ORTHODOXY – PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Part Sixteenth

REFUTATION OF THE PAPACY OR ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

     The divine authority prescribed in the Bible is totally different than papal authority, which is man devised and worldly and is not divine. The Father spoke of the divinely ordained authority of His Son and subsequently He remained silent, and with His words He introduced Jesus Christ, saying: “This  is my beloved son in whom I have well decided; listen to him.” After this command, authority went from the Father to Jesus and Jesus began to instruct His disciples. Jesus spoke in His own authority which He had assumed. This established Jesus as the Head and authority over the Church which He was now building. Jesus did not transfer that authority to Peter or any other disciple as the popes falsely assert, for He would have to say, as did the Father: “This is my beloved disciple Peter in whom I have decided; listen to him.” So Peter could not exercise authority (which he did not have) over the other disciples and so could not possibly pass authority which he did not have to the popes of Rome. 

     Anyone reading the Bible will see that Christ is the authority and He speaks as such.  He says: “Do this in remembrance of me.” Also: “Receive Holy Spirit.”  “Whosoever’s sins you retain are retained and whoever’s sins you remit are remitted.”but he does not pass any authority to Peter alone, but he does transmit authority equally to all His disciples. Nor did He send Peter to Rome to become pope, but He did send all of His apostles into the world to preach the Gospel and “baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

     In order to properly examine any structure’s integrity the foundation must be primarily examined. To examine an organization’s structural integrity, the fundamental law must be examined, for it is vital. The fundamental law of the true and Orthodox Church is found expressed in Peter’s confession: “You are the Christ, son of the living God”. Jesus replied by declaring Peter’s confession saying: “Upon this rock I will build my Church.” This means that everyone who enters the Orthodox Church must abide by its fundamental law and declare: “You are the Christ Son of the living God.”

ORTHODOXY – PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Part Fifteen

CHURCH GOVERNMENT

     Most organizations adopt laws and strive to govern themselves  in accordance with the laws which they have established. Governing the Church is similar for to govern and rule the Church means to conduct it to the end for which it was originally proposed. Ideally in the Church all sincere members have one desire, to be sanctified and justified in the eyes of the Father in heaven, who is the greatest of all, and to inherit everlasting life in His heavenly kingdom. Any soul is able to be sanctified through the propitious sacrifice of Christ, by eating and drinking the Body and Blood of the Lamb of God, who  lifts away the sins of the world. They are justified by behaving in agreement with the fundamental law of the Church, which bids us to listen to Christ and do all that He commands. In other words every soul can be justified and saved by doing the will of the heavenly Father.

     The will of the heavenly Father is expressed in the fundamental law of the Church and is the same as the wills of the Son and the Holy Spirit, which is that everyone accept Christ and keep His commandments. The rulers of the Church rule and act in accordance with the Holy Spirit should have the fundamental law constantly before them. Celebrating the propitious sacrifice and the divine mystery, they distribute the food of God to the children of God, thus strengthening them. Within the temple of God the rulers (apostles and bishops) must never cease performing these duties in Holy Spirit. The duties of the rulers includes also to observe  all that happens to the faithful outside the Church, seeing to what extent each person fulfills or fails to fulfill their particular duties. By doing this they will know how to treat each individual within the Church.

     The Church of Christ can be likened to a sheepfold and its rulers to shepherds. In the same way that a shepherd leads his sheep to pasture, and protects them from wolves and robbers, so the rulers of the Church feeds the Christians with the bread of life, watering them with the divine doctrine. If a Christian lacks the Christian nature of sheep he will be excluded from the flock. Spiritual children must be like bees continually eating their flowers, they must produce honey, and those who do not are excluded from the hives as being drones rather than bees.