Thus, through the Church, first, the declaration of salvation must be accomplished. Salvation is stored in it, and it must communicate it to one and all. Jesus Christ in Heaven; but whoever wants to see Him, for him He is also on earth, in the company of the faithful, in the Church, and moreover here He can be seen in the most sensual form. For He is contained in the Scriptures, and the Scriptures describe in such detail all the features of His face and all the circumstances of His life, that by reading them one can draw the most faithful image of Jesus Christ, one can see Him. It speaks of Christ: who is He, what has He done and is doing, and what does He offer for hope, what does He command to hope? Thus, the Church is the guardian of salvation and the helper in assimilating it from all sides.

Is it depicted in the Holy Scriptures as an organ of grace established by God Himself? Portrayed. Jesus Christ says: I created the Church... and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). He is also presented as the Head of the Church, which means that the Church, as the Body of Jesus Christ, is built, moved and enlivened by Him. It is composed of rulers and subordinates. Are the rulers from God? From God. And to Him (Jesus Christ), - says the Apostle, - gave sheep to eat, because the apostles, and the sheep prophets, and the sheep evangelists (Ephesians 4:11)... This means that the church hierarchy is from God. The main duty of pastors is to perfect the saints in the work of ministry (Eph. 4:12); the most particular is to teach faith and piety: "Go and teach all tongues" (Matt. 18:19), or: "Until we attain all..." perfect to a man, to the measure of the stature of the fulfillment of Christ (Ephesians 4:13); also to celebrate the Sacraments: so let man not respect us, as servants of Christ and builders of the mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 4:1).

In order to define in more detail the duties of the Church, it is necessary to pay attention to the aspects of the human soul on which she acts. There are three sides to our soul: mind, will, and feeling.

Thus, in Christ there is light, and in Christians darkness must disappear and only truth must dwell; in Christ holiness and chastity - and sin must be expelled from Christians, and virtue must take its place; in Christ there is painlessness and indestructibility, and from Christians sickness and disorder must be removed and immortality must be given to them. For this purpose, is the Church provided with any special promises? For this purpose, it has the direct promise of Jesus Christ about His omnipotent presence: "Behold, I am with you always" (Matt. 28:20); or: "For where there are two or three gathered together in My name, I am in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20). It has the advantage of having the visible body of the invisible Head, Jesus Christ. Without this Chapter, it could not have acted for such an important purpose. It could partially fulfill it, for people themselves can act for this purpose in part, but not completely. It fulfills it fully because Jesus Christ Himself, its Head, acts with it.

In this case, along what paths is the activity of Jesus Christ directed? This path is indicated by the duties of the Church. Thus, the Church must be a teacher: Jesus Christ is her inspirer in this respect; The Church must be its leader: Jesus Christ is its steward, supreme judge and guide in this respect; The Church, finally, has a ceremonial side: in this respect as well, Jesus Christ watches that nothing inconsistent with the spirit enters into it.

What are the fruits or consequences of this presence of Jesus Christ in the Church? There must be participation in life and sympathy with the Head in each member, and this is the general consequence of this presence. Here it is impossible to make a strict distinction between the members, for here one member can replace another, and not as it happens in the ordinary, material body, where the hand cannot be a foot, and vice versa. Experiments confirm that in the Church the last members were sometimes vouchsafed what the first did not have. However, the immediate consequences of the presence of Jesus Christ should extend to the leaders, who have in this respect the moral advantage given by Jesus Christ Himself and transmitted by the apostles. What are the consequences of the presence of Jesus Christ that extend to the pastors of the Church, or to the representative Church? The first consequence is the infallibility and blamelessness of the Church, that is, the Church cannot establish anything or teach any teaching that is contrary to the spirit of religion. But how is this infallibility or blamelessness to be understood?

That the presence of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit protects the Church from great and very important errors is beyond doubt. This is required both by the importance of leaders, such as the Son of God and the Holy Spirit, and by the good of mankind, which could not stand with such errors. But does its infallibility extend to the complete impossibility of sinning? Catholic society also affirms this kind of infallibility, which, in its opinion, is expressed in the pope. In our Church, this opinion is not defined. Some have assimilated such infallibility to the Ecumenical Councils: such an opinion is found in the Rock of Faith (1 Corinthians 10:4); in Irenaeus, it is not the Church that is given complete infallibility, but the Holy Spirit acting in the Church. This opinion, on the one hand, may seem sophisticated, for there is no dispute about this, that the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ are infallible; but on the other hand, it seems to be the best Christian opinion. How is that? Fallibility and infallibility can and should be attributed to the mind that dwells in the spirit or in the soul. But this Church, in the strict sense, is only the body. The spirit or soul of this body, and consequently the mind, is Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Therefore fallibility or infallibility must be attributed to Them. And therefore it is quite correctly said that it is not the Church, but the Spirit who works in the Church, that is infallible; the Church herself is fallible, but her mind is infallible; but if so, then the Church is also infallible; for the Church, the body, is governed by Jesus Christ, the mind. This is partly incomprehensible and seems strange, because we do not see the union of this Head with her body, and even more so we do not see how this Head controls the movements of her body. These movements are of two kinds: some come from our invisible Head, and others from us; the former are infallible, and the latter may be incorrect. However, it is difficult to distinguish which movements are from us and which are from our Head. Thus, the opinion of Irenaeus is the best of all; it is based on the teaching of the Apostle Paul that Jesus Christ is the Head, and we are His members. It seems to be a sophism to the superficial eye, which does not see that there is such a close connection between the Church and Christ as there is between the body and the soul.

