Orthodox Reflections

God’s Church is Permanent

One thing is for sure, the Orthodox Church will always be here. Nations come and go, but the Church remains. Those nations, political ideologies, that sought to destroy her have failed, and will fail until the end.

If the Church is the permanent thing, other questions rise to the surface. What will it look like in terms of leadership five or ten years from now? Where will be its center of gravity? What is the current season?

If the Church is the only permanent thing in the world, how does it retain its resilience against corruption over the centuries? It does so, because as corruptions sets in (we are in denial if we see no corruption), purging, siftings, and separations come in order to keep it true.

In the first three chapters of Revelation, St John delineates the sorting of that time; it is a mistake to think it does not happen from time to time. The handwriting is now on the wall, and things hidden are now being revealed.

Obviously, what is happening now in our Church is very different from, say, five or ten years ago. Something has changed. We know that much for sure. But what, and for what purpose?

A Time of Sorting

“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it—those who do know history, repeat it anyway.”[1]

A wise man once said:

A time to give birth, a time to die.

A time to plant, A time to pluck up what is planted.

A time to pull down, a time to build up….

A time to throw stones, A time to gather stones…

A time to tear, And a time to sew (Ecclesiastes 3).

So it seems, the Church is in uncharted territory, but is it really? Is there anything new under the sun? Some suppose, the whole COVID storm is very different than anything we have seen in history—but not so much. During the Iconoclasm controversy, kissing icons became a sign to all which side folks were on—it was the defining issue of the day. For those who refused to kiss the icons, their status was clear. They were iconoclasts. While we would think some churches would go one way and others the opposite, often that line of division ran right down the center of many parish communities.

There was clear division among the faithful, unavoidably and painfully in plain sight. No matter how hard some strove for unity, it was not to be. One side had to win and the other had to lose; a divided house cannot stand. Through that battle, we have some glorious things to remember, like the Sunday of Orthodoxy.

At the time, there was confusion; brother was set against brother, bishop against bishop, bishop against parishioner, parishioner against bishop. In all of this came true the Lord’s words,

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household (Matthew 10:34-5).

This sword sorts. It separates based on ideals, not outward appearances. It is part of the Gospel (red in KJV). Why would God bring this about, or allow this to happen? Whenever we see this happening, God is trying to get His Church to deal with something, something important, something germane to her existence, something in her constitution.

Interestingly, before the controversy, the abuse of icons by some was prevalent. They were employed as talismans, good luck charms, some form of Christian magic. In reality, the image had become what non-Christians (like modern Protestants) said it was; idol worship. In the misuse, icons do become idols and there was an element of truth in the accusations. Purification took place, and the correct usage was restored, when Islamic pressure to eschew images came to bear. The faithful had to rethink their loyalty towards the icon as more than an amulet, but as an avenue of worship that it was meant to be.

No doubt, some of my readers will recoil at the suggestion that the questions of to vax or not to vax, to mask or not to mask, rise to the level of iconoclasm. Do they? At the same time, I know other readers will say, they most certainly do rise to that level and future generations will see that also.  Our current controversy embodies the state pirating Church Sovereignty. Viewed in hindsight, it is obvious to us who, during the iconoclasm controversy, was on the right side of history and consistent with the Fathers. In the middle of such a controversy, we have only history as a guide. We must sort what is really going on and take the steps to preserve the Church from alterations. Future generations of Orthodox will stand in judgment of what we are doing right now.

There Is Only One Issue

If Orthodox Church history teaches us anything, it is that when the Church falls into conflict with itself, there is only one issue. No matter whether it’s homousious vs homouosious, Iconoclasm or Vaccine mandates (or recommendations) the question always is—what is the True Orthodox Faith of the Church?  Answering that question always settles everything. This is called Vincentian Canon.

Do mask mandates pass muster with the Vincentian Canon? Does closing churches pass muster with the Canon? How has the Church behaved during the pandemics of the past? Actually, the Orthodox of old, jumped right in the middle of every pandemic joining the effort to minister to the afflicted risking their own health.

The Testimony of the Church

If we are to understand the Church and its relationship to the world as God’s representative, we must understand the “Testimony” of Christ, which is the testimony of the Church, and the testimony of the Saints. If we don’t get this, we miss God’s working in our day and how it relates to the past.

