Apostolic and Missionary Church

The symbol of our faith, the reflection of the doctrinal decisions of the first Ecumenical Council of Nicea and the second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople, aptly summarizes the principles of Christianity. In the verse dedicated to the Church, he urges all of us Orthodox Christians to confess many times over: “I believe… In one, holy, catholic and apostolic church”. The term “apostolic” has a double meaning. It means, on the one hand, that our Church is the Church of the Apostles, the disciples of Christ, who for three long years walked with Him, followed His way of life, felt His divine greatness through the signs He performed, they heard His teaching, they were merciful in His rebukes, they experienced the humiliating drama of the Crucifixion, the sublime glory of the Resurrection, the indissoluble emotions of His Ascension, and they received the epiphany of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. On the other hand, the meaning of the adjective “apostolic” seals the mode of operation of the Church and the purpose of Her existence. It is the Church that is “sent”, the Church that “goes” to the nations, to teach them, to enlighten them and, finally, to save them… It is the Church of the Apostles who indelibly engraved in their hearts “and let them be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth”. (Tract 1,8). It is the Church of the Apostles who, as St. Gregory Palamas emphasizes, “having been taught and enlightened, were sent out for this purpose, to teach as they had been taught and to enlighten as they had been enlightened, to preach publicly what had happened, to hear in the ear, that is, not in the ears of all, to say in the light, that is, openly to all, what was said to them in the darkness.” (Venedictus Ieromonachos, Palamikon Fund, ed. “Companionship of Spyridon Ieromonachos”, New Skete Mount Athos 2007, p. 157).

“Apostolic” …and “Missionary”. “Apostolic” …and “Missionary”. What, then, is the difference between these sublime concepts? None!!!! Apostles were the disciples of Christ, the people who chose – after first being called – to identify their lives with His experience. According to Basil the Great, they were His children with the “Beautiful Frodos”; “By these children, born again under Christ, mighty signs and wonders were wrought in the house of Jacob. The apostles were children, fasting from evil.”

(Venedictus Ieromonachos, Basilian Treasury, ed. “Escort Spyridon Ieromonachos”, New Skete Mount Athos 1998, p. 95), sent to preach not only in word but also in deed, as he continues: “Understand also as sharpened arrows the apostles, who were sent to sow the gospel throughout the whole world, who, because they were sharpened, shone with works of righteousness, and with subtlety entered into the souls of their disciples; these arrows, sent everywhere, prepared the people to submit to Christ” (M.Vassiliou, On the Ninth Psalm, ed. “H.P.E.”, vol. 5, Thessaloniki 1974, p. 279).

Missionaries are the workers of the Church, who in our days follow the blessed and God-given path of the Apostles, the path of the Lord, the path that the Lord walked and that was accurately described by the leading Paul: “For God has proved to us the apostles of the last days, as immortals, that we were born into the world as a theatre, both of angels and of men. We are foolish in Christ, and we are wise in Christ; we are weak, and we are strong; we are weak, and we are strong; we are weak, and we are weak. Till the end of the age, both hungering and thirsting, and being naked, and being naked, and being flattered, and being unstable, and laboring, working in our own strength; being blessed, being blessed; being persecuted, being persecuted, being tolerated; being blasphemed, being blasphemed, being blasphemed; being born as the perishable things of the world, being made of all things unto the end of the age” (Cor 1:4, 9-13).

Oh, Apostles! Oh, you too, Missionaries, torch-bearing successors and collaborators in the work of God, Divine Providence and Divine Economy! Oh, you enlightened by the Holy Spirit, the channels of His transmission! “You are the light of the world” (Mt 5,14)who apply the prophetic words of Jesus, “And as you go, preach, saying that the kingdom of heaven has come.” (Mt 10,7)! Yes, you who carry the Kingdom of Heaven to the ends of the earth, “the illiterate, the private individuals and fishermen, you shut the mouths of the philosophers, as if you had wings, you crossed the whole world, sowing the word of godliness, breaking down barriers, uprooting old habits and planting everywhere the laws of Christ”. (Chrysostomou, In Genesis KH, ed. “H.P.E.”, vol. 5, Thessaloniki 1980, p. 207)! “We are the salt of the earth” (Mt 5,13)who “heal the sick and cleanse the lepers” (Mt 10,8)∙ by signs the Apostles; by works of love the Missionaries, in hospitals and clinics the diseases of the body, through the Sacraments the diseases of the passions. You Apostles, who ‘raise the dead’ – as Peter raised Tabitha – and you missionaries, who raise the dead in Christ in faith. You Apostles, who “cast out demons” (Mt 10:8) – like Peter in Acts (5:15-16)– and you Missionaries, who strive to free the African continent from the yoke of witchcraft. Apostles and missionaries, who embrace Jesus’ compassion for the world! How fitting for you is “And he spoke of them to the multitudes, that they were as sheep without a shepherd, and as sheep without a shepherd: then he said unto his disciples, The one reapeth much, and the labourers few: pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he may send forth labourers into his harvest.” (Mt 9, 36-38). Apostles and missionaries, you who are stigmatized by “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.How shall they call on him to whom they have not believed? how shall they believe without hearing? how shall they hear without preaching? How can they preach unless they are sent away?”! The whole of orthodoxy stands gratefully before your ministry, exclaiming with Paul “as it is written, as beautiful are the feet of those who preach peace, of those who preach good things.” (Rom. 10:13-15)! The Congregation of the Holy Apostles is celebrated on June 30 of each year.