The Shepherd, July 2005
HOW EACH OF US CAN AND OUGHT TO SERVE THE CHURCH, 3
The Church is meek. For this reason She is in need of protection and defence. Only they must be good means for her defence. In the past, both the Byzantine and Russian Churches had external defenders: a governmental system, the emperors, the tsars; although one must admit that there were times when this defence was worse than none. Times have changed. Now the care of the Church is entrusted by the Lord to the people of the Church Herself, and so to each Orthodox Christian. In this regard we are returning to the times of the first Christians. Our times call us all to a conscious, constant sacrificial “stand for the Church,” each with his talents and means. However, the principal power of service does not lie in our knowledge, abilities, and callings. The principal power is in the “infirmity” through which the power of Christ comes to abide. It is in our morality, in our living according to the law of the Gospel, according to the law of the Church. How we are to bring this about in a practical way is taught by the most perfect example of the holy martyrs and ascetics; it is demonstrated also by the Orthodox monasteries, the builders of Russia, such as the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the Optina Hermitage, the Lavra of Pochaev and others that existed before the Revolution. But since all this remains in the past, in order to find an example in the present, let us look at least to the handful of modest monastic communities of our Church in the corners of the Russian diaspora - to these small groups of people, both men and women, who have given themselves over to the law of meekness and obedience. Concerning them we can say rightfully with the Apostle: For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are (I Cor. 1:26-28). The quiet, meek, laborious life of the monastery sheds such a beneficial and varied influence far beyond its own physical limits! And what a good result is granted just by contact with this world, as many different persons can testify! Of course the same can also be said about the Orthodox monasteries that are not of Russian background.
Those who think that prayer, fasting, temperance, ascetic labour, and the struggle with vices have only the goal of personal salvation and thus those who practice these good works, as it were, conceal in themselves a subtle spirit of egotism, are gravely mistaken. Rather, internal work on oneself is an investment in the Church. This is a gathering in of the powers of the Church, a collecting of the Church’s wealth, which does not consist in the number of persons, not in large and opulent church buildings, not in sonorous choirs, not even in impressive statistics about philanthropy - but rather in the moral life of Her members.
One must serve the Church as the one body of Christ, a single organism, a single substance. Each one’s personality is the plot of land entrusted to him for him to labour over, clean up, and produce fruit on. In working on ourselves, we work for the whole, for the entire Church, for Her Head, the selfless Saviour. In letting one’s plot grow over, neglecting it, condemning it, we bring harm not only to ourselves but also to the Church. By not gathering for our own soul, we scatter what belongs to the Church.
Our service to the Church consists in this: that through our personal Christian life the spirit of the Gospel values flows into the life of the world, thus putting the enemies of the Church to shame. In our personal qualities lies the pledge of the internal unity of the Church as a whole and of the parish in particular; from this source come mutual understanding, obedience, unanimity in goals, friendly labour for the glory of God and the glory of the Church. Thus a completely unique Church atmosphere is established. In such an atmosphere a person feels that he is in a special world, which gives rest and joy to the soul, refreshing and renewing it. One strives to come to it as if to a new earth, the earth of the meek. In it one feels the beneficial power of the Church within oneself. It is easier in such circumstances for the soul to open up to the reception of the breath of the Grace of God that abides in the Church. But if this spirit is absent; if within the groups of the Church there are divisions, discord, the struggle of ambition and self-love, then can one, in such circumstances, speak of the power of the Church?
Therefore, to the question of how we can serve the Church, the answer is simple: by active obedience to Her. Active obedience to Her is a life according to the rules of the Church, observance of moral laws, zealous attendance at church services, prayer at home, a Christian foundation and direction in home life. We can say then, in general, that for us it consists of the joy of belonging to the Russian Church Abroad as a true
confessor of the Orthodox Catholic faith and a herald of righteousness, and a corresponding attitude in our personal life which worthily reflects that membership.
THE PIECE above is in some respects a little dated - Fr Michael Pomazansky died in 1988, and it is obviously written by a pastor of the Russian Church Abroad primarily for the people of that church, but nonetheless it contains beautiful and timeless instruction to awaken the zeal of all Orthodox Christians and answers some of the problems which perplex them living in the post-Christian world than now surrounds us.
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