The Church can only be comprehended by faith. Does a believer need a church

26.01.2017, 12:50

I recently had a conversation with one of my friends. When he learned that I was an Orthodox Christian, he remarked: “I don’t believe in religion, I believe in God in my soul. I don't need intermediaries between me and God." We parted, each in a hurry to go about his business, but his phrase did not leave my head. Why did it happen that people stopped identifying God with the Church, and put a sign of opposition between them? Then I learned that his opinion is not isolated. So many of the people think and confess, so with God's help we will try to figure it out.

The concept of religion

To begin with, let's find out what lies behind the concept of faith and religion. Religion translated from Latin means bind, or unite. It is designed to connect man with the Divine. And the means of communication is an appeal to the Divine, in other words, prayer. Without prayer, it will no longer be a religion, but another philosophical system with a faceless “Absolute”, “Cosmos”, “Universal Mind”, etc. With regard to Christianity, we note that Christ came into the world to restore the connection, or union of God and person. And, characteristically, He did not leave behind any written teaching. The task of Christ on earth was not just another teaching, but a foundation. His Church. The gospel was written by Christ's disciples decades after His death. And the Apostle Paul never walked with Him on earth together. People who declare that they believe in their souls, but do not recognize religion and the church, are a little disingenuous. What do they mean by faith and religion? By faith is understood the recognition of the fact that "Something is", and sometimes a personal God, and by religion our Orthodox Church.

The role of rites in church life

“Why all these rituals, candles, bows, it's all superfluous. God does not need all this,” they say. Here we can agree. Indeed, God does not need candles. He doesn't need anything at all. He is the ALL-PERFECT SPIRIT. And doesn't need anything. That's right, not bows, candles, are the essence of religion. It's just a ritual, a shell. But note that there is no content without form. External exercise in fasting, vigil, bowing in Christianity is called ascetics what does it mean in translation I'm exercising. We, sinful people, consist not only of the spirit, but also of the flesh. And this flesh always tries to guide our entire being, including the spirit. To prevent this from happening, we keep the body in check. Christ did not found a new religion. He founded the Church. Why do people not want to believe in the church, but believe in their souls. The answer is simple. The root of everything is selfishness and sinful selfishness. It is very convenient to believe in a “FACELESS SOMETHING” that lives somewhere out there and has almost nothing to do with me on earth. It is there and we are here.

The Church is a divine-human organism with Christ at its head

Another thing is to believe in the church. Whose Head is Christ, and where God is a Person endowed with reason, where He is the Creator and Ruler of everything. And God requires me to fulfill certain moral laws. But this is not the main thing in Christianity. In order to live with God, I need to unite with Him, in the sacrament, and constantly abide in His Church. Without the Church and the Eucharist, salvation is impossible. Because the Church is not a Patriarch, not a priest, not grouchy old women. The Church, in the apt expression of Khomyakov, is "the spirit of God living in rational creatures." Therefore, the Creed speaks of faith in "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church."

Selfishness is the root of all passions

Of course, to believe in the church implies the fulfillment of all the rules, fasts, canons that the saints left us, who went through a thorny path to heaven. All this requires the infringement of one's "I". Your selfishness. This is the whole reason for not believing in the church. This is the whole root. Everything else is superficial and contrived. From a person who does not want to go to the temple, you can hear a sea of ​​excuses - and "money is raking in a shovel", and "incomprehensible language of worship", and "services are long and there are many posts" etc. And more and more often there are calls (including from the clergy) to simplify, translate, shorten. Everything for the comfort of the parishioners. But this is the value of the ideal of the church, that they strive for it, and do not lower it and adapt it to themselves. In our time, those who read the words of Christ about the Pharisees are terribly afraid of becoming them. And now their prayer goes something like this: “Thank you, Lord, that I am not a Pharisee. I DO NOT pray, I DO NOT fast, I DO NOT give alms, etc. Therefore, a believer "in the soul" can be safely called either an atheist or a pagan who needs God in emergency cases. Without the Church, without Communion, a person will not be able to overcome sin in himself, he will not be able to heal his soul. He will not change, and will remain the same as he was the captive of the evil one, and in this form he will appear before Christ. What will he answer him?

In conclusion of the foregoing, one can cite the apt words of the saint: "To whom the Church is not a mother, God is not a father."

