GOSPEL MESSAGE & RECORDING
The Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 1: 11 that the gospel he preaches is not from men but from God. This is an interesting point that the Apostle is attempting to make because there were those within the early Christian community that did not recognize St. Paul as a legitimate apostle, like Peter or Mathew. There were those who had speculations about St. Paul because he was never with Jesus, as were the others. Additionally, he was originally a persecutor of Christians and more than a few were not willing to accept his conversion story. So, that’s the reason why he said in Galatians 1:11 that he received his teaching from God, not men. That is, his purpose and mission is not attached to anyone but Jesus Christ. In retrospect we know that God was using St. Paul and it was the Holy Spirit that was speaking through him and writing the epistles that we now call the New Testament/Bible. What the Apostle Paul is saying can’t only be related to himself, but it is for the whole Church. Meaning, the Church and its teachings, doctrines, preaching, liturgy and prayers are not according to the teachings of man but by the revelation of God. This is hard for us Orthodox to believe, at least completely. Let me explain.
Faith, Liturgy and Prayers of the Church are from God.
It’s true that the Holy Qurbana that we have now developed over centuries. Sometimes we think we have finished the product but fail to realize that even now the liturgy is developing. It changes organically, with the times, places, people and languages that it meets. It adapts. This in no way proves that the Qurbana is man-made but more so points to the fact that it is from God. Because the core of the Liturgy is the Body and Blood of Christ, as Christ Himself instituted in the Gospels.
We have a tendency to listen to the contemporaries of our time and are so easily persuaded that our Orthodox liturgy, Qurbana, is somehow something that men put together. Even then, the idea that men put it together becomes a point of contention, when in fact, it should never be an issue. We only go that route when we begin to speculate upon what we experience in the Orthodox Church as God-given or man-driven or maybe a mix of both.
The liturgy, the prayers of the church, the liturgical life of the church is divine; it is from God. Therefore, we should not treat it as it is from men. There should be a reverence for the holy. Once we lose that reverence, the feeling, the belief that what we have is holy and sanctified, then we will slowly begin to lose our faith and every issue, from the social to the political, will become an avenue to change the content of our faith. This happens and the faith is watered down. We might ask if the faith is watered down what does that have to do with the liturgy. The liturgy and the faith that we uphold are not two different entities. They are the same. Our liturgy is an expression of our faith. That’s why it’s difficult to make changes. In fact, changes happened over time, as I stated earlier, in an organic way.
So then let’s talk about faith. Is what we believe from man? As Orthodox Christian, we would say that it is all from God. Of course, there are traditions and rituals that are particular to culture and ethnicity but that is in terms of expressing the faith, not the content of faith, that is, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God, died for our sins and rose again on the third day from the tomb; and this Jesus is Lord and God is not a development of man, but a revelation of God given once and for all at the Cross.
So, then what should this compel us to do?
Holy: We should reverence the holy and respect that which is sanctified. What is at church is holy. We should be diligent to reverence the holy icons, respect the liturgy, bow to the Altar, say the prayers when walking in and walking out of parish, make the sign of the cross, when necessary, in the liturgy, standing up when we are incensed, etc. This is all a part of reverencing what is holy in our church. Sure, we don’t have to do that! But that comes from a mind-set that what we experience in the Orthodox Church is from man, rather than from God. Because if our mind-set was, it is from God, then we would show reverence. Unfortunately, I think we are losing a lot of that. Through our actions, we might be teaching our children to be irreverent, without even knowing it.
Pure: If what we have is from God, then it is pure and undefiled. Then that which is pure can only help up and lift us up when we are down. Do we actually believe that? Again, if the liturgy and our faith are pure then it acts as an agent of healing and restoration. Often, we consider the liturgical experience of the church to be in some way not as “up to date” as everything else; it’s not as modern or advanced as other things. If this is our mindset then, of course, Qurbana will not be effective for us. We will be bored and not get anything out of it.