DISSENSION AND DIVISION vs. UNITY IN CHRIST

Fr Luke A Veronis

Dissension and division even in the church. Who likes that? What is wrong when we allow dissension and division to enter into the Body of Christ, into His Holy Church? And yet it happens.

It’s interesting to note in today’s epistle reading how Saint Paul addresses this very issue - dissension in the early church of Corinth. He criticized the first Christians because they divided themselves into groups that separated the believers into various sects. "I belong to Paul," one group proclaimed. Another declared "I belong to Apollos." And a third sided with Peter, "I belong to Cephas." And then some noted, "I belong to Christ." These different groups all formed within the first Church in Corinth, and the great Apostle asked them, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”

And this wasn’t the only dissension in the first Church in Corinth. Along with the divisions about the charismatic leaders of the church, the Christian in Corinth also divided when they celebrated the Eucharist. In the early Church, the Eucharist was taken as a part of an Agape Meal. The believers would come together to pray and worship while they shared in the eating of a meal. But imagine, even in this sacred moment of the Body and Blood of Christ, divisions persisted.

“I hear that there are divisions among you,” Saint Paul noted. “when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you… whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” (1 Cor 11:19-22,27)

Then other divisions manifested themselves with the spiritual gifts that different believers possessed. Some thought that certain gifts made them more important than those with other gifts. Saint Paul reminded them, however, that the Spirit gives diverse gifts to different people for the same purpose, to build up the Body of Christ, the Church. And the greatest of all gifts is love!

Well, I begin with this introduction to highlight that even from the beginning of the ancient church, temptations for divisions and dissension existed. The human ego is the same then, as it is today. And the devil, o diavolos, is the same Great Divider who divides what God wants united!

What does this mean for us today, in our contemporary church, both within our Saints Constantine and Helen Church Family in Webster as well as for our national and global church. Well, we have to be careful about divisions and dissension, and as Saint Paul advises, “If possible, as far as it depends on you, we are to live peaceably with all.” (Rom 12:18)

Let’s look at our own circumstances today in our church, and in the larger contemporary church, and reflect on the dissension and divisions that tempt us.

In some Orthodox churches, divisions come over our ethnic identity – where some over-emphasize their Greek heritage too much, leaving the non-Greeks to feel left out? Or in other Orthodox churches it may be overemphasizing one’s Russian or Romanian or Albanian heritage. Or what about the serious divisions we have in the political sphere of our society, especially now as we approach our presidential elections. Or think about certain hot-button cultural issues dividing our families and country. And these divisions have entered our churches full force, even dividing and breaking apart Christian communities of love.

Such divisions and dissension come because we allow secondary issues to become central to our own identity. Think, for a moment, about how you identify yourself and ask, “What is my PRIMARY identity? How do I understand who I am? What are the primary factors that define how I identity myself?”

Am I Greek (or Romanian or Russian or Ethiopian) above all else? Am I American and emphasize our country’s nationalism above all else? Is this my primary identifier?

Am I a republican or democrat, a liberal or conservative, a Trump follower or a Kamala believer, and has this become my primary identity, especially now during these elections?

Does my world and worldview revolve around a particular cultural or societal hot-button issue – like gender and the LGBTQ identity, or abortion and being pro-life or pro-choice, or maybe I find my identity in guns and 2^nd amendment rights. Do I identify primarily as a capitalist, or a socialist, or hold some other ideological bent with which I form my central worldview, allowing this to guide my thinking and my life itself?

Have any of these become the PRIMARY lens through which I look at life and with which I identity, and does this lens then lead me to judge those who have a different perspective?

There are many ways we can self-identify - and modern algorithms and technology, through our phones and computers, along with our social media and news outlets, will constantly feed us and overwhelm us with what we want to hear. This technology pushes us together with like-minded people who only reinforce what we consider to be our primary identity. Technology has exasperated the situation into an echo-chamber which constantly tells us what we want to hear and what we already believe, without challenging us to see the other side, to listen to those who have different opinions and different perspectives, to try to understand the nuances of life, and to break away from any simplistic black/white worldview.

As a result, our self-identification leads us to no longer see the “other” as normal people, as neighbors, as friends, as brothers and sisters, or as a part of our human family. Our self-identification separates and divides us from others, making us feel superior to those who differ.

Such divisions have always been a part of the world, but modern technology has worsened the situation. And such divisions of identity threaten to become a very real part of our churches. Whether a church displays the rainbow flag outside its doors or believes that only Trump Republicans are true Christians offer two extreme examples of heretical church identity complying with our self-identification. Another terrible heresy is Christian nationalism in the name of the church.

One of the utter failures in our churches, and with our church leaders, is when we promote these heresies as primary identifiers and then allow divisions! We actually have churches and Christians who say Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior and yet who emphasize these secondary identities over and above the Gospel of our Risen Lord Jesus and our identity in Him alone!

This is where the Church and our Orthodox Christian faith have an extremely important message for us all! Jesus Christ did not call His followers to follow Him and make Him one among many other priorities in their lives. He invited people to “come, follow me” in an exclusive relationship, for us to come and discover the most important and greatest path in life. He offers us a treasure for which we are to sell all we have (including to set aside all our other identities) in order to obtain this “pearl of great price” and become a true follower of His!

Jesus bluntly states, “If anyone loves father and mother more than me, they are not worthy of me.” That’s a pretty radical call. Our primary identity shouldn’t be even our family heritage but must be Jesus Christ alone!

To the rich young ruler who approached Jesus and asked what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus says, “Go sell all you have and come follow me.” That’s a pretty radical call. Our primary identity can’t be our wealth or possessions but must be Jesus Christ alone.

To the proud ethnocentric Jews, who considered themselves the chosen people of God, and then to the Greeks whose culture dominated the ancient world, Saint Paul taught, “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal 3:26-29)

As Orthodox Christians, our identity is first and foremost as a follower of Jesus Christ. He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and end of our being. We may have secondary identifiers – our heritage, our family, our politics, our cultural preferences – but we should never allow any of these to divide us and create dissension within the church or even outside the church.

If we remember that above all we are children of God and followers of the Risen Jesus Christ, then we will be united with one another by our way of life - loving our enemy, acting as peacemakers, reconciling humanity with God, and uniting that which is divided.

Let us followers of Jesus Christ always act as instruments of unity not division, of peace not dissension