8th Sunday of Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on Secular Society and our Identity in Christ

Secular Society and Division in the Body of Christ?

Increasingly we see that our society is polarized, that there are many things that divide us today on moral and political grounds. Sadly, this is true even in the Church, where other sources of our identity, be they political, ethnic, or other, divide us from one another, causing great harm to our unity in the faith and the mission of the Church, hindering our healing in Christ, and leading many astray. Such is the sad consequence of sin caused by those who put another identity before their true identity in Christ.

Division is nothing new to any society or, sadly, to the Church. Orthodox have faced it countless times before, even in the first century Church. The Seven Great Councils of the Church, and many more synods, were called through the centuries to deal with threats to the unity of the Faith, challenges to the timeless truth that is Christ and His revelation to us.

In today’s Epistle, for example, St. Paul pleads with the brethren to be like-minded, to “speak the same thing,” that there may be “no divisions among you.” The word he uses here to warn them in the original Greek is “skismata,” schism, division. St. John Chrysostom comments on this passage, saying, “the emphatic force of the word, ‘schism’… the name itself, was a sufficient accusation.” In other words, it was enough to put the fear of God in them so they’d repent.

The ‘fear’ of being labeled ‘schismatics’ may seem strange to us today: after all, many are used to thinking that even as Christians we can believe whatever we want and still be considered a Christian, i.e., that it’s up to us individually to decide what we are willing to accept and believe. But in the early Church and throughout the Church’s history, being a schismatic, a “divider,” one who separates people from the Church and the truth of the Orthodox Faith in Christ, was on par with being a heretic, one who outright preaches or teaches doctrines or morality contrary to the Gospel and truth Christ has revealed. Both lead to ex-communication, separation from the koinonia, communion, with Christ and the Body, the Church—the ark of our salvation in Christ.

You can see how this “warning” would have made them start paying attention. St. Paul wasn’t accusing them of being schismatics, but warning them that if their divisions and competing identities continued, if they let those divisions into their communion with each other, that this was where it would lead—separateness from Christ, His Church, communion with each other.

Our culture’s values and beliefs are constantly changing; sadly, at this time, they’re not changing in the direction of Orthodoxy, but away from God’s truth. Those who stand in the way of so-called ‘progress’ are labeled by our culture ‘bigots,’ ‘narrow-minded,’ or worse. There’s very little tolerance for those who hold to traditional Christian beliefs.

Many of the Church’s teachings today stand in stark contrast to that which our culture thinks of as acceptable, good, or even laudable: abortion, homosexuality, sex outside marriage, just to name a few of the many moral issues where dominant and vocal elements within our culture stand in opposition to the truth that God has revealed to us through Christ and His Church. Many are susceptible to being swayed by such arguments and this leads to schism.

The pluralism of this culture divides us when we allow those forces to infiltrate the Church and change our beliefs from what God has revealed, from that which makes us Orthodox—“the faith once delivered to the Saints (Jude 1:3). When that happens, we no longer share that same faith that unites us together with all other Orthodox believers around the world, as well as all our beloved ancestors in the faith with whom we also share communion and desire to share heaven. When we allow the temporal beliefs and identities of this particular time and culture to define us, we separate ourselves and each other from that great communion with Christ and His Church.

The “glue” that holds us together as Orthodox believers is precisely the opposite of what our culture teaches: it’s not conformity to the culture, to relativism, but holding ‘all things in common’ in the truth, in the faith, which unites us. Our unity of faith means we can be united with Christ and with one another in that truth. In the Orthodox Church, we know that the truth is a Person, Jesus Christ, God’s revelation to us of Himself, the way of salvation. Through our profession and our striving to live the truth that Christ is, we’re united to Him as we partake of the Sacraments and the life that’s only in Him. While this culture is passing away, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We as Orthodox are the inheritors and evangelists of that revelation of salvation for us, for all mankind. Only in this way, can we fulfill Christ’s high priestly prayer to the Father in which He pleads that we “may all be one” so that “the world may believe that You sent Me” (Jn. 17:21).

Contrary to those who want to see the Church as a divider for not “changing with the times,” the Church is in reality the upholder of unity among people. The Church calls us all into this communion of love and life with God the Holy Trinity—regardless of race, gender, political preferences, ethnicity, culture, time, geography—whatever otherwise divides secular humanity. In Christ we’re all called into unity with each other by virtue of our baptism, our new, eternal identity with Christ God, our new relationship with God and with one another.

Submitting ourselves to Christ and the Church means that even while we may wrestle or struggle with aspects of the faith or the Church’s teachings in light of our culture, we do so while humbly submitting ourselves to the Church, praying for deeper understanding, because we know the testimony of countless who have come before us is true. We can see through their testimony that Christ is the way that leads to life, the way of healing for our souls, of salvation, life with Him.

We’re called as Orthodox Christians to love our so-called ‘enemies,’ our persecutors, those who hate us, those who would divide us, those who think they can divide the Truth, the Person of Jesus Christ. We love by standing up for the Truth that Christ is; we love by calling all to the repentance we ourselves are also striving for. Christ sets us free from our delusions, our divisions, our humanistic ways, which instead of leading mankind to “progress,” actually lead us further away from God, His love, His life-saving morality, and the blessed life of the Kingdom.

The Orthodox Church has seen empires, heretics, schismatics and every “-ism” known to man, come and go. And she will weather secular humanism and postmodernism as well, but at a cost.

Orthodoxy transcends culture. Indeed, the mission of the Orthodox Church is to transform every culture, baptizing it with the truth of Christ and new life in Him. This is how we love God, our neighbor, our people. Politics cannot save us, our ethnicity cannot save us, but Christ God does save us! He calls all into communion with Him in the unity of the Faith of His Church.

The only way this baptism and transfiguration of our culture can happen, is, if we, the Orthodox Christians in this land, stand together, united, prayerful, humbly repenting, articulating, living to the best of our abilities and with God’s help, the timeless Truth of Christ as He’s revealed it to His holy Church. By repenting ourselves of our sins, by striving to live authentic Christian lives of integrity, by growing this and other missions, we spread the Gospel and the Orthodox Faith, we witness to the truth of our Faith, the Truth that is Christ and the life that is only in Him. More spiritual ‘hospitals’ are formed, more ‘islands of sanity’ in an otherwise sin-sick world. Only in this way, can we hope to love as Christ loves, not condemning others, but bringing them to the same knowledge and love of God that we hold so dear, that is our hope, our life, salvation for all.

Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Church
30 July 2017

Epistle: I Cor. 1:10-18
Gospel: Matt. 14:14-22