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Well, you raised the topic! I am from a family of Old Believers. About the bible, so Christ dispersed the merchants from the church, remember? Now the situation is similar. In churches they sell church candles and ritual attributes. I strongly doubt that the clergy fulfill (not all) their holy mission of working with the souls of the parishioners. Remind me which of the current clergymen were canonized during your lifetime? There are no such. It seems to me that now for priests this is a regular job, for good money, and not a life for the glory of God! So, the Old Believers are people who prayed and lived according to God's covenant even before the appearance of churches in Russia, they are Gnostics, i.e. the very beginning of true faith in God (not to be confused with sects). Man was created by the Lord in his own image and likeness, including in us there is a soul - this is a particle of the Creator. And I can directly, without priests, contact the Creator, he me...

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If we consider the dictionary meaning of these expressions, then, indeed, “faith in God” is one thing, and “the Church” is another. Probably, every person at least once in his life thought about God in one context or another. Even atheists are not indifferent to God - I recall the words of one believer addressed to atheists: “If there is no God, why are you fighting with Him?”

And the experience of observing people, both belonging to the Church and “walking on their own”, shows: there are people who believe in God, but do not want to belong to His Church, but there are those who are baptized and consider themselves members, so to speak , a church organization, but their lives do not show that God is important to them. Of course, any external observation of ...

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There is one very important thought that is often heard in the controversy between Orthodox and Protestants. “Why are you building such huge temples, spending so much money and money on arranging a place of worship for God, Who clearly said: “The time is coming when you will worship the Father not on this mountain, and not in Jerusalem ... But the time will come and has already come when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for such worshipers the Father is looking for. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:21, 23-24). Do you really think that God needs these temples, magnificent vestments, expensive decorations? - they ask us with unconcealed satisfaction. But it is the latter thought that should encourage us. This means that the people who speak to us are not far from Orthodoxy, which means that we will be able to understand each other, because the Orthodox attitude to the church is based on this: ...

It seems that here it is necessary to emphasize the difference between the CHURCH and the TEMPLE, the literal translation of the word church is (e’kklhsi / a - Greek “ekklesia” - a meeting, a society of those convened), but a temple is a building for religious rites.

So, according to the Bible, in order to believe in God, neither a church nor a temple is needed, for “even the demons believe and tremble” (James 2:19), and they must be thought to be far from the church ...

However, “mere faith” is not enough to be saved; works are needed to confirm this faith — “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20)

The church, according to Paul, is needed for this: “Let us be attentive to one another, encouraging to love and good deeds. Let us not leave our assembly (CHURCH) as is the custom of some; but let us exhort [each other], and all the more, the more you see the approach of the day thereof. ",

in a word, the church is needed for mutual encouragement of believers and for organized service to God, BUT these are not “signs of the cross” and not bows to icons, relics, etc.,

Jesus condemned...

Archpriest Alexander Glebov

Today, to the question: “Are you a believer?”, Most people answer: “God is in my soul and I don’t need intermediaries.” How would you comment on the fact that the Church, in the mass consciousness, is withdrawn from faith in God?

The question is very relevant. First of all, such a question stems from a lack of understanding by many people of the function of the Church, its purpose. Today, the question of the Church is, first of all, the question of church culture, church holidays, and saints. More enlightened people can reflect on Christian philosophy and history. But very rarely does the question of the Church concern the essence of the Church itself. Despite the number of churches and the number of people who identify themselves, at least by the fact of their baptism, with the Orthodox faith, the question of what the Church is and, in fact, what it is for, remains open to many today. A misunderstanding of the Church often leads to criticism of it. Performance…

View Full Version : If you believe in God, is it necessary to go to church?

I just can’t understand: if you believe in God, is it necessary to go to church? If I pray in the evening. in the morning, I try to live with God in my heart, but I don’t go to church often, only on big church holidays. I do not like pandemonium and worship of icons. After all, Jesus said: "Pray not in the temple, but in your heart." Or am I wrong?

I also believe that going to church is optional. The main thing is to have God in your heart. The Church is only a mediator.

Very often external actions close the deep meaning of what is happening, but on the other hand: if you accept any doctrine, then follow the ritual.

Of course not necessarily. The church has long turned into an ideological apparatus for taking money. It is generally harmful to be in some churches. The level of education and literacy of many priests also leaves much to be desired.
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Is it necessary to believe in God?

