November 18, 2003
Living in the United States of America, we are among the most
fortunate people in the world. The founders of our Republic, breaking
away from the autocratic and monarchical rulers of the European
kingdoms, elevated the rights of the people to the form of
self-government. Government and governed became equal. The preamble of
our country thus begins, We, the people…
On the basis of these historical realities, the word, democracy, was, and has been, used to denote this form of government, even though we are not a pure democracy, but a republic.
As Americans, we interpret our form of government to mean that we have certain inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, all of which we attribute to God our Creator. In bringing God into this equation, we have the tendency to transfer this interpretation to our religious instituti ons. The fact is that our secular form of government is meant only for this world and applies only to how we live in the world. It has no eternal content. When we apply this interpretation of democracy to our religious institutions, we run into problems. For us Orthodox Christians, such a transfer of democratic process to a given parish, for example, implies that we have no concept of what the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ is.
As we reflect on the history of the Church, we understand that her teachings are our moral and ethical guides in this world as preparation for our existence in the world to come, the eternal existence. For almost 2,000 years the Church has continued to preach and to teach that man who is born into an imperfect state has the opportunity of reaching perfection. This is accomplished by one living or attempting to live by the teachings of Jesus Christ the Lord, as preserved by His Church down through the centuries.
For one to strive for eternal life in God’s Kingdom, through baptism and/or chrismation, he accepts another form of governance. The believer does not govern himself by his own set of rules, as in a republic/democracy, but he willingly accepts the Church as a divine monarchy Whose King is the Lord Jesus Christ. Even so, the beauty of being subjects of Christ and accepting to be His servants means that He, in His indescribable mercy and love, adopts us as His sons and daughters. The Christmas Day epistle reading brings this out most clearly.
As baptized/chrismated members of His Body we are given, not rights, but privileges to share the responsibility of serving Christ and His Church in various ways. In regard to parish administration, this was the responsibility of the clergy for almost 2,000 years. However, in the past one hundred years, particularly in the United States, and because the Church now consists of educated laity, the hierarchs of our Church, such as Archbishop Athenagoras who later became Ecumenical Patriarch, blessed the establishment of lay councils in parishes, as well as regionally, to assist the clergy in administering the secular affairs of the parishes.
No one doubts that this was a new concept in the administration of the parishes, and many times confusion, arguments, and disagreements were the net result. Even today, in the minds of a number of parishioners, there is disagreement as to how a parish, or a metropolis, or the Archdiocese, or even the Ecumenical Patriarchate, should function. It cannot be denied that one reason for the lack of unanimity among the people is due to the fact that serious abuses of privileges took place down through the years on the part of both the clergy and the laity.
Along with this, the concept of representative rule as practiced in
secular government has been insisted upon by church members, with some
even resorting to secular courts. Here the real problem hinges on the
question, Who controls?
Is it the clergy? Is it the laity? Or
is it the concept of unity for the good of the Church, as practiced in
most of our parishes?
Obviously, many forget that the Church our Lord established as His Bride is a divine Kingdom with one ruler, the Bridegroom, Who died on the Cross to establish His Church.
In the secular world, when monarchs or monarchies were overthrown, it was the servants, and even the court entertainers, who assumed control of the government. Obviously, this is not the situation with the Church. Her King and His Kingdom are eternal. We, on the other hand, are expected in the responsibilities we assume to magnify and glorify Christ and the Church by serving with the expectation of receiving eternal benefits for our fellow man and for ourselves.
In the face of these historic realities, our arguments pale when we insist, as clergy and laity, that we must adhere to democratic principles for the good of the Church. Actually, we who argue for democratic principles do not live by them. An excellent example to support this statement is to look at many parish councils, metropolitan councils, and, yes, even the Archdiocese Council. Year in and year out we see and hear the same people! This is not a democracy! It is an oligarchy! Therefore, please, let us not use the word, democracy, especially on the part of those who have served on councils consecutively for twenty and thirty years. It must be known that an oligarchy does not permit true democratic principles, meaning that the voice of the majority is not necessarily being heard. Such councils establish their own policies without consulting the parish membership. Yet, as we know, councils have no right to establish policy; the general membership does. Councils simply enact the policies established by the membership.
Many of our problems as a parish, a metropolis, an Archdiocese, as a Church will quickly subside when we come to the realization that the word, democracy, is associated with how we live in a world which one day will end, and that the word hierarchical is associated with the only ruler in the Church Who is Christ the Lord. To put it another way, democracy has to do with controlling and governing, while hierarchy has to do with the proper order in living our lives and worshipping our God, and coordinating our governance to be in harmony with our religious principles. And to explain the difference once again, democracy means the people control, while hierarchy means that there is only One, holy Authority or Office, Christ the Head of the Church, Who guides His people through the canonically ordained clergy.
Since Christ is the One, True Hierarch from whom the proper order stems for the benefit of His people, the hierarchs of the Church are responsible for representing this order and pastoral understanding in imitation of Christ. This is the concept of Servant-Leadership, which our Lord exemplified during His earthly visit. When the clergy and the laity, who have responsibilities in the governance of the Church, also live by this precept, the bylaws, regulations, charters, and constitutions will take their natural and rightful place in our lives, not as our rulers and authorities, but as our capable guides. Once this happens, we will see that the clergy and the laity who administer the affairs of the Church will not seek to control, but to serve.
Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver