SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2008
Leo the Great, Pope of Rome
There's Something About the Church
The First in a series of
Catechetical Talks
For what we
preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for
Jesus' sake. For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who
has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent
power belongs to God and not to us.
--2
Corinthians 4:5-7
When
inquirers come to the Orthodox Church and ask the priest how they might become members of
the Church we, more often than not, resort to purely procedural answers concerning the
details of the rite of reception and so on. Recently I received a letter from a young man
who wanted to know what he had to do to take Communion in the Orthodox Church. While
the procedural answer immediately came to mind, I realized that this young man like many
others deserved more. In my answer to his letter I began with these words, "To
become an Orthodox Christian you must first have a believing and honest heart." A
believing and honest heart seeks to know and love God in Christ. It is one that gladly
receives the Good News of Jesus Christ and that, in the light of the love and grace of God
in Him, continually seeks to live in thankfulness, worship and repentance.
Admittedly
in our modern Orthodox Church we do our catechesis backward. We place contemplation before
action and instruction before education. We put inquirers into books and classes
while neglecting the weightier matters of worship and discipleship. From the time of Paul
instructing the Romans in the spiritual significance of their baptisms (Romans 6:3-4) the
Church catechized only after the inquirer had been received into the Church. Saint
Cyril of Jerusalem, in his catechetical lectures, reminds us that the neophyte was not
even taught the Lord's Prayer until after baptism!
The
inquirer or catechumen must be led from action to contemplation. This means that those who
desire to join the Church must first learn how to live as disciples and followers of Jesus
Christ. They must gain, as it were, the "skin" of a Christian which can
later be filled with the illumination of meaning. The journey of discipleship is one
that establishes a pattern of living in Christ: an education in the life skills of His
believers and followers. Our instruction must nurture a relationship between the
individual and Christ through His Church.
Jesus
did not come into the world to establish a religion, he came to abolish it! Orthodoxy
therefore is not merely a system of beliefs or an affirmation of certain dogmas. It is not
a style of worship or ritual. Orthodoxy is life itself under the Kingdom of God: a
spiritualization of every aspect of existence that destroys the dividing wall between the
sacred and the secular, of "personal faith" and life in the world. The goal of
our common life in Christ's One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is nothing less than
communion with God.
This
series will walk us through process of becoming a believer and follower of Christ in His
Church. It will map the stages which carry us from action to contemplation. While for lack
of a better word I use "stages" to describe the process, it should not be
inferred that these stages can be viewed as benchmarks; for they are each returned to
often in the course of life and their progression is cumulative.
Next:
Part 2--The Noetic Life
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Part 2--The Noetic Life
Added February 21, 2008
Part 3--The Kerygmatic Moment
Added February 22, 2008
Part 4--The Peripatetic Pilgrimage
Added February 27, 2008
Part 5--The Ascetic Passion
COMING SOON!
Part 6--The Mystic Fire
COMING SOON!
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