Like it or not, Witness to the Truth

It is difficult, and will become more difficult, to teach God's Word to the world. That is the task of the entire Orthodox Church, clergy and laity alike. And that is the most important leadership task of the Bishop.

I believe two things about the episcopacy. One is that the episcopacy is absolutely essential for Orthodoxy. There is no such thing as a protestant form of Orthodoxy, for such a thing runs the risk of jumping outside of succession. Moreover, such a “congregational” pop-polity distorts the mystical vision that constitutes our ecclesial epistemology, and ends up obstructing theoria. Most of this essay is about the importance of the episcopacy.

But that episcopacy must be nothing less than an icon of Christ, and it must orient its aspirations completely toward theosis. The Beatitudes is the standard, or the ethic, of episcopal behavior and “values” (if I must use that term). There must be more meekness at the level of bishop, more hunger for righteousness, more spiritual poverty, more mercy.

This is not to say that there shouldn’t be a love for the grand spectacle, golden chalices and fine vestments. I have no problem whatsoever with the glorious apparel of the Church. I think it takes humility to become overwhelmed aesthetically by the image of heavenly worship and the glory of Liturgy: conversely, it takes pride of the first order to contemptuously glory in minimalism, and complain that the proceeds should have been given to the poor.

But it should be that the Bishop, as the successor to the Apostles, as one who is breathed upon by Christ with the Spirit, under the voice of the Father – it should be that one is a type of the Good Shepherd who is so meek that he will not discard a damaged reed.

We need such an episcopacy in a time that doesn’t like the Trinity, or the truth of man, now more than ever.

John Henry Cardinal Newman once wrote that the ministry of the Church is divided into three categories: theology, devotion, and government. The Bishop must be preeminently a theologian as he is president of the Church: and for him to know theology and to teach theology well, he must be a man of devotion and prayer. Disaster and disappointment always strike when any Christian attempts Orthodoxy without prayer: and nowhere is this more tragic than when a bishop attempts to do so.

St. Clement of Rome, in writing (about AD 85) on the necessity to appoint bishops who would directly succeed the Apostles, wrote that such men should have "ministered to the flock of Christ without blame, humbly, peaceably and with dignity, and who have for many years received the commendations of all" (Letter to the Corinthians).

In the doctrine of the Church, the Bishop -- as the successor of the Apostles -- is expected to be the keenest witness of Holy Tradition to the present generation. St. Dionysios the Areopagite made this expectation clear, and for a particular reason. He stated, without apology or reservation, that the episcopacy should have attained the highest levels of morality and spirituality. Having attained this, the episcopacy is able then—and only then—to apprehend the mystical truth of theology.

This highest stage is that of mystical union with Christ, and St. Dionysios identified this stage with the episcopacy. In this stage, the Christian is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and he experiences “theoria,” or the “vision of theology.” He is given a profound awareness of the present, ongoing voice of apostolic tradition. Indeed, this is the very reason why we recognize the episcopacy as the vessel of the unbroken, continued presence of apodosis, or the apostolic witness of Holy Tradition.

Of course, it should be said that this schema of St. Dionysios does not discount the fact that there are many Christians who have been purified, illumined, or given the grace of theoria. Neither does it discount the tragic possibility that some bishops, priests and deacons may not have attained the sanctification that is necessary to their office.

The schema of St. Dionysios leaves us with one very clear point: the leadership of the Church must experience the vision of theology, in its most mystical meaning, or else the Church will founder in "the winds of doctrine as children, vulnerable to the trickery of men and the deceit of conspiracies" (Ephesians 4.14).

The process of deification, which figures as the single, all-encompassing imperative of the undivided Church, inducts the Christian -- especially the Bishop -- into a truly ecclesial epistemology. In such an epistemology, the soul has achieved independence from the passionate distortions of the world, which so often confuse and darken discernment. The soul has been enabled to take a truly realistic view of the world and its members. It is unhindered by completing philosophies or “spirits,” whether these are consciously learned or tacitly accepted. It apprehends reality directly and accurately, and is not distressed by contemporary values that are irrational, nor is the soul conditioned or determined by contemporary forces. Finally, the sanctified soul communes with the Holy Fellowship of the Trinity and the Church, the mystical Body of Christ. It hears the contemporary voice of Holy Tradition, and the Spirit’s trenchant criticism of society at present.

