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Dogmatic Theology — Topic 14

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Dogmatic Theology — Topic 14

Attributes of the Church

The essential attributes of an object are those properties without which the object ceases to be itself. Thus the essential properties of the Church are those without which the Church could not remain the Church. The Nicene Creed enumerates four such characteristics: I believe… in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church (Εἰς μίαν, Ἁγίαν, Καθολικὴν καὶ Ἀποστολικὴν Ἐκκλησίαν).

Images and Symbols of the Church

The Lord Jesus Christ did not leave us a definition of the Church. When He spoke of the Church He spoke in images and symbols; both Apostles and Church Fathers followed this example. Here are the primary biblical images of the Church:

  • a vine and its branches (Jn. 15:1-8);

  • a shepherd and the flock (Jn. 10:1-16);

  • a building under construction (Eph. 2:19-22);

  • a house: in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15); (Heb. 3:1-6);

  • a marriage union (Eph. 5:32); related to this image is the designation of the Church as the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:23; 2 Cor. 11:2);

  • from the Gospel parables: a fishing net, a vineyard, a planted field;

  • the City of God (Heb. 11:10);

  • the Mother of believers (Gal. 4:26);

  • anthropological image – the head and body (Eph. 1:22-23). When we speak of the Church as the Body of Christ we mean it in a profound sense that the Church is the glorified and deified humanity of the risen Christ, and all of us who make up the Church belong to it by virtue of our participation in the life of this glorified humanity, in this body. And our participation is realized, primarily through participation in the sacrament of the Eucharist, through communion of the Body and Blood of Christ.

  • The term “Church” and the composition of the Church

    • The Earthly Aspect of the Church
    • Images and Symbols of the Church
    • Attributes of the Church
    • Μία – Singularity of the Church
    • Ἁγία – Holiness of the Church
    • Καθολική – The Catholicity or Universality of the Church
    • Ἀποστολική – Apostleship of the Church
    • The Institution of the Church Hierarchy

The Earthly Aspect of the Church

![](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/9c/8b/8f/9c8b8fe6e551d0b50c5828864095a0e2—old- churches-cathedrals.jpg)The Extended Catechism states that the Church is a community of people established by God united by the Orthodox faith, the law of God, the hierarchy and the sacraments. However, this formulation cannot be regarded as a definition of the Church even in its earthly aspect; it gives only an outward description of what the Church is. Even in its earthly aspect the church cannot be reduced to a society of believers since such a definition makes it impossible to see how the Church differs from other religious societies and institutions, like the church of the Old Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Founder of the Christian Church as the God-man, has a completely different relationship with His Church than all other founders of religious communities have. He is not only the Founder, but also the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), on which the whole building of the Church is founded. The Lord Himself in the days of His earthly life did not call the fellowship of His disciples the Church, in fact He referred the foundation of the Church in terms of a future plan: I will build My Church (Mt. 16:18). The community of disciples became the Church only on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon them. Therefore, to understand what the Church is we must talk about the place and importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church also.

The Christian Church is not built up by doctrine, by command, or even by the divine power of the Lord, such as the congregation of the Old Testament, but it is built of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who was revealed as the cornerstone on which the Church is built. Christ is the Founder and, one might say, the Architect of the Church building, but there must also be a builder, one who directly carries out the construction. The Holy Spirit is this builder of the Church, who builds and joins believers to the Body of Christ and who animates the Body, ensuring the harmonious functioning of all its organs. The growth of the Church happens not only quantitatively, when a person, having been baptized, becomes a new member of the Church, but also qualitatively, when Christians grow spiritually.

All sin separates man from the Church. But it is not always possible to indicate where that measure of sinfulness is, at which point man is cut off from the Church by an unseen act of God’s judgment. Therefore, the mystical life of the Church does not exhaustively fit into any particular formula. But in the earthly aspect the Church can be defined as follows:

  • a community of people established by God united by the Orthodox faith, the hierarchy and the sacraments;
  • a community led and governed by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself according to the will of God the Father;
  • all the members of this society are united to the Lord as their Head, and in Him to one another as well as to those in Heaven;
  • this community is animated, enlivened and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

The Institution of the Church Hierarchy

According to Protestants, the hierarchy is nothing more than ecclesiastical representation (much like representative government); it is sufficient to select the most worthy men and entrust them with the ministry of teaching, priesthood and administration. The Protestant teaching on ecclesiastical hierarchy differs from the Orthodox teaching in the following main points.

