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What Is Church?
John Behr
This essay on the Church as mother Hagar—now Hagar is Mount
is a short summary of points made Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds
in other works.1 There are three parts to the present Jerusalem, for she
to my comments. First, I will explore is in slavery with her children—
briefly how and why, from the earli- while the Jerusalem above is free,
est period, the Church is spoken of as she is our mother, for it is writ-
“mother” or “Virgin Mother.” I shall ten “Rejoice, O barren one.” (Gal.
then, second, consider some conse- 4:24–26)
quences of coordinating the existence
of ecclesial communities into larger Liturgically speaking, this verse from
geographical entities. Third, I will Isaiah 54 is read on Holy Friday
suggest how and why ecclesiological Vespers, as the culmination to the 1
John Behr, The
reflection turned to the Eucharist as reading of the Suffering Servant (Isa. Mystery of Christ: Life
in Death (Crestwood:
its defining element and some conse- 52:13–53:12). The passion of Christ is, SVS Press, 2006),
quences that arise from this. as it were, the catalyst which opens 115–40; “Mother and
the womb of the barren one, so that Bride: Ecclesiology,
she now gives birth to many children, Christology, and
Church as Mother
Anthropology,” in
for it is into the death of Christ that
Sotiris Mitralexis
The scriptural background for speak- Christians are baptized (Rom. 6:3–11). and Andrew T. J.
ing of the Church as mother has two It is through the death of Christ, and Kaethler, Mapping
scriptural roots. First, the proclama- by being conformed to it, that we are the Una Sancta:
tion of Isaiah: born into life. Eastern and Western
Ecclesiology in
the Twenty-first
Rejoice O barren one, who did The second scriptural background is Century (Winchester
not bear; break forth into singing alluded to in the description of the University Press,
and cry aloud, you who have not crucifixion in the Gospel of John. If, forthcoming).
been in travail; for the children as I have argued elsewhere, Christ’s 2
John Behr, John the
of the desolate one will be more word “It is finished” alludes back to Theologian and His
than the children of her that is Genesis 1, so that Christ is the first Paschal Gospel: A
married. (Isa. 54:1) true human being, witnessed to un- Prologue to Theology
knowingly by Pilate (“Behold the hu- (Oxford University
The application of this verse in this Press, 2019), 194–217.
man being,” John 19:5, 30), the flow-
way is already evidenced in Paul. ing of blood and water from the side 3
Tertullian, On the
Taking Genesis 16 and 21 allegorical- of the crucified Christ alludes back to Soul, 43.10. Trans. in
ly, he writes: Genesis 2.2 The parallel is already not- vol. 3 of The Ante-
ed by Tertullian: Nicene Fathers, ed.
A. Roberts and J.
These women are two covenants: Donaldson (Buffalo:
one is from Mount Sinai, bear- As Adam was a figure of Christ, Christian Literature,
ing children for slavery; she is Adam’s sleep sketched out the 1887), 222.
The Wheel 30 | Summer 2022 19
death of Christ, who was to sleep tense is simply the fact that we are
a mortal slumber, so that from the not yet dead! And so Paul urges us
wound inflicted on his side might to “consider yourself dead to sin and
be figured the true mother of the alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom.
living, the Church.3 6:11). The same point can be made
regarding the Eucharist: when Christ
Whereas the woman built up from asks, “Can you drink the cup that I am
the side of the sleeping Adam was to drink?” (Matt. 20:22), this invitation
called “Eve” (zoe, “life”), for she is to share in the cup is an invitation to
“the mother of life” (Gen. 3:20), all share in his passion.
