heresy – The Tao of Holy Orthodoxy

August 22, 2018August 27, 2018

85. Mosaic Icon: Order Your Life Well

The process of making a mosaic icon of Christ requires the iconographer to carefully place small pieces of colored glass or stone, one by one, into a particular pattern. When the individual pieces are well-ordered, the mosaic presents a clear image of Christ. If the mosaic tiles are not well-placed, then the image of Christ is strangely distorted or even unrecognisable.

The Orthodox Way is like a mosaic icon. People around us who identify with non-Orthodox religions and ideologies share some of the individual aspects of the Orthodox Way. They have some of the same or similar “pieces” that we do. For example, you can find the Golden Rule, indicating that we should treat others as we would want to be treated, as a basic principle in multiple religions and philosophies. Outside of the Church, many people believe in God, or gods, or at least have a sense of spirituality. Throughout the world, people consult authoritative writings, spend time in meditation or prayer, follow rituals, help the poor, or practice asceticism. Yet, all the other paths lack very important pieces and the individual similarities held in common with the Orthodox Faith are incapable of presenting a whole picture that reflects complete Truth. Non-Orthodox Christian sects in schism from the Holy Orthodox Church have much in common with the Orthodox, but even seemingly small differences distort the Truth as a whole. When an individual embraces (in heart, mind, and action) the Truth that is Holy Orthodoxy, all the various aspects of Holy Orthodoxy together point him or her to the God-Man Jesus Christ and the Way of salvation.

We are individually like mosaics, too. If you firmly hold to the Truth in your mind and heart and live it in your daily life, the various aspects of your life shall be well-ordered. Your inner life and your daily lifestyle will reflect the image of Christ. Since Christ, the God-Man, shows us what a perfect human person looks like, the more we are like Christ, the more authentically human we shall be. The more your mosaic “pieces” fit together harmoniously, the more you will share in His perfection and serve as a living icon of Christ to others. On the other hand, if your inner life and daily lifestyle are confused, then you will present to others a distorted or even unrecognisable image of Christ.

Jesus Christ has given us His Church to teach us and form us so that the good and useful things in our lives may be properly arranged, what doesn’t fit can be discarded, and what we lack can be added.

Keep the Truth in your heart and mind whole and unaltered. Do not let sin or heresy distort your soul. If you have failed to be a faithful representation of Christ, then repent with humility and follow the Way. God repairs poor icons. He heals the soul and holds all the aspects of our lives together in harmonious unity.

Read: 2 Corinthians 3.12-18

November 11, 2017

33. What Do You Believe?

What do you believe?

Being an Orthodox Christian means having right faith or correct belief, which is believing in what is really true. As the Orthodox Church, we share the same beliefs together in our time that our Orthodox Christian ancestors believed around the world in every generation since the time of Jesus Christ and His Holy Apostles.

We express what we believe through doctrines or dogmas. What is the purpose of dogma? Since our hearts are darkened and we require healing, we do not know or see clearly. The dogmas of the Church are like signs or lanterns along the Way of Life. If you can see the sign pointing to the correct direction, you can stay on the Way. Dogmas cannot explain a Mystery, but they keep you on the Way of Mystery. They show you the Way toward healing and transformation while preventing you from drifting off the road or outright taking a wrong turn down a treacherous road to a poisonous end.

After Holy Pentecost, the Church continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers (Acts 2.42, NKJV). Holding to the teachings of the Apostles is still central to our unity. As these doctrines unify us, they also create division between those of us who hold to the Truth and those who reject it. One who does not hold to the Orthodox Faith may wish to water down the Apostolic teaching in order to manufacture a kind of superficial unity, but this does not build a true, deep unity of Faith. You may hear someone say something like this: “What really matters is that we all have faith, or that we believe in God, or that we believe in Jesus, or that we believe in loving others, or that our paths help us find a sense of self-fulfillment and peace. Let’s focus on what we have in common, not what separates us.” Statements like this minimize the importance of doctrine and suggest that unity can be achieved by ignoring the wide difference between what is true and real and what is false and imaginary. Real unity is never created by compromising Truth or ignoring it for the sake of a thin, shallow unity. Real unity is created by rejecting untrue beliefs in order to embrace the Truth and by calling people from darkness to Light, and receiving them into the Truth.