  1. According to Protestant teaching, the hierarchy is not a divine institution, but a human one, and exists only for convenience. There may be no hierarchy, and nothing in the Church will change substantially, since any layman can perform any sacrament or service in case of need.
  2. The ministers of the Church are chosen and appointed by the people.
  3. Ordination, i.e. the elevation of a person to a hierarchical office, is only an outward sign of appointment to the ministry; it does not communicate any of the gifts of Grace that distinguish the cleric from the laity.

These provisions of Protestant teaching on the priesthood are undoubtedly at odds with the evidence of Divine Revelation. For example, the Apostle Paul says that the hierarchical ministry in the Church is established by the Lord Himself: (Eph. 4:11-12). The priesthood implies being chosen from above: (Jn. 15:16; Heb. 5:4). Christian teaching and preaching are gifts of the Holy Spirit, because Christian teaching is not mere teaching, not a system of proofs; in Christian teaching the truth is not proved, but it is shown, it is the power of the Holy Spirit who facilitates preaching. This is how the apostles themselves understood the work of preaching: And my word and my preaching is not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith will not be established in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God (1 Cor. 2:4-5).

The term “Church” and the composition of the Church

The word “church” (ἐκκλησία), comes from the verb ἐκκαλέω, which means “to gather, to summon” (thus, often ἐκκλησία is translated as “congregation” or “assembly”). In ancient Athens the “ekklesia” was the city assembly, to which was admitted not the entire population of the city, but only the chosen ones. In order to be part of this assembly, to take part in the government of the city, one had to meet certain requirements.

Initially in Christianity the Church was understood as those called into the fellowship of the Lord, who have heard the Lord’s call to salvation and have answered that call, and therefore constitute “a chosen race” or “people” (γένος εκκλεκτόν) (1 Pet. 2:9). St Cyril of Jerusalem says that the Church is called an assembly because it calls and gathers one and all.

According to the [Extended Catechism of St. Philaret of Moscow](https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Filaret_Moskovskij/prostrannyj- pravoslavnyj-katekhizis/), not only Orthodox Christians alive on earth belong to the Church, but also those who have passed away in true faith and holiness. Human beings alone do not make up the wholeness of the Church either; the angels are also members of the Church, for God has put all things heavenly and earthly under the head of Christ (Eph. 1:10). Thus, the Lord Jesus Christ currently guides two spiritual flocks. The first is the Church consisting of members on earth, usually called the “wandering Church”. It owes its name to the words of the Apostle Paul: For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come(Hebrews 13:14). Sometimes it is also called “militant church” as Christian’s life on the earth is a spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:12). The second flock is the celestial or “triumphant” Church composed of angels and all those departed in faith and repentance. This appellation is also connected with the Apostle Paul who speaks of the Church as a joyful assembly and congregation of [the] firstborn people (Hebrews 12:23). The wandering and triumphant churches differ both in their composition and in the circumstances in which their members abide.

Καθολική – The Catholicity or Universality of the Church

The Church is called catholic (universal) because it is not limited to any place, time or race, but embraces true believers of all places, times and races.[1] The term «καθολική» contains multiple aspects. According to Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov), the Church is called catholic or universal with regard:

  • to space, since it is not confined to any place;
  • to time, since it will last until the end of the age and beyond;
  • to its structure, inasmuch as:
  1. the church is not connected with any civil authority, because, according to the words of our Savior, my kingdom is not of this world (Jn. 18:36);
  2. divine services are not bound to a particular place, as they were to the Old Testament temple and also in many pagan religions;
  3. the church hierarchy is not linked to a particular race or tribe, which was the case in the Old Testament, where only the descendants of Aaron were priests, as well as in other religions, such as Hinduism, where only persons belonging to a particular caste can be priests.

