My beloved brothers and sisters in Our Risen Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!
There are those who say Orthodox Christianity is one of the world’s best kept secrets. So let us explain what Orthodoxy is and what its historic roots are. To answer the question, we must go back to the pages of the New Testament, specifically to the Book of Acts and the birth of the Church at Pentecost. On that day the Holy Spirit descended on the Twelve Holy Apostles and those gathered in the Upper Room, and by afternoon some three thousand souls believed in Christ and were baptized. The Holy Scriptures record that when the first Christian communities began, "they continued steadfastly in the Apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers" [Acts 2:42).
From Jerusalem, faith in Christ spread throughout Judea, to Samaria (Acts 8:5-39), to Antioch and to the Gentiles (Acts 11:19-26). Soon there were new converts and new Churches throughout Asia Minor and the Roman Empire as recorded in Acts and the Epistles.
The Church, of course, was not simply another organization in Roman society. The Lord Jesus Christ had given the promise of the Holy Spirit to "guide you into all the truth" (John 16:13). With the fulfillment of that promise beginning with Pentecost, the Church bore more than mere institutional status. She is not an organization with mystery, but a mystery with organization. Saint Paul called the Church "A DWELLING PLACE OF GOD IN THE SPIRIT" (Ephesians 2:22). The Church is a dynamic organism, THE LIVING BODY OF JESUS CHRIST. She makes an indelible impact in the world, and those who live in her life and faith are personally transformed.
But the New Testament also reveals that the Church had her share of problems. All was not perfection. Some individuals within the Church even sought to lead her off the path the Holy Apostles established, and they had to be dealt with along with the errors (heresies) they invented. Even whole local communities lapsed on occasion and were called to repentance. The church in Laodicea is a vivid example (Revelation 3:14-22). Discipline was administered FOR THE SAKE OF PURITY IN THE CHURCH. But there was growth and maturation, even as the Church was attacked from within and without. The same Spirit Who gave her birth gave her power for purity and correction, and she stood strong and grew, eventually invading the whole of the Roman Empire.
As the Church moves from the pages of the New Testament and on into the succeeding centuries of her history, her growth and development can be traced in terms of specific categories. The first is a category important for all Christian people; DOCTRINE. Did she maintain THE TRUTH OF GOD AS GIVEN BY CHRIST AND HIS HOLY APOSTLES? Second, what about WORSHIP? Is there a discernible way in which the people of God have offered a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to Him? Third, consider the Church GOVERNMENT. What sort of polity did the Church practice?
1. DOCTRINE: Not only did the Church begin under the teaching of the Holy Apostles, but she was also instructed to "STAND FAST AND HOLD THE TRADITIONS WHICH WERE TAUGHT, WHETHER BY WORD OR OUR EPISTLE" (2 Thessalonians 2:15). The Holy Apostle Paul insisted that those matters delivered by him and his fellow Apostles, both in person and in the writings THAT WOULD COME TO BE CALLED THE NEW TESTAMENT, be adhered to carefully. Thus followed such appropriate warnings as "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ… withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the traditions which he received from us" (2 Thessalonians 3:6). The doctrines taught by Christ and His Holy Disciples are to be SAFEGUARDED BY "THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD, THE PILLAR AND GROUND OF THE TRUTH" (1 Timothy 3:15) and NOT OPEN FOR RENEGOTIATION. And the Church was still young when a way had to be found for providing this safeguard.
Midway through the first century, a dispute arose in Antioch over adherence to Old Testament laws. The matter could not be settled there; outside help was needed. The leaders of the Antiochian Church, the community which had earlier dispatched Paul and Barnabas as missionaries, brought the matter to Jerusalem for consideration by the Apostles and elders there. The matter was discussed, debated, and a written decision was forthcoming.
James, the brother of the Lord and the first bishop of Jerusalem, put forth the solution to the problem. This settlement, agreed to by all concerned at what is known as the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-35), SET THE PATTERN FOR ISSUES THAT AROSE. Thus, throughout the History of the Church, we find scores of such councils on various levels to settle matters of dispute and TO DEAL WITH THOSE WHO DO NOT ADHERE TO THE APOSTOLIC FAITH.
The first THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY were also marked by the appearance of certain heresies or false teachings i.e., Gnosticism, Sabellianism, Montanism and in the 4th to 9th centuries, Arianism, Apollinarianism, pelagianism, Monophysitism, Iconoclasm. All these false teachings and heresies threatened the very unity, harmony and Church-wide disruption. These deadly heresies struck the Church like a cancer. Turmoil spread almost everywhere. The first Church-wide or Ecumenical Council met in Nicea in 325 A.D. to address the great heresy of Arianism. Some 318 bishops, along with many priests, deacons and laymen rejected the new teaching of Arius and his associates, upholding the Apostles’ Doctrine of Christ, affirming the eternality of the Son consubstantiality with the Father. Their proclamation of the Apostolic Teaching concerning Christ included A CREED which with the additions concerning the Holy Spirit made in 381 A.D. at the Council at Constantinople, forms the DOCUMENT TODAY CALLED THE NICENE CREED.
Between the years 325 and 787 A.D., SEVEN SUCH CHURCH-WIDE CONCLAVES WERE HELD, meeting in the cities of Nicea, Ephesus, Chalcedon, and Cosntantinople. Known as THE SEVEN ECUMENICAL COUNCILS, all dealt first and foremost with some specific challenge to the Apostolic Teaching about Jesus Christ.
For the FIRST THOUSAND YEARS OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY, the entire Church, save for the heretics, embraced and defended the New Testament Apostolic Faith. There was no consequential division. This ONE FAITH, preserved through all trials, attacks and tests, this Apostolic Doctrine was called "THE ORTHODOX FAITH."
(To be continued)
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in Our Risen Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 