her children in fact die. In turn, the
Church is the true mother of the liv- In this way, Ignatius of Antioch can
ing, although her children are born see his own impending martyrdom
into life through their conformity to as his becoming the Eucharistic Gifts:
Christ’s death. Moreover, “the wom- “Let me be bread for the beasts,
an” addressed by or spoken about through which I may be able to attain
by Christ in the Gospel of John is the to God. I am God’s wheat and through
mother (John 3:3–4, 16:21), culminat- the beasts’ teeth I shall be found to be
ing in his words, “Woman, behold the pure bread for Christ.”5 One can
your son” (John 19:26). Thereafter, the see the same point in the Martyrdom
4
Peter J. Leithart, female figure takes on the role of the of Polycarp: when his body was fi-
Revelation spouse. In Genesis, before Eve is led nally put to the flames, those around
1–11 (London: to Adam, he is identified as the one him smelled baking bread.6 As
Bloomsbury T&T whose task it is to work the garden such, when Ignatius describes the
Clark, 2018), 22–23,
and passim. (2:8); now (another) Mary thinks the Eucharist as being “the medicine of
risen Christ to be the gardener (John immortality,”7 he is not saying that
5
Ignatius of 20:15). And so begins the second if we partake as often as possible we
Antioch, Letter to the part of what Peter Leithart has called will not die, but rather that by shar-
Romans, 4.1. Trans.
in Ignatius, The
the “two-part royal romance” of the ing in the cup, in the fulness of what
Letters, trans. Alistair Gospel and Revelation: whereas the that means, we are already partaking
Stewart (Yonkers: first part presents the Bridegroom, of the life that comes through death
SVS Press, 2013). the second describes the building and so cannot be touched by death.
up of the Bride, the Church, in those Baptism and Eucharist are thus sac-
6
The Martyrdom of
Polycarp, 15.2. Trans. who witness to their faith with blood, ramental anticipations of the reality
in The Apostolic looking to the marriage feast that was that is our own entry into Christ’s
Fathers, trans. announced at the beginning when Paschal mystery through our own ac-
Kirsopp Lake, vol. the time was not yet.4 tual death and resurrection. I would
2 (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University
go further to say that in our own ac-
Press, 1965), 333. Our entry into the Paschal mystery of tual death, each of us—male or fe-
See Maxwell E. Christ through our actual death and male, lay or ordained—is the priest
Johnson, “Martyrs resurrection is, of course, anticipated of our entry into the paschal mystery,
and the Mass: The by both baptism and the Eucharist. able to say: “I am the one who is of-
Interpolation of
the Narrative of
That this is so for baptism is indicat- fering and is offered.”
Institution into the ed by the significant change of tense
Anaphora,” Worship in the Apostle’s statement: “if we have This is the vision of the Church giv-
87.1 (2013): 2–22. been united within him in a death like en in the earliest descriptions of the
his, we shall certainly be united with Church as mother: our heavenly
7
Ignatius of Antioch,
Letter to the Ephesians, him in a resurrection like his” (Rom. mother, in whose womb we are born
20.2. 6:5). The reason for this change of into life, anticipated already in the
20
sacramental life of worship and lived
out throughout the whole course of
our life as we take up the cross dai-
ly. The Church is embodied, manifest,
realized, in each local community:
the Church (ekklesia) in each place is
called out from the world, not into yet
another grouping within the world
(alongside many others), but rather
into the life of the new creation, the
eighth day, anticipating that escha-
tological reality. Which, in turn—or
in reverse—means that the Church is St. Ephrem of Syria
really the whole of creation seen es- Coordinating Communities
chatologically, for the Church is not
only our mother, but also the Bride As the number of Christians grew
of Christ, being prepared for the es- and there was more than one eccle-
chatological marriage, to become one sial body in a given place, it became
with Christ. The Church is thus also necessary to coordinate the activity
the Body of Christ when all things of these different communities. We 8
Ephrem of Syria,
have been brought into subjection to see this happening first in big cities Sermon on the Night
him, so that he in turn can subject all such as Rome and Alexandria. The of the Resurrection
idea that the Church in Rome was a (ed. Lamy, 1.534);
things to God, so that God can be all in trans, in L. Gambero,
all (1 Cor. 15:28). unified body under a single Pope ap- Mary and the Fathers
pointed by the apostles is a myth: be- of the Church: The
If this is the vision of the Church from fore any apostle had arrived in Rome, Blessed Virgin Mary
the earliest days (Paul and John), Paul knew of a number of different In Patristic Thought,
trans. T. Buffer (San
and which predominated in the ear- Christian communities already in ex-
Francisco: Ignatius
ly centuries, further reflection on the istence there (Rom. 16); it was only by Press, 1999), 115.
