The Thirty-Sixth Canon of the Holy Apostles prescribes that the clergy of a diocese be punished very severely for one very serious sin, an ecclesiastical transgression.

What is this transgression?

If the people of a diocese, on account of their own insubordination and malice, are not obedient to their Bishop and do not accept him as their Shepherd, then the clergy of this diocese are to be excommunicated, because they have not corrected such an insubordinate people; inasmuch as, according to the interpretation of St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite, they did not instruct such an insubordinate people by their teaching and good example.

We clergy, therefore, are obliged to provide our people with teaching and a good example, if we are to avoid the very heavy penalty of excommunication.

We are constantly impressed by the great reverence shown by Russians, Romanians, and other Orthodox peoples towards their Hierarchs. In the lands of these folk, even after subjugation under atheism and the severe blows that the Orthodox Church thereby sustained, there has been preserved a popular dedication to, and honor for, the person of the Bishop which is probably without parallel.

1. This is how a clergyman who took part in a tour made by a Hierarch to Russia describes some of its highlights:

2. But the peoples dedication to the person of their Bishop reaches a climax at his repose.

In one Russian city, two or three hours after the announcement of the repose of the elderly Metropolitan, it was already difficult to make ones way through to his residence.... For many nights, the people filed past the remains of their Shepherd. During the funeral, the large Cathedral was able to contain only a small portion of the Faithful, the majority of whom were forced to remain in the courtyard of the Church and in the neighboring streets. Many thousands of believers came to bow before the venerable remains of the deceased.

And in another instance tens of thousands of Faithful escorted in procession the remains of their Metropolitan from the Cathedral to the cemetery, which is seven kilometers away.

Someone may ask: Is this behavior on the part of the people not a bit hyperbolic? Is not the focus of devotion, here, shifted from Christ to the Bishop?

The Holy Fathers clearly answer, No!

The Bishop in his diocese is, says St. John of Kronstadt, after God and the Theotokos, the source of sanctification for all the Christians of his flock, and this is why they should all have great esteem and love for him as the most perfect celebrant of the Holy Mysteries.

This teaching, which is correct in every way, is not recent in Orthodoxy, but is a fundamental idea of the Apostolic Church.

1. St. Ignatios the God-Bearer, Bishop of Antioch, links the Bishop and Jesus Christ together to such a degree that everything which happens to a visible Bishop of the Church is attributed and ascribed to the invisible Bishop, Christ our Savior.

The following is precisely what the Saint says:

2. In another instance, St. Ignatios urges us to see the Bishop as the Lord Himself: Therefore, it is obvious that we must look upon the Bishop as we would the Lord Himself.

3. The Saint goes on to exalt the place of the Bishop in the Church so highly as to teach that all who wish to be with God must be with the Bishop: For as many as belong to God and Jesus Christ—these are with the Bishop.

4. And so significant is the issue of our unity with the Bishop, and through him with God, according to St. Ignatios, that this unity demarcates two completely different worlds: the world of God and the world of the Devil: See to it that you all follow the Bishop, as Jesus Christ follows the Father...; It is good to know God and the Bishop; he who does anything without the knowledge of the Bishop is serving the Devil.

What is the Church?

1. The Church is the Assembly of the People of God for the celebration of the Mystery of the Divine Eucharist, wherein the local Church actually becomes and is revealed as the Body of Christ, as a Theandric organism, in which the Holy Trinity dwells.

2. The visible center and head of the Eucharistic Assembly is the Bishop: It is he who leads the Assembly and preaches the word of God; it is he who offers the Eucharist, as an Icon of Christ, the Great High Priest, and as the one who presides in the place of God, according to St. Ignatios of Antioch.

3. In the early Church, only the Bishop offered the Divine Eucharist in each local Church; that is, there was only one Eucharist, and this was centered on the Bishop.

4. The Bishop, when he offers the Divine Eucharist, offers Christ in His wholeness, imparting the Holy Mysteries to the Faithful with his own hands; in ancient times, the People of God partook of Christ only from the living Icon of Christ, the Bishop.

5. Therefore, the Bishop not only embodies the local Church, but also expresses in time and space the Catholic Church, that is, the whole Church; for that which embodies Christ in His wholeness, and wherein one receives Christ in His wholeness, is that which embodies the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Wherever Jesus Christ is, says St. Ignatios, there is the Catholic Church.