Let us continue to develop the infallibility of the Church, borrowed from Christ. The Church is infallible because of its close relationship with Jesus Christ, although it can sin herself. But how to define this infallibility? Is it in calculus, or in measurements? Is it possible to indicate by chapters and places? Faith can only see this, and it is impossible to describe it. The first traces of reflection must be in the shepherds; but sometimes they can be in the last member, for all the members of this body are equally alive and have direct sympathy with their Head. That this happens, a reliable witness to this is Sozomen, who described the First Ecumenical Council. This council was the first and most important; it consisted of many martyrs and confessors, and it should be primarily affected by the action of the Holy Spirit. But it affected more on one, not very famous member: all agreed to forbid marriage to the priests; but one of those present there recognized this prohibition as bad, and thus prevented the error of all; it is evident that in him alone this time there was more of the gift of infallibility than in all the others who were engaged in this work. However, this is a rare case, and for the most part it happens that the traces of infallibility are primarily reflected in the pastors of the Church, for they are, as it were, the cerebral members of the body of Christ, and therefore Christ, as the mind or soul of this body, first of all acts upon them. Does this infallibility extend to the point that the Church cannot fall? Some Churches have fallen; in the Revelation of John the Theologian it is directly said to some Churches: repent... And if not... I will move thy lamp out of its place (Rev. 2:5).

Does the infallibility of the Church extend to the impossibility of deviating from the truth for a time or forever? At the Head of the Church, the truth of the faith is preserved in all its purity and immutability. The truths of faith in the spiritual Jesus Christ and in the written Christ, or in the word of God, are unchangeable and constantly pure and holy; but in fact there may be eclipses in the minds of Christians, which, however, do not harm the Church, which is accepted in general. For the Apostle does not represent it as perfect, but as being prepared for perfection, and therefore now there may be a part of darkness and misunderstanding in it, until it reaches the measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ; only then it will not have impurity, blemish, or anything of the kind.

In general, there can be no divisions in the reasoning of the infallibility of the Church; This is a matter of faith, not logic. Reading the arguments of the Catholics on this subject, one immediately feels how incongruous and inappropriate their logical divisions are here. To fragment this object is the same as to subject the spirit to anatomy. This incongruity is felt by the Catholics themselves, and therefore they pass from one method to another.

But these restrictions deaden and repulse the very teaching, which, as a purely spiritual action, must be left to faith alone.

Closely connected with the infallibility of the Church is her indestructibility: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her (Matt. 16:18), that is, the virtue, the life of the Church and her union with Christ will remain until the end of the world.

This is the significance of the Church as a steward and guide, acting in the assimilation of merit to the human race, acting through the declaration of salvation and assistance!

The second means of assimilating the merits of Jesus Christ is the word of God. It declares salvation to people and helps them in assimilating it. Its use in this respect is twofold: 1) general and 2) particular. The common thing is that it serves as a common tool, or the main and only reliable way of preserving and communicating salvation. In him and in him Christianity is preserved. In this respect it is very important, for without it neither the Church nor Christianity could preserve its primitive purity. Even if there were one copy of it, and if none of the faithful except the pastors read it, then even then it would be very important. It is all the more important now, when both pagans and Muslims can read it, and such reading has always been permitted; and the Christians, if they ever hid it, it was only from those who mocked it and perverted its truths, or destroyed and corrupted it. The particular use of the word of God consists in the fact that it can declare salvation to everyone and help them. It declares salvation by presenting clearly and in detail the foundation, essence, and purpose of Christianity, as well as the conditions, requirements, and duties of a Christian. In accordance with these two sides, the declarations divide it into the Gospel and the law. By the law is meant the Old Testament, and by the Gospel the New. This division is not entirely accurate: both the Old and New Testaments contain both a declaration of salvation and demands for the fulfillment of certain conditions. However, it is appropriate, for in fact the Gospel is more of a gospel of salvation, while the Old Testament contains more moral requirements.