The Center of Preaching and Teaching in the Holy Church
The Center of Preaching and Teaching in the Holy Church
Our Lord God, who lamented saying: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos 4:6), has made teaching an important foundation for spreading His Kingdom on earth. He Himself undertook the work of teaching, and they called Him the Teacher, and He sent His prophets and apostles to be teachers.
Thus teaching became the primary work of the successors of the apostles—the bishops—and those who assist them from among the clergy. Teaching also became an important part of the Church’s rite and prayers…
Preaching and teaching are the work of the Lord Himself:
Christ our God, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3), went about the world teaching. After John was arrested, “Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matt 4:17).
Matthew the Apostle says of Him: “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (Matt 9:35). “Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities” (Matt 11:1). And when the crowds sought Him, He said to them: “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent” (Luke 4:43). And He said that the Scripture was fulfilled in Him: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor… to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18). And because of His great concern for teaching, the Lord was called “the Teacher”:
Everyone called Him “Teacher.” In the incident of the sinful woman, the scribes and Pharisees said to Him: “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery” (John 8:4). In His first conversation with the two disciples of John, they said to Him, “Rabbi—which is translated, Teacher—where are You staying?” (John 1:38). Thus Mary Magdalene called Him, “Rabboni!” which is to say, Teacher (John 20:16). In His first encounter with Nathanael, he said to Him: “Rabbi, You are the Son of God!” (John 1:49).
The disciples in general used to call Him thus. When they saw the man born blind, they said to the Lord: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents?” (John 9:2).
And the Lord accepted this title and called Himself by it…
Among the examples of this is that when the Passover came, He said to His disciples: “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand’” (Matt 26:18). And plainly He also said to the disciples after washing their feet: “You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am” (John 13:13).
Therefore believers were called disciples. When the Jews saw that the man born blind had believed in Christ, they reviled him saying: “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples” (John 9:28). The Christian life is discipleship to the Lord, and the Lord is the Teacher.
And the Lord Christ, as a Teacher, attributed His teaching to the Father Himself:
For He says openly: “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me” (John 7:16). And in His farewell prayer He says to the Father: “The words which You gave Me I have given them” (John 17:8).
Preaching and teaching are the work of the holy apostles
What was the work of the holy fathers except teaching?
Thus was the work of Noah, Moses, Elijah, Daniel, and Jeremiah, and all the prophets: they carried the word of God to the people and taught them His ways. And all the books of the prophets, the apostle says, were “written for our instruction” (Rom 15:4).
Thus also was the work of John the Baptist:
He was a voice crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight” (Mark 1:3). Luke the Evangelist recorded a portion of his sermons and concluded by saying: “And with many other exhortations he preached to the people” (Luke 3:18). This also was confirmed by Matthew the Evangelist, saying: “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matt 3:1–2).
Preaching and teaching are the work which the Lord commanded His apostles and disciples:
The Twelve “He sent them to preach the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:2), and likewise the Seventy (Luke 10:9).
“So they went out and passed through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere” (Luke 9:6). This is what the Apostle Peter recalls when he said: “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify” (Acts 10:42).
And just as the Lord commanded them during His training of them, He also commanded them before His Ascension: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them… teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19–20). And He said to them: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). And our teacher Mark continues saying: “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs” (Mark 16:20).
And as it happened with the Twelve, so it happened with Paul also, who says plainly: “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel” (1 Cor 1:17). Therefore Paul says: “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16).
He remembers this responsibility in his epistles, saying: “According to the preaching with which I was entrusted, according to the commandment of God our Savior” (Titus 1:3).
He also says: “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20).
Thus the apostles carried out the command and lived for preaching, exhortation, and teaching:
“And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus Christ” (Acts 5:42). “And they spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). From the Day of Pentecost they began teaching, for the Scripture says of Peter: “And with many other words he testified and exhorted them” (Acts 2:40). And at the ordination of the seven deacons, the apostles mentioned their work, saying: “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).
Thus Luke the Evangelist said of them: “Who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word” (Luke 1:2). And he said that the people “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2:42).
For this reason we read that immortal phrase in the history of the Church: “Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly” (Acts 6:7), until the Jews and their rulers were annoyed at the apostles’ teaching of the people (Acts 4:2), because they had filled the city with their teaching (Acts 5:28).
With all perseverance and power, the apostles preached and served the word: “As you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God” (1 Thess 2:11–12).
The Apostle Paul spoke and “continued his message until midnight” (Acts 20:7). And Peter and John cried out: “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). And the Lord Himself commanded Paul in this, saying: “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you” (Acts 18:9–10). Paul carried this out and remained “preaching the kingdom of God… with all confidence, no one forbidding him” (Acts 28:31), as he did in founding the Church of Rome. Time would fail us if we were to speak of Barnabas (the son of exhortation), Silas, and others…
Even the epistles were for exhortation and teaching, as the Apostle Jude says (Jude 3): “I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” And Peter says: “By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting” (1 Pet 5:12).
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