Reflection on the Saturday Before Theophany (St. Theophan the Recluse)

 

Reflection on the Saturday Before Theophany

(1 Tim. 3:14–4:5; Matt. 3:1–11)

By St. Theophan the Recluse

“The house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).

Therefore, we have no need to cast our eyes here and there, trying to see whether there might be truth somewhere else. It is near. Be in the Church, hold fast to everything that she holds, and you will be in the truth; you will possess the truth and live according to it and in it, and as a result you will be filled with life by the truth.

Outside the Orthodox Church there is no truth. She alone is the faithful guardian of everything that the Lord commanded through the Holy Apostles, and therefore she is the true Apostolic Church. Others have lost the Apostolic Church, and since, according to Christian consciousness, they hold the conviction that only the Apostolic Church can faithfully preserve and point out the truth, they have thought to build such a church themselves — and they have built one and even given it such a name. They gave it a name, but they could not impart its essence. For the Apostolic Church was created by the good pleasure of the Father, by the Lord and Savior, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, through the Apostles. Human beings cannot create such a Church. Those who think they can create one are like children playing with dolls.

If there were no true Apostolic Church on earth, there would be no point in expending effort to create one. But thanks be to the Lord: He did not allow the gates of hades to prevail against the Holy Apostolic Church. She exists and will remain, according to His promise, until the end of the age. And this is our Orthodox Church. Glory to God!

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.