Canon law principles and applications

¶ … canons infallible expressions of the truth for every age? Why or why not?

The will of God is essential in the life of every good Christian. The canons are in this sense the guidelines for every believer in order to live according to God's will and consideration. Moreover, the canons are aimed at helping the believer achieve salvation (Patsavos, 2007)

As Christian life began to develop in all its aspects (doctrinal, moral and liturgical), both clergy and believers have felt the need for well-defined rules. These rules would on the one hand, establish and maintain correct order of the Christian ministry arising from the teaching of revealed faith, and, on the other hand, to prevent abuse of any kind. Thus, the Church (Apostles first, then the upper hierarchy Fathers and members gathered in Synod), in line with the Orthodox people, drew up certain rules of moral conduct practice to guide the life of the Christian Community (Viscuso, 2007).

Canons are laws given by the ecumenical councils of the Church and of Its private councils, but reinforced by the ecumenical. In accordance with teachings of the Holy Savior and His Apostles, canons provide the organization and leadership of the Church, and the rights and duties of its members: clergy, monks and believers.

In this way, all manifestations of Christian life are made in good standing; the canons also include certain religious punishment for those who commit violations of moral and religious discipline. This last dimension of naturalized conception that the only reason for existence and functionality of the canonical norms as punitive. Thus, upon hearing the word canon or ecclesiastical rule, many Christians have a slightly timorous perception. A possible explanation lies in pastoral experience that they had a little more severe confessor. Even so, one of the basic tools of pastoral teaching is the canonical Orthodox Church. Hence the duty of believers to know and respect the law of the church diligently is essential for their own salvation.

Far from being a collection of rigid prohibitions and punishments, "Orthodox canons," constitute a genuine moral guide, a spiritual guide of the lives of the believers (the word canon means extent straightedge), based on Holy Scripture and Apostolic Tradition. The sanctity and authority of those who created them gives them power to guide believers towards an authentic living according to the divine order.

The world we live in today is different from the one that used to be at the beginning of the 20th century even and the modernization of our times has allowed different types of developments both in the religious life as well as in every day life. At this point in time there are a lot of aspects that are nowadays considered to be acceptable in certain parts of the world and in certain religions. For instance, the matter of abortion represents a heated debate in the Catholic as well as Orthodox Church. However, despite the fact that there are different opinions and supporters either for or against the practice, there are different arguments for both sides.

On the matter of abortion for instance, the supporters of the legality of abortion consider the right of the woman to a choice. The ones that fight against abortion as a legal practice among women consider the religious argument. In the Orthodox Church, abortion is forbidden based on the belief that the child becomes a soul at the moment of conception. Even so, the Church allows repented women to come before the Church, to confess, and pray the Lord they are absolved of their sin. In this context, the canons are essential because their role is not only to open the eyes on the gravity of the sin they have committed but also allows them to show a better understanding of the Christian way of life.

The role of the canon is applicable regardless of the type of society and the era in which we life. It represents the connection of the believer to the proper rules of the Church. At the same time, it offers a sense of support for believers that have made mistakes and broken the laws of God in sinful ways. Nowadays, another common aspect of modern life is the sinful life of young women living with men without the shelter of marriage. Although this is considered by the Church to be a sin and rules of the Church are therefore broken, it is very difficult to refuse confession to such believers. The canons are in this way a means through which advice can be given by priests and ministers to try to bring the believers on a religious path. Even so, the priests and ministers, through the canons, are permitted to transmit the believer that the gravity of the sin cannot be repeated. The canons, as generally accepted rules of behavior from the Church also serve as guiding principles in our society today.

The canons are infallible expressions of the truth at all ages because the rules of the Church and of God have not changed. They can be interpreted and this is the role and scope of each religion. However, the sins, the beliefs and the generally accepted truths of the Church have remained the same. However, what has changed along the years, decades, and centuries is the community in which these rules and set of norms have been applied. From this confrontation, it may be that the Church is no longer keeping the pace with social and community development. At the same time though the role of the Church is not necessarily that of making itself more accessible to the believer by bending the religious concepts; the role of the Church is rather that of guiding the believer on the right path to God and preparing him or her for the Judgment moment. Therefore, the canons are tools for the Church that uphold the beliefs of the Church and religious interpretations in such a manner as to insure a worthy direction for the believers.