Authority in the Church?
If the church is principally seen as an institution enclosed within itself, with a hierarchical structure and jurisdictional boundaries, then the episcopate and priesthood could be interpreted as offices which exercise domineering authority, ruling the faithful. This view of the church is not faithful to the teachings of scripture or to the witness of the church throughout the centuries. Rather, the church can be principally understood in terms of koinonia, in communion with God himself and among each other.
Viewing authority in the church in light of koinonia quickly dispels any perception of domination or authoritative rule in the worldly sense. Instead, authority in the church begins to be seen as a reflection of God’s communion with the world in Christ. Thus, authority provides a means for encountering God, emphasizing that “all issues of authority must be thoroughly based on communion”.[1]The Lord Christ as the source of authority in the church, provides a model of the approach or spirit in which authority should be exercised, “whoever desires to be first among you let him be your slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt 27-28).
Service is at the heart of Christ’s ministry, and therefore at the heart of authority in the church. This is clearly exemplified in the washing of the feet of the disciples before the institution of the Eucharist in which Christ states, “You call me teacher and Lord, and you sat well for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13:13-14). This is the calling of those who exercise authority in the church- to ‘wash feet’- as those (bishops and priests) who derive their authority of service from Christ, make “their respective responsibility to imitate His life and ministry of service”.[3]
Viewing authority in the church in terms of koinonia and Christ’s ministry, clearly shows that the church does not “create any external authority for the sake of security and obedience, but rather provides the means for personal and free existence in communion”.[4]Authority then stems from and aims for koinonia, and any ministry can only be authoritative if it stems from and leads to communion. In this light, authority cannot be seen to exist to impose itself on the faithful, but rather to uphold koinonia and the unity of the church.
The Late His Holiness Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Mar Ignatias Zakka washing the feet of a child at the service of the washing of the feet on Great Thursday
The office of the bishop exercises this function, protecting the church against division and upholding the unity of the church. Trinitarian ecclesiology emphasizes the ‘one and the many’ in the church, and the diversity of ‘the many’ is united through the authority of the bishop as the one responsible for the ministry of union.[5] Kariatlis comments that “it is the bishop today who can an exercise such authority within the church since it is he alone who is called to empty himself entirely of his own personal will so that he can be filled with the authority of Christ entirely”.[6]The bishop surrounded by his priests, is then called to serve as an extension and continuation of the mission of Christ.
The episcopate preserves the Eucharistic unity of the community while rightly explaining and teaching the word of truth (cf. 2 Tim 2:15). The episcopate as an authority in the church rather than over the church,[7]also preserves the historical continuity of the mission of Christ through apostolic succession. Furthermore, the episcopate serves as an organ of the church’s catholicity by expressing the unity of the communion in each place, expressing the historical continuity of the church and expressing the communion and unity of the church in space.[8] The bishop is the direct connection between Christ, the apostles and the local church, emphasized in Ignatius’s famous saying “wherever the bishop is there is the church”.[9]Thus the episcopacy, stemming from Christ himself and “engrafted into the college of the twelve”[10]by ordination, is essential to upholding the koinonia of the church, which is at the very heart of the nature and purpose of the church.
[1]Philip Kariatlis, "Origin and Limits of Authority in the Church and Its Relationship to Authenticity," Phronema18 (2003).63
[3]Bishop Maximos Aghiorgoussis, "The Parish Presbyter and His Bishop: A Review of the Pastoral Roles, Relationship and Authority," St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly29, no. 1 (1985).60
[4]Kariatlis, "Origin and Limits of Authority in the Church and Its Relationship to Authenticity."63
[5]John Zizioulas, "The Church as Communion," St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly38, no. 1 (1994).10
[6]Kariatlis, "Origin and Limits of Authority in the Church and Its Relationship to Authenticity."68
[7]Ibid.69
[8]Zizioulas.252
[9]Ibid.236
[10]Ibid.247