The Head of the Church #
New Ritualist: If these promises of God do not prove the infallibility of bishops and the impossibility of the church being without them, even for a short time, then I have other, stronger proofs that confirm this truth. The holy Apostle Paul compares the church to a human body, saying, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12). And the head of this body is the bishops, as written in the Kormchaia in the commentary on the 55th apostolic canon: “The bishops, being in the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, are called the head of the body of the church and are worthy of greater honor.” And this head of your body, of your so-called church, was absent for a whole one hundred and eighty years. Can a body live without a head? Certainly not. It can live without hands, without feet, without eyes, but never without a head. A body without a head is a corpse. And during that period, your church was not a living body, but a dead corpse, rotten, decayed, and stinking.
Old Ritualist: “Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken” (Psalm 36). The mud you have thrown at the Old Ritualist church, failing to reach its target, has only dirtied you. The holy apostles and holy fathers unanimously, firmly, and irrefutably testify and prove that, in the church, in its proper and natural sense, there is only one head: Jesus Christ, and no one else. Thus, the holy Apostle Paul teaches in his Epistle to the Ephesians: “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16, reading 225). And again: “Christ is the head of the church: and He is the savior of the body” (Ephesians 5:23, reading 230); “He is the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18, reading 251); “which is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:10, reading 254). Elsewhere he commands: “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God” (Colossians 2:18-19, reading 255). Even the apostles themselves never called themselves the head of the church, but rather servants of that Head—Christ—as the holy Apostle Paul writes: “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Corinthians 4:1, reading 130), and “in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God” (2 Corinthians 6:4, reading 151).
In the Great Catechism, in chapter 27, it is written thus:
Question: How many heads does the catholic church have?
Answer: One head, our Lord Jesus Christ alone.
Question: Show me proof from holy scripture that Christ Himself, and no one else, is the head of the catholic church.
Answer: Listen and consider. He who is the head of the church is also her bridegroom, for these differing names refer to the same meaning. And no one else but Christ is the bridegroom of the church; therefore, He is also her head. For the holy Apostle Paul applies this title to Christ alone. Thus he speaks, as a bridegroom: “I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2, reading 191). And as the one head of the church, he writes: “God the Father gave Christ to be the head over all the church” (Ephesians 1:22, reading 219)—both the visible and the invisible church. You will find many other writings on this subject. Know and consider well that one body needs only one head; the church is one body; therefore, it needs one head, Christ. It has no other head, for if it were two-headed or three-headed, it would be a monstrosity (Great Catechism, fol. 125 verso and recto).
And it is stated in the book On Faith: “Even a simple person can understand that one body cannot have two heads; this would be strange indeed: this trait is natural only to a serpent, not to the body of the church; may the Lord not allow us even to think such a thing” (ch. 7, fol. 57). Is it not clear that anyone who says there must be another head of the church besides Christ makes the church two-headed or three-headed, a feature suited only to serpents and not to the church’s body? Yet you, New Ritualists, say that each bishop is a head of the church. And since your church has several hundred bishops, or perhaps even a thousand, your church has a thousand heads; thus, you make your church a thousand-headed monster.
New Ritualist: But I did not call bishops the head of the church of my own accord; I cited scripture. I referred to the commentary on the 55th apostolic canon, where bishops are called the head of the church. So do not accuse me; accuse that passage in the Kormchaia.
Old Ritualist: In explanation of the words you cited from the Kormchaia regarding the headship of bishops, it is written in the book On Faith: “And when, in certain places in holy scripture, this [being called the head of the church] is attributed to the holy servants of God, it is done by the grace of God as an honor for the saints, and not in the true essence” (ch. 7, fol. 57). Thus, if bishops are called the head of the church in some scripture, this is done only as an honorary title, not in the true essence. The difference between the two is immeasurable. For instance, in essence, there is only one Son of God; there is and can be no other Son of God. Yet, by honor and analogy, there are and can be many sons of God. Christ Himself said in the Gospel: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9, reading 10). Hence, every true peacemaker is called a child of God as a title of honor, not in essence.
In the same way, bishops can be called the head of the church, but this is merely a title and not an essential truth, just as a peacemaker can be called a child of God, but not truly be one in essence. This is evident from the commentary on the 55th apostolic canon itself, which states: “Bishops, being in the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, are called the head of the body of the church.” Therefore, bishops are merely titled as the head of the church, just as any person who is a peacemaker is called a child of God. But suppose there were suddenly no peacemakers left on earth, and everyone lived in enmity—if someone claimed, therefore, that the Son of God no longer exists because peacemakers are called children of God and there are no peacemakers, it would be unreasonable. Similarly, your conclusion that bishops are called the head of the church, but the Old Ritualists had no bishop, therefore, their church was without a head, is just as foolish. We would reply to this hypothetical person that even if there were no peacemakers on earth to be called children of God, we still have the one, consubstantial and only-begotten Son of God—our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, we respond to you that although the Old Ritualist church of Christ had no Orthodox bishops titled as heads of the church from the time of Nikon until Metropolitan Ambrose, it still had the true, essential head—our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, your accusation that the Old Ritualist church supposedly had no head at all does not condemn us in the slightest. Instead, this grave accusation reflects back upon yourselves, for you depict your church as a monstrous creature with a thousand heads.
In the true sense, bishops are not the head of the church but only members (as Kyrill writes, fol. 24 verso); they may be compared to the eyes of the church.