Orthodox Reflections

Lent is approaching, which for Orthodox Christians, is a time of fasting and repentance as we prepare to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. It is also a time when discussions with Protestant friends, family members, and acquaintances can often devolve into accusations of Orthodoxy teaching “works-based salvation”. Below is a typical social media post:

Do we Orthodox really try to “earn our way” into Heaven via our own self-righteousness and “‘doing enough”?

Let’s look at how we might answer that. To prove that this is simply not the case, I’m going to use quotes from the Liturgy of St. Tikhon. I could use excerpts from any Orthodox Liturgy, but this one has good quotes for illustration purposes. Why am I using quotes from a liturgy as opposed to the Church Fathers, Church Councils, any number of writings from Orthodox Theologians, or an official catechism? Those are all good sources, but Protestants often accuse Orthodox of lying / misrepresenting our beliefs in discussions with them.

Liturgies are the prayers of the Church. Liturgies are not written for the benefit of outsiders, but for the edification of Orthodox Christians. The words of the Liturgies are what we tell ourselves, and God, about what we truly believe. If we actually believed in earning salvation through good works and our own righteousness, then we would say so in our liturgies.

To start, let’s look at the prayer below that is chanted by a priest at the beginning of the consecration of the Eucharist:

Consecration

All glory be to thee, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that thou, of thy tender mercy, didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption; who (by his own oblation of himself once offered) made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and did institute, and in his holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again.

What do we notice in this prayer? Christ’s self-sacrifice is full, perfect and sufficient for our redemption. Protestants often accuse Orthodox of not believing this, because in the Eucharist we participate in Christ’s death and resurrection at each Liturgy. That fact does not mean we believe His sacrifice was somehow “incomplete”. It means that we are following Christ’s own commandment to drink of His Blood and eat of His Body until He comes again.

Where is any mention of “works” in this prayer? Nowhere. To be an Orthodox Christian, one must believe that Christ came into the world to save sinners. Only through His death and resurrection are we saved. If you don’t believe that, then you are not a Christian, Orthodox or otherwise.

Below is a continuation of the Eucharistic prayers:

Oblation

Wherefore, O Lord and heavenly Father, according to the institution of thy dearly beloved Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, we, thy humble servants, do celebrate and make here before thy Divine Majesty, with these thy holy gifts, which we now offer unto thee, the memorial thy Son hath commanded us to make; having in remembrance his blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension; rendering unto thee most hearty thanks for the innumerable benefits procured unto us by the same.

Why do we celebrate the Eucharist? Multiple reasons, but chiefly because Christ commanded us to. As we prepare for the Eucharist, Orthodox Christians call to mind the entire salvific work of Christ –“having in remembrance His blessed passion and precious death, His mighty resurrection and glorious ascension.”

Protestants frequently ask Orthodox Christians, “what we believe”. There are many ways to illustrate what we believe, such as by referencing the Nicene Creed. However, some of the most powerful statements of what we believe actually come directly from our liturgical prayers. As anyone can see from the prayers above, we Orthodox Christians believe that Christ is the Son of God who suffered, died, rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven, and will come again.

The prayer below concludes the preparation of the Eucharist:

Epiclesis

And we most humbly beseech thee, O merciful Father, to hear us; and of thy almighty goodness, vouchsafe to send down thy Holy Ghost upon these thy gifts and creatures of bread and wine, that they may be changed into the Body and Blood of thy most dearly beloved Son. Grant that we, receiving them according to thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ’s holy institution, in remembrance of his death and passion, may be partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood. And we earnestly desire thy fatherly goodness, mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; most humbly beseeching thee to grant that, by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we, and all thy whole Church, may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion. And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee, that we, and all others who shall be partakers of this holy Communion, may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us, and we in him.

The only “works” in the prayer above are performed by God. The Holy Spirit comes down upon the gifts and changes them into the Body and Blood of Christ. The priest can’t do this under his own humanly power. Changing bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, as is the accomplishment of our salvation, are acts only possible for God to perform. Further, the prayer testifies that we are unable to obtain forgiveness and remission of our sins by our own merits, but only “by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ”. 

Now let’s look at a prayer that the laity say during the liturgy in preparation for receiving the Eucharist:

Prayer of Humble Access

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. we are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

In preparing to receive the Eucharist, Orthodox Christians clearly pray that we cannot trust to our own righteousness. We are not righteous. We are too unworthy to even gather the crumbs under the Master’s table. We are unworthy of the mercy we are receiving, even if we have earnestly repented of our manifold sins. We are wholly dependent on God, through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ, for our salvation.

If we circle back to the Twitter post that began this article, we can explicitly state that Orthodox Christians do not attempt to “earn” Salvation through works, nor do we trust to our own “righteousness”.  Quite the opposite in fact.

So if we are not trying to “earn” salvation, what does Orthodoxy actually teach about “works”? Let’s examine that in the context of a set of verses from Ephesians that are often used by Protestants to attack “works-based” salvation:

⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:8-10

Here’s the guide from the Orthodox Study Bible for these verses:

How can one get from one kingdom to the other (vv 1-7)? By way of the unity of grace, faith, and works (vv 7-9). Not that these are equal, for grace is uncreated and infinite, our faith is limited and can grow, and good works flow out of authentic faith. Works cannot earn us this great treasure – it is a pure gift – but those who receive this gift do good. We are not saved by good works, but for good works. (v 10)

Let’s repeat that – works cannot earn us this great treasure – it is a pure gift – but those who receive this gift do good. We are not saved by good works, but for good works. We are not saved by our own efforts, but we are saved for a life in Christ that manifests the fruits of the spirit.

So why Lent? Why fasting? Why repentance and confession? Why participation in the Divine Liturgy? Why a habit of daily prayer? Why practice kindness, the giving of alms, forgiveness of others, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, preaching the Gospel, etc. if none of those things can save us? We are not called out from the world to merely avoid sin and/or do the bare minimum to “get into Heaven”. Such an attitude is spiritually lazy and childish. Rather we are called to grow in our relationship with God by taking on His very likeness. This is difficult for us because our souls are sick with sin. The mysteries (sacraments) of the Church (a “hospital for sick souls”) and other “good works” are medicines to help heal our souls and restore us to our proper relationship with God. Do they save us apart from Faith? Absolutely not. But who wants to live a defeated life in which we neither grow nor mature, but remain as sick, isolated, spiritually lazy children unto old age?

Starting shortly, during the season of Lent, Orthodox Christians will fast, pray more, go to Church more, repent more, and try harder to be the loving people Christ has called us to be. Not because any of that will “earn” our salvation, but because all of that is good for us spiritually. Is it easy? Not at all. Medicine can often be bitter. If, however, we wish to really grow as Christians, we should spend less time arguing over how to “get saved”. Instead, let us all focus on Christ who said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

Nicholas – member of the Western Rite Vicariate, a part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in America