Church as mother is found in the way the end of the second century or ear-
that the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary, ly third that these communities, each 9
On Rome, see
led by their own episcopos/presby- John Behr, Irenaeus
is spoken of in the hymnography:
of Lyons: Identifying
the New Jerusalem, the Temple con- ter, were coordinated into a number Christianity (Oxford:
taining God, the one whose womb of parishes led by presbyters all un- Oxford University
is wider than the heavens. The way der a single episcopos.9 Working out Press, 2013), 21–47.
Mary is spoken of in these hymns and how these communities should relate More generally, see
Alistair C. Stewart,
elsewhere is shaped by the way the to each other was always difficult
The Original Bishops:
Church was already spoken of in pri- and fraught. The second-century text Office and Order in
or centuries. The alignment between known as The Shepherd of Hermas de- the First Christian
these two discourses was noted by St scribes how there was jostling among Communities (Grand
Ephrem: “The Virgin Mary is a sym- the leaders for the “first seats” or for Rapids: Baker, 2014).
bol of the Church, when she receives “privileges and reputation”10—noth- 10
The Shepherd of
the first announcement of the Gospel. ing changes! Over time, this coordina- Hermas, vis. 3, 9.7;
And, it is in the name of the Church tion was extended beyond the cities, sim. 8, 7.4–6. Trans.
that Mary sees the risen Jesus. Blessed into a system of dioceses headed by a in The Apostolic
bishop and comprising parishes head- Fathers, trans.
be God, who filled Mary and the Kirsopp Lake, vol.
Church with joy. We call the Church ed by the bishop’s priests, and then, in 2 (Cambridge, MA:
by the name of Mary, for she deserves due time, ever greater areas (archdio- Harvard University
a double name.”8 ceses, patriarchates, and so on). It was, Press, 1965), 51, 209.
The Wheel 30 | Summer 2022 21
of course, necessary to coordinate the It is interesting to note that the points
various local ecclesial communities. made here are reflected in the lan-
But I would be hesitant to use the guage of liturgy. In the course of
word “church” for this institutional celebrating the Divine Liturgy, the
coordination; or, at least, realize that bishop is primarily spoken of as the
if we do use the word “church” for “archpriest,” for it is his priestly
the institutional coordination, we are ministry that is being exercised here,
not doing so in the same way that we not his “episcopal” work as overseer
use it when speaking of our heavenly or administrator, holding the vari-
mother. ous communities under his charge
together. We pray in the Liturgy
We should be care- of Saint John Chrysostom, that by
ful about how we use rightly dividing the word of truth,
words, or we will end up “he may serve your holy churches in
transferring meaning to peace.” The word “church” is used
something that really be- for each of the communities of which
longs to something else. he is the head; the diocese over which
We often, in English, use he has an administrative role is not a
the word “church” for church.
the building, although
strictly speaking we From Eucharistic Ecclesiology to
should call this the “tem- Episcopal Ecclesiology
ple” (naos, khram). We
also sometimes use the I mentioned at the beginning that, de-
word “church” exclu- spite the fact that it is the earliest and
sively for the adminis- most fundamental way of speaking
trative body, as when we about the Church, maternal imag-
ask “what is the church ery for the Church is largely absent
doing?” referring to in modern Orthodox ecclesiology.