In medicine, physicians know how to correctly diagnosis and treat a patients in order to restore health. Medical doctors distinguish between effective treatment options and ineffective treatment options to heal particular diseases. A competent physician would not say to a patient, “There are many different medicines in the world. It doesn’t matter exactly what your disease is or which medicine you take. What matters is that it is all medicine and medicine works. Let’s focus on what makes the different medicines the same, not what makes them different.” Such a view of medicine that minimizes the tremendous difference among the many different types of medications, and how they individually work with relation to particular ailments, would have tragic consequences. These are not matters of opinion, but of truth and error.

The dogmas of the Church are not opinions, but the objective Truth revealed by God Himself to His Church, which He established as the pillar and ground of Truth. We hold to what we know to be objectively True, not what we think is true, feel like is true, or seems apparently true. Since the Holy Spirit indwells and guides the Holy Orthodox Church, the doctrines of the Church do not change or develop over time, although the same teachings may be expressed with different words and explanations in different times and places in history. Across the millennia, the whole Church has affirmed the Apostles’ teachings. Even more, the Saints who have lived in different places and times down through the centuries have confirmed the truth of these doctrines. So, the dogmas we hold today have been consistently confirmed by the experience of those Fathers and Mothers who, having purified their hearts, have been taught by the Holy Spirit through prayer.

Each of us believes in the same doctrines, but just because someone agrees that certain doctrines are true does not mean that he is living the spiritual Way which those doctrines point toward. Rational belief is not enough. As St. James wrote, You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! (James 2.19). Even the evil bodiless powers know that certain doctrines are objectively true, but they do not have real faith. They know that God exists – and fear the Source of Love – but they do not believe in God. That is, they do not follow God or obey Him. We believe in God with our hearts, trust in what He has revealed to us, and live according to His instructions. The proof of real faith is seen in how each person carries out his or her daily life.

On the one hand, hold to Apostle’s teachings without compromise. Do not fall into relativism, the incorrect notion that Truth and one’s spiritual path is just a matter of individual opinion and perspective. On the other hand, be aware of the other extreme, a rigid fundamentalism that dogmatizes a particular opinion when, in fact, a range of acceptable pious views exist within the Church. If God has not revealed something clearly and the Church has not been inspired by the Holy Spirit to define a doctrine regarding the matter, do not presume that you and those who agree with your opinion possess the ability to speak with authority on the matter. The Church has been given theology, which is expressed in dogma. Be careful not to confuse philosophy of the rational mind with the theology revealed to the heart. Hold to the dogmas which we know instead of attempting to further rationally speculate, philosophically guessing, regarding what we do not know with certainty.

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The opposite of Orthodoxy (correct belief) is heresy. Heresy is a false opinion. A heretic, then, is one who makes the choice to embrace his own false opinion instead of holding to the Truth revealed to the Holy Orthodox Church, preserved by our ancestors, and passed down whole and undefiled to us. A heretic does remain on the Way of healing and transformation that leads to salvation in Christ. Instead, he deceptively presents his own philosophical speculations as true theology. The heretic egotistically sets himself up as the authority of Truth and refuses to be taught and corrected, even when the whole Church speaks with one voice.

