According to the Orthodox Church, head of the Church is Christ (Eph. 1:22. 4:15. 5:23. Col. 1:18) and Christ is the truth (John 14:6). For this reason the Church as the body of Christ can never fall into apostasy (Matth. 16:18); it is "pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15). It is not the Bible that is the centre of Church, but Church is the centre of the Bible. The authenticity of the Bible and its authentic interpretation are based on Church (1 Tim. 3:15. 2 Peter 3:16).
For the Orthodox Church, the faith is one (Ephes. 4:5) and was delivered "once and for all", once only, to the saints (Jude 3). For this reason we have an obligation to be in a communion of faith with all the saints. This unity of faith that exists in Church is secured also by the presence of the Holy Spirit, which is "Spirit of the truth" and does not lead to division, but to unity (John 16:13. Eph. 4:3-5. 13)
The belief that the Church that Christ Himself established went into apostasy, is blasphemous. Individual people can fall into apostasy, even "shepherds" (Acts 20:29-31. Revel. 9:1), but not the Church (Matth. 16:18).
The christian Church, in the beginning, was linked to the episcopal rank and to the synodic system. The faithful people knew that the true Church was the one "where the bishop would show up"; away from the bishop, the gatherings that would take place would be considered as heretic; not orthodox.
This is specifically underlined by St. Ignatius, a bishop that suffered martyrdom in 110 AD, and was most probably a disciple of the apostles: "Of course, (orthodox) eucharist must be considered the one that the bishop conducts or the one that is conducted by the one the bishop will allow", i.e. a presbyter allowed by the bishop (Ign., Smyrn. VIII, 1).
After all, the first Church, following the example of the apostles (Acts 15:6-22) had the synods, local and oecumenical, as supreme authority. All the bishops had an equal diaconia.
But in time, certain dioceses were distinguished from others, not of course based on some hagiographical securing, but for practical reasons, based on the importance of the town in which the seat of the bishop existed. A "custom" was thus created; to discern the dioceses of the capital of a sub-prefecture . This custom was followed even more, as expected, in the capital of the empire.
Thus the First Oecumenical Synod (325 AD) acknowledged a certain precedence to the bishop of Rome and to the bishops of Alexandria and Antioch. In the relevant synodic text, the synod underlined that this was not based on a "divine law", but on "custom". The thing becomes more clear in the Fourth Oecumenical Synod (451 AD), where by means of its 28th rule acknowledged a similar precedence of honour to the patriarch of Constantinople, him being the bishop of the new capital (New Rome), in the same way this had been done for the bishop of the "Old Rome", because Constantinople had been honoured by the presence of the emperor and of the senate.
Absolute autonomy of the individual parishes regarding even matters of faith and life, is not in accordance with the spirit of the Church of the New Testament.
Every eucharistic parish expresses, according to the orthodox view, the whole of the catholic Church. However, basic trait regarding as to whether it truly does express that or not, is clearly the unity of faith and convictions.
"One body and one Spirit ... one Lord, one faith, one baptism ... And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith ... unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4:4-12).
The apostle wants christians to believe in "the one", to be "like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind" (Philip. 2:2). This did not only relate to the members of one parish, but to the whole of Church. When various matters presented themselves in a parish, they were solved on an 'over-communal' level (Acts 15:1-28) , i.e. not by the parish itself but by the gathering of ecclesiastical representatives that decided in accordance with everyone how to solve the problem (local or oecumenical synods). The decisions of the apostolic synod were binding for the christians of Antioch and for the other christian parishes; their approval was not needed.
The Orthodox Church cannot accept in her own matters dependence from earthly power. The faithful people are called to obey their shepherds (Hebr. 13:17) and the Church has the Lord as Her head (Eph. 1:22. 5:23-24. Col. 1:18). The obedience in political authority is not absolute. In the case where the earthly authority goes against the will of God, the faithful people are called to obey the Lord and not the earthly leaders; "Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? ... Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:28-29).
But this should not stop christians from being exemplary citizens when the earthly laws are not opposed to the law of God. But it does not mean that the earthly authority becomes regulator of Church-related matters or even that it can appoint the shepherds of the Church.
St. Gregory the Theologian comparing the government's authority to the hieratical, underlines that the authority of the bishop is above the authority of the earthly leaders and the leaders, as christians, are too under this authority: "And the law of Christ puts you under my authority, and under this rostrum. For we too have authority. I will also add that our authority is greater and more perfect. Or should the Spirit give way to flesh and the heavenly things give way to the earthly ones? You will accept my sincerity, for I know you are a holy sheep from my holy flock and nursling of the great Shepherd ..." (Greg. Theol. Speech 17:8).
The "prophetic charisma" of Church, therefore, it too must function for the goverment. This is carried out with checks done in case the earthly authority enacts laws going against the evangelion: "municipalities attack with hatred other municipalities; and the king gives freedom to act disrespectfully and enacts laws opposed to the correct faith; and these, that used to be neither men nor women [i.e. nepia], now oppress others by his side" (Greg. Theol. Speech 25:9).
The return to the 'word for word' Church of the apostles is not in accordance with the spirit of God that was leading the first Church and in general leads the Church through the centuries to date.
The first Church's form depended on her need for missionaries. It would suggest a communion of faithful people, who entered Church, coming from some other faith. During the times of the apostles, during that is the 'word for word' church of the apostles, the notion of a "second generation" was unknown. No one entered from the start to this new society, as it usually happens today, at least in the so-called christian countries. Therefore, our state today, cannot be harmonised with the shape "preaching-repentance, conversion-baptism" that was being used in the Church of the apostles, i.e. in the Church that was still at her first steps.
(For more information on Church, go here, to the first Comparative Doctrine page, on the subject of Church.)
EXPLANATION OF TERMS USED IN THE CHAPTER
hagiographical = from the words hagios = saint and graphe = writing; biblical.
nepiobaptism = the baptism of infants. (Also, nepios = the one to whom reasoning has not been developed yet (male structure). nepion = same thing, but male or female (neuter structure) ; nepia = plural of nepion.)