Canons 4-6 of the Orthodox Church: A look into Church Law

 

Welcome back to the Corner today, and last week we started the series about the Canons of the Orthodox Church. The last time out we took the first three canons of the Orthodox Church and expanded upon them as a chance to learn the laws that govern the basic practices of the Orthodox faith. As you’ll recall there are eighty five canons. We have discussed three, so that leaves us with eighty two to go. Today I’ll expand on a few more, and see what we can learn from the Church in their explicit understanding of how to operate the faith and the parameters we as Orthodox Christians have set for ourselves to maintain perfect communion with God. So instead of a lengthy opening, lets dive right into the practices of the church.

Canon 4- Let all other fruit be sent home to the Bishop and Presbyters as first fruits, but not to the sacrificial altar. It is understood that the Bishop and Presbyters shall distribute a fair share to the Deacons and other Clergymen.

As you’ll recall the church doesn’t allow for anything that does not have direct correlation to the Eucharist or the services to be brought to the Church and the altar. The altar is a sacred space designed for Eucharist and the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Being the most holy spot within a church, the altar should not and cannot be defiled by elements that are not worthy of God. In many aspects I see this as a correlation between the sacrifices of Cain and Abel. Cain did not bring a worthy sacrifice to God, where as Abel did. However there is another way of looking at this as well. With this being a first fruits offering, giving to the Bishop and the clergy as a sign of respect and honor is a noble thing. It is not right that it should be brought to the altar, as a gift to the clergy for their service is only right to give them at their home. As the spiritual father of the faithful, the Bishop therefore is only right to give to their clergy a portion of the gifts he receives, because as Christians we share in everything, we share as brothers and sisters in the faith and in doing so we show that Christ lives within us. As a spiritual father, just as biological father, the bishop therefore takes care of the needs of his children. Because eating a necessary part of life, sharing food with his clergy is a way to maintain the brotherhood but also provide for their earthly needs. The faithful therefore should offer those things that they have as first fruits of their gardens, farms and other things to the church to provide for those who take care of them spiritually.

Canon 5- No Bishop, Presbyter, or Deacon shall put away his own wife under pretext of reverence. If, however, he put her away, let him be excommunicated," and if he persist in so doing, let him be deposed from office

So, we know that Bishops these days are chosen from the monastic ranks as a way of ensuring their complete devotion to the task of being the spiritual father of the local church. However, many bishops in previous years were married and selected because they showed a good stable home environment and were Godly fathers. The Orthodox Church allows for married priests, and my own is married and has several kids. Divorcing your spouse for no reason, except for that of adultery, is looked upon with distain. Now we know that divorce happens within the church, and that people for a variety of reasons no longer wish to stay married. However, the clergy, whatever the rank, are the spiritual fathers of their parish, diocese and local church. They are to be upstanding members of the faith and to hold themselves with dignity. By not maintaining a healthy marriage by which the faithful can look to as an example, the priest, bishop, or deacon has therefore broken their trust with the laymen of the church and are deposed from their office because of their poor example. Leading the church is a matter of heaven or hell. Accounting for not just their own sins but the sins of the faithful they were entrusted with at the Awesome Judgement Seat of Christ at the Second Coming would be very difficult for those who have led others to fall away from the faith by their own actions. If a lay person were to divorce their own spouse because they saw a priest do it to theirs, it would cause irreversible spiritual damage to the faithful. This is why the church prescribes this particular canon here, so that it is known that those with spiritual authority must be upstanding members of the church to be chosen for leadership.

Canon 6-  A Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon must not undertake worldly cares. If he does, let him be deposed from office

