6.

 The textbook lists three aspects of the concept of Church life: (1) The Image of the Holy Trinity; (2) The Body of Christ; and (3) A Continued Pentecost. Give your understanding of each.

            (1) The Image of the Holy Trinity: The textbook mentions that this concept of the Church has broad applications. The first is that just as all men are created in the image of the Triune God, so the Church as a whole is an icon of the Trinity in that it reproduces on earth the mystery of unity in diversity. The Church contains a great many people who are united into one, yet each one maintains his own personal identity in the same way that the Persons of the Godhead, though one, are fully personal. Also, the mutual indwelling of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is analogous to the co inherence of the members of the Church. There is no conflict in the Church between freedom and authority. There is unity, but never totalitarianism. The word catholic, when applied to the Church, means (among other things) this unity of many individuals into one.

            Secondly, each Person of the Holy Trinity is autonomous. This characteristic is reflected in the Church, which consists of a number of local Churches such as Jerusalem, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Russia, Georgia and others. Archpriest Vladimir Glindsky explains that they are independent in their use of native language, and partly in their outward structure, but they are subject to a common canonical code, and, most importantly, all present dogmatic unity. Otherwise, among themselves, they are mutually dependent, like the members of the one Body of Christ, like the branches of one tree nourished by common roots. Here once again is the mystery of unity in diversity. Also, just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are equal, so also are the bishops of the Church. No single bishop can exercise (or claim to exercise) absolute authority over the others.

            Lastly, the concept of the Church as an icon of the Holy Trinity demonstrates the importance Orthodoxy places on the councils, which are expressions of the Trinitarian nature of the Church. In a council, many bishops assemble in order to reach a common mind under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In this manner also is shown the mystery of unity in diversity, which is an image of the Holy Trinity.

            (2) The Body of Christ: The Apostle Paul develops this way of thinking about the Church in his epistle to the Romans: “We, who are many, are one body in Christ” (Rom. 12:5). St. Ignatius of Antioch, understanding that there is the closest possible bond between Christ and His Church, wrote that “where Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” (The Catholic Church, it bears repeating, means the Universal Church to which the Patriarchate of Rome was fully united when this Apostolic Father wrote these lines. The Catholic Church does not refer to the modern Roman Catholic Church which severed itself from the Universal Church of Christ in 1054).

            St. Ignatius1 idea is in keeping with Christ's promise that He would forever be present, for He said: “Lo! I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (Mt 28:20). Christ also stated that: “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20). Christ therefore did not leave the Church when He ascended into Heaven. The textbook explains that the Church is “the extension of the Incarnation, the place where the Incarnation perpetuates itself.” As the Greek theologian Chrestos Androustos adds, the Church is:

... the center and organ of Christ's redeeming work.... It is nothing else than the continuation and extension of His prophetic, priestly and kingly power.... The Church and its Founder are inextricably bound together.... The Church is Christ with us [Dogmatic Theology, pp. 262-65].

Above all else, it is the Holy Mysteries which bring about the unity between Christ and His Church. New Christians are buried and raised with Christ at Baptism, and as members of His Body, the Church, they receive His All-Pure Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist. The Eucharist unites Christians at once to Christ and to one another, as the Apostle Paul explained to the Corinthians. “We, who are many, are one bread, one body; for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10:17). It was noted in chapter one that St. Ignatius of Antioch described the Church as a Eucharistic Society. It is not without reason that the term Body of Christ is used to describe both the Church and the Holy Mystery.

            The Church is thought of first and foremost in its sacramental aspect. Outward organization, although completely necessary, is of secondary importance to the sacramental life of the Church.

            (3) A Continued Pentecost: The work of the Son and the work of the Holy Spirit among men are complementary to one another. Because the Church is the Body of Christ, it is also the temple and dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit.

            Christ unites Christians, it has been mentioned, but this unity in the Church has never involved the ironing out of human variety. Life in the Church involves the exact opposite, for the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of freedom, and He insures Christians' diversity. It is significant that when He came at Pentecost, He appeared as tongues of fire that were divided and that descended separately on all present. Although the Holy Spirit is a gift to the Church, He is also a personal gift that each appropriates in his own way. “There are diversities in gifts,” St. Paul states, “but the same Spirit” (1 Cor 12:4).

            Some outside the Church feel that to be a Christian is to have a life of drab monotony. However, it is a life of evil that is dull, not holiness. The saints all had very vivid and distinct personalities through the Holy Spirit's preservation of their human differences.