THE WORLD

The World is a neutral substance; it is what you make of it. It can be either the threshold of Heaven or the Gate of Hell; Merrie Middle Earth, eaten into on both sides until there is but a filament's worth of neutrality in it, if that. He who would walk this razor wire must indeed keep his feet firmly planted on terra firma.

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What relation to the world should a Christian have? We are told that we are in the world, but not of the world; most seem to interpret that passage as saying, "even though we are not of the world, we must strive to be integrated into the affairs of the world". To me it seems obvious that the intent of the verse is that we are in the world whether we like it or not, but must take care that we do not become "of the world". Much scholarship is directed at the idea that what the Fathers meant by the world is not the world as such, but the sinful passions which afflict us. Of course, I agree that what the Fathers speak against is not God's creation, which is good, but the fallen world and fallen nature, the bonfire of the vanities, and in this sense it is very true that He who is a friend of the world is the enemy of God, but it is necessary for us to realize just how profoundly Man's rebellion against God affected the substance of the World, and not speak as if the World as it exists now is not groaning with us in the shadow of corruption cast by our Firstfather's ordinal misdeed. Some speak as if when Christ ressurected, destroying death, or when He was baptized, sanctifying the nature of Matter, that the effects of the Fall were reversed at that point, and the World reverted to its ordinal "good" condition. Those who say such things reveal, by the way, their low view of God's Creation (usually they are somewhat under the influence of Medieval Scholasticism), but also that they not only do not have the Patristic Mind, but are not even in accordance with Scripture; when St. Paul wrote of all Nature groaning in anticipation of it's deliverance from the bondage of Death, this was after the Earthly life of Christ, which the aforesaid pundits attribute as the deliverance from the effects of sin. It probably hasn't escaped anyone's notice, but Death exists, and death is the result of sin.

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Why this blindness in the face of the fact of sin? It is the love of the World (which is emnity to God); embracing the good of this world, and plummeting to perdition, finding in the end that the love of anything in this world for itself alone is the embracing of corruption. The beauties we see in the world point us toward life in God and the Eternal Kingdom; if we learn to love that life, we will always be in exile here, under the harsh tutelage of corruption, and must always long for the day when the world we know will be purged, and return to its ordinal condition. Till then, the Kingdom of Earth and the Kingdom of Heaven are in this world together like oil and water, two principles so completely contrary to one another that no compromise can ever exist between them, contending against each other until the last day.

THE CHURCH

Christianity is not based on some body of esoteric knowledge, nor is it a ritual system for preserving an economy of propitiation. Christianity is centered on the Church, that is, on the body of those being saved by the sacrifice of Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, being united with Christ and one another through partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, thereby constituting the Body of Christ. Consequently, it is true that it is not solely, or even primarily, a religious phenomena. There are those who will make of this truth a weapon with which to attack Her salvific institutions, but there is no validity in their efforts, for there is no real connection between the idea that the Church transcends religiosity and the idea that therefore Her religious accoutrements are of no real value. Even if true theological knowledge could be gained through study, it would be necessary for one whose theological opinions were orthodox in every respect to join himself to the Church in order to be of the Church. In my former protestant worldview, it would have seemed silly to think that one who believed all the right things wasn't Christian, because Christianity is all about belief, isn't it? This is why Protestantism, as anti-intellectual as it often is, is still firmly based on intellectual apprehension.

But Christianity isn't about believing the right things, though it is important to believe the right things, but about being united to Christ. This union takes place only in Christ's Church; the Bride of Christ, of one flesh and one body with He who is the Divine Man who divinizes Mankind.

Where does that leave those who faithfully believe in Christ as they understand him? My belief is that only those united to the True Church through the mystery of baptism, and who faithfully unite themselves to Christ by their righteous lives constitute the Bride of Christ; that is, those who dwell in holy splendor in closest intimacy and union with the Lord of Creation, but where there is a bride, may there not be bridesmaids? What of the Meek who will inherit the Earth? Surely a lesser blessing than that of beholding the face of God, but still no negligible benefit for those who have zeal without knowledge, as do most of my Evangelical relatives; perhaps those like me who have the benefit of an Orthodox baptism but are unworthy of it will be permitted to be their servants.

There is a place for all in the Church; those who cannot attain theological knowledge are not debarred from Her; Faith is the key to the Kingdom. I cannot tell you how incredibly grateful I am that my entrance into Heaven does not depend on my correctly understanding every theological nuance; I would probably fail the examination at many points. May He who receives little children accept me, blind and weak as I am.