Session 13 - Doctrine and Dogma  As Outlined in the Creed. Part 2

Let us continue our discussion of doctrine and dogma as outlined in the Creed by addressing article #8 which speaks of the Holy Spirit ,

(8) And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father; Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; Who spoke by the prophets.

The Orthodox Church  believes the Holy Spirit  to be True God, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. Holy Scripture testifies to the Holy Spirit while speaking of the very beginning of Creation: The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters (Gen. 1:2)

The distinctive property of the Third Person of the Trinity the Holy Spirit is that He proceeds from God the Father before all time.

The Holy Spirit participated with the Father and the Son in the creation of the world, for by the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth (Ps. 33:6), and of man (Gen. 1:26-27) .The Holy Spirit bore witness of Himself through the Prophets and the chosen men of God, proclaimed the Lord's Truth and Will to God's people, and  told of the coming of the Messiah through the prophets.

The action of the Holy Spirit never ceased in the world, but it was only with the coming of Christ the Savior into the world that the fullness of God's saving grace was made accessible to men The Holy Spirit was revealed to the world in a special way on the day of the founding of Christ's Church, Pentecost when He descended upon the Holy Apostles in the form of tongues of fire (Acts 2). From that charismatic moment to the present the Holy Spirit abides in the Church as Christ Himself bears witness: And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth (John 14:16).

Everything in the Church is filled with the Holy Spirit. The action of His grace lives in every sacrament of the Church and extends to all forms of divine service. In the Holy Eucharist, the holiest moments  in the Church's daily liturgical service, the prayers and rites are linked, above all, with the  calling down of the Holy Spirit. The Church prays that through Holy Communion we may commune with the Holy Spirit;  and that  having partaken of the Holy Gifts, we  bear the living Christ in our hearts and become temples of the Holy Spirit.

9) In one Holy, Catholic (Universal) , and Apostolic Church.

This article of the Creed speaks about the nature  and purpose of the Church.The Holy Church was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:28). The purpose of Christ's Church is the salvation of man. It is only in the Church that full union of man and God takes place, and this union is how salvation ultimately occurs. By His suffering on the Cross Christ paid the ransom for the sins of humanity. By His Holy Blood He founded the Church (Acts 20:28), so that in her we might live by Him and for Him (2 Cor. 5:14-15). Therefore there is no guarantee of salvation outside of the Church.

The Church is One as the Lord Who founded her is One (John 10:18). The Church is Holy, for she lives, acts, and thinks by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5; 8:15; 9:17). The Church is Catholic, for her flock has one heart and one soul (Acts 4:32) and her catholicity is dominant. (catholic means universal or literally of the whole) By the use of the word Catholic, we do not mean Roman Catholic.  The Church is Apostolic, for she keeps  Apostolic Succession through ordination  by the laying-on of hands upon the hierarchs (Acts 6:6; 14:23; 20:28), and preserves the teachings of the  Apostles..

St. Paul calls the Church the mystical Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23), and this expression really describes the inner life of the Church which is the union  of God and man. The Church is a community of people united by their Orthodox faith, its doctrine, the hierarchy, and the Sacraments. The human side is changeable and imperfect, but the Church is Holy and Divine

The purpose of the Church is to reveal the Kingdom of God on earth, for she was established by Christ to be a means of transfiguring the world in the Light of the Gospel Truth. The Apostles, like Christ Himself, teach only one Church; they teach the unity of all in God: There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all (Eph. 4:4-6).

The unity of the Church is founded on the mutual love of all the members of the Church: If we love one another, God lives in us and His love is perfected in us (1 John 4:12). For it is precisely in that we share the bonds of love that we constitute the Church, the true Body of Christ, and for this reason the Lord commands us to love one another (John 15:17). It is by prayer offered in unity of spirit that the unity of the Church is achieved.  The church then is neither a dictatorship nor a democracy, but a unity of  all believers. The unity of the Church exists by the power of the Divine Grace in the Holy Spirit. The unity of all the members of the Church with Christ and between one another exists in its highest form in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist in partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ:

The unity of the Church is protected by the Canons of the Ecumenical Councils, the rules of the Holy Fathers of the Church, and Holy Tradition. The One Head of the Church is Christ

The Lord inspires man with faith in the Church through His grace by drawing him into the life of the Church. The Christian feels the power of Divine Grace acting upon him through the Holy Sacraments, the rites and the whole order of Orthodox Church life; and as he lives this life man attains an unshakeable conviction of the truth of his faith in the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

(10) I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins.

