My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ our Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
The “Rudder”, the Holy Canons of the Orthodox Church
What a Canon is
A CANON, according to Zonaras (in his interpretation of the 39th letter of Saint Athanasios the Great), properly speaking and in the main sense of the word, IS A PIECE OF WOOD COMMONLY CALLED A RULE, WHICH ARTISANS USE TO GET THE WOOD AND STONE THEY ARE WORKING ON STRAIGHT. For, when they place this RULE (or straightedge) against their work, IF THIS BE CROOKED, INWARDS, OR OUTWARDS, THEY MAKE IT STRAIGHT AND RIGHT. From this METAPHORICAL EXTENSION, votes and decisions are also called canons, whether they be of the Apostles of the ecumenical and regional Councils or those of the individual Fathers, which are contained in the peasant Handbook: for they too, like so many straight and right rules, rid men in holy orders, clergymen and laymen, of every disorder and obliquity of manners, and cause them to have every normality and equality of ecclesiastical and Christian condition and virtue.
“THAT THE DIVINE CANONS MUST BE KEPT RIGIDLY BY ALL. FOR THOSE WHO FAIL TO KEEP THEM ARE MADE LIABLE TO HORRIBLE PENANCES.”
“These instructions regarding Canons have been enjoined upon you by us, O Bishops. If you adhere to them, you shall be saved, and shall have peace; but if you disobey them, you shall be sorely punished, and shall have perpetual war with one another, thus paying the penalty deserved for heedlessness.” (The Apostles in their epilogue to the Canons.)
“We have decided that it is right and just that the canons promulgated by the Holy Fathers at each council hitherto should remain in force”. (c. I of the Fourth.)
Canons differ from definitions, from laws, from decrees, and from decretal epistles. For the Canons of the Councils contain mainly, not dogmas of the faith but the normality (or good order) and proper state of the Church. Canons are internal and ecclesiastical and possess a validity superior to that of laws of all kinds that emanate from human sources.
The sacred Canons of the Church reflect the ecclesiastical discipline of our Holy Orthodox Church. The sacred Canons of the Church maintain order within the Church and prevent disorder, abuse of authority, confusion, chaos, and anarchy. Without this discipline, the Church would become a lawless society and a body whose members would be placed at risk and in danger. Unfettered innovations would be introduced that would compromise the Orthodox faith and cease to be Orthodox but instead would become just another Christian denomination. Without the sacred Canons of the Church, would fall into heresy and join the thousands of heterodox throughout the world. We only need to see what is happening inside the Christian bodies outside the Orthodox Church and which are imploding because of the absence of truth, dogma, lack of Canons, and of good order, and due to this ultimately leads to their self-destruction. Their adherents are fleeing their church and are dispersed to other Christian denominations.
There are unfortunately those who do not see the importance of the sacred Canons of the Church and are willing to ignore them and dismiss them altogether. This is a grave mistake and totally unorthodox and wrong. One said to me that Father if we cannot enforce one of the canons we should not enforce any of them. That attitude threatens the very unity, harmony, and solidarity of our Church.
The Holy Orthodox Church is the only Christian Church still standing. All other Christian bodies throughout the world are in disarray and lost. We must NOT allow our Church, the Church of Christ, the Bride of Christ, to be harmed or compromised by those who seek her destruction. Our Orthodox Christian faith must not be diluted by allowing ‘modern’ or ‘progressive’ elements or secular innovations. The fact that we refer to our Church as the Orthodox Church means that it is complete and perfect, it does NOT need ‘improvements’ or ‘updating’ or ‘modernized’. The TRUTH IS ALWAYS THE TRUTH NO MATTER HOW MANY CENTURIES ELAPSE AND NO MATTER HOW THE WORLD CHANGES. [Source: The Rudder]
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“Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!”
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 