When our Lord returned to His Throne in Heaven He commanded
His Disciples, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end
of the age.” (Matthew 28.18-20) Since that very moment the Church, guided into
all Truth by the Holy Spirit (John 16.13), and the authority given to them by
Jesus, has been responsible to God for our spiritual growth.
But most of us refuse to
listen to the Church. This is why Saint Paul said, “Obey your leaders and
submit to them; for they are keeping watch over your souls, as men who will
have to give account.” (Hebrews 13.17) It isn’t only authority the Church
received by God. The Church also received grace from the Holy Spirit to teach
us to observe all that God had commanded us. The Holy Apostles were the
protectors of that way of life, and the Church down through the centuries has
continued as protector and teacher of truth. This is why the Church REQUIRES
that every teaching remain unchanged from the Holy Apostles.
The Holy Fathers, the
bishops, archbishops, metropolitans and patriarchs of the Church, always loyal
to the teachings of the Holy Apostles, are today’s protectors and teachers of
the truth. This is why during the Divine Liturgy we pray, “Among the first
remember, O Lord, our Archbishop Alexios, whom You have granted to serve Your
holy churches in peace; keep him safe, honorable, and healthy with length of
days, rightly teaching the word of Your truth.” Between the Holy Spirit guiding
the Apostles into all truth, the Holy Fathers protecting the truth over the
centuries, and the Bishops today protecting and teaching the word of God’s
truth, why wouldn’t we obey our leaders? If we won’t listen to the Church with
all the grace the Church has received from the Holy Spirit, who will we listen
to?
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