6. For precisely this reason, when one is united with the Bishop in the Mystery of the Divine Eucharist, then he is also united with the Catholic Church. St. Cyprian of Carthage emphasizes this ecclesiological truth in the following striking terms: The Bishop is in the Church and the Church in the Bishop; and if one is not in communion with the Bishop, he is not in the Church.

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I hope that all to which we have thus far referred will suffice to help us understand why the People of God, whenever a Bishop Liturgizes, yearn to receive communion from his hands; why there is a veritable festival in villages, whenever the Bishop visits; why the Faithful welcome him with the pealing of bells, with palms and branches; why they spread carpets for him to step upon; and why girls present their dowries to him to be blessed—why, in short, the Faithful have such love for, and dedication to, their Bishop.

Elder Silouan of Athos, in his endeavor to present to us the Orthodox teaching about the Episcopacy, relates the following amazing incident:

I think that this instructive miracle, together with the aforementioned Patristic testimonies, suffice to make us, clergy and laity alike, aware of our obligation before a Bishop. Orthodox Tradition has always assigned the Bishop to such a central place in the Church, that it proclaims through the Holy Patriarch Dositheos of Jerusalem ( 1707) the following great truth: What God is in the heavenly Church of the firstborn, and the sun in the world, such is each Bishop in the local Church.

2. Is it possible for us to do anything connected with the Church clandestinely, without the Bishops knowledge and blessing, seeing that the Saints instruct us: Do nothing without the Bishop?

3. Is it possible for anyone—especially, to be sure, the clergy to be independent and to follow their own pastoral agendas, when the Thirty-Ninth Apostolic Canon enjoins: Let Presbyters and Deacons not carry out anything without the knowledge of the Bishop?

5. Is it possible for us to assemble illicitly without the knowledge of the Bishop and to act schismatically, when the Saints teach us: Just as the Lord did nothing without the Father..., so must you do nothing without the Bishop...?

6. Is it possible, finally, for us to judge and to condemn a Bishop, when the Holy Chrysostomos forbids this in the strictest terms, ...even if his (the spiritual Fathers) life is extremely corrupt? ...And when the same Saint, in posing questions to those who accuse Priests, forbids them even to enter a church?

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I hope that you will forgive me for keeping you. I was carried away by the seriousness of the subject and by my desire for your edification in Christ.

1. The damage done to the Orthodox ethos by extra-ecclesiastical factors has touched on one of the most fundamental characteristics of this ethos: a profound awareness of the central place of the Bishop in the Church.

May this meagre attempt of ours be regarded as a small contribution to the amelioration of this evil, of this damage.

I am profoundly convinced that, only when our relationship with the Bishop in the Church is brought to life in an Orthodox, Patristic manner, will the Lord have mercy on us and grant us to behold good Shepherds and, as a result, better days.

2. Likewise, in conclusion, we would also like you to receive our treatment, this evening, of the correct attitude that one should have towards the Bishop as a necessary response to those unfortunate brethren of ours who distorted the spiritual meaning of a gift that we presented to our Most Reverend Metropolitan in 1987.

In that gift—a painting from the Icon studio of the Holy Convent of the Holy Angels in Aphidnai, Attika, done with my own guidance and with my advice—our local Church was symbolically portrayed as the Body of Christ, with Her Bishop and the Divine Eucharist at the center. This, for us, is the Patristic understanding of the Church; it was natural that all those who do not know this aspect of the Church or experience it in their own lives, should malign that symbolic gift, in order to damage the reputation of our honored Chief Shepherd.

May our Lord forgive them and lead them to repentance!

Our Most Reverend Spiritual Father, Divinely-Chosen Shepherd of Our Little Flock:

On the occasion of your Name Day, accept our humble but heartfelt wishes that you might be preserved, by the Grace of the Lord, for many long years in safety, honor, and health, teaching aright the word of Evangelical Truth.

May the Most Blessed Mother of our Savior strengthen you and grant you forbearance, and especially when we, your spiritual children, relax our vigilance and behave improperly towards you.

As our Bishop, as a living Icon of Christ, the Great High Priest, continue—we beseech you—to pray all the more fervently before the dread Altar for your reason-endowed Flock, that no sheep thereof might stray and be caught by wild beasts, cut off from unity with you, unity with the Church, and unity with Christ.