THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IS THE DEPOSITORY AND RESERVOIR OF GRACE

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

The Orthodox Church Is the Depository and The Reservoir of Grace

Our Lord God Jesus Christ promised His Disciples that He would send them the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, Who would remain with them forever–the Spirit of Truth Who would instruct them in everything and remind them of all that He Himself had spoken to them, and would inform them of the future. After the Resurrection the Lord granted them the Grace-given power of the Holy Spirit with the words, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit: Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained" [John 20:22-23]. On Pentecost, in accordance with His promise, send down the Holy Spirit upon His Disciples in the form of fiery tongues.

In the Holy Spirit, in His Divine power, is given us "all things that pertain unto life and godliness" [2 Peter 1:3]. "These Grace-given gifts are in the Holy Church which the Lord founded on earth." They comprise the means of our sanctification and salvation. The image of the head and the body [Ephesians 1:22-23]. The Father "hath put all under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." The life of the Church in its essence is MYSTICAL the course of its life cannot be entirely included in any "history." The Church is completely distinct from any kind whatever of organized society on earth.

The Church is our spiritual Home. As with one’s own home–and even more than that–a Christian’s thoughts and actions are closely bound up with the Church. In it he must, as long as he lives on earth, work out his salvation, and make use of the Grace-given means of sanctification given him by it. It prepares its children for the heavenly homeland.

As to how, by the Grace of God, spiritual rebirth and spiritual growth occur in a man, in what sequence these usually occur, what hindrances mjust be overcome by him on the way of salvation, how he must combine his own indispensable labors with the Grace-given help of God–special branches of theological and spiritual learning are devoted to all these matters. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Founder of the Church: "I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" [Mathew 16:18]. Our Lord Christ is also the FOUNDATION of the Church, its cornerstone: "Other foundation can no man lay that that is laid, which is Jesus Christ ” [1 Corinthians 3:11]. Christ Himself is the INVISIBLE BISHOP of the Church. The Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-bearer, an Apostolic Father, calls the Lord the "Invisible Bishop" (Greek: episkopos aoratos).

The whole life of the Church is PENETRATED BY THE MYSTICAL ACTIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. "The cause of all perservantion lieth in the Holy Spirit. Every Church prayer, whether public or private, begins with the prayer to the Holy Spirit: "O Heavenly King, Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of good things and Giver of life, come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One!" Just as rain and dew, falling upon the earth, vivify and nourish and give growth to every kind of growing thing, so do the powers of the Holy Spirit act in the Church.

In the Apostolic epistles, the actions of the Holy Spirit are called "EXCELLENCY OF POWER," [2 Corinthians 4:7], "DIVINE POWER" [2 Peter 1:3] or "by the Holy Spirit." But most frequently of all they are signified by the word "Grace." Thow who enter the Church have entered into the Kingdom of Grace, and they are invited "TO COME BOLDLY UNTO THE THRONE OF GRACE, THAT WE MAY OBTAIN MERCY, AND FIND GRACE TO HELP IN TIME OF NEED" [Hebrews 4:16; Hebrews Chapters 10-13]. In Orthodox theology "Grace" most commonly refers to the Uncreated Energy, Power, or Operation of God, which is distinct yet inseparable from God’s Essence. Thus, Saint Gregory Palamas affirms that "This resplendence and deifying Energy of God, that deifies (theosis) those who participate in it, constitutes Divine Grace, but it is NOT the Essence of God" (Philokalia, vol. 4, p. 390).

Grace is the name applied to the gifts of the Holy Spirit which have been sent down and are being sent down to the Church of Christ for THE SANCTIFICATION OF ITS MEMBERS, FOR THEIR SPIRITUAL GROWTH, AND FOR THE ATTAINMENT BY THEM OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. Grace is a power sent down from on High, the power of God which is in the Church of Christ, which gives birth, gives life, perfects, and brings the believing and virtuous Christian to the appropriation of the salvation which has been brought by the Lord Jesus Christ.

How, then, does the saving Grace of God act?

Both the spiritual birth and the further spiritual growth of a man occur through the mutual action of two principles. One of these is the Grace of the Holy Spirit; the other, man’s opening of his heart for the reception of it, a thirst for it, the desire to receive it, as the thirsty, dry earth receives the moisture of rain–in other words, PERSONAL EFFORT FOR THE RECEPTION, PRESERVATION, AND ACTIVITY IN THE SOUL OF THE DIVINE GIFTS.

The experience of Orthodox ascetics inspires them to call Christians with all power to the humble acknowledgment of one’s own infirmity, so that the SAVING GRACE OF GOD MIGHT ACT. VERY EXPRESSIVE IN THIS CASE ARE THE EXPRESSIONS OF Saint Symeon the New Theologian (10th century):
"If the thought comes to you, instilled by the devil, that your salvation is accomplished not by the power of your God, but by your own wisdom and your own power, and if your soul agrees with such a thought, GRACE DEPARTS FROM IT. Saint Paul says, ‘NOT I, but the Grace of God which is with me." The same holy Father states: "If he does not bear in his heart the conviction that the Grace of God, given for faith, is the mercy of God…if he does not labor with the aim of receiving the Grace of God, first of all through Baptism, or if he had it and it departed by reason of his sin, to cause it to return again through repentance, confession, and a self-belittling life; and if giving alms, fasting, performing vigils, prayers, and the rest, he thinks that he is performing glorious virtues and good deeds valuable in themselves–then the labors and exhausts himself in vain" (Homily 2).

Providence of God and Grace

From what has been set forth, it follows that there is a difference between the concepts of God’s Providence and Grace. PROVIDENCE is what we call God’s power in the world that supports the existence of the world, its life, including the existence and life of mankind and of each man; while GRACE is the power of the Holy Spirit that penetrates the inward being of man, leading TO HIS SPIRITUAL PERFECTION AND SALVATION. [Source: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology]

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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George