The above definition of catholicity, although unconditionally correct, is still insufficient. Rather they define not the catholicity but the universality of the Church, yet universality and catholicity are not quite synonymous. Universality is a characteristic of the Church only as a whole, but is not applicable to its parts, whereas catholicity can be applied both to the whole and to the parts. At the beginning of the second century St Ignatius the Theologian in his Epistle to the Smyrnaeans wrote, “wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.”[2]

Catholicity is not so much a quantitative characteristic as a qualitative one. On the catholicity of the Church St Cyril of Jerusalem writes in his 18th Catechetical Letter, “it is called catholic because:

  1. it extends over all the world, from one end of the earth to the other;
  2. it teaches universally and completely one and all the doctrines which ought to come to men’s knowledge, concerning things both visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly;
  3. it brings into subjection to godliness the whole race of mankind, governors and governed, learned and unlearned;
  4. it universally treats and heals the whole spectrum of sins, which are committed by soul or body;
  5. it possesses in itself every form of virtue.”[3]

Thus, catholicity (in the qualitative sense) means, firstly, the unity and inviolability of the truth preserved by the Church and, secondly, the fullness of the gifts of grace that the Church possesses. This unity and fullness applies to the Church as a whole as well as to each of her individual parts.

[1] Catholicity as an attribute of the one true Christian Church is not to be confused with the names of other Christian churches, such as the Roman Catholic Church. In such cases the term “catholic” is coopted by these groups, yet they do not possess “catholicity” in its true and full sense.

[2] [St. Ignatius of Antioch. Letter to the Smyrnaeans. Ch. VIII.](http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-smyrnaeans- roberts.html#:~:text=wherever%20Jesus%20Christ%20is%2C%20there%20is%20the%20Catholic%20Church)

[3] St. Cyril of Jerusalem. Catechetical Lecture 18. Ch. 23.

Μία – Singularity of the Church

In quantitative terms, the Lord Jesus Christ established only one Church: I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Mt. 16:18). The Lord refers to His purpose as the establishment of the Church, not the churches. The Savior’s parables which refer to the Church always emphasize the point of its singularity: one flock (Jn. 10:16); one vine (Jn. 15:1-7). The apostle Paul also speaks of the Church in the singular, indicating that it is one in number: we many are one body in Christ, and separately one member for another (Rom. 12:5); For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body (1 Cor. 12:13); One body and one spirit, as you also are called to one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all of us ([Eph. 4:4-6](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Ephesians- Chapter-4/#:~:text=There%20is%20one,in%20you%20all.)).

However, the oneness of the Church is more than a numerical oneness. The Church is not just one, it is singular; this singleness is the principle of its being. The Church is not the mechanical assembly of individuals who happen to come together, not the outer joining together of diverse components, but a single living whole, the Body of Christ, whose members are in internal agreement and, according to St. John of Damascus, in mutual harmony. Thus, oneness is not so much a quantitative as a qualitative characteristic of the Church. The deepest foundation of the inner oneness of the Church is the singularity of her Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the singularity of the Holy Spirit, who acts as the bond of her oneness.

According to the Extended Catechism, the apparent separation of the local Churches into multiple separate jurisdictions does not prevent them spiritually from being members of the one body of the Universal Church, having one head in Christ and one Spirit, faith and worship. The expression of this unity lies in communion through prayer and the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.

Furthermore, a number of Orthodox thinkers have unsuccessfully argued for the partial operation of grace in non-Orthodox churches. However, even if these controversial views are accepted, the unity of the Church in the strict sense is not violated, since it is not a question of a multitude of churches of grace, but of an expanded conception of the borders of the single and one Church, of which even those who do not formally belong to it are partially partakers. This theory, which has been very firmly established in contemporary Catholic theology since the Second Vatican Council, has no credible basis in the sacred patristic tradition. However, the long-standing practice of admitting certain schismatic and heretical groups into the Church without (re)baptism, and sometimes without re-ordination, suggests that the question regarding the “scope of action” of sanctifying grace is highly complex.****

Ἀποστολική – Apostleship of the Church

Holy Scripture speaks of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ as an apostolic ministry. The apostle Paul writes: God sent (εξαπέστειλεν) His Son (the only begotten), who was born of a woman, to obey the law, to redeem those under the law (Gal. 4:4-5); Understand the Messenger (απόστολος) and the High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ (Heb. 3:1). Having been sent out Himself, the Lord sent out His disciples for service, calling them apostles, i.e. envoys. We can also say that the Church itself was sent into the world to lead the world to Christ. Before all else, the Church is called apostolic by virtue of the purpose of her being.

