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Ecclesiology

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Church
The Church is the '''Body of Christ''', a theanthropic (divine-human) communion of Jesus Christ with his people. The sole head of the Church is Christ. The Church is an object of [[faith]], that is, Orthodox Christians ''believe in'' the Church. The traditional belief in the Church is attested to in the [[Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed]] as the '''[[One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church|one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church]]'''. By this phrase is meant that the Church is undivided and not many (one), sanctified and set apart for the work of God (holy), whole and characterized by fullness and universality (catholic), and has at its essence the going out into all the world to preach the [[Gospel]] and [[baptism|baptize]] the nations (apostolic).
Because the Church, it is the Body of Christ, it is also the temple and dwelling place of the [[Holy Spirit]]. It is a '''a continued Pentecost'''.
The Church is the '''Bride of Christ''', the [[eschatology|eschatological]] spouse of the Son of God, united to him in faith and love, for which he gave himself up on the cross. The intimacy of a husband and wife is an earthly image of the intimacy that Christ has with his Church, and the union of an earthly marriage is a shadow of the union of that marriage of the Lamb of God with the Church.
===Unity in diversity===
The Church as a whole is an '''icon of God the Trinity''', the mystery of unity in diversity. In the Trinity the three are one God, yet each is fully personal; in the Church a multitude of human persons are united in one, yet each preserves his personal diversity unimpaired. The mutual indwelling of the persons of the Trinity is paralleled by the coinherence of the members of the Church. In the Church there is no conflict between freedom and authority; in the Church there is unity, but no totalitarianism.  
==Membership==
The Church consists of the [[prophet]]s and [[saint]]s of both the Old and New Covenants, the [[angels]] and the concrete, historical community of believers in this earthly life, past and future generations, in one and the same grace of God . It is both visible and invisible, both divine and human. It is visible, for it is composed of concrete congregations, worshipping here on earth; it is invisible, for it also includes the saints and the angels. It is human, for its earthly members are sinners; it is divine, for it is the Body of Christ. Not unlike the [[incarnation]].
*[[Primacy and Unity in Orthodox Ecclesiology]]
==External links==
* [http://orthodoxytoday.org/articles5/HilarionPrimacy.shtml The Orthodox Understanding of Primacy and Catholicity], by Bishop [[Hilarion (AlfayevAlfeyev) of Vienna|Hilarion of Vienna and Austria]] (paper read at the meeting of the theological commission of the Swiss Bishops' Conference in Basel, 24 January 2005)
* [http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/who/crete-01-e.html The Limits of the Church], by Fr. [[Georges Florovsky]] (1933)
* [http://oca.org/OCchapter.asp?SID=2&ID=26 Church ], ''The Orthodox Faith'', by Fr. [[Thomas Hopko]]
* [http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/history_timothy_ware_2.htm#n3 The Church of God] ''(Excerpts from the Orthodox Church'' by Bishop [[Kallistos Ware]], Part II: Faith and Worship)* [http://www.orthodoxanswers.org/ecclesiology.pdf The Eucharistic and Holographic Ecclesiology of Orthodox Theology] (81 pages of authorized excerpts from His Broken Body; Cleenewerck, Laurent, 2008)
[[Category:Ecclesiology|*]]
 
[[el:Εκκλησιολογία]]
[[fr:Ecclésiologie]]
[[ro:Eclesiologie]]
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