Greg or e,
The dispute between the disciples as to which of them was greatest has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with what I am talking about.
If we follow your foolish and nonsensical logic, there is either no true Church, or we are forced to accept that all the different "churches" out there, how many thousands of them there may be, are all part of Christ's one true Church.
Let's debunk both of these woefully ignorant opinions.
First of all, there has to be one true Church, for Christ said he would build His Church (singular) and the gates of Hades would NEVER prevail against it.
Since we read in the book of Acts that subsequent to Pentecost:
"the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." (Acts 2.47)
All through the book of Acts, which incidentally the entire book of Acts was read in Orthodox Churches around the world last night on the eve of Pascha (Easter), we read of Christ's Church.
So Christ's Church existed visibly long before Martin Luther and John Calvin and John Wesley and all the other Protestants of the last 500 years.
Christ said the gates of Hades would NEVER prevail against His Church, so we know the Church did not just disappear throughout the centuries. It is impossible for the Church to disappear or become completely overcome by heresy, in any time period of history. There were times in history where it might have appeared as if heresy had totally infiltrated the Church, but she always emerged triumphant and there was always at least a visible remnant that preserved the Orthodox Faith pure, just as in the time of St. Noah there were still eight faithful souls. Therefore the traditions are available and able to be passed down in each and every generation.
There are Orthodox Saints in every century, and there are writings that have been preserved from the 1st century, the 2nd century, the 3rd century, the 4th century, the 5th century, and so on, testifying to the traditions that Christians have always observed.
My patron saint, St. Cyprian of Carthage, lived around 250 a.d., and there are many excellent writings of his that are preserved and can be read as a testimony to what ancient Christians believed.
So yes, there is only One Lord, one faith, and one baptism, as St. Paul taught us. That is what Orthodoxy is about. A unity not based on some Pope who arrogantly presumes to exercise universal primacy over the entire Church with an iron fist, but a common unity of Orthodox Christians around the world who all share the same dogmas and apostolic traditions of the Faith, as defined by the Holy Tradition, which of course includes the Sacred Scriptures and the Seven Holy Ecumenical Councils, (held between 325 - 787 a.d.) which all Orthodox Christians around the world must adhere to, period.
Church councils are not foreign to Christ's Church, you can read about the very first Church council held in chapter 15 of the book of Acts!
Neither are bishops, priests and deacons foreign to Christ's church. You can read about them all throughout the book of Acts and in the Epistles.
Christ's true Church must have bishops, priests, and deacons, as their offices are specified in the Holy Scriptures.
I wonder where I can find the Preterist "church". Can someone tell me the name of a bishop in the "Preterist church"?
Cyprian |