If I presented a glass of water before you and told you that the water was filtered and pure, except for a single drop of sewage, would you want to drink the water in the glass? No. That would be gross – and dangerous. A very small amount of harmful bacteria would spoil the whole container. Like a little bacteria introduced to water, the effect of heresy can grow. Throughout history, the Church has strongly condemned heresy and clearly expressed the difference between the unchanging Truth of God and the false opinions of heretics. The Fathers of the Church knew that what may seem like an insignificant matter can be dangerous, pointing people down a treacherous path harmful to their spiritual health. A false teaching about the nature of God, for example, can lead you to having a false view of yourself, your diagnosis, your treatment, your purpose in the world, your personal potential, your relationship with other people, and your eternal salvation. Furthermore, since heretics often spread their opinions and convince others to follow them, heresy may lead one to break from the Church. Ensure that you hold to entire Apostolic Tradition. If you hold to most of the Truth, but accept a small error, that error may make a big difference in what you believe and how you live. The dogmas of the Holy Orthodox Church lead to spiritual Life. Heresy leads to spiritual sickness, chaos, and death.

The danger of false teaching extends beyond the Church to the many other religions and ideologies around us. We certainly do find elements of truth in other belief systems, but the problem with those religions and ideologies is not the truth they contain, but the errors they contain. Those false teachings lead people away from the true God and the healing path of salvation. They misrepresent the purpose and potential of the human person and, rather than leading to the Divine Physician and His Hospital, they provide an incorrect diagnosis and ineffective treatment to heal our core spiritual problems.

Hold to the teachings of Christ and His Church. Avoid falling into the delusion that your perception of Truth is greater than those to whom God has revealed it. Pride can cause you to develop too high of an opinion of your own ability to individually discern Truth with either your own rational mind or with your feelings, apart from the Holy Orthodox Church. If you discover that you have been holding onto an opinion or view that contradicts the mindset (phronema) and teaching of the Church, repent. Be humble and teachable. Learn the Truth, embrace it, and live according to it. This is the Way of Life.

When you say, I am Orthodox, you declare that you hold to the Orthodox Faith. Learn the doctrines of the Holy Orthodox Church and keep them in your mind and in your heart. Live them through your action. Teach them to others so that the people around you may know the Living Christ. Truth is a loving Light that draws men and women out of the darkness of ignorance and death to the true God, the One Who loves them and offers them the fullness of Life. As Christ Himself said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10.10, NKJV).

Read: Ephesians 4.11-16; Galatians 1.8-9; 1 Corinthians 3.18-23; 1 Timothy 3.15; 2 Peter 2; Romans 1.16-32

October 27, 2017October 30, 2017

24. Where do you find the Church?

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If you desire to follow Jesus Christ, where do you practically find the Orthodox Church?

Here is the short answer:

To find the Orthodox Church, connect with a local Orthodox church near where you live. Receive guidance from the Orthodox priest, who cares for the church. The priest serves under the authority an Orthodox bishop, the spiritual shepherd responsible for overseeing all the churches in his geographic area (called a diocese). Within the local church, you will find the whole Mystery of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. A priest should instruct you, guide you, and care for your soul as a fatherly physician.

In such a case that you do not have a local Orthodox church near you, arrangements can be made with a priest to guide you remotely, as necessary.

Here is a longer explanation:

The Holy Apostles consecrated bishops to oversee the many local churches they founded and to serve as their successors. After a bishop falls asleep in the Lord at the end of his earthly life, another man is chosen to succeed the previous bishop. The man is consecrated a bishop by other bishops, who possess Apostolic succession, an unbroken 2,000 year old historical line of bishops back to the Apostles. The requirements for a bishop’s Apostolic succession is more than an unbroken genealogy originating with the Apostles. For legitimate Apostolic succession, a bishop must also united to the Holy Orthodox Church, the same Church of the Apostles, and hold to the same Faith of the Apostles. As the Orthodox bishops possess Apostolic succession, so do the Orthodox priests ordained by the bishops.

In the early Church, as the Gospel of Jesus Christ spread throughout the world, those men and woman who became Christians formed church communities in their particular cities. In each city, a bishop led the church. All the bishops of the Church were in communion with one another as brothers and all the individual churches in the various cities were all in communion, meaning that they were one Church. So, the Church as a whole was a communion of local churches scattered throughout the world.