Humans are by nature unbelievers. All children are atheists, because when we are born, we still do not have time to assimilate the stereotypes and dogmas imposed on us in society. Not knowing about the tenets of the so-called "faith", children do not know anything about God (gods) and up to a certain point the highest authority for them is their parents. And only then, from the parents and the general environment, the child forms certain ideas, whether atheistic or religious. One thing is undeniable: all children are originally atheists.

Who are the believers? Believers are those who recognize the existence of a higher, supernatural being or beings.

And in what or in whom does God believe, if at least as an unscientific hypothesis we admit his existence? Let's take the Christian god as the closest to us territorially.

The book of Genesis states that God created man in his own image and likeness. Hence, if he is a believer, then he created a person to be a believer. Jesus, his...

Message from Djin88

I think that in order to believe in GOD, you do not need to go to church, because. faith must be in the heart in the head, and the church acts as an intermediary (such as a direct connection with GOD). You will say, but what about prayers, so you can pray at home! Try to convince me! Maybe I'll change my mind!

You speak of the church as a temple, a building. Indeed, why do people, believing in God, build churches?

What is a temple for God?
“As long as a person remains an earthly being — soul-bodily, extended-spatial, personal and multiple — it is inevitable for him to introduce the God he contemplates into his “categories”, as if to “express” Him in the language of his earthlyness. A person who has felt the inexpressibility of the Divine still speaks of His omnipresence; a person who confesses that God is everywhere and everywhere, nevertheless builds a temple for Him.

The temple is, as it were, an “earthly dwelling” of the unearthly and omnipresent God: for a pagan, it is the semi-presence of God himself in the guise of an “idol”; for a Christian...

What is the Church for? This question cannot be answered unequivocally, because believers and non-believers will answer it differently. If for the first the Church is Truth and Life, then for the second, at best, it is a kind of social non-state institution, the activity of which has some useful aspects.

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Catherine

Well, yes, and that this is not the wedding of Aladdin and Princess Budur, but so ... a dream. So ... eat, drink, dear guests, this is just a dream, ... and in the morning We will cut off his head.

I don’t eat, so I was in a dream, and I convinced myself that God had cured me. The fact that the doctor waved his hand (hopeless) is a dream, and that without one pill and an injection I got up, the same dream as 12 years after I live this, because all my relatives convinced themselves that I was alive, and they were in a dream, like at that wedding. Here you proudly wrote in your profile that you are an atheist, and my wife “proudly” fought with my faith, but how I fell ill, and the doctor waved his hand, "guessed" to take a fast (this is necessary, a warrior against faith, ... and in a fast), she also begged a neighbor to support her in fasting (And the Church prayed), and ... now I am writing to you in a "dream ".

Not only that, with my “lost” and “sleeping” eyes I saw a brother and sister whom the doctors sent home to “die”, but they “did not want to”, took and healed (inspired themselves) so much so that they “corrected” their analyzes .Doctors look with clear eyes (not ...

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Faith is a huge power and it can give a lot to a person who truly believes. And if faith is formal, if it’s just the words “I believe in God” and behind these words there is no certain worldview, spiritual work on oneself, deep feelings and a righteous way of life - this is not faith, but falsehood, an empty phrase.

Faith in God is a spiritual, energetic connection with the Creator, it is His patronage and help. Faith is feelings and fire, God's flame in the spiritual heart of a person (Atman), which fills the soul with Light and Strength, Joy and Vision of the Future, fills life with high meaning. Read more about what is Faith in God - read here.

Also, before proceeding to the formation ...

Do we need a church?

DO WE NEED A CHURCH?

Church!!! What associations does this word evoke in you? Do you go there? If yes, then why? Do you want to find God there? Is He there? Most youth do not attend church. Why? They probably don't believe in God. Or maybe they don't want to believe? Is God so terrible that more and more people are turning away from him? The legal representative of God is the CHURCH. Are her motives pure? Everyone heard about her infallibility, but is it really so? That's the whole problem. The Church has been presenting God all her life in a way that was beneficial to her. Many people go to church since childhood, but what do they know about God, about the Bible? What do they even know about their faith? There are certainly advanced individuals, but what about the other 99%? What do they get from the church? The rescue? Peace? Hope? Or love? Maybe they don't get anything? Then why do they go there? Because that's the way it is! Going to church is an indicator of faith in God. Only…

No faith in God

There is no faith in God and this is no longer a secret, but an existing reality. In this article, we will discuss this and also answer questions such as: What does The Origins of Modern Atheism say about believing in God today?

