ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
Election
of the bishops
Exemplifying
the loss of the orthodox healing tradition is the way we elect our
bishops in contemporary Orthodoxy.
Our
Church has insistently kept this blessed tradition to elect bishops
from the monasteries. Why?
Because
the monasteries are the university medical schools that produce true
physicians for the human soul, real bishops and real spiritual
fathers and confessors!
We
have destroyed this blessed habit today, and we elect bishops out of
those who have got a degree from a theology school, actually from
those who, in a big degree, have studied heresy, the absolute
darkness.
In
the old days, indeed, the bishops were chosen from the monasteries.
Why so?
Because they were the ones who knew very well how to apply
the healing method of the Church. And the Church preferred especially
them, because She was very confident about their successful
therapeutic activity, when they were placed inside a city, a
metropolis, and the parishes. She was sure they would be successful
in healing the people by being a true physician of their souls.
This
is how a real bishop should be. He is the head-physician, who leads
the other physicians, meaning the spiritual leaders (Pnevmatikoi, in
Greek), the priests within his Episcopal district. At the same time,
he is also responsible for the whole Church. However, if a bishop
himself has no idea about the therapy, the medical treatment and
prescription (e.g. if he has not experienced his personal
purification, illumination and théosis), how will he ever be able to
offer any cure to his flock? What is he going to heal anyway? He ends
up being only a manager, an administration officer, and, so, his
flock is usually left off uncured. Consequently, this bishop thinks
the Church is a public charity (foundation) or a common wealth
organization, serving some of the needs of the state.
f. Savvas Agioreitis
To be continued...
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