The Path Orthodoxy

human nature truly became the temple of
the Holy Spirit in which “dwells all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily” (2:9; cf. Jn.
1:14). Without the Holy Spirit man is not
the temple of God. The temple should be a
place of prayer, and not a “den of thieves”
(Mt. 21:13). Icons will be the examples of
the saints, incense, the holy virtues and the
whole life of the Christian. Thanks to the
Holy Spirit who abides in the Church, and
who is the “soul of the Church,” each Christian
can become a temple of the Holy Spirit,
a small Church of God, if he becomes a
member of the body of Christ, the Church
(Eph. 2:19-22, 3:5-6). With the Mystery of
Baptism man is clothed in Christ (Gal. 3:27)
and becomes the temple of the living God (2
Cor. 6:16). Whether
or not a man will
receive the Holy
Spirit depends on
him himself. When
he receives him He
will truly be for him
a leading principle.
If man commences
to bring into that
temple something,
which is not holy,
it immediately becomes
a temple of
demons. Doing this
intentionally, he
directs sins against
the Holy Spirit, who
should abide in that
temple. He will receive
punishment,
eternal destruction
(Cor. 3:17). He sins
not only against
the Holy Spirit, but also against the Son,
who laid down His life for that temple, and
against the Father who sent Him (Rom. 5:8;
cf. Jn. 3:16; 1 Jn. 4:9).
What is the obligation of our body
related to our members? It is to serve the
body of Christ – the Church, since they are
His members. Just as harmony exists in our
body and each organ fulfills its function,
likewise, our body should fulfill the role,
which is given to it in the Church. The entire
life in the Church is Trinitarian: from
the Father through the Son and in the Holy
Spirit. This is how our life should develop.
Otherwise, if it is not so, we are not members
of His body. We must follow Him and
be holy even as He is holy Himself and pure
just as He himself is pure (1 Pet. 1:15-16; 1
Jn 3:3, 2:6, 1:7). Each sin we commit defiles
the body of Christ, defiles our own body
and we deserve condemnation as an unnecessary
and diseased member, will be cast
out. This is final so that others not be scandalized
(1 Cor. 5:13); “...for a little leaven
leavens the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:6).
Saint John Chrysostom – interpreting
the words of the holy Apostle Paul: “Do
you not know that your bodies are members
of Christ? Shall I then take the members of
Christ and make them members of a harlot?
Certainly not!” (1 Cor. 6:15) – says, “Look
how he focuses on Christ, how He leads
us to heaven. You are, he says, members
of Christ, you are the Temple of the Holy
Spirit, do not be members of a harlot, you
dishonor not your own body, for your body
is not yours, rather Christ’s. By such words
he shows Christ’s love for man, which
made our body his own body and by this
severs our base authority over it. If you, he
says, do not have your body, then you have
no right to dishonor the body of another, especially
when it belongs to the Lord, or to
defile the temple of the Spirit. For if he who
enters into the house of an honorable man
and commits lawlessness in it subjects himself
to great punishment, consider, to what
kind of punishment is subjected the man
who makes the temple of the King a den of
thieves! Knowing all of this, be ashamed
before Him Who lives in you that is the
Comforter, fear Him who is united with
you and who has adopted you that is Christ.
Did you not become a member of Christ?
Understand this and be wise. Before they
were members of a harlot, and now Christ
made them members of His own body. You
do not, therefore, have authority of it, rather
you are indebted to Him who freed them”.
He then continues: “If you had a maid – a
daughter, would it not be mad to sell to a
trader of harlots for harlotry, her whom the
King’s son freed from such slavery and took
to himself for a spouse? You would not be
permitted to give her to a dishonorable
home, since you have sold her once. So it is
with us. We have sold our body to the devil,
that evil tempter, but Christ, seeing this,
saved it and freed it from his evil authority,
and thus it does not belong to us but to him
Who freed it.”
How is the life of a
believer different from
that of an unbeliever?
Definitely in that his
body is the temple of the
Holy Spirit. At the Holy
Mystery of Baptism he
receives the obligation
of a Christian to cooperate
with Him in soul and
body. By Him he should
think, and work and feel.
With Him he should cooperate
so that he says,
like the Holy Apostle
Paul: “...I think I also
have the Spirit of God”
(1 Cor. 7:40). If the Holy
Spirit is the “soul of the
Church”, then He should
be the soul of each Christian
in the Church. Not
only this, he also brings
about that our members work in accordance
with all of the members of the Church,
with the Body of Christ. When man feels
in himself the Holy Spirit, then he will be
conscious of how valuable he was before
and that he is rich only in Him. He will be
conscious that he was purchased for a great
price, and that he is no longer his own, but
God’s (1 Cor. 6:20; cf. 7:23; 1 Pet. 1:19-20;
Gal. 3:13; Rev. 4:14). He will be humble before
all the members and will give glory to
the entire Body, and especially to the head
of the Church, Christ. Through humility he
will serve each member of the Church, and
will not seek that which is his, rather that
which is his neighbor’s (Phil. 2:3-4; cf. Col.
3:13; Gal. 5:26; 1 Cor. 10:24, 33). If there
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The Path of Orthodoxy Winter 2016 • 5