The Authority of the Church in the World:  A United Church of Christ Perspective, Rev. Dr. Susan E. Davies
 

The Authority of the Church in the World:  An Orthodox Perspective

Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos, Ph. D.
Senior Program Director, NCC Faith & Order and Interfaith Relations
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and 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 lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:18b-20, RSV).  With these words, according to the scriptural account in Matthew of his final instructions to his disciples, Jesus states the basis for his own authority, gives a share of that authority to those who would follow after him, and, by affirming his ongoing presence, extends that authority to those who would forever be a part of the Christian community.  Interestingly, he links that authority to his teaching. 

These observations beg certain questions.  First, what is the teaching that reflects the authority claimed by Jesus and given to the Church?  Second, how is that authority to be exercised by those who make up the Church? 

For the Orthodox, these questions are particularly incisive.  Since the Church can no longer rely on the partnership of patriarch and emperor to enforce temporal authority in all areas of life; since its minority status in most contexts easily renders claims to social authority rather untenable; since relatively modern human rights principles such as freedom of religion and belief disallow the preference of one religious authority over another; and since new cultural contexts offer little room for moral authority emanating from hierarchical structures viewed from the outside as inherently oppressive: the matter of authority challenges not only the Church’s understanding of its mission, but in truth its very existence.  Globalization, which offers exposure to other ways of ordering one’s view of divine life, and pluralism, which tends toward the equalization of all religious expressions in the public square, only magnify the challenges. 

This, then, begs the central question as the answer to the above questions:  might we not find an objective standard in the person of Jesus – and indeed in the persons of the Father, the Son and the Spirit – that would establish forever the authority claimed by him and given to us?  In a world for which the only constant in reality does seem to be change – as evidenced by the political, historical, philosophical and cultural shifts just highlighted – such a standard is absolutely necessary if the Church’s authority in the world is to be affirmed.

According to the Christian scriptures, in the tradition of the Jewish prophets, Jesus continually exhorts his followers to love the other and to exhibit that love in concrete action.  This love takes the form of feeding the hungry, helping the poor, healing the sick, forgiving the sinners, visiting the prisoners, welcoming the outsiders, and the like.  Because Jesus’ actions took such love to its limits – associating with the tax collectors, touching the lepers, preferring the company of outcasts, and for claiming this was the way of God – he was ultimately killed. 

This ministry, along with this outcome, appears to be the objective standard for Christians, individually and collectively.  The Christian, and the Church, are to love and minister to all people, and to do so to the point of ultimate self-sacrifice.   

In this teaching we find little comfort; we only have hope that, like the Christ whose story we have chosen to believe, we will one day be resurrected to share in God’s glory.  The link between the teaching and the baptism mentioned in the Great Commission is therefore not lost:  it is into his death that we are baptized, in the hope that into his life we will live again.

Fidelity to this teaching is the basis for the Church’s authority.  Such fidelity takes many forms. 

Fidelity to the Scriptures means absorbing and being obedient to God’s Word, not to obtain a weapon with which to attack or coerce others, but as a way to pierce the heart of others through love.  In this way Scripture becomes a source of authority. 

Fidelity to the Spirit means immersing oneself in prayer, not as a means of satisfying our psychological need for divine approval, but as a means of resolving our most deep-seated contradictions.  In this way personal prayer becomes a source of authority. 

Fidelity to liturgical worship means not gathering solely for social interaction and friendship, but to offer glory to God and in return to receive true life and genuine community through the Eucharist.  In this way liturgy becomes a source of authority. 

Fidelity to the Faith handed down through the ages means, not an uncritical adherence to the conciliar decisions of the past or an unchecked reverence for all that has gone before, but an intentionally coherent understanding and application of Christian theology that reveals a consistency of theological development.  In this way the Tradition becomes a source of authority. 

Fidelity to the spiritual legacy of the saints means, not a self-serving emulation or glorification of the suffering of those whose asceticism and persecution are the stuff of legends, but a balanced appreciation for the spirit of martyrdom, as a validation of that which gives life.  In this way our collective memory becomes a source of authority. 

Fidelity to the Gospel message, for individual Christians, means living like Christ, being Christ to others, and seeing Christ in others; for leaders in the Church, means modeling the hierarchical ministry after the Father, Son and Spirit who, in their own unique, willful vulnerability, suffered through the experience of the cross; and for the Church as a whole, means risking all forms of worldly power and influence in favor of a proclamation and praxis consistent with those of the known and unknown Christians whose witness of humility through the centuries has given the Church its character.  In this way the testimony of the Church becomes a source of authority. 

The authority of the Church in the world comes through its obedience to its own message of the crucified and risen Christ.  The inherent power of that authority is revealed to the extent that its ortho-praxis matches its ortho-doxia.  This is the only way that, in whatever time and place, in whatever historical or cultural context, it can claim to have any authority in a world that does not readily recognize it.