The era of unbelief: is it worth continuing the search?

People now remember God less and less, doing without him in everyday affairs and decisions. […] God was supplanted by other values ​​- income and productivity.

Once upon a time, a person saw in God the meaning of life and all his undertakings, but today God has remained only in the margins of history. […] It no longer has a place in the minds of people.
Nesch M. The origins of modern atheism (Neusch M. Aux sources de ...

Orthodoxy - Praise God Rightly

Why are there many faiths in the world?

The enemy of our salvation, the devil has given birth and is giving birth to countless false teachings, heresies, sects and schisms, through which he separates people forever from God (Right. John of Kronstadt).

How does our Church treat Catholics?

Our Orthodox Church considers Catholics to be heretics (St. Macarius of Optina).

Is it possible to think that good unbelievers or Mohammedans will be saved?

It is a mistake to think and say that good people between Mohammedans and unbelievers will be saved, that is, they will enter into communion with God. The Church has always recognized that one means of salvation is the Redeemer, the Savior (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov).

Is it possible to think that Catholics will be saved?

The Monk Pafnutiy of Borovsky saw in hell the prince of Lithuania Vitovt, who had fallen there for the sake of the false Catholic faith.

How to show the sectarians that their faith is not saving?

Ask the sectarians: where are their holy saints, miracle workers, ...

From time to time one has to hear that faith and the Church are completely different things that are not connected with each other, that faith can quite do without the Church. Is it so?

The ancient philosopher Aristotle advised to start any reasoning with the definition of concepts - what exactly do we call this or that word? What is faith? This word can mean different things. Sometimes it is just an unwillingness to come to terms with the meaninglessness of the world, with eternal non-existence as the result of everything: “if they bury it - the burdock will grow”, sometimes it is a vague feeling of the presence of something incomprehensibly high and beautiful. sometimes, in a moment of trouble or danger, a request for help and protection addressed to someone is often not even very clear to whom. Sometimes it's just a recognition that God probably exists somewhere out there, outside of my life and everything I deal with.

Such a faith, of course, can do without the Church—and did very well. The apostles, going out to preach the gospel, turned to people who already had a religion. Atheists in the ancient world were practically unknown: people revered certain gods, called them for help, tried to establish contact with the supernatural world with the help of certain rituals, believed in this or that afterlife.

The apostles did not call people to believe in the reality of the spiritual world - they called to reject false gods for the sake of the true God. This may seem strange to many modern people: does it matter how one honors the divine? Don't all roads lead to the top of the mountain? The trouble is that in our time, atheism has given the religious search a shade of some kind of frivolity, unrealness - people strongly doubt the reality of the spiritual world in general and tend to consider the spiritual search as a game. As one popular contemporary writer writes, being religious is part of human nature, and it doesn't really matter what religion you practice as long as it suits your needs.

However, a moment inevitably comes in human life when, in the face of an important choice, in the face of tragedy, in the face of death, the question of spiritual reality arises with the utmost seriousness. What (or rather, who) can really save us? While we are sitting at home, the saying about different paths to the top seems to be the height of wisdom; but when we have to go on a journey, it is very important to know the right way. There are abysses, landslides and avalanches in the mountains, and it doesn't matter which way you try to get to the top.

Way, truth and life

Where to look for this path? There are things so self-evident that we do not see them; one of those things is the calendar. We go to work, celebrate holidays, celebrate the new year, argue about historical events and usually do not notice that our calendar, like any calendar, has a reporting point. History is divided into years "before" and years "after" a certain moment, into what was "before our era" and "our era". What is the event at the center? This is the birth of one Man. He was not a powerful emperor or a great commander, that is, one of those who are usually written about in history books. He grew up in a family of poor artisans, in a small, politically insignificant country, occupied by the troops of a vast empire. He spent most of his life completely unnoticed, and only the last three years he went around the country preaching his message. The spiritual leaders of His people considered Him a blasphemer, and the occupying authorities considered Him a dangerous troublemaker. He was arrested and given a terrible, painful execution. One of his disciples begged for His body and buried Him in a tomb. This Man hasn't written a book. He did not found a dynasty. He did not create a state. But He left the disciples, and it is from them that we know about Him. From them we know what turned the whole history of the world upside down: He rose from the dead and they saw Him alive. His name was Jesus, and it is from His Birth that we count the years.

