The Church of Christ: The Concept of the Church of Christ on Earth
by Fr. Michael Pomazansky
IN THE LITERAL meaning of the word, the Church is the "assembly," in Greek, ekklesia, from ekkaleo, meaning "to gather." In this meaning it was used in the Old Testament also the Hebrew (kahal).
In the New Testament, this name has an incomparably deeper and more mystical meaning which is difficult to embrace in a short verbal formula. The character of the Church of Christ is best explained by the Biblical images to which the Church is likened.
The New Testament Church is the new planting of God, the garden of God, the vineyard of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, by His earthly life, His death on the Cross and His Resurrection, introduced into humanity new grace-giving powers, a new life which is capable of great fruitfulness. These powers we have in the Holy Church which is His Body.
The Sacred Scripture is rich in expressive images of the Church. Here are the chief of them:
a) The image of the grapevine and its branches (John 15:1-8). I am the true vine and My Father is the Husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit... Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in Me, I am the Vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned... Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.
b) The image of the shepherd and the flock (John 10:1-16). Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But be that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep...... Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep... I am the door by Me if any man enter in, be shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and find pasture ... I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep ... I am the good shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of mine ... and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.
c) The image of the head and the body (Eph. 1:22-23, and other places). The Father hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.
d) The image of a building under construction (Eph. 2:19-22). Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone—in Whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord; in Whom ye also are builded for a habitation of God through the Spirit.
e) The image of a house or family: That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the Truth (I Tim. 3:15). Christ as a Son over His own house, Whose house are we (Heb 3:6).
To this same thing refer likewise other images from the Gospel: the fishing net, the field which has been sown, the vineyard of God.
In the Fathers of the Church one often finds a comparison of the Church in the world with a ship on the sea.
The Apostle Paul, comparing the life of the Church of Christ with a marriage, or with the relationship between man and wife, concludes his thoughts with these words: This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:32). The life of the Church in its essence is mystical; the course of its life cannot be entirely included in any "history." The Church is completely distinct from any kind whatever of organized society on earth.
The Beginning of the Church's Existence, Its Growth, and Its Purpose
The Church of Christ received its existence with the coming to earth of the Son of God, when the fulness of the time was come (Gal. 4:4), and with His bringing of salvation to the world.
The beginning of its existence in its complete form and significance, with the fulness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, was the day of Pentecost, after the Ascension of the Lord. On this day, after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, in Jerusalem there were baptized about three thousand men. And, further, the Lord each day added those being saved to the Church. From this moment, the territory of the city of Jerusalem, then of Palestine, then of the whole Roman Empire, and even the lands beyond its boundaries, began to be covered with Christian communities or churches. The name "church" which belongs to every Christian community, even of a single house or family, indicates the unity of this part with the whole, with the body of the whole Church of Christ.
Being "the body of Christ," the Church increaseth with the increase of God (Col.2:19). Comparing the Church with a building, the Apostle teaches that its building is not completed, it continues: All the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:21). This growth is not only in the sense of the visible, quantitative increase of the Church on earth; in even greater degree, this is a spiritual growth, the perfection of the saints, the filling up of the heavenly-earthly world through sanctity. Through the Church is accomplished the dispensation of the fulness of times foreordained by the Father, so that He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth (Eph. 1:10).
In the sense of its earthly growth, the Church develops in the spheres of Divine services and the canons; it is made richer by Patristic literature; it grows in the outward forms which are necessary for its earthly conditions of existence.
The Church is our spiritual Home. As with one's own home—and even more than that—a Christian's thoughts and actions are closely bound up with the Church. In it he must, as long as he lives on earth, work out his salvation, and make use of the grace-given means of sanctification given him by it. It prepares its children for the heavenly homeland.
As to how, by the grace of God, spiritual rebirth and spiritual growth occur in a man, in what sequence these usually occur, what hindrances must be overcome by him on the way of salvation, how he must combine his own indispensable labors with the grace-given help of God—special branches of theological and spiritual learning are devoted to all these matters. These are called moral theology and ascetic theology.
