Let's go back to basics. The theme of our Orientale Lumen Conference,
during these days, has been "Primacy and Collegiality." But in order to
understand these two things, we need to ask more broadly and fundamentally
what we mean in the Church by power, authority and service. How are these
things set forth in the Holy Gospels? How far do our present day
structures of Church authority, whether Orthodox or Catholic, correspond to
Christ's teaching?
Let us think about two key passages from Scripture which speak to us
concerning Church authority.
First of all, let us recall Christ's rebuke to the Apostles when they were
disputing about who would be greatest in the Kingdom. His words come in
all three Synoptic Gospels. In Matthew Chapter 20:25-26, Mark 10:42-43, in
both these two Gospels Christ's words come during the last journey to
Jerusalem. We have the same words in Saint Luke's Gospel, Chapter
22:25-26. Here they come at a very significant point, just after the
institution of the Holy Eucharist. If we reflect that the Church is a
"eucharistic community", founded and held in being by the act of communion
in the Body and Blood of the Savior, then the place where these words come
in Luke's Gospel is particularly significant.
"You know," says our Lord, "That those who are supposed to rule over the
Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercised authority over
them. But it shall not be so among you!" "Not so among you" � Jesus is
altogether unambiguous. The exercise of authority and power in the Church
is to be utterly different from that which prevails in secular society. As
a Kingdom not of this world � eucharistic, pentecostal, eschatological �
the Church is unique. She is never to be assimilated to models of power
and jurisdiction prevailing in the fallen world around us. "Not so among
you" � we are not to model the Church on the absolutist system of the Roman
Empire, or on the graded hierarchies of medieval society, or on modern
democracy with its party system and its decision-making by majority vote.
The bishop is not a feudal overlord nor an elected parliamentary
representative. The chief bishop, or "primate," is neither dictator nor a
constitutional monarch nor the chairman of a board of directors. To
interpret ecclesial authority by such analogies is to overlook the Church's
uniqueness as a Kingdom not of this world. It is to forget Christ's severe
and specific warning "not so among you."
In this same Gospel pericope, having told us what Church authority is not,
Jesus then goes on to indicate what it is. "It shall not be so among you."
"But whoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And
whoever will be first among you, let him be your servant." Then Christ
goes to appeal through His own example. "Even as the Son of Man came not
to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give His life as a ransom for
many." The point is made yet more plainly in the Lukan account � I've been
quoting Matthew so far. But in the Lukan account Christ says: "I am among
you as the one who serves."
Here then is the reverse aspect of the injunction "no so among you." Power,
says Christ, means service Exousia means diakonia. The first shall be
last � primacy means kenosis. So when we move into the realm of the Gospel
we enter into the land of Alice Through the Looking Glass. Secular power
structures are to be subverted totally within the redeemed community. The
perspective is reversed; the pyramid is stood upon its head. The only
valid model of Church authority is Jesus washing the disciples feet at the
Last Supper.
Now I come to my second passage. This is the proclamation of the Risen
Christ at the end of Saint Matthew's Gospel.
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me! Go therefore,
and make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the Name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all of the
things that I have commanded you. See, I am with you always until the
close of the age, Amen" (Matthew 28:18-20).
Now there are a number of things for us to notice in this crucial passage.
First, it speaks very clearly of the source of authority. All power comes
from God. Exousia � power and authority � is imparted by the Father to
Jesus Christ, and by Christ to the Disciples. This should always be the
pattern of authority in the Church. Authority is not assumed but
received. It's not taken but given. From the Father through the Son �
that's always the pattern in Church life. The Father is the well-spring;
Christ is the intermediary.
We notice very clearly that power in the redeemed community of the Church
comes from above, not from below. In modern democratic thinking, power
comes from the people. But that is not the teaching of the Gospel. Power
comes from God through Christ.