This section of the creed speaks to us  of the importance of the Holy Mystery of Baptism. Baptism, as seen through the eyes of the Church is  the way in which a person becomes a member of the Church.  In the waters of baptism, we are born again, we die to our old selves and rise up with Christ in Glory.   We are only allowed to be baptized once during our lives – in the early Church there were some who wished to be re-baptized when they fell away from the Church. At the second ecumenical council, it was proclaimed that we may only be baptized once.  However, it is understood in the theology of the Church, that the Holy Mystery of  confession is like a second baptism, for by participating in it we renew our baptismal vows and our sins are forgiven.

(11) I look for the resurrection of the dead;   (12) And the life of the world to come. Amen.

At this point, I would like to make a brief comment about  the Orthodox Church’s teaching in regard to the afterlife.  We understand that now, when one dies,  his or her soul is released from the body and begins its ascent to heaven,  for  a first judgment.  We believe that the soul remains on the earth for 3 days, visiting the places and people it was closest to.  On the fortieth day, we believe that the soul stands before the Lord in Judgment. From that time of the first or particular judgment until the second coming, depending on the outcome, the soul will pre-experience either the joys of heaven or the sorrows of hell.  At the time of the second coming, those who are still alive will be lifted up body and soul  to heaven, and those who have died, their bodies will be raised up from the graves and reformed and will be united once again with their souls. At this time, it will be determined for all eternity who will be in heaven and who will be in hell.   

With this understanding in mind, we understand that  the Orthodox Church's prayers for the dead are based on faith in universal resurrection and on the unity of the Churches Militant  ( those who are still living) and Triumphant ( the righteous who have departed this life) . By His Resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ showed that death is not annihilation and non-existence, but the gate to life and immortality. The Christian looks on death as the transition to an eternal life.

Concerning the Life of the World to Come.

The Creed ends with this confident hope on the part of the Christian: I look for...the life of the world to come. By the life of the world to come the Holy Church means the life that shall be after the resurrection of the dead and Christ's last judgment.

A man is responsible to God for the life that he has been given. It is here on earth that, of his own free will, a man lays the beginning of that life which shall begin when his body dies. His fate after death depends on how he has lived his life on earth. If he has always been with Christ, joined closely to Him through the Holy Sacraments of the Church, then after his death he shall also be with God, ceaselessly experiencing the blessed and eternal joy of living communion with God which we who live on earth call in the words of Holy Scripture Paradise (Luke 23:43), the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God (Matt. 5:3-10,8,11; Luke 13:28-29; 1 Cor. 15:50), the house or the mansions of our Heavenly Father (John 14:2).

This unspeakable joy of life in Paradise cannot be expressed in human language (2 Cor. 12:2,4); it comes  from the fullness of knowing God and from the nearness of God. That is why Christ our Savior says: And this is eternal life, that they know  You the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You havet sent (John 17,:3).

This joy can not be extinguished, , but it affects the human soul in different ways.  What this joy will be like and how intense it will be  differs from person to person.  Only those who consciously and stubbornly  resist Christ’s call to repentance, the call to a life worthy of repentance, shall remain outside communion with God at death, deprived of Light and Grace (Luke 16:23; Matt. 5:22,29; 8:12; 22:13; Phil. 2:10).

In conclusion, it is important that we remember that the Church has some important teachings which are not optional equipment, but form the very essence of the Faith. They are important matters. The understanding that God is a Trinity of persons is essential, and any religion or sect that does not believe in the Trinity, are not worshipping the one True God. They may be nice people or not, it does not matter. By  bearing the name Orthodox, we have a responsibility to know and believe the Truth, which has been preserved in the Church throughout the centuries , safeguarded  by the witness and blood of the Holy Martyrs.