The gospels - the testimonies that have come down to us, left by His disciples - convey to us both His words and the reaction of the listeners: never a man spoke like this Man (John 7:46). These words don't just reflect emotional upheaval - they're accurate in the most literal sense. A man named Jesus called God his Father; moreover, He said that He was with the Father before the foundation of the world, that He and the Father are one, that it is He, Jesus, who will come to judge all nations on the last day, that our eternal salvation or eternal destruction depends on how we react to Him, Jesus Christ. Before every reader of the Gospel, the inevitable question arises - is this true? We can read the writings of ancient authors, feel respect for them or, on the contrary, hostility, trust or distrust their words - but, regardless of this, we know that these people died long ago, and all we have is their words.

But if what the Gospel says is true, then the text takes on an unexpected dimension. Jesus turns out to be not a figure in ancient history, not an ancient philosopher or moral teacher, but a living God and Savior who is present here and now, in this very room, as undoubtedly and real as He was among the inhabitants of Palestine about two thousand years ago, and we can meet Him.

Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh writes about this experience of the meeting: “I sat, read, and between the beginning of the first and the beginning of the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark, which I read slowly, because the language was unusual, I suddenly felt that on the other side of the table, here, was standing Christ".

We may or may not experience a vivid mystical experience, like Vladyka Anthony, but if the Gospel is true (and it is true), a man named Jesus here and now asks us the question: Do you believe in the Son of God? (John 9:35). Jesus' claims are so radical that we cannot politely evade the answer; we have to say yes or no.

He is the Lord of the universe, and until we acknowledge Him as our Lord, we are in a tragic and pernicious rebellion against the very foundations of reality. Christians are those who answer yes; those who accept Jesus' words about Himself as true. It is this answer that is called the Christian faith, and it is from this answer that everything else follows - the attitude towards God, people, oneself and, of course, towards the Church.

Kingdom

For most people (including religious ones), religion is a set of rules. Some of these rules are praised, some are scolded, but both agree that this is precisely a set of rules. In addition to the rules, in religion there are also sacred texts in which these rules are spelled out.

There are rules and texts in Christianity. But the center of Christianity is not here. Christianity is presence. At Christmas we celebrate neither the sending down of the Law nor the giving of sacred texts. We celebrate the appearance of God, who has come and settled among us forever. As the Evangelist John says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It was in the beginning with God. Everything came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being that came into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.... And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father (John 1:1-14).

The Greek verb, translated in the synodal translation as “dwelled”, has a grammatical form denoting rather “settled and continues to dwell”. God took human nature upon Himself, became one of us, similar to us in everything, except for sin.

When Christ ascended to the Father, He did not "disincarnate" - at the right hand of the Father in heaven there is a glorified Man; nay, this Man is among His faithful here on earth: For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them (Matthew 18:19). And behold, I am with you all the days to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

In modern language, the words "Kingdom of Heaven" have become simply a synonym for the afterlife, the afterlife. “The kingdom of heaven be his,” we usually say about someone who has recently died. But in the Holy Scriptures it is about something else - about the reality of the dominion of Christ, which in its fullness will appear in the future, but is already present in our world. There are already citizens of the Kingdom among us; moreover, every person can accept this allegiance. There will come a time when our true King, Jesus Christ, will return in glory and, as the Bible says, “every eye will see Him,” but even now He is present among His faithful. Christianity is not a set of rules; Christianity is Presence. That is why it cannot be "crossed" with other religions, as people often suggest. You can “cross” sets of rules, but you cannot cross Presence with absence.

I will build my Church

How can one become a subject of his Kingdom? Christ (whatever some popular authors may say) did not found a dynasty, did not create a state, did not write a book. What did he leave us? How can we enter into fellowship with Him, become His Own? He himself says this: I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).

He left the Church - the community of the faithful, which keeps and proclaims His word, performs the Sacraments established by Him and helps its members to follow the path of salvation. The very name of Jesus Christ is known to us because all these two thousand years the Church has proclaimed Him; the gospel itself has come down to us because it was reverently preserved and preached by the Church. Even those people who rebel against the Church, wishing to offer us some message of their own in the name of Christ (as, for example, Leo Tolstoy), are forced to take the same gospel taken from the same Church as the basis of their constructions.

