The Body of Christ or an Organization?

It seems to me that in many of the discussions between those who say we should “flee from the heresies of world Orthodoxy and those who say we must remain in communion with world Orthodoxy lest we divide the Church and dishonor bishops, the real issue boils down to a different understanding of the nature of the Church.

The crucial question here is what exactly is the Church? There appear to be two main answers that result in two very different responses to heresy and apostasy. Is the Church first and foremost an official organization or is it first and foremost the Body of Christ whose life is derived from union with the Faith of Christ? Let’s examine these two points of view.

The Church, as the Body of Christ, is composed of those who, through the Holy Spirit, are united to the Faith of Christ, who gather around the Eucharist under a faithful bishop, and thus are in communion with all the faithful and all the saints who hold the same faith, past and present.

That which I have just described is the local Church. That local Church is the fullness of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith. This local Church exists in a bond of love and unity with all other local Churches, wherever they are, that hold and share the same Faith of Christ. But there doesn’t have to be any larger national membership or organization to make that local Church the Catholic Church in its fullness.

Over time, the local Church develops an organization to help it run and manage its temporal affairs. There is nothing wrong with this, in and of itself. There may be a board, or committees, or organizations, a budget, meetings and various activities. A similar kind of development may happen around the bishop, especially if the bishop has a number of local communities under him. Eventually, there may be a diocesan headquarters, a synod, conferences, conventions, boards, programs, departments, assistants, etc. All of the organizational structures, departments, buildings, etc. are external to the essence of the Church which is the local Body of Christ, united by the Holy Spirit in the Faith of Christ, gathered around the Eucharist under a faithful bishop, and is thus united with all the faithful and all the saints both past and present. The externals are human creations that may serve a good and necessary purpose but are not essential to our salvation or to the essence of the Church. The Church is essential to our salvation, and the Faith itself is of the essence of the Church.

There seems to be a law of depravity that always takes over organizations. Over time, the organization becomes the essence, and the purpose for existing becomes to maintain and perpetuate the organization. In other words, the organization becomes the essential and identifying manifestation of that which it was created to serve. The servant begins to take over and becomes the one who is served – the master. The Church becomes the slave to its organizational structures. Eventually the Church is serving the organization rather than the organization serving the Church. The externals, buildings, and organizations become the point of contact and the identifying factor. We then “go to church” when we really mean we are going to the temple where the Church meets. If someone asks, “Where is such and such Church?” we point them to the building even if there is no one there. Thus, people can speak of “joining the church” just as they would speak of joining a Rotary club. The organization may have dues and rules for membership just like they do down at the Moose Lodge. Eventually, the Church in everyone’s mind is the organization rather than the Faith, and participation in it is based on membership or external affiliation in the organization rather than on union through the Holy Spirit in the Faith of Christ gathered around the Eucharist under a faithful bishop.

This happens both on the local level and on the broader diocesan level. This is why it becomes acceptable for someone to be a “member” of the Church who doesn’t really accept the Faith of the Church or rejects certain parts of the Faith. This is why we can speak of people who are “members” even if they haven’t attended or confessed or communed for years. They are still “members” because the Church is perceived as a membership in an organization rather than as life in the Faith of Christ. They “joined” years ago and never “un-joined” so they are still “members”. Whether or not they continued to hold and live in the Faith of Christ is immaterial.

What has happened in the world of Orthodoxy today is that the organization and external membership have taken over and now define what the Church is or is not. One is reckoned to be “in the Church” if he is affiliated with the officially recognized organization. When people think of the Church, they think of an organization, association, diocese or jurisdiction and the membership of the local Church in that organization is equated with holding the Faith of Christ.

This perception of the Church as membership in the officially sanctioned organization has long been the prevailing understanding in Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism and other religious groups. Many who claim to be Roman Catholic reject many of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church but are still considered members of the Church by virtue of their affiliation or membership in a parish that is under the pope.

In the past we have heard of Anglican bishops or priests who denied the deity of Christ, the virgin birth or the resurrection and yet continued to serve as priests or bishops. How could this be? Only because the perception of the Church is one of membership in the official organization or occupying an official capacity rather than as unity in the Holy Spirit in the Faith of Christ.

Now this same understanding has come to permeate the world of Orthodoxy. Historically, the Church held that you could not be Orthodox and un-Orthodox at the same time. But today this is possible due to the perception of the Orthodox Church as an external or official membership or affiliation.

The perception of the Church as membership in “officialdom” stands in sharp contrast to the teachings of Holy Scriptures, the Canons, and the holy Fathers, including St. Gregory Palamas who wrote:

They that are of the Church of Christ are they that are of the truth; and they that are not of the truth are not of the Church of Christ...for we are reminded that we are to distinguish Christianity not by persons who have ecclesiastical titles, but by the truth and by the exactness of the Faith.

This difference in understanding of the nature of the Church results in a strange phenomena in world Orthodoxy. Being canonical has come to mean an external membership or association whereas, historically, being canonical referred to holding the Faith of Christ and honoring the canons. To be honest, most in world Orthodoxy today would concede that being canonical also means holding the Faith of Christ and honoring the canons. However, in world Orthodoxy, due to the perception of the Church first and foremost as an organization, many concede that bishops can and do hold and teach heretical things and yet are still considered to be Orthodox because they are a part of the Orthodox worldwide organization.

