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<\/h3>\n<\/h3>\nThe Church has considered this of central importance. That\u2019s why the word was added to the Creed. We believe in \u201cOne, Holy, Catholic and\u00a0Apostolic<\/strong>\u00a0Church.\u201d<\/p>\n By\u00a0Apostolic\u00a0<\/strong>we\u00a0mean:<\/p>\n 1\u00a0<\/strong>The Church was founded by the Apostles, by those who knew Jesus Christ personally \u2013 had absorbed His teachings, been through His Crucifixion and seen His glorious Resurrection, had received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. To say we\u00a0are Apostolic means we have received our Faith from Jesus Christ Himself, through His Apostles. As Saint Paul put it, the Church is\u00a0\u201cbuilt upon the foundation of the Apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone.\u201d\u00a0Ephesians 2:20<\/em><\/p>\n 2\u00a0<\/b>The Church has continued in the Faith of the Apostles. The books of the New Testament were written by the Apostles or those who knew them well, in order the preserve the Apostolic Faith. What we say in the Creed every Sunday is a summary of the Apostles\u2019 teaching. What the Ecumenical Councils approved was written to preserve the Faith of the Apostles and\u00a0to\u00a0<\/span>make it clear \u2013 so there could be no misunderstanding, for people have forever been challenging and twisting it.<\/p>\n 3\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/strong>The Church\u00a0<\/span>has direct historical \u201cphysical\u201d continuity with the Apostles and through them with Jesus Christ. The Church has a continuous succession of Bishops, all in Communion with each other because they recognize the fullness of Apostolic Faith in each other \u2013 a succession of \u201claying on of hands\u201d one after the other, going back to the Apostles. This is what guarantees the Church\u2019s continuity in the Faith. *<\/p>\n Every Orthodox church has this Apostolic Succession. For example, our Saint Nicholas, Cedarburg, belongs to the Patriarchate of Antioch. Our present Patriarch, Thirty one years ago when Bishop Antoun ordained me, as he laid his hands on my head, I could feel the hands of the Apostle Peter and the weight of the Apostolic commission\u00a0of our Lord Jesus Christ: \u201cBehold, I send you out into all the world.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0I was sent to Cedarburg, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n Many people have been through this search, each in his or her own way. This was mine.<\/p>\n I grew up Protestant, aware of the multitude of denominations (well over a thousand, I think) all teaching different, even contradictory things, most of it \u201cbased on the Bible\u201d they said. Even within the denominations, various people didn\u2019t agree. It was only after I got to\u00a0<\/span>Protestant seminary, sixty years ago, that I finally began to realize the obvious: \u201cThey can\u2019t all be true\u201d. And I began to wonder: Is there a correct Christianity? an authentic Faith? a true Church?<\/p>\n In his writing\u00a0Against Heresies<\/em>\u00a0Irenaeus was dealing with almost the same situation we face today. In his time also there were many groups claiming to possess true Christianity, many \u201cdenominations\u201d to use the modern term.<\/p>\n His question was: How do we know what is true? which \u00a0is the right one? Irenaeus gave two requirements: Apostolic Succession of Bishops, Unity in the Apostolic Faith.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In\u00a0 \u201cOur Apostles\u2026 knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife\u2026so\u2026they approved men [to] succeed in their ministry\u2026\u201d \u201cIn the Tradition of the Apostles, manifested in the entire world\u00a0<\/span>it is possible for all who wish to see the truth\u2026 we [can] enumerate those whom the Apostles instituted [as] Bishops in the churches and the succession of these men to our own times, who neither taught nor knew anything like the ravings of the heretics.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n By this he meant those groups who believe things contrary to the Apostles, some of which were pretty peculiar in his time \u2013 and still are in ours. Irenaeus then gave a list of the Bishops in Rome in succession from the Apostles. The Bishop of Rome was his Patriarch, the \u201cchief Bishop\u201d in the West, not the Pope in the modern sense. If he had lived elsewhere he would have listed the succession of Bishops in his region.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Irenaeus summarized the Church\u2019s teachings and practices \u00a0\u2013 which sound almost as if they might have been written yesterday. Then he wrote: \u201cThe Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, \u2026carefully preserves it. She\u2026proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth. For, although the languages of the world are dissimilar, yet \u2026the Tradition is one and the same. For the Churches which have been planted\u00a0 He goes on, but that\u2019s enough.<\/p>\n As I read this long ago I thought Yes, that was the Apostolic Church, united in the Faith \u2013 but it\u2019s\u00a0gone.\u00a0<\/i>There\u2019s nothing like that left on earth. Even churches that profess the Creed are not truly united in adherence to it. Look at them. Listen to their people.