Well I’ve gone and done it now by writing about this particular canon. As we have just seen being a bishop, priest or deacon within the church is a very important task. So much so that divorce among the clergy is forbidden. So too is partaking in worldly affairs. The leaders of the church are not political leaders, they are not to be seen as someone who has the authority of the people in an earthly sense. That is to be left to those who have been entrusted with political office, or in the case of the most conservative orthodox, in the emperor himself. Thus a member of the clergy should not be concerned with the daily goings on of the world, rather he should devote himself completely to the church, performing the services daily and praying for the souls of the faithful. This is also to remind the members of the clergy to not seek glory for themselves. We see politicians and other leaders outside of the church seek to become almost like God figures in their own right, leading massive rallies and parades that would seek to heap praise on themselves. God would rather those that serve him seek glory from Him, and not of the world. The clergy should be humble and seen as meek. Knowing that one day their reward is in heaven with the rest of the righteous. So many clergy in certain “churches” today seek to win the approval of the world, rather than God and it shows in the leadership of the church. I have yet to encounter a priest personally who does so, as the clergy and the bishops that I have encountered are all the most humble and righteous men I have met. I pray that we find more of these men to guide our lives than those in some “churches” who shall remain nameless but seek to heap glory on themselves and ruin the spiritual state of the faithful. (looking at you Pope Francis) May those who seek earthly glory and cares of this world repent and find themselves back within the home confines of the Orthodox Church.

While I would like to continue into the next canon of the Orthodox Church, the next canon is probably the most debated and most harsh cause of the Great Schism. The Great Schism saw the Roman Catholics lose their place in the Church of Jesus Christ as they became heretics after their falling away in 1054. The changing of the date of Pascha which has always been celebrated in the same manner in the Orthodox Church is a serious fatal error on the part of the Latins and deserves its own discussion. So instead of discussing it here, we will look it at next in a separate article, devoted solely to the date of Pascha and why we as Orthodox Christians do not and never will celebrate Pascha with the Jews.

May God bless you and welcome Macedonia to the ranks of autocephalous churches. May God have mercy on all of us.

Amen.

The Church and its Canon: Introduction to the Canon Law of the Church and Canons 1-3

 

Welcome to the newest set of posts on the Tsar’s Corner. We will be looking at the Rudder, which outlines Church doctrine and canons of the church.  This will give us an insight into the inner workings of the Church and why obeying the canons is important for us as Orthodox Christians. The Rudder was written by Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain and I will attempt to convey as clear a picture as I can to church law and why the Orthodox Church is governed in this manner.

First, a little background on St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain.  Born Nicholas on the Isle of Naxos in Greece, the future St. Nicodemus, like many of the saints before and after grew in stature before the Lord at an early age. This future saint was extremely knowledgeable in all areas of the church life and fostered a sense of intellect that was found in few others. He eventually became the best friend of Marcarius of Corinth, who the church venerates on April 17^TH.  Besides compiling the Rudder and the explanation of the Canon Laws of the church, the Philokalia was also composed by St. Nicodemus and St. Marcarius to show the beauty of the Jesus Prayer of which we have discussed before on this particular venue but will probably do so again at some point.  Constantly persecuted by the Turks for his beliefs as an Orthodox Christian, St. Nicodemus decided to enter the monastic life to see the salvation of his soul and to produce the fruit of the spirit. He is a part of the Koliva Fathers and a well-respected member of the church having as stated been declared a saint by the Orthodox Church.

With that said, we will now look at the 85 canons of the church. This exercise will be undertaken for the benefit of us all. I am sure that there are Orthodox Christians who do not know the 85 canons and what they entail for us as Christians. Bear in mind I am not a priest, nor a member of the monastic community. While I will try to stay faithful to the mindset that St. Nicodemus laid out for us in his own explanations of the canons, I will also do my best to see the canons in my own light, and how we as Orthodox Christians can apply them. These canons are the life-bed of the church. They define the operational parameters that the church is governed under and in doing so, they must be adhered to not just when they were written but by the Church of today.

Canon #1- A bishop must be ordained by two or three other Bishops.

