What do we mean when we say, “a holy Church”?

The secret of the Church’s holiness is that her head is the Holy Christ who overflows with holiness. The message of the Church is to sanctify everyone who joins it. “It is written, Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:16; Lev. 11:44; 19:2; 20:7). The Apostle Paul says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25–27).

Moreover, the Holy Spirit who gives life to the Church is holy. Scripture presents the divine truth and sanctifies those who hear it and accept it (1 Tim. 4:4–5). As the faithful respond to the holy heavenly call (2 Tim. 1:9), those who respond to it are sanctified and are called saints. That is why Christ considers His Church to be like dough that is sanctified with holy leaven (Matt. 12:23) which slowly transforms everything, proclaiming the power of the Church and the impact of her teachings on the evil world. Christ called His disciples the light of the world and the salt of the earth (Matt. 5:4, 13), as they obtained in Him the grace that is capable of healing the fallen human nature and liberating it from its corruption.

In every generation we hear about the work of the Church in the lives of people, as many people accept the work of the grace of God in their lives, and many offer repentance in secret, and we shall see them as heroes on the great day of the Lord.

Origen reveals to us his understanding of the importance of the sanctity of the Church by saying, “I, who seem to be a right hand to you and am named a presbyter and seem to preach the word of God, if I should do anything against the teaching of the Church and the rule of the Gospel, so that I create a stumbling block for you the Church, may the whole Church in one accord, acting in concert, cut me off and fling me, their right hand, away.”⁹⁴⁵

In the ninth homily on the book of Joshua, Origen talks about the temple of God, where Christ offers His sacrifice to the Father. It is built of intact, unbroken stone: “you shall not use an iron tool on them” (Deut. 27:5). These are the pure living stones, the holy apostles, who form one temple through the unity of their hearts (Acts 1:24) and their souls. They persevered with one accord in prayer (Acts 1:14) and had one mind. True unity, in other words, is based on holiness, love (unity of hearts), common worship (one voice), and one faith (one mind). Origen believes that the sanctification of each member is the basis for the unity of the Church since the actions of one member affects all the others. He says, “For by

945 Origen, Homilies on Joshua 7.6 (FOTC105:82).

one sinner the people are defiled … by one fornicator—or perpetrator of whatever other wickedness—the whole people are polluted.”⁹⁴⁶