Part I: The Church as Community
It is a
very natural thing for man to desire to be a part of a family or community. As
a result of his knowledge of the love of God which was taught directly by the
Holy Spirit St. Silouan the Athonite understood man to be a community of
being. And St. Basil the Great says that
man by nature is a creature meant to live in community and not alone. For an Orthodox Christian the family or
community to which we belong to is the Church, which is the body of Christ.
which is made up of the faithful who are alive and struggling in this world and
also the saints who have triumphed in this world and have become our
intercessors in the heavenly kingdom. But what is meant by the Church being a
community and the body of Christ, and that we are members of one another? And
how in a living way can we integrate ourselves into God’s family, His
community?
Once
Bishop Basil Rozdianko was asked to speak at St. Tikhon’s Seminary on the
subject of Russian spirituality. In expounding the Orthodox response to the
concept of spirituality he also explained how the Church functions as a
community as follows:
What is the Orthodox tradition on the subject
of “spirituality?” In order to find the answer we should go to the saints. To
do this I have chosen one of the very first saints and one of the very last
ones: St. Clement of Rome of the second century and what he writes in his
famous epistle to the Corinthians and St. Theophan the Recluse. There is a term
which was used by St. Clement and which probably will be the real term for us,
the Orthodox today, as it was at that time in the beginning. It is in Greek
sumponia which is a combination of two words: sum, which means together, like
we say co, coexistent and the other comes from the word pneuma which means
spirit. It. is interesting that that term was used in the ancient Greek world
by the medical profession in speaking about the breathing together of the body
which gives life and is the source of life for an organism, because the word
pneuma means not only spirit but also air and breathing. And St. Clement took that
medical word and said for us Christians this is precisely what we are and
should be, that is, we have to breath the same Spirit together and this
actually brings us into complete unity and the way to salvation, But this means
that this is always together, in togetherness; not everyone individually, not
everyone in his own way only, not according to his own understanding or
teaching or interpretation of the scriptures, No! In togetherness!
Now St. Theophan explains it and speaks about
it in a very profound way which is very easily understandable today and that is
he says when you want to achieve salvation and when you go on your way to
salvation do not try to have something in separation from the others or in
separation from other methods, Do not think that you can be saved only by good
deeds or only by faith or only by this or that way of life, No! take everything
together and everyone together so that you are really a part of the Church—the
Church’s teaching. This means not only
what you read in the Scriptures or what you hear from sermons or some catechism
or anything like that but the whole life of the Church must be taken together
so that you are not only learning and studying but also living, experiencing,
going to services and doing everything that the Church does. Try not to be
outside of the Church at all and then you will attain salvation. In the Church
and through the Church and through that unity, through that common breathing of
the one Spirit of God.
And here comes another Greek term which, of
course is well known and that goes together very well with this one and that is
catholiki, The Catholic Church, Catholos comes from a Platonic term used in his
philosophy and the idea of it is that everything is in accordance with the
whole. Holos is the same root as whole, cata is according, in other words
everyone is not on his own or her own, not in separation from the whole but
according to the whole. And this was used for the first time also by a very
early saint, that was St. Ignatius of Antioch who for the first, time applied
that to the Church: Catholiki Ekklesia. So if we put together these two saints
and these two terms we will see the idea: Together breathing the same Spirit of
God according to the whole body of Christ.
And that is the way to salvation and that is the true and genuine
spirituality in a real and proper sense. This is the Orthodox tradition on how
to live in the spirit of God.
So then,
as members of the Church our calling is to “breath the same Spirit of God
together according to the whole body of Christ”. The Holy Apostle Paul writes of this, for
instance, he says, “For as we have many members in one body, and all members
have not the same office: So we, being
many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another”
(Rom.12:4-5). And again: “For as the
body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being
many, are one body: so also is Christ.
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews
or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into
one Spirit.
For the
body is not one member, but many. But
now are they many members, yet but one body” (ICor. 12: 12-4,20).
Therefore
we must, with one accord, breathe the one Spirit of God into Whom we were
baptized. We must keep before our minds
the concept that we are one body in Christ and so realize the ascetic precept
and cliché: our brother is our life. And
we must “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the
saints” (Jude 1:3)—for this is to be in accordance with the whole body of
Christ—the Church. May our Lord Jesus
Christ, grant us this, that we may thus
have “our hearts knit together in love” (Col. 2:2). And so, in this way, His prayer to the Father
at the Mystical Supper for us all to be one, shall find its fulfillment in
us. Amen.
