It was just a few days ago we celebrated a major Feast day - the Feast of the Holy Apostles.
On this annual festive observance we are reminded that the apostles of Christ make up the foundation of the Christian faith. In God's word we read:Ye are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone. (Ephesians 2:20) They definitely hold a place of special honor and veneration in the Orthodox Church. We boast and rightfully so that we belong to the Church of the apostles.
It has been standard practice from the first generation of believers to go to the teachings of the apostles for verifying whether or not a certain doctrine is truly sound and acceptable. If it is not "apostolic", then it is not authentic and not a genuine teaching of Christ. When we say something is apostolic, we mean in effect that it is divinely revealed and truly authoritative. If the apostles did not teach or practice it, then it has to be false and heretical.
Our Apostolic Credentials
The Orthodox Church is known as the Apostolic Church, because it can trace its origin back in a straight line to the apostles of Christ. For this reason it claims what is called Apostolic Succession. This means it can trace the ordinations of its bishops and priests all the way back to the time when the apostles ordained ruling bishops and pastors to continue where they left off. This uninterrupted tactual succession of ordinations traceable all the way to the apostles comprises an important part of the credentials of the true historic Church.
So, Orthodoxy is the true Church because it is the Apostolic Church, the Church of the apostles, fathers and martyrs - the Church of history. It is called Orthodox because it claims to hold to doctrine that is sound and correct (not man made), backed by the authority of none other than the apostles themselves.
In a day when there is a free-for-all in Christian beliefs with liberalism running rampant in many mainline churches, soundness of doctrine is obviously of primary importance. We are blessed to belong to a Church that has credal stability. We are not tossed to and from by every wind of doctrine. We stand on the Rock.
Carelessness and indifference in matters of belief can jeopardize the eternal salvation of our soul. Holding, for example, to false and heretical teachings, like those of the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and Christian Science will unquestionably keep us out of the everlasting kingdom of God. God's word warns us: Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8,9)
Any teaching that subverts or distorts the one unchanging Gospel originates out of the pit of Hell. Fidelity to the authentic Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation will assuredly secure our eternal life. St. Paul cautions us: If anyone preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed (anathema). (Galatians 1:9)There is no question, therefore, that Orthodoxy is a condition set down by God that every man or woman must meet for winning salvation.
Everything thus far sounds fine, and you might feel like saying, "Then I'm in great shape, since I am a member of the Orthodox Church." We need to guard against the temptation of resting in smugness with a false sense of religious security. We can call that self righteousness. Let me explain.
The moment Orthodoxy becomes reduced to simply assenting intellectually to a list of correct doctrines, then there is something wrong about that kind of Orthodoxy. There is a living Orthodoxy, but there is, also, a dead Orthodoxy. If one's Orthodoxy does not produce a rebirth and a drastic change in the heart and life of the believer, then it is not the Orthodoxy of the Holy Spirit.
Enjoying or Enduring the Liturgy?
If one contents himself with just going through the religious motions of Orthodoxy, then that Orthodoxy is devoid of redeeming power. It proves itself an Orthodoxy of the letter that kills rather than an Orthodoxy of the Spirit that giveth life. (2 Corinthians 3:6)
Orthodoxy, therefore, can be a two-edged sword. It can either release a redeeming and life-changing force, or it can become a cause of a believer to lose Heaven. You can have all the Orthodoxy you can get, but if you are not born of God and you are not a new creature, as St. Paul teaches (Galatians. 6:15), then you can split Hell wide open.
In spite of all your Orthodox theology, you can burn in Hell eternally. Like Communion, you need Orthodox doctrine to make it to Heaven, but it can bring judgment and condemnation upon you, if you do not have a life-changing personal relationship with the Living Christ. All we have to do is remember that Orthodoxy put Christ to the Cross. In the cause of true religion the Jewish religious leaders rejected Jesus as the Messiah. The Scribes and Pharisees were fanatic defenders of the Mosaic Law, "sitting on Moses' seat." They dotted every "i" and crossed every "t". Yet, their hearts were hardened and their eyes blinded by a spirit of religious bondage, totally devoid of the Holy Spirit.
Satan is in no way threatened by orthodoxy in doctrine. As a matter of fact, he uses orthodoxy (with a small "o" or a capital "O") to kill souls, that is, separate them from eternal life. He is busy doing this in our Churches today. He is using much of Orthodoxy today to oppose re-evangelism and spiritual renewal among monks and nuns who reject any evangelical activity in the cause of protecting the Orthodox faith and tradition.
Apart from some exceptions, I have found in my experience that monasteries and convents are usually strongholds of religious legalism and pharisaism. Is it any wonder why St. Symeon the New Theologian was almost stoned by his own monks over whom he served as Abbot? It is a classical example of what I am trying to point out. Why should it puzzle me that monks and nuns have been among my most deadly opponents?
An Insidious Device of Satan
The False Prophet who will ultimately ally himself with the Antichrist will be very Orthodox and impeccable in the observance of everything traditional. Can you see, dear reader, why Satan has been fomenting contentment with religious formalism and dead ritual? St. Paul was explicit about this. He foretold that in the last days "they shall hold to the form of religion, denying the power thereof." It is part of the "mystery of iniquity that doth already work."
