Let us begin from the very first, so that we may understand completely as we may from the beginning to the end. One of the most basic ideas of Orthodox theology is that of the relationship of energies and dynamics. The first example of dynamic and energy in history is the dynamic of image/eikon and the energy of likeness/omoiosis as found in the account of the creation of man in the book of Genesis. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness [Genesis 1:26]." That is explained throughout the writings of the Fathers as not merely a Semitic poetic device but as the reality of human life. The image of God lies dormant in us, awaiting the process of its fulfillment by the energy of the Holy Spirit. This is the root of Orthodox anthropology. One finds this made most explicit in St Athanasius the Great's book "On the Incarnation," where the restoration of the image in us is also shown as the root of Orthodox soteriology. It is further the root of Orthodox mysteriology. The most concise expression of this last assertion is: Christ institutes and the Holy Spirit constitutes.

Christ, then, constituted the Church as His Body. The Holy Spirit animates that Body. This is the source of Authority in the Church, that the Life of the Holy Trinity is in her. Christ says: "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven [Matthew 16:19 and 18:18]." He says this in two places in the Gospel. Let us take a look at how both instances apply to understand authority on a universal and on a local level.

"He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven [Matthew 16:15-19]."

This is the authority that comes with theosis, the vision of the glory of God. It is not revealed by the flesh and blood of men except the Flesh and Blood of the Messiah. It is upon the experience of theosis that the Church is built and the terror of torture and death has not been able to overwhelm its witness. It is to such as experience the Uncreated Light that the authority to bind and loose from the disciplines has been given. This is how a spiritual father or mother has the authority to bind a discipline upon or loose one from his or her spiritual child. The spiritual father par excellence is, of course, the bishop of the local church, and it is to him that the principle of economia in the interpretation and application of disciplines belongs.

Evenso, this presupposes the existence of such canons. This is addressed in the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew: "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them [Matthew 18:15-20]."

Here, in the last verses of the passage, we find the process for the establishment of disciplinary canons. First the Apostles and then their successors were to gather in the Name of Jesus, that is according to His authority, and since they were the body of them that had experienced the vision of the glory of God and were thereby His Body, they could speak in His Name, that is on His behalf. Because then "all authority both in heaven and on earth" were given to Him, He could and did depute it to them for the sake of the salvation of the many. Individual cases may be decided by individual Fathers, but universal matters must be settled by universal synods. This is the true meaning of "gathered in my name" and "if two of you shall agree on earth." It certainly lacks the mushy-feeling given the former and the new-age weirdness surrounding the latter that the two verses have acquired at the hands of the ignorant.

Disciplinary canons, then, are established by the witnesses to the glory of God for the sake of the salvation of them that have not yet attained to it. These same canons, for the same sake, may be either suspended or even abrogated without prejudice since Christ Himself has given the authority to do such to the bishops as the successors of the Apostles.

There is, however, a rational limit to this. Canons which serve as means for the apprehension of the Truth may be changed, but canons which contain the exposition of the Truth may not be changed. The former are disciplinary canons but the latter are dogmatic canons. Though the route to the Truth may need to be altered either for a short or a long time, either by suspension or by abrogation, the Truth itself does not change nor can the description of the Truth change. These dogmatic canons, the first of which is the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, never change since the Truth Himself is "the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow."

The danger for the Christian lies in not knowing the difference between the two. The two extremes of Phariseeism and Radicalism are always grasping at the serious Christian who seeks to keep the disciplines of the Church without judging his or her neighbor for keeping a lighter discipline or even none at all. We all surely know the fear of not being "Orthodox enough" just as well as we know the fear of being hide-bound. There is a worse danger than this, though, and it is the danger of falling into error about what constitutes the genuine experience of salvation. Heresy does not arise from the suspension or abrogation of this or that discipline but from ignorance of the "true glory," the ignorance of what the true Fathers truly mean and of not undertaking the life in Christ that will be our life in the World to Come.

May God bless you for taking the trouble to read these words and may we all be brought to salvation by the prayers of His most-pure Mother and of all the saints. Amen.