Digging Out the Embedded Church - The Maranatha Community

„When a man dies in the grace of God, then God freely forgives him all his sins and
demands no expiatory penalties: Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world, is our only atonement and satisfaction.‟ 33
It would be true to observe that in general Eastern Orthodoxy has not tried to proselytise in
the way that both the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches have tried to win
the Orthodox to their brands of Christianity. For this both groups need to repent of any
unchristian conduct towards the Orthodox, while in no way retracting their particular views
and emphases. 34
Yet, to be realistic, Orthodoxy looks askance at both the Roman Church and the Protestant
churches, seeing them all as defective. A very interesting Orthodox writer who critiques both
camps is Alexis Stepanovich Khomiakov (1804-1860). Under the influence of William
Palmer of Magdalen College, Oxford (not the Palmer of the Tractarians), he wrote a seminal
work, The Church is One (1844-45).
He saw the Orthodox Church as „an organic society of which Christ was the Head and the
Holy Spirit the Soul and whose essence was “freedom in the spirit at one with itself.”‟ 35 He
saw Protestants as having freedom but no unity and Roman Catholics as having unity but no
freedom. He levelled a devastating attack on Papal Infallibility – it is a sort of eighth
Sacrament in Khomiakov‟s eyes, in that it suggests the person can be separated from holiness
and still be the Church‟s Teacher.
On the other hand, Protestantism replaced the Church with the „I‟ of each individual having
the right to interpret and teach.
For Khomiakov, holiness of life is the basis of the Church‟s real unity. Dealing with
Khomiakov‟s teaching, Serge Bolshakoff writes, „Unity must be promoted first by
saintliness,‟ and „If Eastern and Western Christians lead a godly life, they will find the way to
unite.‟ 36
Khomiakov denounced „formal unions‟. Both Eastern and Western parts of the Christian
Church must repent of their sins and wrong attitudes to the other. „The reunion of
Christendom may be achieved only through the mutual love of Eastern and Western
Christians.‟ Therein lies hope.
As never before, East and West are talking to each other and learning from each other.
This is part of the new thing that is happening in our day. We cannot repent of our sins if
33 Ware, Timothy, The Orthodox Church, Penguin Books, 1967, p 259.
34 See Lawrence, John, Hard facts of Unity, a Layman Looks at the Ecumenical Movement, SCM
Press, 1961, Ch 8.
35 Bolshakoff, Serge, The Doctrine of the Church in the works of Khomiakov and Moehler, SPCK,
1946, p 302.
36 Bolshakoff, Serge, The Doctrine of the Church in the works of Khomiakov and Moehler, SPCK,
1946, p 302.
Page 35