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” (Hosea 4:6), has made teaching an essential foundation for spreading His Kingdom on earth. He Himself undertook the work of teaching and was called “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 rites 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” (Colossians 2:3), went about the world teaching. After John was arrested, Jesus began to preach, saying: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 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” (Matthew 9:35). “When Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities” (Matthew 11:1). When the crowds searched for 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 proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18–19).
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 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 meeting with Nathanael, he said to Him: “Rabbi, You are the Son of God!” (John 1:49).
The disciples generally addressed Him this way. When they saw the man born blind, they said to the Lord: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents…?” (John 9:2).
The Lord accepted this title and called Himself by it.
For example, 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’” (Matthew 26:18). And plainly He said to His 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 His 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.
As a Teacher, the Lord Christ attributed His teaching to the Father Himself.
He openly says: “My doctrine 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 prophets other than teaching?
Such was the work of Noah, Moses, Elijah, Daniel, Jeremiah, and all the prophets: they carried the word of God to the people and taught them His ways. All the writings of the prophets, the Apostle Paul says, “were written for our learning” (Romans 15:4).
So also was the work of John the Baptist:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight’” (Mark 1:3). Luke the Evangelist records a portion of his sermons and concludes by saying: “And with many other exhortations he preached to the people” (Luke 3:18). Matthew the Evangelist confirms this, saying: “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 3:1–2).
Preaching and teaching are the work which the Lord commanded His apostles and disciples.
He sent the twelve “to preach the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:2), and likewise the seventy (Luke 10:1). “So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere” (Luke 9:6). This is what the Apostle Peter recalls when he said: “And He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify” (Acts 10:42).
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” (Matthew 28:19–20). And He said to them: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). 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).
As it happened with the twelve, so it happened with Paul, who says plainly: “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel” (1 Corinthians 1:17). Therefore Paul says: “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). He remembers this responsibility in his epistles, saying: “According to the preaching with which I was entrusted, by 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 Corinthians 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; Scripture says of Peter: “And with many other words he testified and exhorted them” (Acts 2:40). When the seven deacons were ordained, the apostles spoke of 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: “They were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word from the beginning” (Luke 1:2), and that the people “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2:42).
For this reason we read that immortal phrase in Church history: “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 perseverance and power, the apostles preached and served the word: “We exhorted each one of you, as a father does his own children… that you would walk worthy of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:11–12). The Apostle Paul spoke and “continued his message until midnight” (Acts 20:7). 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: “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you” (Acts 18:9–10). Paul obeyed and continued 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 preaching and teaching.
The Apostle Jude says: “I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3). And Peter says: “By Silvanus… I have written to you briefly, exhorting” (1 Peter 5:12).
Preaching and Teaching Are the Work of the Fathers the Bishops:
The Apostle Paul sent to his disciple Timothy the bishop, saying: “Give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:13), and also: “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (1 Timothy 4:16). “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2). “Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5). “Teach and exhort these things” (1 Timothy 6:2).
He also writes to his disciple Titus the bishop, saying: “Speak these things, exhort” (Titus 2:15), and: “But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine… showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned” (Titus 2:1, 7–8). Therefore Paul says: “A bishop must be… able to teach” (1 Timothy 3:2). And in his epistle to Titus: “A bishop must be… holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict” (Titus 1:7, 9).
Chapter three of the Didascalia elaborates on this subject, stating: “The bishop must be filled with all teaching, educated, trained in speech, alive in heart in teaching, teaching at all times. He should read and study the books of the Lord and meditate on the passages, in order to interpret the Scriptures with understanding… to instruct the laypeople with firmness and exhort them.” The exhortation rises to a command: “Care for the word, O bishop. Satisfy your people and water them from the light of the Law, that they may be enriched by the abundance of your teachings.” The Didascalia explains the judgment of the bishop who neglects teaching: “If you, O bishops, do not instruct the people and testify to them by teaching, the sin of those who do not know is upon you” (Ezekiel 33:2–9).
How difficult and dangerous are the canons placed by the apostolic fathers upon the bishop who neglects teaching. My pen trembles to write them; I will leave them for another time.
Our Holy Fathers the Bishops Were Preachers and Teachers:
How beautiful is the history of our holy fathers the bishops in their concern for teaching. Athanasius the Apostolic went from place to place teaching, establishing the people in the sound faith, and combating the danger of Arianism. Likewise Saint Cyril, the Pillar of the Faith, in the precision of his teaching and his struggle against Nestorianism. And like them in understanding and defending the faith was our teacher Dioscorus (the 25th Patriarch), who opposed the Council of Chalcedon, and Saint Severus, Patriarch of Antioch, who traveled for twenty-eight years through cities and villages, establishing the foundations of the faith and answering the questions of those who asked.
Shall I also speak of Saint John, Patriarch of Constantinople, who because of the beauty of his sermons was called “Golden Mouth”? Or Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzus, who because of the power of his argument was called “the Theologian”? Or Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, with his sermons, treatises, and letters? Or Saint Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, who because of his strength in theology was called “the Athanasius of the West”? Or Basil the Great? Or Cyril of Jerusalem? Or Gregory of Nyssa? Or Cyprian of Carthage? Or Ambrose, Bishop of Milan?
Each one of these was, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “rightly dividing the word of truth.” These bishops and others like them were teachers of the whole world and champions of the faith. Their sermons, teachings, and letters remain references for us in the faith.
The bishop must be apt to teach, because he is also—as a member of the Holy Synod—entrusted with legislation, canon law, combating heresies, and explaining the faith.
For better translation support, please contact the center.