Dogmatic Theology proper limits the subject of the Church to an examination of the grace-given conditions and the mystical, grace-given means furnished in the Church for the attainment of the aim of salvation in Christ
The Head of the Church
The Saviour, in giving authority to the Apostles before His Ascension, told them very clearly that He Himself would not cease to be the invisible Shepherd and Pilot of the Church. I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world (every day constantly and inseparably; Matt. 28:20). The Saviour taught that He, as the Good Shepherd, had to bring in also those sheep who were not of this fold, so that there might be one flock and One Shepherd (John 10:16). All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations (Matt. 28:18-19). In all these words there is contained the idea that the highest Shepherd of the Church is Christ Himself We must be aware of this so as not to forget the close bond and the inward unity of the Church on earth with the Heavenly Church.
The Lord Jesus Christ is also the Founder of the Church: I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18).
Christ is also the Foundation of the Church, its cornerstone: Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ (I Cor. 3:11).
He also is its Head. God the Father gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all (Eph. 1:22-23). The Head is Christ, from Whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of Itself in love (Eph. 4:16). As all the members of our body comprise a full and living organism which depends upon its head, so also the Church is a spiritual organism in which there is no place where the powers of Christ do not act. It is "full of Christ" (Bishop Theophan the Recluse).
Christ is the Good Shepherd of His flock, the Church. We have the great Shepherd of the sheep, according to the Apostle Paul (Heb. 13:20). The Lord Jesus Christ is the Chief of Shepherds. Being examples to t he flock, the Apostle Peter entreats those who have been placed as shepherds in the Church, as their co-pastor (Greek syn-presbyteros), when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away (IPeter 5:1-4).
Christ Himself is the invisible Chief Bishop of the Church. The Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-bearer, an Apostolic Father, calls the Lord the "Invisible Bishop" (Greek: episkopos aoratos).
Christ is the eternal High-Priest of His Church, as the Apostle Paul explains in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Old Testament Chief Priests were many, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this one, because He continueth forever, bath an unchangeable priesthood Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them (Heb. 7:23-25).
He is, according to the Apocalypse of St. John the Theologian, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth and no man openeth (Apoc. 3:7).
The truth that Christ Himself is the Head of the Church has always in lively fashion run through, and continues to run through, the self-awareness of the Church. In our daily prayers also we read, "O Jesus, Good Shepherd of Thy sheep" (The Prayer of St. Antioch in the Prayers Before Sleep of the Orthodox Prayer Book).
Chrysostom teaches in his Homilies on the Epistle to the Ephesians as follows: "In Christ, in the flesh, God placed a single head for everyone, for angels and men; that is, He gave one principle both to angels and men: to the one, Christ according to the flesh, and to the other, God the Word. Just as if someone should say about a house, that one part of it is rotten and the other part strong, and he should restore the house, that is, make it stronger, placing a stronger foundation under it; so also here, He has brought all under a single head. Only then is union possible; only then will there be that perfect bond, when everything, having a certain indispensable bond with what is above, will be brought under a single Head " (Works of St. Chrysostom in Russian, v. 11, p. 14).
The Orthodox Church of Christ refuses to recognize yet another head of the Church in the form of a" Vicar of Christ on earth," a title given in the Roman Catholic Church to the Bishop of Rome. Such a title does not correspond either to the word of God or to the universal Church consciousness and tradition; it tears away the Church on earth from immediate unity with the heavenly Church. A vicar is assigned during the absence of the one replaced, but Christ is invisibly present in His Church always.
The rejection by the ancient Church of the view of the Bishop of Rome as the Head of the Church and Vicar of Christ upon earth is expressed in the writings of those who were active in the Ecumenical Councils.