In short, deification alone prepares the soul for theology. Deification -- neither mere academic achievement, nor cultural and rubrical finesse -- is what makes the Bishop the Defender and Speaker of the Truth.

For this reason, St. Maximos the Confessor called this true theology nothing less than the mystical vision of the Trinity … it is unforgettable spiritual knowledge, written into the very summa of the servant-hierarchy of the Church.

The Bishop occupies a perspective that is more perilous and terrifying that what is commonly known. He is aware of the grim realities of spiritual evil, the "roaring lion who walks about seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5.8). He is painfully aware of the dark labyrinth of the human soul, and the gravity of sin and denial of Christ. He is sensitive to the allergy of the modern age to the message and the very presence of the Orthodox Church. He knows that America and Europe do not want to hear that the Bible is sacred, perfect and mysterious.

These Western nations do not want to hear that God the Father created, maintains, and will consummate the seen and unseen worlds, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. They do not want their myths of evolution and materialism challenged, nor do they want to hear that human nature is understood only in the wisdom of Holy Tradition, and not by Freud, Jung or Maslow. They, and really all the world, do not want their behavior and opinions confronted by the demands of Natural Law and Christian charity.

The Bishop, as the Defender and Teacher of the Truth, knows first hand and more profoundly than any other, that "the house of God, which is the church of the living God, is the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Timothy 3.15). He knows, from the experience of prayer, asceticism, study and communion, the supreme truth of the words from the Synodikon of the Seventh Ecumenical Council: “This is the faith of the Apostles. This is the faith of the Fathers. This is the faith of the Orthodox. This is the faith that upholds the universe!” This is not a mere figure of speech: the Church actualls preserves the world and illumines it, just as our Lord described His followers as "salt and light" (Matthew 5.13-14).

The Bishop knows -- because he should have experienced it, the Apostolic Vision -- the objective fact that "the grace of truth has shone forth upon us ... the Church is clothed in a beauty that surpasses all things earthly" (Vespers for the Sunday of Orthodoxy). And because of this revealed truth that surpasses the intellectual powers of philosophers, but is experienced through Orthodox sanctification, "the Church of Christ is delivered from the dark despondency of heresy: she puts on a robe of gladness, and is clothed in the light of divine grace" (Matins for the Sunday of Orthodoxy).

The Bishop knows that there is darkness in the world, and that darkness will become eternal. But far better is his confidence that there is salvation in the Church, and the darkness "will not comprehend it" or engulf it, but instead that Uncreated Light will shine supreme at the end of the age.

God desires "all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2.4). The bishop is ordained by God to participate in this plan of salvation. The bishop is assisted by his priests, who are the extension of his archpriestly office. He is also assisted and represented by all the faithful of the diocese, his eucharistic fellowship. The faithful Orthodox Christian not only practices the virtues that are described in the Beatitudes: he also proclaims in his testimony the contents of the Creed.

There is heartbreak all around the Church because prodigals suffer from homesickness for their Father's house. There are broken minds and broken philosophies, because pagans and heretics suffer the lack of knowledge of God.

They are all lost sheep, waiting for the Prophet, the Saint, the Apostle, the Bishop and his flock who are sanctified, to come and lead them in true knowledge through the storm and back home to the Father's House.

This is the fervent plea, written in the ancient prayer of Consecration to the Episcopacy. The bishop-elect kneels before the consecrating bishops, holding the pastoral staff in his hand, and with his hand upon the candidate's head, the chief consecrating bishop prays these words: "O Lord, make this, Your servant, who has been declared a steward of episcopal grace, to be an imitator of You, the True Shepherd, Who laid down Your life for Your sheep; to be a leader of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the unwise, a teacher of the young, a lamp to the world; that having perfected the souls entrusted to him in the present life, he may stand unashamed before Your Throne and receive the great reward which You have prepared for those who have contended valiantly for the preaching of the Gospel ..."