The Saturday Before Theophany *1 (1 Tim. 3:14–4:5; Mt. 3:1–11)

15.1.1887

“The house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). Therefore we have no need to cast our eyes here and there in search of truth. It is near. Remain in the Church, hold to everything she holds—and you will be in the truth, you will possess the truth and live according to it and within it, and consequently you will be filled with true life. Outside the Orthodox Church there is no truth. She alone is the faithful guardian of everything commanded by the Lord through the holy Apostles, and she is therefore the true Apostolic Church. Others have lost the Apostolic Church and, since in Christian consciousness they carry the conviction that only the Apostolic Church can faithfully preserve and point to the truth, they conceived the idea of building such a church themselves—and they built one and gave it that very name. They gave it the name, but they could not impart the substance, for the Apostolic Church was created by the will of the Father, through the Lord and Savior, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, through the Apostles. Men cannot create such a church. Those who think to do so are like children playing with dolls. If there were no true Apostolic Church on earth, there would be no point in spending effort trying to create one. But thanks be to God—He has not allowed the gates of hell to prevail over the holy Apostolic Church. She exists and shall endure, according to His promise, until the end of the age. And that Church is our Orthodox Church. Glory to God!