The Second Ecumenical Council of bishops, after the completion of their activities, wrote an epistle to Pope Damasus and other bishops of the Roman Church which ended thus: "When in this way the teaching of Faith is in agreement, and Christian love is established in us, we will cease to speak the words which were condemned by the Apostle: I am of Paul, I am of Apollo, I am of Cephas. And when we will all be manifest as of Christ, since Christ is not divided in us, then by God's mercy we will preserve the Body of Christ undivided, and will boldly stand before the throne of the Lord."
The leading personality of the Third Ecumenical Council, St Cyril of Alexandria, in his "Epistle on the Holy Symbol," which is included in the Acts of this Council, writes: "The most holy Fathers ... who once gathered in Nicaea, composed the venerable Ecumenical Symbol (Creed). With them Christ Himself presided, for He said, Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them (Matt 18:20). For how can there be any doubt that Christ presided at this Holy and Ecumenical Council? Because there a certain basis and a firm, unvanquishable foundation was laid, and even extended to the whole universe, that is, this holy and irreproachable confession. If it is thus, then can Christ be absent, when He is the Foundation, according to the words of the most wise Paul, Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (ICor. 3:11).
Blessed Theodoret, in a homily which was also placed in the Acts of the Third Ecumenical Council, addressing the heretics, the followers of Nestorius, says: "Christ is a stone of stumbling and a scandal for unbelievers, but does not put the believers to shame; a precious stone and a foundation, according to the word of Isaiah when he said that Christ is the stone which the builders rejected and which has become the cornerstone. Christ is the foundation of the Church. Christ is the stone which was taken out not with hands, and was changed into a great mountain and covered the universe, according to the prophecy of Daniel; it is for Him, with Him, and by the power of Him that we battle, and for Whose sake we are far removed from the reigning city, but are not excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven; for we have a city on high, Jerusalem, whose builder and maker is God (Heb. 11:10), as the Apostle Paul says."
Concerning the rock upon which the Lord promised the Apostle Peter to found His Church. St Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem, in his epistle to the clergy of Palestine after the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon writes: "When the chief and first of the Apostles Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord replied, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:17-18). On this confession the Church of God is made firm, and this Faith, given to us by the holy Apostles, the Church has kept and will keep to the end of the world."
by Fr. Michael Pomazansky
IN THE LITERAL meaning of the word, the Church is the "assembly," in Greek, ekklesia, from ekkaleo, meaning "to gather." In this meaning it was used in the Old Testament also the Hebrew (kahal).
In the New Testament, this name has an incomparably deeper and more mystical meaning which is difficult to embrace in a short verbal formula. The character of the Church of Christ is best explained by the Biblical images to which the Church is likened.
The New Testament Church is the new planting of God, the garden of God, the vineyard of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, by His earthly life, His death on the Cross and His Resurrection, introduced into humanity new grace-giving powers, a new life which is capable of great fruitfulness. These powers we have in the Holy Church which is His Body.
The Sacred Scripture is rich in expressive images of the Church. Here are the chief of them:
a) The image of the grapevine and its branches (John 15:1-8). I am the true vine and My Father is the Husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit... Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in Me, I am the Vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned... Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.
b) The image of the shepherd and the flock (John 10:1-16). Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But be that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep...... Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep... I am the door by Me if any man enter in, be shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and find pasture ... I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep ... I am the good shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of mine ... and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.
c) The image of the head and the body (Eph. 1:22-23, and other places). The Father hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.
d) The image of a building under construction (Eph. 2:19-22). Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone—in Whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord; in Whom ye also are builded for a habitation of God through the Spirit.
e) The image of a house or family: That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the Truth (I Tim. 3:15). Christ as a Son over His own house, Whose house are we (Heb 3:6).
To this same thing refer likewise other images from the Gospel: the fishing net, the field which has been sown, the vineyard of God.
In the Fathers of the Church one often finds a comparison of the Church in the world with a ship on the sea.
The Apostle Paul, comparing the life of the Church of Christ with a marriage, or with the relationship between man and wife, concludes his thoughts with these words: This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:32). The life of the Church in its essence is mystical; the course of its life cannot be entirely included in any "history." The Church is completely distinct from any kind whatever of organized society on earth.
