Orthodox_Christian2000: A Mind-Bloging Experience

The Church is not a free-for-all. It is not a smorgasbord, where one decides what they will adhere, and what they will not. No, no member of the Church is free to say, "this doesn't suit me", or "I don't agree with this, so I'll head off and start my own church" which will seek to undermine what the community of the faithful have always taught. The faith is "once delivered to the saints", and it is "ONE FAITH" (Ephesians 4:4).

This is precisely why we read during the Bright Tuesday reading:

"Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receivethe gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.' And with many other words he testifiedand exhorted them, saying, 'Be saved from this perverse generation'. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers." (The Acts of the Apostles, 2:38-42)

If the Apostles, who have been expounded the Holy Scriptures from the Lord Himself (see St. Luke 24:27), then they have sound teaching, and sound doctrine. If the Lord instructed them for forty days concerning all that has anything to do with His holy Church (see The Acts of the Apostles, 1:3), then we, as Christians must STEADFASTLY ascribe to those things, and no, we are NOT free as Christians, to say "I like this thing, but I don't like this thing, so I'm scrapping it."

And yes, the Apostles, as the hierarchy of the Holy Church of Christ, DID have that authority to say, "THIS IS WHAT CHRISTIANS BELIEVE". In fact, when there was controversy with the faithful Jews over whether the Gentile converts had to be "of the circumcision", it was the Holy Church that came together collegially, guided by the Holy Spirit, and decreed that one need not be circumcised to follow and believe in Christ. And the faithful were not free to say "Who are the Apostles?", or that these were just "the traditions of men". No! The Lord Jesus Christ told them, that whoever receives you, receives Me, and whoever receives Me, receives Him Who sent Me. This is precisely why we read in the Holy Scriptures that the Apostles "went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees TO KEEP, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem" (The Acts of the Apostles, 16:4). The Greek word used is not "decrees" but dogmata. The Holy Church preserves her teachings, and they are not up to negotiation. It is the faith, the One Faith, and once delivered, that the conscientious soul seeks to uphold, and not a faith of the ego, where one decides, like a self proclaimed infallible speaker of Christianity, what the faith is and what it is not. From the historic roots of Scripture and antiquity, this is a sentiment altogether alien to historic Christianity.

In his "Letter to the Smyrneans", St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, writes:
"You should all follow the bishop as Jesus Christ did the Father. Follow too the presbytery (priesthood), as you would the apostles; and respect the deacons as you would God's law. Nobody must do anything that has to do with the Church without the bishop's approval. You should regard that Eucharist as valid which is celebrated by the bishop or someone he authorizes. Where the bishop is present, there let the congregation gather, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Church. Without the bishop's supervision no baptisms or love feasts are permitted...He who pays the bishop honour has been honoured by God. But he who acts without the bishop's knowledge is in the devil's service". (To the Smyrneans)

I'm reminded of an excellent lecture I heard by lecturer/author Frank Schaeffer. To paraphrase, Schaeffer said, "If salvation is a race to be run, as St. Paul exhorts the faithful, if it is not a once and done thing, but a constant moving towards...If we are told to perfect ourselves in holiness in the fear of God...then HOW we travel that path really matters. If the path matters, we have to have a hierarchy to defend that holy path, and keep that one faith pristine and unscathed. If therefore we do not have honour and due reverence for the bishop, who wears the priesthood of the Lord, and is a hierarch of His holy Church, we are going to have chaos and lose the faith". Let us cast off this pride and egocentrism in ourselves and seek to follow that ancient path, that straight and narrow one, that the blessed saints have travelled down. With their heavenly intercessions, let us struggle as best as we can, crawling, dragging, grappling with the misanthrope demons, hoping on the Lord, toward salvation. Amen.