But now, another thing in this passage from Matthew. "See," says Christ,
"I am with you always." Although He confers authority on the apostles,
Christ still continues to be present with them to the "close of the
age." So Christ shares His authority with the Church, with the bishops and
the people. He shares His authority but He does not delegate it, because
He is with us directly in person. He continues, though He is ascended into
heaven, to be immediately present and active in the Church. That is why
Orthodox Christians feel that the title of "Vicar of Christ" is inappropriate. It is a title, as we know, applied primarily to the Pope. But, Vatican II said it belongs also to all bishops (Lumen Gentium, #27).
But I am unhappy about this phrase. A "vicar," in the common
understanding, means the representative of someone who is absent. But the
Risen Christ is not absent! He needs no vicar or vicars upon earth. He is
ever-present through the Holy Spirit. "I am with you always!" So, let�s
hold fast to these ideas to guide us. "Not so among you!"
The Church is unique. Secular patterns of authority are utterly
inapplicable. �All authority has been given to Me. I am with you
always.� The Risen Christ � ever-present in the Church through the Holy
Spirit � is the one and only source of all authority within the
Church. �Whoever shall be first among you, let him be your
servant.� Power means service. Think of Christ washing the feet of His
Disciples.
So that is the teaching of the Gospel about Church authority. How are we
to apply it?
I�d like to think briefly tonight about three factors. During this
conference, we�ve said quite a lot about the primacy of the Pope of
Rome. I�d like, rather, to begin with another factor, without which we
cannot properly understand the authority of the Church. I would like to
start with the authority of the sensus fidelium � the general conscience of
the Church. We haven�t said very much about that so far in our conference.
Any truly Catholic and Orthodox view of authority has to take into account
that the Holy Spirit is given, not just to patriarchs, popes, or bishops,
but to the whole people of God. Here we have an important scriptural
indication in John 15:15. There, Christ says that He does not call us
slaves or servants, but He calls us friends. Then He goes on to indicate
the difference between a slave and a friend. �A slave,� says our Lord,
�does not know what his Master is doing.� He obeys blindly, from fear of
punishment. �But,� says Christ to His Disciples, �I have made known to you
the Father�s will and purpose.� So you are not slaves, you are friends.
That means we don�t obey blindly, but willingly. We don�t obey out of
fear, but out of love. When Christ says that we are His friends, surely
that means every baptized member of the Church � all of us are His
friends. He doesn�t restrict His friendship only to the hierarchy. So,
the Church is truly a society of friends. There�s no polarization, then,
in the Church between the absolute ruler and passive subject. What we have
in the Church is sisterhood, brotherhood, co-responsibility, communion,
koinonia.
Some years ago, the Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius of Antioch made a statement
of great importance � simple but profound. He said: �Communion is the
highest authority in the Church.�
I think that is exactly what Christ means when He calls us friends. We
enjoy communion through Him with the Father, and through and in Him we
enjoy communion with one another. It is this communion which is the
highest authority in the Church � the authority of mutual love.
Now, let�s turn to the account of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day
of Pentecost, in Acts 2. We are told they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit. As Saint Peter goes on to point out, �this is a fulfillment of the
prophecy of Joel: �I will pour out my spirit on all flesh�� (Acts 2:16-17).
So, through the descent of the Holy Spirit, in the upper room at Pentecost,
all members of the Church, all without exception, are made spirit-bearers,
charismatics, in the true sense of that word, imbued with the charismata of
the Paraclete. As Saint Peter points out: �we are all anointed as
priests.� As we are told in the book of Revelation: �we are a kingdom of
priests and kings� (Revelation 1:6).