The Beginning of the Church's Existence, Its Growth, and Its Purpose
The Church of Christ received its existence with the coming to earth of the Son of God, when the fulness of the time was come (Gal. 4:4), and with His bringing of salvation to the world.
The beginning of its existence in its complete form and significance, with the fulness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, was the day of Pentecost, after the Ascension of the Lord. On this day, after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, in Jerusalem there were baptized about three thousand men. And, further, the Lord each day added those being saved to the Church. From this moment, the territory of the city of Jerusalem, then of Palestine, then of the whole Roman Empire, and even the lands beyond its boundaries, began to be covered with Christian communities or churches. The name "church" which belongs to every Christian community, even of a single house or family, indicates the unity of this part with the whole, with the body of the whole Church of Christ.
Being "the body of Christ," the Church increaseth with the increase of God (Col.2:19). Comparing the Church with a building, the Apostle teaches that its building is not completed, it continues: All the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:21). This growth is not only in the sense of the visible, quantitative increase of the Church on earth; in even greater degree, this is a spiritual growth, the perfection of the saints, the filling up of the heavenly-earthly world through sanctity. Through the Church is accomplished the dispensation of the fulness of times foreordained by the Father, so that He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth (Eph. 1:10).
In the sense of its earthly growth, the Church develops in the spheres of Divine services and the canons; it is made richer by Patristic literature; it grows in the outward forms which are necessary for its earthly conditions of existence.
The Church is our spiritual Home. As with one's own home—and even more than that—a Christian's thoughts and actions are closely bound up with the Church. In it he must, as long as he lives on earth, work out his salvation, and make use of the grace-given means of sanctification given him by it. It prepares its children for the heavenly homeland.
As to how, by the grace of God, spiritual rebirth and spiritual growth occur in a man, in what sequence these usually occur, what hindrances must be overcome by him on the way of salvation, how he must combine his own indispensable labors with the grace-given help of God—special branches of theological and spiritual learning are devoted to all these matters. These are called moral theology and ascetic theology.
Dogmatic Theology proper limits the subject of the Church to an examination of the grace-given conditions and the mystical, grace-given means furnished in the Church for the attainment of the aim of salvation in Christ
The Head of the Church
The Saviour, in giving authority to the Apostles before His Ascension, told them very clearly that He Himself would not cease to be the invisible Shepherd and Pilot of the Church. I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world (every day constantly and inseparably; Matt. 28:20). The Saviour taught that He, as the Good Shepherd, had to bring in also those sheep who were not of this fold, so that there might be one flock and One Shepherd (John 10:16). All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations (Matt. 28:18-19). In all these words there is contained the idea that the highest Shepherd of the Church is Christ Himself We must be aware of this so as not to forget the close bond and the inward unity of the Church on earth with the Heavenly Church.
The Lord Jesus Christ is also the Founder of the Church: I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18).
Christ is also the Foundation of the Church, its cornerstone: Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ (I Cor. 3:11).
He also is its Head. God the Father gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all (Eph. 1:22-23). The Head is Christ, from Whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of Itself in love (Eph. 4:16). As all the members of our body comprise a full and living organism which depends upon its head, so also the Church is a spiritual organism in which there is no place where the powers of Christ do not act. It is "full of Christ" (Bishop Theophan the Recluse).
Christ is the Good Shepherd of His flock, the Church. We have the great Shepherd of the sheep, according to the Apostle Paul (Heb. 13:20). The Lord Jesus Christ is the Chief of Shepherds. Being examples to t he flock, the Apostle Peter entreats those who have been placed as shepherds in the Church, as their co-pastor (Greek syn-presbyteros), when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away (IPeter 5:1-4).
Christ Himself is the invisible Chief Bishop of the Church. The Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-bearer, an Apostolic Father, calls the Lord the "Invisible Bishop" (Greek: episkopos aoratos).
Christ is the eternal High-Priest of His Church, as the Apostle Paul explains in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Old Testament Chief Priests were many, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this one, because He continueth forever, bath an unchangeable priesthood Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them (Heb. 7:23-25).