Consequently, today, a bishop can confess the Faith of Christ in its fullness and strive to be faithful to the canons and yet be considered non-canonical and outside of the Church if he is not a member of SCOBA or in communion with world Orthodoxy. Another bishop can deny Christ or major parts of the Orthodox Faith and yet be considered canonical because he is a member of the officially recognized organization. Nothing else can explain this other than the perception of the Church as essentially an organization or affiliation rather than as unity in the Holy Spirit in the Faith of Christ.

Much of what is written by the councils and fathers makes no sense and creates all kinds of confusion if your perception of the Church is that of an external or jurisdictional affiliation rather than unity in the Faith of Christ. For example, the canons tell us to flee from bishops who publicly teach heresy. But today people say to do so would create division and we must not do such things to bishops. But this is true only from an organizational view of things that continues to call them bishops even when they betray Christ and His Church simply because they are “official”. The canons perceive the Church as a union in the Faith of Christ and therefore tell us that to flee from a bishop who publicly teaches heresy does not divide the Church but rather preserves the Church since it is not a bishop from whom we flee but a false shepherd. Here we see that it has nothing to do with membership in an organization or occupying an official capacity but it has everything to do with the Faith that is held.

This difference between the Church as membership or external affiliation versus the Body of Christ united in the Faith of Christ explains a lot of what has happened and is happening in the world of Orthodoxy.

It explains how the late Patriarch Meletios could recognize the Communist-sponsored “official” “Living Church” in Russia and abandon the Church in Russia led by now Saint Tikon, Patriarch of Moscow.

It explains how the late Patriarch Athenagoras could say, “We are in error and sin if we think that the Orthodox Faith came down from heaven and that other dogmas are unworthy. Three hundred million men have chosen Mohammedanism as the way to God, and further hundreds of millions are Protestant, Catholics and Buddhists. The aim of every religion is to make man better” and still be considered an Orthodox bishop who is to this day honored by world Orthodoxy as a great Orthodox bishop. He publicly denied and contradicted Christ the Saviour and yet is/was Orthodox? How can this be? It can be only where Orthodoxy is not based on the Faith of Christ but on a certain order and organization or official capacity.

It explains how the late Archbishop Iakovos of the Greek Archdiocese of America could characterize the canons as “religious prejudices” that prevent unity with non-Orthodox Christians and still be considered an Orthodox bishop.

It explains how he could speak at a World Council of Churches gathering and say, “It would be utterly foolish for the true believers to pretend or to insist that the whole truth has been revealed only to them, and that they alone possess it. Such a claim would be both unbiblical and untheological...Christ did not specify the date nor the place that the Church would suddenly take full possession of the whole truth” and still be considered an Orthodox bishop and still be honored to this day by world Orthodoxy as a great and faithful bishop. This is possible only if being Orthodox is a matter of officialdom or affiliation but impossible if Orthodoxy is a matter of unity in the Faith of Christ.

It explains how Orthodox patriarchs, bishops and priests in complete violation of the Orthodox Faith can have joint prayers and worship with the heterodox and still be considered Orthodox.

It explains how Orthodox representatives can participate in a World Council of Churches worship service that opens with the prayer, “O God Father...Your love is stretched out upon all men, to seek the Truth, which we have not known” and still be considered among the faithful bishops who rightly divide the word of truth.

It explains how Orthodox representatives can participate in a World Council of Churches gathering where prayers and worship were offered by numerous religions including Buddhist, Shinto, Spiritualists, Taoists and others and still be considered faithful Orthodox bishops.

It explains how Orthodox bishops can sign agreements recognizing the Mysteries of the non-Orthodox and permitting intercommunion contrary to the canons and still be considered Orthodox bishops.

It explains how Patriarch Bartholomew can embrace the pope as the bishop of Christendom and Roman Catholicism as the sister Church of Orthodoxy while expelling the monks of Esphigmenou who hold the Orthodox faith without compromise and still be considered the Patriarch by all the other bishops of world Orthodoxy.

It explains how the Orthodox can sign the Thyateira Confession which espouses the Branch Theory, recognizes the sacraments of the heterodox and admits that Muslims deny the divinity of Christ, but nonetheless teaches that “they believe in the true God” and still be Orthodox.

It explains how Orthodox representatives could participate in the World Council of Churches’ Barr Statement which affirms the need to “move beyond a theology which confines salvation to the explicit commitment to Jesus Christ” and still be Orthodox Christians.

It explains how the Patriarch of Antioch can enter into an Agreed Statement with the Monophysites, allowing joint prayers and intercommunion although the Monophysites do not accept the last four of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, have not publicly renounced their past and commemorate as saints those who were anathematized as heretics by the Orthodox in the Monophysite controversy and still be a faithful Orthodox bishop.

It explains how the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew could say, “The Orthodox Church does not seek to convince others of any one particular understanding of truth or revelation, nor does it seek to convert others to a particular mode of thinking”, and still be Orthodox.

This list could go on for many pages but this is more than adequate to show that all of this betrayal and denial of Christ and His Church while still considering these bishops to be Orthodox is possible only when Orthodoxy has been reduced to an external and official affiliation and association rather than a unity in the Faith of Christ.

I am compelled to say that those who deny or betray Christ and His Church cannot be Christians or bishops and we should flee from them as the canons and fathers warn us to do. Those who perceive the Church primarily as an organization or officialdom say we must continue in communion with them and honor them as bishops who rightly divide the word of truth lest we divide the Church. But that which divides the Church is to hold to something other than or different from the Faith of Christ.