Now, what happened to the Holy Mother of God, to the Apostles and to the
first Christians gathered at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, happens to
each one of us. After we�ve been baptized, immersed in the water of the
font, then in the Orthodox practice we are anointed with the Holy Chrism,
the myron. This chrismation, immediately after Baptism, is for each one of
us a personal Pentecost. The tongues of fire which descended visibly on
the Apostles on the 50th day, descend also upon each one of us at our
Chrismation, invisibly but with no less reality and power. As Saint John
says (1 John 2:20): �you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all
know (or you have all knowledge).�
The power to discern between truth and falsehood is not the monopoly of any
particular hierarch or order within the Church. It is the power given to
all the baptized, to the royal priesthood in its totality. So here, in the
sacrament of Chrismation, our personal Pentecost, we have the basis of what
is known as the sensus fidelium � the general conscience of the Church. It
is not just a diffused feeling. It is a sacramental power.
Any doctrine of infallibility � which is not a scriptural word � has to
take this into account. Because the Holy Spirit is given to the whole
people of God, statements made by Popes, Patriarchs, and Synods require to
be received by the people of God as a whole, by the anointed ones who
constitute the charismatic community of the Church.
The Holy Spirit does not only speak through the hierarchy. The Holy Spirit
speaks through all the people of God. It may sometimes be lay people who
save the Church from heresy when the bishops fall away. This is well-put
by a Latin Father of the fourth century, Saint Paulinus of Nola. �Let us
hang upon the lips of all the faithful, for the Spirit of God breathes upon
every one of them.� We listen to all the faithful. It may often be not a
Patriarch or a Pope who speaks the truth, but a lay person.
In the seventh century, in Byzantium and the West, very many people fell
away into the heresy of Monotheletism. This caused great confusion in the
Church. Saint Maximus, who was only a layman, stood firm and did not give
way. When he was in exile, emissaries of the emperor came and said: �You
are alone. The emperor has agreed to this. The Patriarch has agreed to
this. The Pope of Rome has agreed to it. You are outside the
Church.� �No,� said Saint Maximus, �in that case I �am� the Church.� So
he, as a layman, bore witness, a faithful witness.
So it was also that Saint Hippolytus of Rome said, in the early third century,
�On such as believe rightly, the Holy Spirit bestows the fullness of grace,
that they may know how those who are at the head of the Church should teach
the tradition and maintain it in all things.�
So often the laity correct the hierarchs.
Our Lord Jesus said: �when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you
into all the truth.� The �you� there doesn�t just mean the Pope of Rome,
the Patriarch of Constantinople, the bishops, the professional
theologians. �You� means every baptized and chrismated member of the Church.
If we are to have a right understanding of the collegiality of bishops, the
meaning of �synod,� and of the place of primacy in the Church, we must
never forget that the Holy Spirit is poured out on the total people of
God. We must never forget the sensus fidelium, the general conscience of
the Church.
Now, what about the second factor � the episcopate?
The Holy Spirit is given to all the baptized. But, the episcopate has a
special charism veritatis, charisma of the truth, to use Saint Irenous�
phrase, a special charisma to proclaim and teach the truth. This is
bestowed on bishops through sacramental consecration. Yes, the people of
God as a whole, the entire company of the baptized, are guardians of the
truth. But the bishops have a special vocation to proclaim and teach the
truth. In the words of 2 Timothy 2:15 used at the Liturgy, the bishops are
appointed rightly to define the word of truth.
Yet the bishops, when they so proclaim the truth, speak not to the
uninitiated but to those who know, who have all knowledge, in Saint John�s
word. So there is a reciprocal relationship between bishop and flock.
When the first Orthodox bishop to serve in North America was consecrated in
Russia in 1840, Saint Innocent of Alaska, he said in his consecration
sermon: �the bishop is at the same time the teacher and the disciple of his
flock.� Russian slavophile theologian Alexis Khomiakov singled out that
phrase as possessing particular significance � teacher and disciple.