Poet and theologian the bishop and his staff, or when we Modern ecclesiology has of course
Alexei Khomiakov
speak of the “broader” or “extend- been presented largely in the form of
ed Church,” meaning thereby to in- a eucharistic ecclesiology: “Where the
clude the laity, with good intentions Eucharist is celebrated, there is the
no doubt, but implying that the laity Church.” It seems that this is really a
are in fact not part of “the Church” to diaspora phenomenon, at least in its
begin with. Alternatively we use the origins.11 It is bound up with the idea
word “church” for larger ethnic bod- of conciliarity, sobornost, which has its
ies: the Russian Church, the Greek roots in nineteenth-century Slavophile
11
See John Behr, Church, and so on. The problem with thought (and Western parallels). But
“Comunione e this, of course, is that in Christ there someone like Alexei Khomiakov, for
Conciliarità”/ all his emphasis on the conciliarity
is neither Jew nor Greek (Gal. 3:28)—
“Communion and
Conciliarity,” Album nor Russian, Romanian, or any other of the Church, never equates the con-
Accademico 2010–11, nationality. Equally problematic is the ciliar nature of the Church with the
(Rome: Pontificio description of any one Church (with Eucharist: for him, the Eucharist is one
Istituto Orientale), perhaps the exception of Jerusalem) of the seven sacraments of the Church.
37–59.
as “the mother Church.” Rather than
Ignatius of
12 “church” it would be better to speak It seems that this changed in the di-
Antioch, Letter to the of “synod” or “patriarchate” or some- aspora, with figures such as Father
Smyrneans, 8.2. thing similar. Nicholas Afanasiev, with his emphasis
22
that the Church is realized in the cel-
ebration of the Eucharist. If so, it is
perhaps because this was where the
emigrés primarily experienced the
Church, coming together to celebrate
the Eucharist. Once this step is taken
and the identification made, however,
the horizon inevitably changes, be-
coming now a matter of boundaries:
who is in, who is out? The boundary
is established by eucharistic commu-
nion, whether it is held to be the local
parish (as in Afanasiev) or the dio-
Father Nicholas
cese ( ). The key issues in ecclesiology
Afanasiev
then become a matter of territory and
hierarchy. Eucharistic ecclesiology often resulted in splits. But the main
morphs into episcopal ecclesiology. point is that this is not really what
Evidence for this having happened we are talking about when we speak
is the way in which Saint Ignatius is of the Church, our heavenly moth-
too often quoted: “Where the bishop er, in whose womb we are born into
is, there is the Church.” What he in life by taking up the cross. One must
fact says is, “Where the bishop is, the also be clear that the transition from
congregation should be, just as where eucharistic ecclesiology to episcopal
Christ Jesus is, there is the Church.”12 ecclesiology—or the hierarchization
It is, indeed, a serious mistake to omit or clericalization of the Church—is
the people and Christ himself! not the fault of the hierarchy. They
do indeed need to work out how they
Questions of hierarchy and territory relate to each other (hierarchy and ter-
of course need to be dealt with, just ritory again). It is, really, our problem
as, in the earliest period, it was nec- more generally: we seem to have lost
© 2022 The Wheel.
essary to establish how the different sight of what it means to be a child of May be distributed for
communities would relate. And now, the Church, for we have misplaced the noncommercial use.
just as then, this was difficult and referent of the word “Church.” www.wheeljournal.com
The V. Rev. John Behr is the Regius Professor of Humanity
at the University of Aberdeen. He served as Dean of St
Vladimir’s Seminary in New York from 2007 to 2017. He
is writing a series of books on the formation of Christian
theology. He has published an edition of the fragments of
Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia and a new
translation of Origen’s On First Principles, together with an
extensive introduction. He is the author of Becoming Human:
Theological Anthropology in Word and Image, St Irenaeus of
Lyons: Identifying Christianity, and John the Theologian and His
Paschal Gospel: A Prologue to Theology.
The Wheel 30 | Summer 2022 23