<\/p>\n It took me thirty years after that to discover the reality of the Orthodox Church \u2013 the Church that possesses not only Apostolic Succession of Bishops but also complete unity in Apostolic Faith. At first I couldn\u2019t believe it was true. But it is: Every Orthodox bishop, every priest, every theologian, every seminary, every school, every parish, every person, so far as I have found in thirty one years \u2013 we all believe the same Apostolic Faith. If there are a few heretics hiding behind pillars, all I can say is that I\u2019ve never met one.<\/p>\n God knows we Orthodox\u00a0<\/span>have our failings and our issues and get into spats about things. (Remember Paul and Barnabas.) Of course. We are all sinners. None of us grasps the fullness of the Faith. We all make mistakes. But, brothers and sisters, after over thirty one years here I have no doubt: This is the Real Thing. This is the Church of the Apostles.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s go back to the definition of Apostolicity \u2018way above. There is one more element to \u00a0being Apostolic:<\/p>\n 4\u00a0<\/b>The Apostolic Mission. \u201cGo into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to every nation\u2026\u201d\u00a0Matthew 28:16 \u00a0<\/em>This is why the Church exists.<\/p>\n Why do you suppose the Church has spread all over the world, instead of remaining a small sect at the east end of the Mediterranean? Sometimes it was by intentional missionary work, as when the Apostles went out into all the world. Sometimes it was by the hand of God, as when the Apostles were driven out of Jerusalem by persecution, or when in recent times Orthodox came to America to escape poverty and persecution. God sent Orthodox people here for a reason, brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n Are you aware that in America today Christianity is shrinking\u00a0rapidly, especially among the young \u2013 and little wonder, but let\u2019s not get into that now. Even Evangelicals are now barely holding their own, and are declining in proportion of the population.<\/p>\n Below: past stats and future projections. Roman Catholic figures are based on Baptisms; their attendance and other statistics are down significantly.<\/em><\/p>\n It is time for Orthodoxy to step in and fill the gap! This will not be easy. Organized religion in America (along with almost everything else in America today) has a bad reputation. But Orthodoxy has so much to offer to our discombobulated society \u2013 to discouraged and dismayed Christians, and to the many modern disbelievers. Orthodoxy has something to offer that no one else can \u2013 for we are\u00a0neither Protestant nor Roman Catholic, neither conservative nor liberal. We come from neither the right nor the left but from Above. We are Traditional. We are Apostolic. We are the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.<\/p>\n Our late Antiochian Metropolitan Philip (+) used to proclaim, \u201cCome home, America! Come home to the Faith of Peter and Paul.\u201d The world was also a mess in Apostolic times, wasn\u2019t it? So why should that hold us back today? For the Church, all times are Apostolic times.<\/p>\n On the chart above, the Orthodox Church would be blue (other). We are growing slowly in America, partly because of immigration, partly because of conversion. But we are growing. Counties which thirty or forty years ago had never heard of Orthodoxy now have Orthodox churches. However, for the most part I fear that many of us Orthodox are just sitting on it, hiding our Apostolic light under a basket, inside a building, hoping maybe somebody will peek in and see it.<\/p>\n\n
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\u00a0John the Tenth,\u00a0left\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0is 126th in succession from the Apostle Peter. He is in union with all other Orthodox Patriarchs in the world. Our Metropolitan Joseph of North America is in union with John. Bishop Anthony of our Diocese of Toledo and the Midwest is assistant to Joseph, and we are in union with him.<\/p>\nHow I found the Apostolic Church<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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So I started to read and search, and came across Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (France), a second century bishop. He had been ordained by Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, who had been ordained by John, the disciple closest to the Lord. He had also known others of the Apostles. So Irenaeus had got the straight scoop, so to speak. (Did I read all of Irenaeus? No. You try it.)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/frbillsorthodoxblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/book-scaled-1.jpg\")
this old book, printed in 1960, now falling apart, I marked some passages that guided me. (Now you can find them easily online.) Listen to Saint Irenaeus:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/frbillsorthodoxblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/GML11-E__99177.1316243302.jpg\")
in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those which have been established in the central regions of the world. But as the sun, that creature of God, is one and the same throughout the whole world, so also the preaching of the truth shines everywhere, and enlightens all men that are willing to come to a knowledge of the truth. Nor will any one of the rulers in the Churches, however highly gifted he may be in point of eloquence, teach doctrines different from these\u2026 nor \u2026will he who is deficient in power of expression inflict injury on the tradition. For the faith\u2026[is] ever one and the same\u2026\u201d<\/p>\nA Final Point<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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