Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, with the continuing feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, as well as the feastday of the Apostle Matthias.

In today’s Epistle reading we hear the continuation of that about which we read last week, that is, about the importance of unity in Christ. Today’s words are chiefly meant for the pastors, the leaders of the Corinthian Church and especially for those who divided the Christian community into different factions because of petty things (we talked about this in enough detail last week).

Today the Apostle Paul uses the image of a building to make his thoughts about the Church more understandable. He reminds the Corinthians that he founded their Church and laid a sound foundation. This foundation is, of course, faith in Jesus Christ. The pastors of the Church are now constructing a building or temple on this common and sound foundation. The apostle hints that some of them are building out of durable materials (gold, silver, and stones), that is, they are continuing the work of the apostle and preaching the crucified and risen Christ. They are doing this with utmost humility and in every way endeavouring to live uprightly, fulfilling all the commandments and attributing all of their successes to God Himself. Others, however, build out of wood, hay, and stubble. These are those who orient themselves primarily not on the crucified Christ, but on their own strengths, worldly wisdom, and eloquence. These are the same that caused quarrels and divisions amongst the faithful. The apostle continues that everything will become clear at the Dread Judgement, when everything will be revealed by fire. That which was built out of durable materials will be saved and the pastor will receive a reward, but the flimsy construction will obviously parish. Today’s excerpt finishes with a somewhat strict admonishment from the apostles that all of us, i. e. the members of the Church, are the temple of God. This temple is holy and therefore he that destroys this temple, i. e. the Christian community, the parish, is subject to punishment from God.

This is all clear enough and understandable, but there is one complicated and unclear place in today’s reading. The apostle writes the following: “If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” How is it that a man who constructed a flimsy building, because he put his trust not in Christ, but on himself, be saved? John Chrysostom and other exegetes explain that the pastor will not be burnt up with his flimsy construction but will be saved, i. e. preserved, so as to suffer eternally in hell! Frightening!

Although the words of today’s reading were first directed to the Corinthian pastors and today are needed mostly for the church leadership, they are also important for all members of the Church. If this wasn’t the case, they would not be read in church on a Sunday. They apply to us, first, because very many of us have some kind of role in the Church. Someone is the bishop or priest, but there is also the deacon, warden, the members of the parish council, church school teachers, the members of the sisterhood, the choristers, etc. We are all answerable for something, and each of us, even if in the smallest of details, is building on that sound foundation laid many years ago by the apostle Paul. Secondly, all of us have our own home churches, i. e. our families. In a family, like in a parish, everyone has his or her role, each member of the family answers for this or that. Here the building of the Church is also being constructed. Therefore, let’s remember that we have a sound foundation – faith in Christ, and let’s build up the Church out of durable materials.

priest Alexis