Folia Canonica 5. (2002)
PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE "Tra Chiesa universale e Chiesa particolare", Budapest, 2nd February 2002 - Gennadios of Sassima: The Canonical Status of the Ecumenical Patriarch in the Canonical Order of the Orthodox Churches: Nature and Extension of its Authority
268 GENNADIOS OF SASSIMA The unity of the Church is firstly experienced as a unity in apostolic faith, life, and practice. The teachings of Christ and of the Apostles are treasured in the life of the Church as a ‘depositum fidei’, handed down through the Church Fathers and teachers, lived and experienced in the life of the Church. It is a living faith, which is believed, practiced, elaborated upon, defended against heresy, sometimes dogmatized, but always lived, in the liturgical life of the Church. It is a faith, which reflected in the teachings of the ‘teaching authority’ of the Church. This authority is the bishops who are entrusted with this truth, and of which they are the guardians. Their responsibility is to ‘ teach around the word of Truth ’, mostly in a liturgical and sacramental context. Secondly, the unity of the Church is sacramental. Christ himself, made present through the work of the Holy Spirit, is the celebrant of the sacraments of the Church. His abundant life for the world is made available in the sacramental life of the Church, the life of the Kingdom. Signs of the Kingdom, the sacraments unite all Christians in that life that the sacraments confer through the operation of the Holy Spirit. The most central of all of these sacraments is the Holy Eucharist, the celebration of the life of the Kingdom, which is new life in Christ. Participation in the Eucharist presupposes unity in faith. Thus, the Eucharist is both the seal and the expression of the unity of the Church. The Eucharist is not only the means of communion, but also the expression of this communion in the one faith, and abundant life of the Kingdom of God. Sharing of communion in the Eucharist with those are not in communion in the faith is betrayal of the Church’s unity. This is the reason why the Orthodox does not practice the ‘ eucharistie hospitality ’. The unity of the Church is especially expressed in the unity of worship, centered round the bishop presiding over the one Eucharist and the sacramental life of the Church. According to Orthodox tradition practice and canonical tradition, this one Eucharist, presided over by only one bishop in every city, gathers together all people of Orthodox faith, regardless of ethnicity, language, social rank, or color or race. Thus, the unity of the Church is also administrative. The same person who presides over the one Eucharist of the Church, the bishop, also presides over the entire life of the Church as an extension of these liturgical celebrations. The parish, the congregation as the concrete manifestation of the diocese, is the place where the work of the Church is accomplished, the Eucharist celebrated, the Kingdom of the Church made manifest, and where human beings are afforded the opportunity of joining God’s Kingdom which has been inaugurated upon the earth. The goal of parish’s administration is directing people toward receiving this new life in Christ, which is the life of the Kingdom. This is why the Orthodox
