The Church

Christ Did Not Leave Us a Bible; He Left Us a Church

"[The Bible] is not what the Lord carefully laid down. And that is why we confess that we believe one Holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. You see, the Lord left on earth a Church. An earthly body. A community. A family. He did not merely leave an unfleshed memory, or an invisible idea. He did not merely leave a theological set of priciples, that we can argue over, and parse, and pick apart, and then divide over, and accuse one another of being wrong, or who has the gospel the most correct. That is not, thank God, what the Lord left behind. He left behind the Church. The apostolic Church." - Fr. Willbur David Ellsworth

Church Governance

"Plutocracy is a poor system of governance always, and most especially for a Church." -- Fr. Mark Sietsema, Epigrams and Interludes From the Notebook of a Semi-Experienced Priest, Praxis, Spring 2014

It's Not All About the Church

"There is a temptation to preach the Church rather than 'Christ and Him crucified." But what does it profit a man to know the color symbolism of iconography, if he does not practice seventy-times-seven forgiveness?" -- Fr. Mark Sietsema, Epigrams and Interludes From the Notebook of a Semi-Experienced Priest, Praxis, Spring 2014

Liturgical Leaders

"Liturgical Leaders Attend Church Services. The Church always works, and Orthodox Christians are always working. However, the Church is more than meetings, committees, and social events. It is foremost about Jesus Christ and the gift of liturgy. This is the most important work of the Church. No matter how busy he or she is, an Orthodox leader makes time to attend liturgy weekly and to be shaped by the liturgical life of the Church. Liturgical leaders are attentive and allow themselves to be shaped by the Church's teaching. They make it a priority to live the liturgy in their daily lives with humility, mercy, and without apology. Liturgical leaders conform to the Church and do not ask the Church to conform to them. Blessed Theophylact reminds us that "Merely to hear the word of God saves no one and is instead a condemnation. After hearing, one must do.'" -- Andrew Estocin, The Sounding, The Work of a Leader Begins at Liturgy, July 24, 2014

Symbolic Meaning of the Miracle of the Oil; The Church and The Saints

"2 Kings 4:3-6 Then he said, 'Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors-empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.' So, she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, 'Bring me another vessel.' And he said to her, 'There is not another vessel.' So, the oil ceased."

"Here the Scripture relates the other miracle that Elisha performed in order to help the widow. He made flow into the vessels an amount of oil sufficient to pay the debt of her husband and abundantly multiplied it for the nourishment of her children. From the symbolic point of view three aspects must be observed here: first of all it is said that the widow filled the vessels of her neighbors with an oil that gushed out in her house thanks to a gift of God, because the holy church resembles the widow. In fact, she was not abandoned when her husband ascended to heaven, but she filled the hearts of the Gentiles with the oil of the knowledge of salvation which has multiplied and become abundant in her house thanks to the presence of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the Gentiles, who were separated before, after being filled with that fat oil, glorified with their lips of cheerfulness the God whom they had ignored before.

"In the second place, the widow asked for empty vessels and filled with oil those that her children brought to her, both small and large vessels. This signifies the saints who have rejected any worldly passion and are filled with the fat of the holy ointment and the oil of happiness. So, their mother, that is, the grace of God gives oil to each of them, both to the great and the little. For God gives his gifts as he likes, so that everything may be ours, as the apostle says: 'We must grow up in Christ according to his gift.' But those who are weighed down by their intemperance, drunkenness and worldly interests, those who, as the apostle says, walk in the vanity of their spirit and are obscured in their intelligence, those who have lost their hope and have given themselves to the practice of every sort of paganism and covetousness are deprived of this grace. In fact, they do not desire this oil, and if they desire it, they prepare no vessel to be filled with it.

"In the third place, the rest of the oil, which the dead husband had left to his widow, signifies the mercy that Christ had shown to the saints while he lived on earth. Solomon says that he who associates himself with the Lord has mercy for the poor, and the Lord will reward him according to his works." -- St. Ephrem The Syrian, On The Second Book of Kings 4:3

See Also

The Church Is The Body