1 Corinthians 1:10-18
(From a sermon at St. Barbara’s) August 28 will be the fourteenth anniversary of the repose of Archbishop Dmitri (Royster). The founding hierarch of the Diocese of the South was known to be intuitive and a gifted communicator with a good sense of humor. Over the years he developed an effortless style of speaking, combining wit and a natural ability to read his audience. He was particularly effective when addressing brother priests and concelebrants in Christ.
A story from his early episcopacy highlights these gifts. Consecrated in 1969, he served as Bishop of the Diocese of New England from 1971 to 1978. According to His Eminence, at one of his first clergy retreats in Connecticut he offered the priests and deacons a reflection on Church life in the twentieth century. He introduced his talk with words similar to the following: “Brothers, today we are going to address problems confronting the modern Church. So, if you will please turn your bibles to the first chapter of St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.”
This opening comment was spot-on for the occasion, drawing a bit of laughter from the clergy. His intended message hit home with retreat participants: namely, when it comes to the nature of man – the fallen human condition – there is nothing new under the sun. No sin, vice, sorrow or joy experienced here and now, is totally unique when compared to the lives of people centuries ago, when compared even to contemporaries of St. Paul.
And what, in fact, did we hear from First Corinthians this morning? The same words referenced by His Eminence over fifty years ago in New England. St. Paul calls his flock to unity amid strife and division. The Apostle had received reports about factions within the Corinthian Church. He wrote, "It has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, that there are contentions among you...that each of you says, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas, or I am of Christ..." Believers were aligning themselves with one teacher or another. This led to divisiveness within the Body.
As for Paul, he was the founder of the Corinthian Church, so it was natural that some individuals identified themselves with the beloved Apostle. Apollos was an eloquent teacher and preacher, so naturally his influence on others was great. And then St. Peter, or Cephas, was the recognized leader or spokesman for the Twelve, so his authority was also exceptional.
St. Paul, as we might expect, had no problem with those who simply identified themselves as followers of Christ. In fact, in his call for unity, Paul appeals directly to the Person of Jesus: "I plead with you, brethren, by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment..."
Is this not a hallmark of Orthodox Christianity, that for 2000 years the official voice, the official word of the faithful, has been to express the truth of our beliefs with one mind, one judgment, regardless of time or place? This, in itself, is a great miracle. What do we sing at each Liturgy: “Let us love one another that with one mind we may confess, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Trinity, one in essence and undivided.”
But is it not also true, that in our struggles to live in harmony, to present a united front as members of the risen Lord, that in those struggles, because of our personal sinfulness and tireless actions of the devil, we often quarrel, we experience division and factions even within the Body of Christ? It should not be that way, but that is sometimes our experience of Church life in this fallen world. It was true in the first century Church, and it has been true in the life of the Church ever since.
Many people, unfortunately, fall back on these negatives to explain their rejection of Christ, of the Church, of organized religion. They stress that, “the followers of Jesus (religious people in general) are quite often liars, gossipers, and mean spirited.” This leads then to the inevitable question: “why, therefore, should I join in their fellowship?”
It is difficult to debate the legitimacy of such experiences. Even St. John Chrysostom (+ 407 A.D.) delivered an oft-quoted sermon in which he spoke figuratively of Christians devouring and preying upon one another through malicious slander and gossip (see also Galatians 5:15). But what is missing from the above equation – i.e., the rationale that leads to a rejection of Christ and the Church – is an understanding of the Body as something that transcends the sum total of our combined membership, that transcends our ugliness. The Church is a divine – human reality that exists to save mankind from the very sins just enumerated.
What is also missing is the perception of our own personal hypocrisy: we are all guilty of it to one degree or another. The fact that people who cast aside the Gospel and the Body of Christ because of the way Christians behave, these same individuals suffer from identical sins displayed by those whom they frown upon. What is missing, therefore, and needs to be rediscovered by all of us, is the existence of a “brotherhood of man.” We are all in the same boat, in need of salvation, in need of every word, deed and thought finding redemption in the Lord.
In that sense, I am no different from you, you are no different from me: we share a common fallen humanity. In Christ, however, the chance is given to break free from the corruption that holds all men captive.
In light of today’s lesson from First Corinthians, I would encourage us to reflect – wherever applicable – upon the struggles we each deal with daily in terms of division or animosity toward others. In doing so, please focus on at least two main things:
(A) First, the big picture: that there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Anything we experience in 2025, is akin to the struggles and temptations that have afflicted Christians for two thousand years, even the saints.
(B) In addition, let us please remember that the saints are saints, because they overcame sin and personal weakness by keeping their eye on the prize – our Lord Jesus Christ – not on other people. They focused on the words of St. Paul to the Philippians (4:8): “Brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
May we find it within ourselves to do just that, at all times, by God’s divine grace.