expression of his repentance, which is a necessary requisite for the presence of God's grace (James 4,6. I Peter 5,5). In this way the believer once again restores his relationship with the body of the Church, and once again enters the spiritual palaestra and is called to a continuous effort to overcome the passions, which through sin have been strengthened and exercise greater force upon him. In order that he be helped in this struggle, the Spiritual Father recommends certain pedagogical means, in accordance with each particular case (the epitimia). These are not punishments or penalties but the necessary medicine needed to face the dangers which arise from the passions.

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Prayer Oil or Holy Unction

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Marriage

Man was created as a communion of persons, male and female, according to the image of the Holy Trinity, which is a communion of persons; "and God created man, according to the image of God he created him, male and female He made them"; "and He took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man He made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, 'This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for out of man she was taken'"(Gen. 1,27. 2, 21-23).

Here we have two persons who constitute "one flesh". About this unity God prophesies: "For this cause shall a man foresake his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife and the two shall be one flesh" (Gen. 2,24).

In the New Testament marriage is realized "in the Lord" (I Cor. 7,39) and is received in the Body of Christ, the Church. Just as Christ is the head of the Church, in like manner the husband is the head of his wife. We are all "members of His body, from His flesh and from His bones" (Eph. 5, 22-32).

The conjunction of the "one flesh" is strengthened within the unity of the Body of Christ, since the Chris­tian marriage has its reference "to Christ and to the Church". It is for this reason that the sacrament of Marriage, which is performed within the Church, is not a private or family matter of the couple, but an event in the life of the Church; it is to this event that the hymn of the Church refers when it states:

"Rejoice, Ο Isaiah!

A Virgin is with child,

and shall bear a Son, Emmanuel,

both God and man;

and Orient is his name; whom magnifying

we call the Virgin blessed".

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The Purpose of Marriage

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Monasticism

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The Saints

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The Sacred Icons and the Holy Cross

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The Liturgical Year

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Our Place in the World and the Hope of the World

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The Orthodox Mind or Spirit

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ATHENS 1994 DIALOGUE Publications, No. 7. Published by the Information,