The Kingdom of God is accepted by faith and hidden “within us”. The King came in the form of a servant and reigned through the cross. It is the kingdom of “the world to come”, and only in the glory of his second coming will all people recognize the true king of the world. For those who believe and accept it, the kingdom is already here and now: “the Lord has come, the Lord is coming, the Lord will come again.” This statement contains the whole of Christianity’s victorious faith.[1]
After Jesus’ Resurrection from the Dead and Ascension, we read in the New Testament of the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost as promised by Jesus. The Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles, and all those present in the locked room 50 days after the Resurrection, at Pentecost, illuminating them and enlightening them so they could go forward into the world and establish the Church of Christ. This enlightenment has been a beacon throughout Scripture.
Just as Noah built an Ark to the specifications of the Lord and gathered therein those that would be saved from destruction, the church is mankind’s Ark of Salvation in the world, protecting and sanctifying man until the Lord’s Second Coming. The Church has been built by the faithful assembly of God’s people through the divine guidance of the work of the Holy Spirit to God’s specifications for the salvation of man. When the Lord comes again to judge the living and the dead as promised in Scripture, our Ark of Salvation, the Church, would have reached its destination and fulfilled its purpose in leading the faithful to God.
Each time Christians “assemble as the Church” they witness before the whole world that Christ is King and Lord, that his kingdom has already been revealed and given to man, and that a new and immortal life has begun. The Church is love, expectation and joy. It is heaven on earth, according to our tradition; it is the joy of recovered childhood that free, unconditioned and disinterested joy which alone is capable of transforming the world.[2] The Church’s goal is to transfigure the world by absorbing it into the life of the kingdom of God, of which it is the chief manifestation on earth. The Orthodox Church’s approach to the world is sacramental, eucharistic and iconographic. The vision of the Church for the world is that it reflects as much as it is possible the image of the Church as the body of Christ, in which all the members are related to each other by their unity with their divine head, and their mutuality of service and love for each other. There is a corporate reality of life where the Church affirms “personhood” as a reflection of the truth that every person is created with the purpose of becoming in fullness the “image and likeness of God.” Its ultimate truth is that ultimate reality is a community of persons, the One God who is a Holy Trinity of persons. Thus in its vision of the relationship of the Church with the world, sin is excluded, but all else is capable of inclusion.[3]
The liturgical life of the Orthodox Church is the moving and articulate expression of this vision and can be found in various places from the use of the Psalm 103 in every Vespers Service to the latter part of the Great Eucharistic of the Liturgy of Saint Basil with its fully inclusive and holistic vision of the life and mission of the Church in the prayer of St. Gregory the Theologian entitled “Hymn to God”[4].
You are above all things and what other way can we rightly sing of you?
How can words sing your praise when no word can speak of you?
You alone are unutterable from the time you created all
things that can be spoken of.
You alone are unknowable from the time you created all things that can be known.
All things cry out about you, those which speak, and those which cannot speak,
All things honor you, those which think, and those which cannot think.
For there is one longing, one groaning, that all things have for you.
All things pray to you that comprehend your plan and offer you a silent hymn.
In you, the One, all things abide and all things endlessly run to you who are the end of all.[5]
When the Liturgy of the church begins, it begins with a confession of faith and doxology of the King who comes now, but abides forever and shall reign unto ages of ages. At the time the Liturgy begins, the time of the kingdom of God and its fulfillment in the Church now enters into the fallen time of this world in order that we, the Church, might be lifted up to heaven. The Church is transfigured into that which she is, the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit.[6]
Working toward our own Theosis, union with God, is only possible by leading a Christian life. The Christian life comes into being through the Church with the Sacraments and with holy works done with a pure holy motive in the name of Christ. The purpose of the Christian life is not just struggles or good works and virtues; it is that through these means, we may receive the Holy Spirit as our own, which in turn makes our existence divine.[7] In actuality, it is a cooperation of two wills: the divine will which is divine grace, and the human will which is our self-determination. Each human being realizes the work of his salvation within his own lifetime with the help of divine grace, which must be freely received by that person through the Holy Spirit. In other words, the individual walks the road to unity with God and becomes divine when that person freely and with their whole heart says, “yes” to God, as did the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation.