Part II: True Friendship in Christ
In
writing on this subject I believe it is best to turn to a sermon on friendship
which is based on the Conferences of St. John Cassian. It is Conference XVI, The first conference
with Abba Joseph, that is being referenced.
His writings are found in the Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers Series II
Volume XI, published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids,
Michigan. This sermon is on the Gospel
and Epistle readings of the 8th Sunday after Pentecost—Matthew 14:14-22 and I
Corinthians 1:10-17.
Beloved
of God, with the epistle reading of today in mind, I would like to speak a
little about the topic of friendship or maybe I should say the various ways in
which people can be united to one another.
And to do this I would like to refer to the writings of one of our early
fathers, St. John Cassian, and his conferences with the early Egyptian desert
fathers. So one of the fathers he
visited spoke of friendship in the following manner:
There are
many kinds of friendship and companionship which unite men in very different
ways in the bonds of love. First there
is one kind of love, where the union is from the instincts and laws of nature,
by which those of the same ethnic background, or blood relations are naturally
preferred to others, a thing which we find is the case not only with mankind
but also with animals. Sometimes some
bargain or an agreement to give and take something has joined men in the bonds
of love. With others a similarity and union of business or science or art or
study has united them in friendship.
These are some of the positive causes by which men enter into bonds of
friendship. However, it is sad to say
that there are even negative and sinful causes which unite men in friendship by
which even fierce souls become kindly disposed towards one another, so that
thieves or murders or drunkards embrace and cherish the partners of their
crimes or sin.—freely quoted
There are
a few other things along these lines that we often see in the Church which
ruins many souls and is hard to detect, first is a common dislike for a third
party and secondly sectarianism. For we
sometimes see clans develop who either group themselves under a spiritual
figure, or are zealous for a particular cause, and are at variance with others
in the Church. We usually find that such are highly critical of those who are
outside their group. So these are errors
we especially need to watch out for and this leads us to the scripture readings
of the day
In the
epistle we heard the Apostle Paul express a desire for the unity of the
Christians in Corinth by saying, “ Now I beseech you brethren, by the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no
divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind
and in the same judgment.” So the
Apostle wants them to be united according to Christ, to be untied by being of
one mind in Christ. And in the gospel we
see that there were crowds who in their zeal for God were following our Lord
Jesus Christ in order to learn from Him about thekingdomofGodand how to live a
righteous life. This united then in the
bonds of friendship. They were so drawn to Christ that they did not care about
their need for food.
But on
the other hand, in many places in the gospel, we see something quite contrary,
we see the Jewish leaders united in another way—they were united in friendship
by a common rejection of our Lord and hatred for Him. So again this is the type of friendship we
must avoid and rather seek to live in Christ and we shall be united in Him and
we will then naturally join ourselves in companionship with those who are doing
likewise. So let us again turn to this
father quoted earlier, St. John Cassian, and see what he says about true
friendship in Christ. So he writes:
Among all the kinds of love which unite men
there is one that is indissoluble, where the union is owing not to the some
favor, or some great kindness or gifts, or the reason of some bargain, or the
necessities of nature by being of the same race or family, but simply by the
similarity of virtue. This, I say, is what is broken by no chances, what no
interval of time or space can sever or destroy, and what even death itself
cannot part. This true and unbroken love which grows by means of the common
seeking of perfection in Christ cannot be broken by any difference of liking or
which no opposition of wishes can sever.
For such are joined together in companionship out of their love for
Christ and zeal for keeping His commandments.
However, St.
Johngoes on to mention that among them who have had such a friendship in Christ
there are those who could not maintain it continually and unbroken. So he continues to instruct us how to keep
friendship in Christ unbroken by saying: “If you also wish to keep this
unbroken, you must be careful to first get rid of your faults, and you must
mortify your own will and desires; for it is such things that will cause
disturbance within us and then in our relationships with others”. Then he concludes by insisting that love can
only continue undisturbed in those in whom there is but one purpose of
overcoming one’s faults through keeping the Gospel commandments and who have
one mind in following our Lord Jesus Christ.
Source: https://panagiaquicktohear.com/2012/04/07/community-and-friendship-in-an-orthodox-sense/
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