The Life of Fellowship
The Life of Fellowship (1)
The life of fellowship is a fellowship with God, the angels, the saints who have departed, the living saints, and a fellowship with nature.
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The life of fellowship among believers is a fellowship in Jesus Christ, a fellowship in the Lord. The love of God that is in each one makes him have fellowship with the other, like the vine and the branches:
Every branch has fellowship with the other, and with the leaves and the fruits, because every branch abides in the vine. And every branch that does not abide in the vine dries up, and has no fellowship with the rest of the branches, nor with the fruits or the leaves.
All grow together. All become one whole. In all of them flows the sap of the vine, giving them life.
So how do we abide in God, like branches in the vine?
† Saint John says in his first epistle: “And now, little children, abide in Him.” “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:17). That is, he imitates the Lord Christ and resembles Him in his conduct on earth.
† He also said: “Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him” (1 John 3:6). “But he who does the will of God abides forever.” “And he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him” (1 John 3:24).
† Abiding in God can also be through love, as the apostle says: “If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us: because He has given us of His Spirit.”
“And he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16).
† Abiding in God also comes through a life of repentance, by walking in the light, because there is no fellowship between light and darkness, nor between Christ and Belial. In this, the apostle says:
“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:6).
The characteristics of this holy fellowship:
Thus, the life of fellowship is a practical life abiding in God; it is a walk in the light, containing love, repentance, and keeping the commandments…
If we have fellowship with God, then this fellowship bears the attributes of God in us, considering that we are in the image and likeness of God.
If we have fellowship with the gentle and quiet Spirit, then this fellowship bears the attributes of the gentle and quiet Spirit.
Fellowship is also a fellowship in truth.
We do not flatter one another at the expense of the truth, lest we separate from God, who is the Truth.
The fellowship of believers is a holy fellowship in truth, in faith, and in purity. From here, the Church used to excommunicate sinners and not partake with them: “Put away the evil person from among yourselves” (1 Corinthians 5:13). Saint John the Beloved, who spoke more than the other apostles about glory, said:
“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds” (2 John 10).
And just as we do not flatter people at the expense of the truth, we also should not flatter ourselves. In defending the truth, we remember that:
We take God’s right from ourselves before taking it from people.
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Fellowship in the prayers of the Church:
The Church continually calls us to this fellowship, for most of our prayers are prayers of fellowship. For example, the Lord’s Prayer, which we pray in the plural form, as well as the Prayer of Thanksgiving and the Trisagion.
The prayers of the Church are shared by the priest, the deacon, and the people. In them appears the fellowship as we pray for all: for the Pope Patriarch, the metropolitans, bishops, priests, deacons, clergy, servants, and all the people, for the meetings, for the head of state, ministers, leaders, and soldiers, for the sick and the departed… etc.
And just as we pray together, we also fast together, partake together, and practice the life of fellowship in the holy sacraments and in the service, which is the edification of the Body of Christ.
We practice fellowship with all generations through the fathers, the traditions, what we have received from the apostles and the councils, and what we hand down to others.
We are not a generation isolated from other generations, but we obey what the fathers have decided and reject what they have rejected.
We live a life of fellowship in faith, in rites, in one baptism, and in one Spirit, as one Body of Christ (Ephesians 4).
[1] An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III in El-Keraza Magazine, sixth year, issue thirty-seven, September 12, 1975.
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