Posted on 03/09/2015 11:19:15 AM PDT by NRx
Christ conquered the world. This victory consists in His having created His own Church. In the midst of the vanity and poverty, of the weakness and suffering of human history, He laid the foundations of a "new being." The Church is Christ’s work on earth; it is the image and abode of His blessed Presence in the world. And on the day of Pentecost The Holy Spirit descended on the Church, which was then represented by the twelve Apostles and those who were with them. He entered into the world in order to abide with us and act more fully than He had ever acted before; "for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39). The Holy Spirit descended once and for always. This is a tremendous and unfathomable mystery. He lives and abides ceaselessly in the church. In the Church we receive the Spirit of adoption (Rom. 8:15). Through reaching towards and accepting the Holy Ghost we become eternally God’s. In the Church our salvation is perfected; the sanctification and transfiguration, the theosis of the human race is accomplished.
Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus: [Outside the Church there is no salvation]. All the categorical strength and point of this aphorism lies in its tautology. Outside the Church there is no salvation, because salvation is the Church. For salvation is the revelation of the way for every one who believes in Christ's name. This revelation is to be found only in the Church. In the Church, as in the Body of Christ, in its theanthropic organism, the mystery of incarnation, the mystery of the "two natures," indissolubly united, is continually accomplished. In the Incarnation of the Word is the fullness of revelation, a revelation not only of God, but also of man. "For the Son of God became the Son of Man," writes St. Irenaeus, "to the end that man too might become the son of God" (Adv. Haere. 3:10, 2). In Christ, as God-Man, the meaning of human existence is not only revealed, but accomplished. In Christ human nature is perfected, it is renewed, rebuilt, created anew. Human destiny reaches its goal, and henceforth human life is, according to the word of the Apostle, "hid with Christ in God" (Coloss. 3:3). In this sense Christ is the "Last Adam" (1 Cor. 15:45), a true man. In Him is the measure and limit of human life. He rose "As the first fruits of them that are asleep" (1 Cor. 15:20-22). He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God. His Glory is the glory of all human existence. Christ has entered the pre-eternal glory; He has entered it as Man and has called the whole of mankind to abide with Him and in Him. "God, being rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, quickened us together with Christ ... and raised us up with Him, and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:4-6). Therein lies the mystery of the Church as Christ's Body. The Church is fulness, (Τò πληρωμα) that is, fulfilment, completion (Eph. 1:23). In this manner St. John Chrysostom explains the words of the Apostle: "The Church is the fulfilment of Christ in the same manner as the head completes the body and the body is completed by the head. Thus we understand why the Apostle sees that Christ, as the Head needs all His members. Because if many of us were not, one the hand, one the foot, one yet another member, His body would not be complete. Thus His body is formed of all the members. This means, "That the head will be complete, only when the body is perfect; when we all are most firmly united and strengthened" (In Ephes. Hom. 3, 2 (Migne, P.G. Ixii. c. 26)). Bishop Theophanes repeats the explanation of Chrysostom: "The Church is the fulfilment of Christ in the same manner as the tree is the fulfilment of the grain. All that is contained in the grain in a condensed manner, receives its full development in the tree ... He Himself is complete and all-perfect, but not yet has He drawn mankind to Himself in final completeness. It is only gradually that mankind enters into Communion with Him and so gives a new fulness to His work, which thereby attains its full accomplishment (Explan. Of Ep. To Ephes. M. 1893, 2. pp. 93-94. For the same point of view, cf. the late Very Rev. J. Armitage Robinson, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, pp. 44-45, I. 403; short ed. pp. 57-60).
The Church is completeness itself; it is the continuation and the fulfilment of the theanthropic union. The Church is transfigured and regenerated mankind. The meaning of this regeneration and transfiguration is that in the Church mankind becomes one unity, "in one body" (Eph. 2:16). The life of the Church is unity and union. The body is "knit together" and "increaseth" (Col 2:19) in unity of Spirit, in unity of love. The realm of the Church is unity. And of course this unity is no outward one, but is inner, intimate, organic. It is the unity of the living body, the unity of the organism. The Church is a unity not only in the sense that it is one and unique; it is a unity, first of all, because its very being consists in reuniting separated and divided mankind. It is this unity which is the "sobornost" or catholicity of the Church. In the Church humanity passes over into another plane, begins a new manner of existence. A new life becomes possible, a true, whole and complete life, a catholic life, "in the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3). A new existence begins, a new principle of life, "Even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us ... that they may be one even as We are one" (John 17:21-23).
This is the mystery of the final reunion in the image of the Unity of the Holy Trinity. It is realized in the life and construction of the Church, it is the mystery of sobornost, the mystery of catholicity.
(Read the rest at the linked site.)
Just mark it as a Catholic Caucus thread?
That would be awkward since I am not Catholic, nor was the author of the article.
Slight correction to my previous. I am Catholic in the context of the Nicene Creed. Just not Roman.
I see now that the author is not Catholic and apologize for my jump to conclusions. But as talented a wordsmith as he was, I wonder why he kept getting fired. Did they stop paying him “by the word”? A Russian who wound up at Princeton...
Hmmmmm...
I too am blessed to be enabled by God to be a member of the holy catholic Church.
Around FR these years, “Catholic” refers most often to a Roman-based sect of worshipers.
Fr. George as far as I am aware was only fired once, that being from St. Vlads back in the mid 1950’s. I have never come across any official explanation, but the unofficial version I got was that it was basically petty church politics. St. Vlad’s is still trying to live down having dismissed one of the most prominent theologians of that era.
Regards the whole Catholic vs catholic thing, I don’t get too worked up over it. It’s accepted convention and it’s just easier when it comes to holding a coherent discussion across ecclesial boundaries.
This is a case where capitalizing the letter “C” in Catholic gives a completely different meaning than making it a lower case “c.” Thus ‘violating’ English capitalization of words in a title rule.
Protestants broke away from the apostolic church during the Reformation. Their line of succession broken. Only the Catholic Church and Orthodox Church are Christian “Churches”. The others that profess faith in Christ are ecclesial Communities.
Fr. George Florovsky is widely regarded as one of the leading Orthodox theologians from the mid twentieth century. His works are extensively cited and discussed by theologians from both the Roman and Reformed traditions. This article presents the subject of catholicity from an Orthodox perspective in the broader context of ecclesiology.
It means agreement in all essential points of doctrine, confirmed by sacramental communion, i.e. the sharing of the cup. See this rather long read...
http://www.oodegr.co/english/biblia/episkopos1/perieh.htm
To me “unity in truth” is the truth of all Christians derive and owe their salvation to Jesus. It is his message to us that we need to focus on and that we all center that message with celebration of the eucharist/communion.
The unity I see is not of making/forcing Christians into joining in a single church heirarchial structure, but all of us acknowledging, that while we may have differences in doctrine/dogma that have “evolved” over the last 2,000 years, it is to Jesus, the Son of God, whom we recognize as our Savior. This unity is not a formal one of joining the National/World Council of Churchs, which to me are now secular humanist in outlook rather than Christian.
I’m a Protestant and I liked what Fr. George wrote, the entire lengthy article, because he lays out what unites us as Christians; especially since his arguments are drawn from church fathers writting in and before 300AD.
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