In Greek, the word for Church is “ekklhsia”, which actually means “a gathering” or “an assembly”. To the early Christians, “assemble as a church” meant a gathering to reveal and realize the Church.[8] St. Germanus of Constantinople said the Church is the temple of God, a holy place, a house of prayer, the assembly of the people, the body of Christ. He also said the Church is called the bride of Christ; cleansed by the water of His baptism, sprinkled by His blood, clothed in bridal garments and sealed with the ointment of the Holy Spirit. The Church is an earthly heaven in which the super celestial God dwells and walks about.[9]
The gathering of the faithful is “eucharistic”, meaning a thanksgiving to God the Father, with the end fulfillment of the gathering being that of participating in the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion. The “assembly” of the faithful is the first and basic act of the Eucharist. The ancient Liturgical tradition appoints a “presider” (proistamenoV), a celebrant, whose function is to stand at the head of the assembly and lead the faithful to the Lord. The celebrant (Priest) and the people offer the Eucharistic prayers together. Every prayer said by the Priest is said for everyone (with the exceptions of the priest’s private prayer for himself). The Priest and the people exhibit a synergy, collaboration, co-celebration with each other as the people respond with “Amen”, “Lord have Mercy”, “Grant this O Lord”, and sing the hymns of praise to the Lord together as a family encouraging peace and love between them. Today, the gatherings of the faithful usually take place in a consecrated building called a Church. But, as noted above, the “Church” is the gathering of the faithful whether within a building, or not, for the purpose of praising the Lord and celebrating the Holy Eucharist together as a family at the Lord’s Table.
The physical building of the church itself is a symbol for God’s people where the spiritual reality is manifested and given to us. The architecture of the Church, every embellishment: vestments, candles, icons, and most importantly, the Sacraments themselves, especially the Holy Eucharist, are present to help us participate physically, emotionally and spiritually within, as full a human experience as possible with Almighty God. Each Sacrament has a meaning that is steeped in Scripture and Sacred Tradition to remind us and help us participate in God’s saving Grace. God personally touches the entire being whenever the willing person participates in the Sacraments of the Church, the Sacraments of Salvation. This all, of course, starts with the Sacrament of Baptism.
The Sacraments of the Church are bestowed by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Priest to the faithful. The “Assembly of the Church” is the image of the body of Christ, and the Priest, being the head of the gathering and standing at the head of the gathering, is the image of the head of the body, the image of Christ – the true head of the Church. It is important to understand that the Priest is a member of the people who has been separated out by God for this service. The Priest still has his humanity and his human failings just as all the people of the congregation do, and no matter how sinful the Priest or the people are, the gift of the Holy Spirit preserves the Church. The holiness of the Church is not the people, but is the holiness of Christ. Standing at the head of the body, the Priest manifests in himself the unity of the Church, the oneness of the unity of all her members with himself. So the priesthood of the Priest is not his but Christ’s. Christ abides in the Church, and through the Holy Spirit, the Church’s entire life is fulfilled.[10]
Even the Priest’s vestments are symbolic and linked to the assembly of the faithful where a synergistic relationship between all the members of clergy and laity are represented. The vestments are an icon of the unity of Christ and the Church as one. The following lists the most generally used meanings of the priest’s vestment pieces. The undergarment that the Priest wears is called the Sticharion in Greek. It represents the white baptismal robe the faithful receive at baptism. It is the garment of all the Baptized, the garment of the Church. When the priest puts the garment on, it manifests the oneness of the assembly, uniting all of the faithful with himself. The next garment he puts on is the stole called Epitrahilion in Greek; this is the image of Christ taking on our nature for our salvation. St. Germanus of Constantinople says that the epitrahilion is the cloth which was put on Christ at the hands of the high priest, and which was on His neck as He was bound and dragged to His passion.[11] The priest then puts on the cuffs called Epimanikia in Greek; the priests hands are no longer his own, but that of Christ as he blesses the faithful and performs the service. The Priest then puts on the belt called zone in Greek, which is a sign of obedience, preparedness, and service to the Lord and to the assembly of the faithful. The Priest is chosen for this ministry by the Lord whom he follows and by whose Grace he serves. Finally the Priest puts on the chasuble called Phelonion in Greek, which represents the glory of the Church as the new creation, joy, truth, beauty of a new life. The vesting of the Priest concludes with the priest washing his hands symbolic of the washing away of the sins of the people, which have been forgiven. The Priest is fully clothed in the garments of the new creation and can now celebrate the Holy Eucharist.[12] He is vested in the glory of the Kingdom to celebrate the sacrament of joy.[13]
Return to the Table of Contents for this Study Unit
[1] The Eucharist, Alexander Schmemann, pg. 42
[2] Op. Cit., For the Life of the World, p. 30
[3] Orthodox Perspective on Pastoral Praxis, Stanley S. Harakas, pp. 15-16
[4] Op.Cit., Orthodox Perspectives on Pastoral Praxis, p. 17.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Op.Cit., The Eucharist, p. 48
[7] Op.Cit., Partakers of Divine Nature, p. 33
[8] Op.Cit., The Eucharist, p. 11
[9] St. Germanus of Constantinople On The Divine Liturgy, Trans. Alexander Schmemann p.57
[10] Op.Cit., The Eucharist, p. 25
[11] Op. Cit., St. Germanus of Constantinople On The Divine Liturgy, p. 67
[12] Op.Cit., The Eucharist, pp. 25-26
[13] Op. Cit., For the Life of the World, p. 30
OrthodoxChristianityToday.org 