ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
Orthodoxy
accepts (for treatment) all people who want to be healed, without
forcing them to do so.
Orthodoxy
embraces all people, because it is not a religion. The Orthodox faith
is a therapy, is a therapeutic method, she is a "doctor's
office". When we go to the doctor, he doesn't ask if we are
Greeks, so he can take us in for treatment, and if we are not, to
send us away. If doctors
were
as they are supposed to be, the
would
heal us
all
with no exception.
So
is the Church; She does not belong to a state or a nation. This is
why we do not say "The Church of the Greeks", but "The
Church of Greece". And who does the Church of Greece include?
Who does She care for? Only for the Greeks? Definitely not, but
cares
for all of them living in Greece right now. Be them Albanians,
Taiwanese, be them from New Delhi or elsewhere, the Church embraces
them all. If all those aforementioned people go to this "doctor's
office" (the Church), She will heal them, She will receive them,
because their nous is sick, and the Church is here to heal the whole
world.
We
also say: "The Archbishop of Athens" and not "The
Archbishop of the Athenians", because we refer to all those
living in Athens right now, and all of them are under the
Archbishop's love and care, they are in his pastoral interest. The
Church embraces them all.
As
we see, the Church is the unity of all, and the Church (according to
our late reposed Saint Porphyrios) includes all of us (orthodox
faithful). We are all "potentially" (δυνάμει)
Church-members; I wish all of us become active (ἐνεργείᾳ)
members too, which means we should all (the whole world), in our own
free will, get into the Church.
Christ
does not force anybody to be healed. He is very "democratic",
in a sense, more "democratic" than we can ever conceive. He
receives anybody willing to come closer to Him, but, for a therapy,
He leads nobody by force.
f. Savvas Agioreitis
To be continued...
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