Here are a few ideas about the holiness of the Church. Before dwelling on why it is holy, we must formulate a definition of the Church as a concept. What is the Church? The Church is the body of Christ (Eph.5:23; Col. 1:24.) Christ is the Head of the Church. (Eph.5:23; Col. 1:18.) God has neither past nor the future; there is only present. He (God the Father) has chosen us in Him (in Christ) before the foundation of the world; has predestined our adoption to Himself through Jesus Christ, in whom we all are redeemed by His Blood and our sins forgiven by His rich grace. (Eph. 1:4,5,7).
All believing in Christ enter the Church as its members through the sacrament of Baptism; and in the Sacrament of Partaking the Holy Communion, are united into one Body and become of one Spirit with the Lord. If man does not consciously renounce the Lord in word or in deed, but tries to live in accordance with the commandments of the Gospel, repenting when breaking them, he is not potentially, but really holy, because he is a member of the Church, a member of the Body of Christ.
After committing serious and conscious sins, man temporary drops out of the Church, but by repenting and confession of his sins (by passing the “second Baptism”) he may re-establish his unity with the Church. To this end, the father-confessor reads a special prayer on behalf of the repentant, saying “Reconcile and unite with Thy Holy Church.”
Man is holy because of the image and of likeness of God; because in the Sacrament of Baptism, he joins the Mystical Body of Christ; and through partaking of the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ, his holiness is further confirmed.
If when fighting with sin man happens to be wounded but continues the battle, repents, asking for forgiveness and help from God, he becomes a holy warrior of Christ, and in the struggle against sin acquires many spiritual treasures that he would not have been able to acquire in any other way.
Just like human body ejects through an abscess a foreign matter, so also alien members are cast out from the Holy Church by the Lord, or more precisely, they drop out of the Church. Therefore, the Church is always holy. It is a Mysterious Body of Christ. It is pillar and foundation of the Truth. The false-minded man is unable to perceive this and therefore he needs faith. “I believe in the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.” (Remember Metropolitan Veniamin). Those who want to perceive the mysteries of Christianity through experience must devote every effort to spiritual laboring and not to confine their endeavor to the brainwork. These are some considerations concerning the topic you have raised.
I would not be surprised to know that Bulgarian professors – like many, if not all, our own – are grazing on the works of Protestant scholars, and even become adherents of their views. Protestantism is rationalism and external knowledge; Orthodoxy is life in Christ. People have become inert, as if dead. It is easier to talk than to work and to pray and struggle against the “old man.” “Christianity imperceptibly is moving away from people, giving way to hypocrisy.” These words belong to St. Tikhon of the Don, quoted by Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov.
God keep you safe!
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