Often in the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant (the symbol of the Theotokos equating to God’s good will toward His people at that moment) was often called the Ark of the Testimony. What is meant by that term, “Testimony”? Ark means keep, vault, or cache, but keep of what? Of course, the “keep” of Christ, but in terms of the “Testimony” what does that mean? What does it mean to keep the “Testimony,” the Testimony of Christ, or the Testimony of the Faith?

We know from Hebrew history, when the Ark of the “Testimony” left the people of God, it was a sign that God had abandon them. Whatever formalities of worship they engaged in, something was not right. This was not to say there were no longer genuine believers there, but that God’s working at the location differs. While they had form, they lost something else: God’s presence as the Lamp Stand of God’s light to the world.[2]

It is not just in the Old Testament; it is in the New Testament as well, especially in the St John Revelation of Christ.

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:17, bold added).

And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10, bold added).

God loves mankind so much, He vows to have His voice made present, made real, among men at all times in every generation. Not just as something of the past but something in the now. How does this work? God elevates a location as a light bearer to the entire world – a city on a hill.

Consider: St Vladimir sent representatives to Constantinople to “witness” the Christian Faith. They returned with the report that in the Hagia Sophia, they thought themselves to be in Heaven. What they encountered there was—as St John put it—a working of the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of Prophecy testifying to Christ as the True Faith. This “Testimony” was so powerful it converted an entire nation. Every Russian Orthodox knows this story by heart. It is their emancipation from pagan tribalism into viable Christian civilization. God had forged Himself a people for the world to see. Like Abraham, in them, all nations would be blessed.

The Testimony is this: that any pagan, secularist, or unregenerate in the world who sought to know the True Faith, could find it wherever the “Testimony” was. This Testimony is not just forms of worship, praxis, or the ancient ethos (though those are included) but it is the Life of the Holy Spirit animating the community of God to the point that others take note. This church becomes a people magnet by nature.

How does that relate to now? If any seeker went to Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) seeking the same experience as Vladimir’s ambassadors, would they find it? The ever glorious Hagia Sophia is now a mosque. Is that not a statement in itself that Constantinople has fallen? What Constantinople was in the past—the light to the whole world—Istanbul is not even remotely. The “Ark of the Testimony” has left and no longer resides there. Whatever genuine Orthodoxy may still be there, the former glory is gone. What is now there is of a different spirit, just like the Old Rome. It’s no wonder the Pope and the EP are so close. They both preside in jurisdictions that were at one time the torch bearers, the standard bearers, the flagships of the Faith. Now, they grasp for power, becoming predators and not shepherds. Tell me this is not true. The handwriting on the wall is so clear. Each has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. God is animating a remnant elsewhere. So we must ask: where is the Orthodox center of gravity now?

What happens when we lose the Testimony? We are no longer God’s voice to a dying world; missionary outreach is replaced with territorial aggression. We no longer reprove the world of sin, or speak prophetically into society, culture, or government, but become obsessed with control of territory. Here is an axiom of the Faith: when you spend all your time defending your office, your time is over.

Without the Testimony, we are no longer the witness to the world. We are an organization that has a form/s of godliness, but is denied the power to change the world, one man at a time.[3] The signature characteristic of this kind of church is that it stops growing, a sure sign something has died as all living things grow.

Ecclesial Center of Gravity

Earlier in Christendom, deference was given to the Bishop of Rome—“first among equals” (not first among subordinates). What was the basis for labeling the Pope of Rome first in anything? Why was this honor given? It was because for the first few centuries, after Jerusalem, Rome was the center of gravity for the Faith. It was a missions center from which the Church reached out to the world.

But Rome drifted, then the Great Schism.

Historically, this center of gravity moved from Rome to Constantinople. This is not an just an organizational change, or a political change but a change in the center of gravity of the True Christian Faith.  But where is it now? Like the first Rome, the second Rome succumbed to drifting from the True Faith. Some claim, Moscow is the Third Rome. In that claim what are they saying? That the center of gravity of the Orthodox Faith, that the “Testimony” to the entire world, has shifted to Moscow. Is this true? Perhaps.

