For those who labor...
by Fr. Thomas Pleska
We often hear about working for the Church, about those who work for the Church, and especially about those who ought to work for the Church. There is, however, a basic misunderstanding about what it is of which work for the Church consists. It is all too often forgotten that the primary understanding of the Church about work has to do with attendance at the liturgical services of the Church. The very word liturgy is derived from the Greek word leitourgia, which has several related meanings. In ancient Greece, it was first of all the service of a citizen at a public office at his own expense. What is emphasized is the service at public duties of the State. Later it came to mean the performance of the public religious services. But, the primary meaning has never been totally lost. The word liturgy understood in its most complete sense is the public service of members in the Church. The Church has always held that the performance of its liturgical rites is primary because these "works" focus on what is primary and what justifies all of the other "works" in the Church. It is the Liturgy of the Church as experienced in Vespers, Matins, and Divine Liturgy which focuses us on Jesus Christ the Son of God, what He has done for us, and how He enables us to become as He is.
All of the fellowship, all of the educational activities, all of the charitable activities, and all the "management" activities follow from this. Without this focus on God the Father who made us; God the Son, Jesus Christ, who has saved us; and the Holy Spirit, who imparts the life of God in the Holy Trinity to us, all of the other activities will inevitably break down. When the worship of the Church becomes something secondary, a duty to perform "when we have time" or for those whoI've been toldhave "nothing better to do," then all the other "work" of the Church breaks down; arguments begin, factions form, and all of those sinful characteristics which divide us from God and each other take the front seat.
In the early days of the Church, people were attracted to the Church not because people "evangelized" on street corners, or knocked on doors to invite people in, but rather that there was a certain something which set Christians apart from those around them. The Church was unlike any of the other organizationsreligious or secularwhich surrounded it. That "something" was the life in Christ, who was God made man. Before all else, the Church expects attentive attendance from its membership so that we may, in our own lives, manifest the Divine/Human nature of the Church to those around us. St. Seraphim of Sarov, perhaps the greatest Saint of the Russian Church, said that if someone attains the peace of God, then thousands around him will be saved. The first step in attaining this peace is the devout attendance at the public services of the Church, particularly the weekend cycleVespers and Liturgy.
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