![](https://www.thetableindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/HolyEucharist- Icon-1536x779.jpg)However, apostleship as a characteristic of the Church is not limited to this. The Church is established with the apostles as her foundation (Eph. 2:20). In the book of Revelation of John the Theologian, the evangelist observes the church in its eschatological fulfillment: the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Rev. 21:14). Thus, the Apostles are the foundation of the Church in a chronological sense as they were present at the beginning of her historical existence. Furthermore, they conveyed the doctrine of faith and life to the Church, instituted the sacraments and priesthood at the commandment of the Lord, established the beginnings of her canonical structure so that everything would be orderly and fitting. They set up the first bishops and established the hierarchical structure of the Church. This is the purely external historical aspect of the apostleship of the Church.

In order to fulfill its apostolic purpose, the Church, in its very essence, must remain exactly as it was under the apostles. Everything essential that the Church possessed at the time of the apostles must be preserved in it until the end of the ages. First and foremost, this is the doctrine handed down by the apostles, or the Apostolic Tradition. In addition to the teachings given to the Church by the Apostles, the Church must retain the gracious gifts of the Holy Spirit, which the Church, in the person of the Apostles, received on the day of Pentecost. This inheritance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is passed on through holy ordination. Thus, the second aspect of the apostolic Church is the continuity of the hierarchy established by the Apostles, which is faithful to the Apostolic Tradition in teaching, in priestly action and in the foundations of the Church structure.

Ἁγία – Holiness of the Church

Holiness is one of the attributes of the Divine nature. When we speak of the holiness of created things, it is understood as sharing in the holiness of God. The Church is therefore holy primarily because her Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, is Holy. The apostle Paul speaks of Christ as the catalyst: if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy (Rom. 11:16). From the High- Priestly prayer of the Savior ([Jn. 17:17-19](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John- Chapter-17/#:~:text=Sanctify%20them%20through,through%20the%20truth.)) it is apparent that the sanctification and holiness of mankind was the goal of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ: sanctify them in Thy truth… for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

Thus, the source and foundation of the holiness of the Church is found in her Head and in the Holy Spirit, who mysteriously and continually pours out holiness and sanctification on the whole body of the Church, that is, on all who are united to her Head, sanctifying them through the Word of God, the sacraments and through the acts of self-sacrifice, to which He prompts and assists us by His operation. The Church is called holy not only because it possesses the fullness of the gifts of grace that sanctify believers, but also because it contains persons of varying degrees of sanctity. Throughout the ages there have been and still are members (the saints and the righteous) who have attained the fullness of sanctity, i.e. deification.

At the same time, the Church has never been a sanctuary for saints, not even during the apostolic period. The Church is not simply the congregation of the saints, but also of those being sanctified, hence it recognizes as its members both the righteous and also sinners.

In the Extended Catechism it is stated that those who sin, but purify themselves by true repentance, do not stop the Church from being holy, whereas unrepentant sinners, either by a visible act of ecclesiastical authority or by the invisible act of God’s judgment, are cut off as dead members from the body of the Church, and thus the Church is preserved holy (cf. [Mt. 3:10](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew- Chapter-3/#:~:text=Bring%20forth%20therefore,into%20the%20fire.)).

One particular aspect of the holiness of the Church is the infallibility of the Church in her teaching. The contents of the infallibility of the Church are limited to the truths of Divine Revelation bequeathed to it. Consequently, the infallibility of the Church in matters of doctrine extends only to doctrinal and moral truths, but has no relation to the hypotheses of science or to matters of socio-political, economic life, etc.

Ecclesiology

”One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church”

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