by Met. Luke (Kovalenko) –
The preeminence of Christ should be in all our life’s initiatives: in words, deeds, conversations, in our relationship to everything happening around us.
Christ is in our midst, my dear readers!
“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Col. 1:18). These words are not just a poetic image, and not abstract dogma. Apostle Paul speaks of the reality in which the Church and every Christian lives. In the world, where the question of the priority of values is becoming a question of the meaning of life, the apostle confirms: Christ is our all. He occupies not the first and not the “most honored” place. He occupies our entire lives.
The Church is the Body of Christ
The Church is not a union of like-minded people, not a cultural tradition, and not a religious organization. It is the Body of Christ, and that means that it lives and breathes as Christ. All nerve fibers meet in it, and from it proceed all life impulses. If the Church starts living according to the laws of this world and not by Christ’s will, it “loses its mind.” The body cannot exist without the head. To be a member of the Church means living in accord and harmony with its Head. Faith and repentance, prayer and the Eucharist—these are what make us living members of the Church. Even during times of trouble, the Church lives thanks to Christ, the Conqueror of death.
The Church is not a repository of ideas, not a museum of traditions, and especially not a national project or a nation’s cultural memory. Even an atheist and godless person can agree that the Gospel is a remarkable moral compass, and Christ is an ingenious teacher of morality. But a person becomes a believer only when he receives Christ as a living Person and begins to build a personal relationship with Him. A believer is someone for whom Christ is always “here and now.” If we react to everything that is going on emotionally and not prayerfully, it means that Christ does not live in our souls.
The Savior is the only meaning of life before the face of inevitable death. We live in a time when death is not something distant and abstract. Now, during a war, we see it often and near. And if Christ does not become for us the door that opens at the threshold to the space of death, then we are nothing more than “corpses on vacation.” The vacation ends, and back we go to nonexistence. But if Christ is the firstborn from the dead, that means death is not the end but the beginning. It means that we have no right to give in to fear, panic, and despair.
The Preeminence of Christ in All Our Life’s Initiatives
The preeminence of Christ should be in all our life’s initiatives: in words, deeds, conversations, in our relationship to everything happening around us. Yes, this is difficult, especially now. We live in a world of emotional reactions, sharp words, and quick hatred. This is what immediately distances us from Christ. There is no need to fear and run from reality and pain. We need to “clothe them in Christ.” Sanctity is born during persecutions, blood, and fear. To give Christ preeminence means entering into this onerous reality together with Him, and to not let go of His hand.
Our attention continually turns to pain, insult, and anxiety. And if Christ does not hold preeminence in our lives, then this element will pull us down head first. But if God is with us, then on our lips will be only truth and witness to eternal life. Christ teaches us to witness without anger, because He Himself told the truth—and did not become like those who judged Him.
To give Christ preeminence means allowing Him to enter into that place where we are tired of being human and only want to survive. Many are living in a regime of inner tension, thinking only about safety and saving their strength. And Christ comes not with reproach, but with the reminder that you are not just a survivor—you are a son, called to life. He returns to man that lost scale, when dignity is not lost even under the most difficult circumstances.
Sometimes it seems that evil triumphs. But it is precisely here that we need faith. Christ passed through all of this and conquered. That means that He will have the last word, and not death. Apostle Paul is offering us not a beautiful idea, but the gift of life, where Christ is not a supplement, but the beginning and the end; not a decoration, but an axis of meaning; not comfort, but a foundation stone. He truly is the firstborn from the dead, and with Him is life. He is the Head of the body, and only with Him can man’s path become an integral path to the Resurrection.
– Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko)
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HT: Orthodox Christianity. (Bolding of key words and phrases, and some minor content organizational changes made by blog editors to improve readability.)