“The gates of hell will not prevail against her,” Christ says, implying that they will try very hard to do so. The Church is in a certain sense called "militant" - it proclaims the true King in a world in revolt, in a world where some false kings claim absolute allegiance. Many times they tried to destroy the Church purely physically: the first actions were taken by the Roman emperors, the last ones took place in our country (and some other countries) relatively recently. But even more dangerous for the Church were attempts to replace the message that she preaches with something else, to replace the good news of Christ with some other message - maybe with the same name, maybe told in almost the same words, but different. Such attempts in the history of the Church were called "heresies".

Therefore, the unity and succession of faith is so important - the Church throughout the face of the earth, since the time of the apostles, has been continuously preaching the same faith, expressed in many testimonies: from texts included in the New Testament to modern catechisms, and leads people to faith in one and the same Jesus Christ of whom the apostles testified.

In the rite of the Announcement (preparation for Baptism) there are these words: “Standing at the door inside the temple, the priest asks the one being announced: “Who are you?” He replies: "I am desiring to know the True God and seeking salvation." Priest: "Why did you come to the holy Church?" Priest: "What benefit do you hope to receive from the true faith?". Announced: "Eternal and blessed life."

We gain eternal and blessed life by following Christ; and Christ we recognize in the Church which He created.

Is it really necessary?

However, it often happens that a person agrees with the proclamation about Christ that the Church proclaims, but does not live the life of the Church, does not participate in divine services, and does not proceed to the Sacraments. “Faith must be in the soul,” they say in such cases. Is this true? The Christian faith is not only certain beliefs. This is a certain relationship. Holy Scripture compares this relationship with marriage, allegiance, or military service. It hardly makes sense to talk about "marriage at heart" or "citizenship at heart." Citizenship of the heavenly Kingdom also cannot be reduced to something "in the soul."

Imagine that, say, the King of Narnia announces that he accepts all comers into his citizenship. Those who wish must appear at the Narnian embassy and swear allegiance to the king during a solemn ceremony; after that, they must confirm their decision by participating in the regular receptions that the embassy hosts on the days of the Narnian holidays. Now imagine a person who says: “I am a Narnian at heart, maybe even a better Narnian than all those who gather in the Narnian embassy; therefore, I will neither swear allegiance to the Narnian king, nor celebrate the Narnian holidays. Doesn't this sound ridiculous to us? What kind of Narnian is this who does not want to have anything to do with Narnia?

Our intention to be subjects of the Kingdom we must also manifest in a certain way, and Scripture clearly indicates how. God himself sets the conditions on which we enter into a relationship with Him. Sometimes people contrast "spirituality" with "rites," but when you read the Bible, one unexpected thing comes up. God has surprisingly little to do with what we often call "spirituality." One of the key moments of the Old Testament - the exodus of the Jews from Egypt - includes a detailed description of the rite that the believers were to perform. They had to slaughter the sacrificial lamb, bake it on the fire and eat it during the solemn meal; and with his blood to anoint the doorposts in the house where they are: And the blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and I will see the blood and pass over you, and there will be no destructive plague between you when I strike the land of Egypt (Ex 12 :3-13).

Participation in the sacrifice and the ritual meal (both at the time of the exodus and later, when the people remember this event) is a prerequisite for belonging to the people of God: and whoever is clean and is not on the road and does not celebrate Easter, that soul from the people will be destroyed his, for he did not bring an offering to the Lord in due time: that man will bear the sin (Numbers 9:13).

Only some insurmountable circumstances can excuse a person who does not perform the established rite. The one who neglects worship according to his own will is considered to be cut off from the people of God.

A modern person may be perplexed: why all this trouble with lambs, smearing the joints with blood and other incomprehensible rituals? Doesn't God know who believes in Him? Are not human hearts open to Him? Doesn't He see the soul of every person as in the palm of his hand?

Undoubtedly, he sees, and Scripture speaks of this many times. But God says that it is the sacrificial blood on the houses of believers that will be a sign — and it is precisely on this basis that “there will be no destructive ulcer.” Does God promise security here to those who "believe in the heart", but considers the rite to be an unnecessary hassle? No.

God establishes the sign by which He recognizes His own, which is the sacrificial blood on the doorposts. The faith we are talking about here must appear in a symbolic act ordained by God—the offering of a sacrifice, the anointing of joints with blood, otherwise God will not recognize it as faith.