This is a straightforward Canon, as most are. From what we can glean from this canon is much actually. First, we understand that Jesus Christ is the ultimate bishop, the overseer, and head of the church. Jesus as our head has given the responsibility of the church to the college of bishops regardless of the jurisdiction of the church. The Church therefore explicitly gives charge the local bishops of an area to come together and ordain a new bishop when he is elected and called to the episcopacy.  It is a show of unity among brother bishops that this man (not a woman like some Protestant denominations) has been called by God to join their fellowship and to help guide the church. Because of the great honor that has been bestowed upon him, it is expected that as many bishops as can attend the service must do so. Yes, this is very important for us as Orthodox Christians because we are called to be the one, true church. By showing our unity as a church we can show the world that we are brothers in Christ. If only one, or none were to show up to ordain a bishop, then it calls into question the legitimacy of the bishop elected, and it also raises the question as to whether the Bishop was rightfully elected and rightfully chosen. Of course, as with anything there may be exceptions to this, especially in areas of persecution, where the ability to ordain a bishop is scarce. All in all, the church provides for our unity as well as our salvation, because we are called to be one in Christ. This also raises the point that it is Apostolic Succession that is taking place. The Bishops are the successors to the first Bishops, the apostles. Just as president is succeeded by the next man elected, or a king is succeeded by his son, the bishop is taking up the mantle of the apostles. While the apostles are interceding and leading the church from heavenly glory, the bishop is leading the church from earth and has been given the same calling that Jesus gave the Twelve. The canon provides for both unity of the church and for apostolic succession to take place, as the Church with over 2000 years of apostolic succession we must continue the traditions of the Church to select and ordain men who have been found worthy of this position and when two or three are gathered in Jesus’ name he will be there. This canon is simply following the scriptures.

Canon #2- A Presbyter must be ordained by a single Bishop, and so must a Deacon and other Clergymen.

            As such, along the same vein of the bishop, the Presbyter, or priest, must be ordained by a single bishop. Because of apostolic succession and the continuation of the church, anyone that has not been ordained by a priest has not received the blessing to be performing the sacraments and is uncanonical. Because ordination is reserved only for males, women cannot become priests, deacons, or any form of the clergy. The priest as the representative of the bishop in a parish, must have his blessing to perform the services. So to deacons must have the blessing of a bishop and readers, and so on. Priests are given the responsibility of guiding the flock. Deacons are called to assist the priest as they would have done in the days of the apostles, and the other clergy perform various roles within the church during the services, such as reading the epistle.

Canon #3- If any Bishop or Presbyter, contrary to the Lord's ordinance relating to sacrifice, offers anything else at the sacrificial altar, whether it he honey, or milk, or artificial liquor instead of wine, chickens, or any kind of animals, or vegetables, contrary to the ordinance, let him be deposed from office: except ears of new wheat or bunches of grapes, in due season. Let it not be permissible to bring anything else to the sacrificial altar but oil for the lamp, and incense at the time of the holy oblation.

            Our last one for this first look at the ordinances may see strange to the non-orthodox reader. As there does not seem to be anything wrong with the items in question. However, Jesus gave strict orders to the apostles in their task to perform the sacraments of the church. The Holy Eucharist as the epitome of brotherly love and unity in Christ is a sacred tradition and sacred entity in the Orthodox Church. So much that partially the reason why the Catholic Church is now in heresy is that they began to offer unleavened bread on their altars instead of leavened bread. Not only this, but as a bloodless sacrifice the offering of animals and other living creatures on the altar of an Orthodox Church refutes the pagan practices that many participated in during the era before paganism was eradicated. While I will not go into much detail here, the 4^th canon does discuss the offering of first fruits that is practiced by the faithful and those even are not to be brought into the altar, but rather a bishop’s home. Oil of course is used at every divine service when the lamps are lit, and incense is used at every service as well. (If I may say so, smoking in church is quite okay as long as its incense) The Orthodox Church maintains that the altar is reserved for the sacrifice of the Eucharist and anyone wishing to defile the altar of a church must be deposed. Breaking sacred tradition is not something that cannot be forgiven, as all sins are forgivable, but the one who breaks the tradition is clearly not reverent enough to be in the altar and to be ordained. Now from my reading of this particular canon, I can say that it is likely the person will be tried in a church court and a decision will be made as to whether or not they may remain in their post, but it is a foolish and dumb decision to even contemplate the idea of defiling the church.

            Now that we have concluded the first three canons, we have eighty-two to go. Some will be short explanations as these were, and others will be long and examples of how they were broken in the past and the present will be given. Church law is important because it gives us the structure by which the church must adhere to as I previously stated. Allowing just anyone to perform the services, or for that matter to defile the church is a grievous error on the part of everyone. God is not mocked. Even those who unintentionally touched the Ark of the Covenant with their hands were struck down. While I do not believe that God has done that recently, it is not to say that those who’s hearts are in a state of opposition to God would not receive his wrath. We must be vigilant in our practices and when they are not in communion with the spirit of God, then they are outside the Church. May God bless all of you. Christos Anesti.

Amen.