Who Is Cleaving Whom? Revealing the True Schismatics

Without boring my reader (and exposing my ignorance) we’ll pluck only a few choice facts from the Great Schism. In the final slash of the cleaver that severed East and West, it was the West that “went nuclear”  by placing a Papal Bull on the altar of the Hagia Sophia. More often than not, it is the schismatics that separate themselves from the Church even when it is done by a hierarch. They cut others off from themselves.

But here, we need to clarify our thinking. What is the True Church? Is it the hierarch who drives others out with mask mandates, or is it the young family with young children who are driven out? Think of it this way:  a hierarch who does such things has “left the reservation” and the families raising their children in church are the real Church. If the bishop is not channeling the true Faith of the Fathers, what is he channeling? The anti-Christ spirit of government?

The assumption, that the hierarch is always “THE Church” does not carry water in history. Just look at the prime examples of Arius (a bishop) and Nestorius (a Patriarch). With the Conciliar Controversies, the True Church won out and finally preserved the unity, but in the Great Schism the outcome was different. At some point the East had to get over the fact that the West had drifted so far that reconciliation was impossible without doing violence to the True Faith. St John put it this way:

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. (1 John 2:18-9).

By the time St John wrote this, he had seen everything. What he noted was that those in error were the ones quick to sever relations. They opt for divorce to defend their pseudo-authority. They cut off anyone who disagrees or tries to bring light to their senses. Those that depart are in error. But this begs the question: who is the one departing the True Faith? Could it not be the bishop who by fiat does things never before seen in the Church?

The correct question always is: who is abandoning the classic practice of the Faith?

I dare say: by St John’s rule of thumb, in the most recent COVID melee, some bishops left for things inconsistent with the Faith. They channeled more a belief in government than in God.

The question will then become for the rank and file: when bishops make void the Faith by consorting with and giving validation to heretics and apostates – what are the options?

As long as there is a unity at any cost, there will be this monkey business tampering with things Holy. But when the people have had enough, then the rogue hierarchs will have to submit themselves back to the legacy Church.

Going back to the Great Schism another interesting fact appears, in the final approach toward schism, the pope closed Greek (Eastern Rite—non-Latin) churches in his jurisdiction. Of course, in a gesture of reciprocation, the Eastern Patriarch closed some Latin churches in his jurisdiction. How does this relate?

Because the action by the pope to close churches was uncalled for and an action of obvious bias. He was the obvious schismatic. This raises the question: is a modern bishop who closes a church to certain individuals who refuse to wear a mask likewise a schismatic? How is he not modeling the Pope who did not like the way the Greeks were doing Liturgy (not the Latin Mass)?

These are things to think about. How long will we put up with non-canonical actions? How is this not a vacating of the True Church as St John said?

Our Liturgy

I have a burning question: regarding the liturgy of the Holy Orthodox Church; was it a creation of man or did it come down to us from heaven? (note: Luke 20:4) Was it a pagan assimilation as Protestants claim, or is it Divine modeled after worship in heaven? Is this the worship that Moses saw? (note: Exodus 25:9). And, is this the worship St John saw in Revelation? If it is what the Fathers have always claimed it to be (if it is from Heaven—not man) then why would anybody want to tempt the Almighty by tampering with what, for generations, men feared to change even an iota? I ask you: does Caesar govern heaven? How can it be unless men make it so?

Changing of the Guard

When we say there is coming a changing of the guard to the Church—as well as societies with their governments—we must ask ourselves, what is that going to look like? Will it be like Arius, whose entrails became his extrails in the bottom of the latrine? Will it be like the Great Schism, where divorce is necessary in order to preserve a remnant of the True Faith?

We would rather God intervene, with rogue hierarchs going away and being replaced with those more true to the Faith. But that scenario does not appear to be taking place.

In order to preserve the “Testimony”—God’s living, current, witness on earth to all mankind—we know God will have His way through this sifting. God is testing us through what is being revealed. COVID does not make anyone different from who or what they are. It only reveals what they have been for some time. We know the true shepherds from the bad, we know those willing to give all for the Faith, and those who have too many political alliances to properly lead the flock. All is above board, out in the open.

[1] While the first part has been universally known, the second was a quote from Anglican Bishop Ray Sutton of Dallas.

[2] Revelation 2:5

[3] 2 Timothy 2:5

John Lee – an Orthodox Christian, jurisdiction withheld by request