ORTHODOX TIDBITS 2 WHO IS HEAD OF THE CHURCH|?

ORTHODOX TIDBITS 2

   WHO IS HEAD OF THE CHURCH|? 

     “He set Him on His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and has put all things under His feet; and gave him to be the Head of the Church which is His body” (Eph. 1:20-23).

      Headless humanity is given a Head in the Lord Jesus, risen from the dead.  The body severed from the head, begins to knit together with that Head, bit by bit and part by part. Not all men are the body, but only those who respond are received under the Head. Those who respond compose the Body that is called the Church, of which the Lord is the Head.  But as the risen and glorified man Jesus is exalted within the Holy Trinity above each and all on earth and in heaven, so also will His Church, His Body, be raised up to its Head, above each and all. The whole Church will stand at the right hand of the Holy Trinity, for, where the head is, there is also the body.  

     To such an exaltation, greatness and glory will the gathered repentant sinners attain, who had sometimes been enemies of God, wandering astray like the Prodigal Son and headless as a dead body. But now adopted through Christ and for Christ, and clad in the beauty of divine life and light.  It is a great thing my brethren for the Son of God to be incarnate on earth, and for Him to suffer on the Cross and die for our sake.  His sojourn on earth brought a vast change in the destiny of man and in the meaning of all created things.  He changed all things, and made them new. Therefore, my brethren, let us not live and conduct ourselves as the old man, but as the new; let us not live in sin but in justice; let us not conduct ourselves according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Let us merit the exaltation, greatness and glory to which we are called by our Head.  (Prologue of Ochrid, Vol 4 pp 165-166)