The New Testament constantly draws a parallel between the Passover lamb and the Lord Jesus, who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). This understanding of Jesus as the Lamb is also seen in His words about the bread of life: Jesus said to them: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you will not have life in you. Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My Flesh is truly food, and My Blood is truly drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him (John 6:53-56).

What is meant here is clear from other Gospels, where the Lord establishes the Sacrament of the Eucharist during a farewell supper with the disciples, which later became known as the Last Supper: And while they were eating, Jesus took bread and, having blessed it, broke it and, distributing it to the disciples, said: take, eat: this is my body. And taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink all of you from it, for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Mt 26:26-28).

The Lord says that He saves us through faith: He who believes has eternal life (John 6:47). And He establishes certain actions in which we must express our faith - Baptism and the Eucharist. If we do not want to express our faith in this way, then we do not have it.

Bishops, priests and di acones

The first Eucharist, as the Gospel tells, was performed by the Lord Jesus himself; and since then it has been performed in all churches around the world. But it is very important to us that those who do it receive authority to do so from the Lord Jesus through the apostles. Returning to the analogy we have already given, we cannot set up a Narnian embassy in our home - we must come to an embassy that truly represents the kingdom of Narnia.

Therefore, not only the succession of faith is important for the Church, but also what is called apostolic succession. We read in the New Testament that the apostles ordained bishops in each church through ordination, and the people they appointed received the right (and obligation) in turn to continue ordination (see, for example, Tit 1:5). An uninterrupted chain of ordinations stretches from apostolic times to the present day, and it links any priest in any Orthodox parish with the Lord and the apostles, and the Eucharist, which is celebrated in every church, with the Last Supper.

The day will come when our Lord will return in glory, and His Kingdom will be established in a manifest way, but it is already at peace and calling all to join it. The Church, as a heavenly embassy, ​​accepts those who wish to accept the citizenship of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Is it possible to believe without the Church? If a man's faith cannot lead him to the Church, can such faith lead him to heaven? In fact, the requirement to be baptized and participate in the Eucharist is quite feasible and outwardly not at all burdensome. And if a person does not want to do at least this, then he does not want to. Where can we talk about the enormous inner work that is incommensurable with this small external effort, which is necessary for faith to truly settle in the soul, and not in words.

Faith, as the New Testament describes it, is manifested in Baptism, the Eucharist, and keeping the commandments. Why couldn't it just be "faith in the heart" and observance of ethical precepts? For a number of reasons, one of which (only one) is the human tendency to self-deceive. It is easy to convince yourself that, unlike others, you keep the commandments and love your neighbors. Most people succeed. It is not difficult to love your neighbor "in general," but when it comes to exercising one's faith, a person finds that "priests" as well as parishioners are so unpleasant to him that he does not want to spend Sunday mornings in their company. They are fat, and they drive Mercedes, and, according to rumors, they sell tobacco and vodka. If a person cannot, for the sake of Christ’s commandment about the Eucharist, “do this in remembrance of me,” overcome his hostility towards people, and, as a rule, hostility in absentia, built on newspaper materials, then the situation is completely different with faith and love for one’s neighbor. no matter.

The Lord does not require everyone to die for Him, He requires at least to reach the Chalice. And if this simple requirement remains unfulfilled, then what more can be said?

The other side of the Eucharist is the promise associated with it. On what basis do we believe that the Lord will resurrect us to eternal life? Because we were - and will go again - to Communion. The Lord says: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is like a signature and a seal: we belong to Him and eat at His table.

Does this mean that people who are not baptized or who neglect the Eucharist are deprived of God's promises? The Word of God says there are exceptions. The Church knows even unbaptized saints. For example, some pagans, amazed at the confession of Christian martyrs, exclaimed: “And I am a Christian!” They were immediately killed, so that they did not have time to be baptized, let alone come to Communion. God can also act outside the Sacraments when He Himself wants it and when there is no other possibility for the person himself. But God does not act where His action is denied. He has established certain ceremonies in which we can express our faith in such a way that He will accept it. He so wanted, not for us to dictate our conditions to Him. If we don't want to fulfill them, then we don't want to. If we keep them, then the promises He made apply to us as well. If not, then no.

When we enter into certain relationships with other people, we manifest this in certain symbolic actions. We sign contracts or sign in the registry office. Relationships themselves are not reduced to these ritual actions, but if we evade these actions, it means that we do not want these relationships or are afraid and deceive ourselves and others. Everything depends on ourselves. The Lord has said His word: Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20). Let it be!