Religious formalism is the most commonly used strategy to entrap souls. It is the most subtle and insidious device Satan uses to bring Church members into bondage and spiritual death. It is his easiest and most effective method because he hides under familiar religious activities and under the covering of religious propriety and ceremonial splendor and awe.
The most vulnerable are the church members whose religion amounts to simply attending services as spectators, regularly or occasionally. The lack of a personal testimony of a conversion experience makes them more susceptible to falling into such a religious trap.
Like St. Paul, we should learn to say "We are not ignorant of his devices," referring to the machinations of Satan. I trust, dear reader, you are not religiously naive and gullible. Dust off your Bible and start studying seriously the word of God. Do not live any longer with religious ambiguity and religious routine. Your eternity is at stake!
We can be the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church all we want. "Apostolic" does not mean simply holding to apostolic doctrine and apostolic succession. To be an Apostolic Church means to manifest the supernatural power of Pentecost.
To be apostolic means to be fired up with a passion for exalting the Lord Jesus Christ every minute of every hour of every day of the week. It means to live the Book of Acts. It means to function in a miracle-working dimension. It means to "know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the communion of His sufferings."
What did you say, Jesus? As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent.. (Revelation 3:19)
The Lord is looking today, as he did in the book of the Revelation, for apostolic enthusiasm, apostolic motivation, apostolic priorities, and apostolic pattern of ministry, and apostolic zeal for proclaiming the Gospel. Too many of our bishops, though gracious and gentle, are neither hot nor cold for God's kingdom!
When we face our divine Judge some day, he will not ask us priests and bishops how many Liturgies we conducted, or how many weddings, funerals and baptisms we performed. He will check to see how many lost souls we brought to Him for salvation and how much time and energy did we invest in ministering the word of God.
This is why St. Paul said of himself: Woe is unto me, If I preach not the Gospel (1 Corinthians. 9:16). We priests should remember St. Paul's priorities in his ministry: "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel (to evangelize)." (1 Corinthians1:17)
Apostolic Priorities
When the apostles appointed the seven Deacons in the Book of Acts, they were showing that the ministry of the word has priority even over the love-feasts, the Eucharist of their day (now called the Liturgy). Their time was too valuable to spend on the details and organizing of the agape meals. What we do today in our Churches is the very opposite of the apostolic pattern of the Infant Church.
If the apostles were to come back and see the current practice of holding a two to three hour service with a fifteen to twenty-minute sermon, they would be appalled! If they could speak to us, they would tell us: "Let the Communion service take up twenty minutes and the ministry of the word one to two hours." That would truly be apostolic priorities!
How can we say we are the Apostolic Church - the Church of the apostles, when we don't speak like the apostles? We don't talk their language nor their vocabulary. We don't mimic their example. We don't reflect their passion for Jesus and make Him the center of everything we say and do. Is it any wonder the Church is dead today? Instead of apostolic vitality, we find the Church dying spiritually, despite the activism and the imposing Church edifices and the multi-million dollar building complexes. Rigor mortis progressively is being set in.
Those who occupy the apostolic thrones are busy about many things, but there is need for only one thing - to proclaim the message of the Cross for transforming lives and securing citizens for the Kingdom which is to come.
Our Church leaders are always preoccupied and with what? Festive occasions, banquets, anniversary celebrations, feast day observances, fundraising, election and installation of new Bishops, the receptions of political and religious dignitaries and attending ecumenical meetings.
Bishops as Ceremonial Functionaries
God's word tells us: Redeem the time, for the days are evil. (Ephesians. 5:16) Too many members of the hierarchy perform as mere religious functionaries. Rather than redeem the time in the scriptural sense, they function as religious performers, carrying out a ceremonial role.
This situation is not a new phenomenon in the Orthodox Church. It probably emerged with the Constantinian Era and peaked by the end of the first millennium. At that time the prophetic voice of St. Symeon the New Theologian thundered the message of warning and repentance. He castigated the evils even in high places, sparing neither emperor nor patriarch nor priests, abbots nor monks. He was fearless in his publicly censuring the pharisaism of his day.
Did not Jesus warn: Beware of the leaven of the scribes and pharisees?That evil leaven is to be found in every generation.
I will not say it. Let St. Symeon the New Theologian, an illustrious Church Father, address the hierarchy of our Church today, as he did in his own day. In the "spirit
and power of Elijah" he cried out:
"We leap upon the holy places and occupy apostolic thrones and - what is worst of all - we seek to exercise leadership over the flock as shepherds without first having become lambs. Is that the way the apostles were in the beginning?
Is that the way the successors of the apostles were? O! What frightful boldness! O, what shamelessness - not to say extreme insanity!
Patriarchs: If you are not the friends of God, sons, nor gods by adoption, quit your thrones and go and teach yourselves first out of the divine scriptures. When you have become in the image of God, then touch the holy things with trembling.
All those who have never had the experience of the divine light are under the law which came before grace. They are slaves and disciples of slaves, and hearers of
the law and children of the bondwoman. They are sons of darkness, regardless if they are emperors or patriarchs or bishops or priests or monks or ascetics or abbots. For, they are sons of darkness, sitting in darkness and unable to repent" (Catechetical Discourses 28:109).
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