Orthodox hermeneutics

[Audrey]

I have heard some Protestant friends of mine say that there was no unified church ever in the history of the church, and hence, there is no "true church". They back this up by saying that the church fathers have never agreed with each other on everything; in other words, there has never been total agreement. My priest has said that it is not about "majority rules" because sometimes the heretics outnumbered the faithful. My question is: how does one describe that phenomenon of agreement or unity in the church if it is not about majority, and if the church fathers do not always agree with each other? My priest also said that Orthodoxy is what has been believed always and everywhere, but that seems to contradict the fact that it's not about majority. Thanks for the help.
Audrey

[Owen Jones]

It is impossible to explain the Orthodox concept of Church unity to someone who edits Scripture to suit his own religious preferences. What about the passage: partakers of the divine nature? What about, unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood there will be no life in you? What about partaking of the eucharist and dropping down dead?

Spiritual unity is not a formalistic concept. But let's try an analogy. The US Marine Corps inculcates unity among its members. That unity is based on the willingness to die for your comrades in arms. Do you know if the guy next to you is willing to do that? Well, yes to some degree because of the training you have undergone together. But you don't really know for sure until you are under fire. So there is no absolute formalistic proof of unity. And Imagine the response you would get if you complained about going into combat without proof from your comrades in arms that we were all going to stick together, come what may, regardless of the cost!

The proof of the pudding is in the eating of it. OF course, Protestants cannot handle figurative analogies. Or iconic representations. They are by nature iconoclasts. Imagine believing a religion based on protest?

[Herman Blaydoe]

The Apostle Paul speaks to great lengths in several of his letters on the importance of being of the same mind. He also warns extensively about those who will bring "other gospels" in order to confuse and separate the flock. We in Orthodoxy are simply taking him earnestly at his word. We acknowledge that divisions have and will exist, but recognize that this is not a desired or even acceptable state! The only thing that is acceptable is being faithful to and safeguarding the Apostolic Witness as it has been passed down to us. Probably the best argument against the reasoning your friend espouses is the Baptist "Trail of Blood" which claims that the "real" faith was preserved by various separate groups throughout history. However, careful and honest examination of the groups named show them to teach very different things and to be very separated in either time or geography, therefore no real continuity of teachings is evident.

Where is the continuity? There is the Church.