After the Church emerged from persecution to become officially recognized by the Roman Empire, the churches of five cities were elevated as leading “mother churches” in the world. These five senior churches, called Patriarchates, included the churches of

(1) Rome

(2) Constantinople (called New Rome)

(3) Alexandria in Egypt,

(4) Antioch of Syria, and

(5) Jerusalem.

These five senior churches, called Patriarchates, were governed independently by a synod, a brotherhood of bishops. The synod of each Patriarchate was led by an elder brother, called a Patriarch, who was elected (and could be removed) by his brother bishops. Each Patriarchate was called autocephalous, meaning that it was independently governed so that no other church could interfere with its affairs. All the autocephalous churches, though self-governing, formed one Body, the Church, with one Head, Jesus Christ. United in the Holy Spirit, they held firmly to their common Apostolic Faith, each in its own geographic region. Some churches (called autonomous) in the world are mostly self-governing, but still are connected to a Patriachate.

Originally, churches were established on the basis of geography. Still today, an Orthodox Christian in Syria belongs by default to the Church of Antioch (also called the Antiochian Orthodox Church and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East). Likewise, an Orthodox Christian in Russia belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church (Patriarchate of Moscow), one in Finland belongs to the Orthodox Church of Finland, and an Orthodox person in Japan belongs to the Orthodox Church of Japan. Most properly, only one Orthodox jurisdiction exists in a particular geographic location. Having said that, realize that due to the spread of the Gospel and immigration outside of the older Orthodox Christian lands, one finds overlapping jurisdictions in a single place. For example, in the West, many different Orthodox jurisdictions including Greek, Antiochian, Russian, Romanian, Serbian, and others coexist in many cities together. Although the various jurisdictions reflect different ethnicities and cultures rooted in their home countries, they are all in communion together as One Church.

Tragically, since the earliest times of Church history, members of the Church, including bishops and priests along with lay people who followed them, have fallen into heresy and schism, separating themselves from the Orthodox Church to form new religious groups. If an Orthodox bishop or priest decides to become a heretic (choosing to reject the teachings of the Church) and a schismatic (breaking from the Orthodox Church), then that bishop no longer possesses Apostolic succession. He has cut himself off from the Church, as a dead branch of a living tree. Since Jesus Christ alone possess the authority to found a Church and He only founded one Church upon the Apostles, none of the groups that have separated from the Orthodox Church or the people in those communions can properly be called orthodox, catholic, or the Church.

Perhaps the most significant schisms to occur in Church history include the following:

The Nestorian Schism, which separated the Assyrian Orthodox Church (also called the Church of the East) in AD 431.
The Monophysite Schism, which separated the so-called Oriental Orthodox: Coptic Orthodox, Indian Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Eritrean Orthodox, and Armenian Orthodox in AD 451.
The Great Schism, which separated the Orthodox Patriarchate of Rome and Western Europe with it, thereby creating the so-called Roman Catholic Church in AD 1054. (The city of Rome had not been the capital of the Roman Empire or even within the boundaries of the Empire for centuries). Five hundred years after Roman Catholicism began, the Protestants who rejected Roman Catholicism initiated a movement (the Protestant Reformation) that has created thousands of different communions, all the various denominations and independent local communities outside of communion with the Holy Orthodox Church.

The Orthodox Church is the Church of Jesus Christ, which is the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Sometimes, it is called the Eastern Orthodox Church or the Greek Orthodox Church. Although Rome fell into schism centuries ago, the other ancient Patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem still exist alongside their sister churches, from the Church of Russia (Patriarchate of Moscow) to the Church of Japan. Find a local Orthodox church under the authority of an Orthodox bishop and connect with an Orthodox priest to instruct, guide, and care for you. There you will find the Mystery of the Church.