He is, according to the Apocalypse of St. John the Theologian, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth and no man openeth (Apoc. 3:7).
The truth that Christ Himself is the Head of the Church has always in lively fashion run through, and continues to run through, the self-awareness of the Church. In our daily prayers also we read, "O Jesus, Good Shepherd of Thy sheep" (The Prayer of St. Antioch in the Prayers Before Sleep of the Orthodox Prayer Book).
Chrysostom teaches in his Homilies on the Epistle to the Ephesians as follows: "In Christ, in the flesh, God placed a single head for everyone, for angels and men; that is, He gave one principle both to angels and men: to the one, Christ according to the flesh, and to the other, God the Word. Just as if someone should say about a house, that one part of it is rotten and the other part strong, and he should restore the house, that is, make it stronger, placing a stronger foundation under it; so also here, He has brought all under a single head. Only then is union possible; only then will there be that perfect bond, when everything, having a certain indispensable bond with what is above, will be brought under a single Head " (Works of St. Chrysostom in Russian, v. 11, p. 14).
The Orthodox Church of Christ refuses to recognize yet another head of the Church in the form of a" Vicar of Christ on earth," a title given in the Roman Catholic Church to the Bishop of Rome. Such a title does not correspond either to the word of God or to the universal Church consciousness and tradition; it tears away the Church on earth from immediate unity with the heavenly Church. A vicar is assigned during the absence of the one replaced, but Christ is invisibly present in His Church always.
The rejection by the ancient Church of the view of the Bishop of Rome as the Head of the Church and Vicar of Christ upon earth is expressed in the writings of those who were active in the Ecumenical Councils.
The Second Ecumenical Council of bishops, after the completion of their activities, wrote an epistle to Pope Damasus and other bishops of the Roman Church which ended thus: "When in this way the teaching of Faith is in agreement, and Christian love is established in us, we will cease to speak the words which were condemned by the Apostle: I am of Paul, I am of Apollo, I am of Cephas. And when we will all be manifest as of Christ, since Christ is not divided in us, then by God's mercy we will preserve the Body of Christ undivided, and will boldly stand before the throne of the Lord."
The leading personality of the Third Ecumenical Council, St Cyril of Alexandria, in his "Epistle on the Holy Symbol," which is included in the Acts of this Council, writes: "The most holy Fathers ... who once gathered in Nicaea, composed the venerable Ecumenical Symbol (Creed). With them Christ Himself presided, for He said, Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them (Matt 18:20). For how can there be any doubt that Christ presided at this Holy and Ecumenical Council? Because there a certain basis and a firm, unvanquishable foundation was laid, and even extended to the whole universe, that is, this holy and irreproachable confession. If it is thus, then can Christ be absent, when He is the Foundation, according to the words of the most wise Paul, Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (ICor. 3:11).
Blessed Theodoret, in a homily which was also placed in the Acts of the Third Ecumenical Council, addressing the heretics, the followers of Nestorius, says: "Christ is a stone of stumbling and a scandal for unbelievers, but does not put the believers to shame; a precious stone and a foundation, according to the word of Isaiah when he said that Christ is the stone which the builders rejected and which has become the cornerstone. Christ is the foundation of the Church. Christ is the stone which was taken out not with hands, and was changed into a great mountain and covered the universe, according to the prophecy of Daniel; it is for Him, with Him, and by the power of Him that we battle, and for Whose sake we are far removed from the reigning city, but are not excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven; for we have a city on high, Jerusalem, whose builder and maker is God (Heb. 11:10), as the Apostle Paul says."
Concerning the rock upon which the Lord promised the Apostle Peter to found His Church. St Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem, in his epistle to the clergy of Palestine after the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon writes: "When the chief and first of the Apostles Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord replied, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:17-18). On this confession the Church of God is made firm, and this Faith, given to us by the holy Apostles, the Church has kept and will keep to the end of the world."