So there isn�t within the Church just a one-way power structure. There is
a mutuality, co-responsibility, communion. The truth enlarges through the
communion between the bishop and the people. Communion is the highest
authority in the Church
Here, we recall Christ�s words that exousia � power � means diakonia �
service. �I am among you as one who serves,� says Christ. So the bishop
is the servant of his flock. That must surely mean, among other things,
that he needs to listen to them. As Saint Gregory the Theologian says,
�even bishops have to learn.�
Now, to discuss primacy. What is true of bishops is true equally of
primates, patriarchs, and popes. �I am among you as the one who
serves.� Surely, the best of all papal titles used at Rome is servus
servorum Dei, the servant of the servants of God. Primacy, in its
fundamental meaning, is not the possession of greater power. It�s not a
superior ability to coerce and subjugate. Primacy means the opportunity
and responsibility for a wider sphere of service. We may all of us be
grateful for the way in which this truth has so movingly been emphasized by
the present pope, John Paul II, in his encyclical Ut Unum Sint and elsewhere.
In commenting on primacy, I would like just to mention two further
points. Primacy exists at many different levels. I remember back in the
1980�s when ARCIC, the Roman Catholic-Anglican doctrinal discussion in
Britain were in progress in their first round, they put out a document on
authority. It spoke about the position of the local diocesan bishop. It
also spoke about the universal primacy of the pope, Pope of Rome.
Now, if you only speak about those two things, surely you are distorting
the proper meaning of the Roman Primacy. Because in between the local
diocesan bishop and the Pope there is a whole series of different levels of
primatial authority. There is first the regional primacy of the
Metropolitan. That is something that has largely fallen into disuse in the
Orthodox Church today. Then there is the primacy of patriarchs and heads
of the autocephalous and autonomous Churches.
Then thirdly, in the understanding of the modern Orthodox Church, the
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople possesses a certain universal
primacy as �first among equals.� There are different understandings in
different Orthodox Churches about exactly what that involves. But then you
would come to the universal primacy of the Pope of Rome.
If we isolate the primacy of the Pope, ignore the intermediate levels of
primatial authority, then our understanding of the papal ministry will be,
in part, distorted.
A second point � all those different levels of primacy should not make us
lose sight of the fact that sacramentally all bishops are equal. The
Patriarch of Constantinople or the Pope of Rome have not received an
additional consecration not granted to other bishops. If we think of the
Church, as I would certainly wish to do, in terms of the eucharist, then
the bishop is above all the one who presides at the eucharist. At every
eucharist the whole Christ is present, not just a part of Him. Christ is
not more present in the eucharist at Rome or Constantinople or Kiev than He
is at the eucharist in Oxford or Johnstown or Bound Brook. Levels of
primacy, that is to say, when the Church is seen in eucharistic terms, are
secondary to the fundamental equality of every local Church and so of every
diocesan bishop.
I would venture to say, as an Orthodox, that all bishops, including the
Pope, are fundamentally and sacramentally equal. So if any is to be styled
a primate his status is to be understood as primus inter pares, the first
among equals.
�All authority has been given to Me,� the risen Christ says to us. �Lo, I
am with you always.� The only final authority in the Church is Christ
Himself, ever-present within her through the Holy Spirit and in the
Eucharist. Christ alone, as head of the Church, is the source of all
exousia, all power, and any proper exercise of it can only be in Him and
through Him. The highest call of appeal in the Church, the ultimate
criterion of the truth remains always the Son of God Himself, living
mysteriously in the Church and leading her in the way of truth.
God�s continuing presence in the Church is not to be externalized or
materialized. It cannot be identified, that is to say, with the letter of
Scripture, or with a single person such as the Pope, or with the collective
person of the episcopate gathered in council. All of these together with
the sensus fidelium, the general conscience of the Church, have their part
to play in the exercise of authority, yet none of them is to be taken in
isolation form the rest of from the total life of Christ�s body.
�The eucharist is a continual miracle,� a great eucharistic priest, Saint
John of Kronstadt, used to say. The same is true of the Church as a
eucharistic organism � a continual miracle. In our ecclesial vision we
need constantly to return to what remains beyond all external criteria and
all formal infallibility � what remains the central mystery of the Church�s
nature. The Church is the miracle of God�s presence among humankind.
