The Church is One

 The Church is one because it has One Lord, One Savior, One Great High Priest and Intercessor Jesus Christ who is the image of God the Father, who made the Heavens and the Earth, who is the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, who alone trampeled down death by death and rose again, who offers all men salvation through repentance, faithful belief and service in His Kingdom and who will return to judge the Living and the Dead, who's Kingdom is at hand and will have no end. The Orthodox Church is one with Jesus Christ because it is His true body and He is present within it. 

The Church is Holy

 The Church is Holy because God the Father has sent the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to indwell the Body of Christ, to fill the Holy Orthodox Church with power from on high, to guide it into all truth and preserve it unconquered forever. Therefore, the faithful members of the one true believing and right worshipping church, laity, clergy, and hierarchs are true icons of His holiness. Thus, the living presence of the Lord Jesus Christ is truely and mystically present in the transformative reality which are the Church's Holy Sacraments and that these Sacred Mysteries make those dead through sin alive in Christ. The Church is Holy because its martyrs have sanctified it with their blood, witness and sacrifice. The Church is holy because through the prayers of its acetics, monastics, and holy elders it leads all people to salvation through the practice of cross-bearing, self denial, lived and living repentance, and the aquisition of the Holy Spirit leading to Theosis, bearing witness that God became man that men might become a true partakers of the Divine Nature becoming through grace what Christ was by nature.

The Church is Catholic

The Orthodox Church is catholic because it is complete and whole in itself, lacking nothing, that it preserves, defends, and proclaims the unchanging faith of the Holy Apostles as delivered to it by Jesus Christ himself, neither adding anything or taking anything away from the faith "Once delivered to the saints." The Orthodox Church is catholic beause it stands fast and holds the traditions which were taught, whether by spoken word in Holy Tradition or written in Holy Scripture. The Orthodox Church is catholic because it originally recieved and still possesses the fullness of the written revelation of God in its Holy Scriptures, which it interprets though the wisdom of the Church Fathers and proclaims the Good News of the Holy Gospel in order to make disciples of all nations in every generation.

The Church is Apostolic

The Church is Apostolic because it was founded by Jesus Christ himself through his Great Commission of Holy Apostles, that the authority and power of the apostolic office is conferred on their successors through the laying on of hands in consecration, ordination, and holy orders and that every Orthodox Church lives in unbroken continuity with the Holy Apostles through the Apostolic Succession of its hierarchs from its foundation to the present, living generation. The Church is apostolic because through the priesthood of every believer, it has been sent into the world to make discples, to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel, and to intercede on behalf of all and for all.

     We live in a time of chaos. It seems that we are confronted with more distress and sorrow every day. Our country is filled with violence and “every man does what is right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:252) We may be tempted to despair, to react with anger, to march, to protest, to fight and vote for what we think is right. After all the whole country seems to be joining in and piling on to the troubles of our time.

     Yet we know that whatever solution is offered, it is at best a temporary respite. Those who disagree will immediately start working to undo whatever is done. The mantra of our time is “Peace! Unity! Tolerance! Justice!” We should be careful.  Justice is a call render unto everyone what they deserve. Is that what we really want? What do we really deserve? What does America really deserve?

Consider what scripture says in 2 Timothy 2:3 and see if it applies to our land and our times...

 “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. ² For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.”

Truly from ancient times to our own day, “there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) Jesus warned us that in the last days it would be like in the days of Noah. The Early Christians knew with certainty that this world was not their home and the Holy Apostles called on Christians everywhere be “in the world but not of the world.”

¹⁴ Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? ¹⁵ And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? ¹⁶ And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹⁷ Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. ¹⁸ And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Corinthians 6:14-18

And

⁹ But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; ¹⁰ who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10

The scriptures speak of “those who call good evil and evil good.” (Isaiah 5:20-21) and cry “Peace! Peace! when there is no peace.” (Jerimiah 6) America is reaping the harvest of its choices and a bitter harvest it is. This craziness is our new normal in America. We have to face that truth and repent.

¹⁶ Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. (Jerimiah 6:9-16)

Orthodox Christianity is a tribe of many races and many nations. We are a “Peculiar People” called to inherit all the promises God made to His people Israel in the Old Covenant, called to discipleship and new life in Christ Jesus under the New and Everlasting Covenant and called to live as foreigners and pilgrims in our own land. The greatest threat to the salvation of the soul has always been to be seduced into the spirit of our own “sinful and perverse generation.” If you are thinking about Orthodox Christianity and wondering if it is for you, please understand that Orthodox Christianity is not a set of doctrines or a collection of ideas. Orthodoxy is a people. Orthodoxy is a tribe. Orthodoxy Christians are the people who have found the True Faith worshiping the True God, walking the True Way by the True Light which is Christ.

We invite you to leave the world behind, become a disciple of Jesus and join our tribe on its journey home.

Father Mark+