Holiness In The Tradition Of The Orthodox Church

 

If all words are shaped by realities of this world, then there is an exception in the case of "holiness," for it has no direct reference to the human dimension. Wisdom, power, even love have analogies in human life but holiness is par excellence of the "wholly Other," the most striking manifestation of the Transcendent One. Holiness belongs to God himself. "Holy is your name," said the prophet Isaiah (57:15) But if each livine Person is holy, according to St Cyril of Alexandria, the Holy spirit is the very essence of divine holiness, and for St Basil the Great, 'holiness is the essential element of his nature." The Holy Spirit is holiness hypostasized, personalized.

Contemporary language frequently employs such expressions as sacred" obligation, will, or commandment, a "holy" person. In semantic evolution the terms "sacred" and "holy" were detached from their roots and have taken on a moral meaning quite different from their original ontological significance.

Above all, holiness is the opposite of the reality of this world and presents itself as the eruption of what is absolutely different, that which Rudolf Otto termed das ganz Andere. The Bible supplies the fundamental definition. Only God is holy, and a creature is such only in a derived sense. The sacred and the holy can never be of the creature's own nature but only and always by participation in the nature of God. The terms kadosh, agios, sacer and sanctus imply a relationship of totally belonging to God, and of being set apart. The divine act of sanctification or consecration takes a person or an object back from its empirical condition and places it in communion with the divine energies and grace which change its nature and immediately makes it experience, within its natural or original location the mysterium tremendum, the sacred trembling before the coming of the supernatural and its "awesome purity." This has nothing at all to do with fear of the unknown, but is rather a mystical awe which accompanies every manifestation of the Transcendent One. "I will send my fear before you and will destroy all the people to whom you will come" (Ex 23:27). Again: "Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground" (Ex 3:5).

This is, in the world's false realities, the overwhelming experience of a reality which is "innocent" because it is sanctified, purified and returned to its original state, to its destiny of being the pure vessel of a presence. The holiness of God abides there and shines from it. Thus "this place is holy" because of the presence of God as that part of the Temple was holy because of the presence of the Ark of the Covenant, as the Holy Scriptures witness to the presence of Christ in their words, as every church building is holy because God dwells there, speaks to us and feeds us with himself. The "kiss of peace" is holy because it seals the communion of those who exchange it in Christ, who is present.

The prophets, apostles and the "saints" of Jerusalem are holy because of the charism of their ministry. Bishops have the title "holy brother," a patriarch is addressed as "His Beatitude/Holiness," not because of any personal virtue but because of their participation in the unique, holy priesthood of Christ. Each baptized person is confirmed or chrismated, anointed, sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit in order to "share in the nature of God," (2 Pet 1:4) participate in "the holiness of God" (Heb 12:10), and it is in this sense of participation in divine holiness that St Paul calls the members of the community "saints."

The liturgy teaches this holiness most explicitly. Before offering the eucharistic gifts, the celebrant says: "Holy things for the holy" and the assembly responds, moved by this awesome invitation, confessing their unworthiness, "One is holy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ, in the glory of God the Father. Amen." The One who is uniquely holy in his nature is Christ. Those who are his members are holy only through sharing in his unique holiness.

From: In The World, Of The Church, by Paul Evdokimov, St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, Crestwood, NY 2001