The Holy Church in its inner essence cannot be precisely defined, because it is not a human, but a Divine institution, and everything Divine is inexhaustible and indefinable. But even on the visible side, the Church is a Divine institution, established by the Lord Himself.

The Church of Christ, according to the teaching of the Savior and the Apostles, has not an earthly, but a heavenly origin [214: p. 15]. The beginning of the Church of Christ was laid in Paradise [205: p. 188], when God pronounced to our forefathers the promise that "the seed of the woman shall blot out the head of the serpent," and when after that the expectation of the future Deliverer began.

The open appearance of the Church to the world took place after the redemptive feat of Christ the Savior on Golgotha, His Resurrection and Ascension into heaven. Jesus Christ became the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20) for the entire Universal Church in its structure and life, opened the way for the Holy Spirit to descend to us with grace-filled powers, revealing to us the source of eternal life. Without these forces, without God's grace-filled help, our salvation would be impossible [96: p. 238].

On earth, the continuation of the work of Jesus Christ is brought in through the Church, which is the giver of the gifts of redemption, cleansing of sins and spiritual regeneration. The Lord left on earth and entrusted to His Church "the two most essential blessings of the incarnate economy for our salvation: justification and sanctification" [Ibid.]. A justifying and intercessory veil is spread over the Holy Church, attracting and transmitting to us all the mercies of God.

Jesus Christ is the Founder of the Church on earth, but His co-workers in this matter were the preachers of His teaching, the holy apostles. "The Church of Christ," teaches St. Theophanes, "was built by the holy apostles according to the outline and plan of the Lord Himself, clarified and confirmed by the Holy Spirit" [96: p. 231].

The Apostles were special, extraordinary builders of the Church of Christ and were, in the words of Bishop Theophanes, "rich in the Spirit and possessed all spiritual blessings in such abundance that they would suffice for the whole universe, for they bore the Almighty Spirit" [84: p. 228].

Through the apostolic preaching, the Church was planted and spread in the world. "The Apostles," writes Bishop Theophanes, "invested everything in the Church. They gave her all the truth which the Spirit of God had revealed to them; the sacraments for the sanctification of the faithful were given to her, and pastoral care was established in her, the direct succession of the apostleship, whose duty is to preserve what the apostles put into the Church, to keep it in action, over everyone and everything in the Christian community" [85: p. 288]. The Church lives by "apostolic treasures and grace pouring out from them and constantly pouring from generation to generation" [Ibid.].

The Lord ascended to heaven, entrusting to His Church the treasures of salvation. Having become the Head of the Church, the Saviour works through Her for our salvation.

Having founded the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ did not leave it to Himself in the attainment of the goal indicated to it, but remained in inner and essential unity with it as its invisible Head. "The Church is invisibly ruled by the Lord and is heading towards its end" [2, p. 38].

The Holy Church is not an ordinary human society, but is a body "having Christ the Lord as its Head, guided by the Holy Spirit and embraced by the good will of God the Father" [96: p. 273]. The Church is the body of Christ in the sense that she is a living organism headed by Christ, which He nourishes and warms; all believers in Christ are members of this body, mysteriously connected both with each other and with the Head of the body, Christ. The Church is therefore a single, indivisible whole, living, united with the Lord and harmonious in all the parts constituting, according to the definition of St. Theophanes, "the totality of restored humanity" [89: p. 52].

All true Christians constitute one body of Christ, but each member of the Church is assigned his own place, gift, and work. In the words of Bishop Theophanes, "Just as in the body there are different members, and each member has its own special purpose, in fulfilling which it works for the whole body, so in the body of the Church, whose Head is Christ the Lord... each member receives spiritual existence from Him; from Him he is assigned a place in the body of the Church and given the gift of grace to serve Him" [85: pp. 276-277].

The Lord Jesus Christ founded His Church so that through it people could partake of the fruits of redemption, and therefore He made it a treasury of truth and grace and, in general, of all the gifts necessary for salvation. Therefore, being outside the Church, a person is deprived of everything that is necessary for salvation. The supreme task of the Church as the continuer of the work of Christ – the salvation of mankind – is precisely to enlighten and regenerate sinners to a new holy life received from Christ the Savior. The goal of the Church is to arrange human salvation, to bring man to reunification with God, to the Kingdom of God, to true immortality and blessedness.

Through the Church, the unity of people in Christ is realized, through it the call to faith takes place, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are communicated, and the salvation of man is accomplished. "We, all believers, are the body of Christ," teaches His Eminence Theophanes, "and Christ the Lord is the Head of this body. Just as in the body each member lives not its own life, but a life common to the whole body, and if it separates from the body, it dies and decays, so not a single believer lives apart, but lives a life common to the entire assembly of believers, or to the whole Church, and if it separates from them or separates itself, it freezes spiritually and perishes" [96: p. 67]. Whoever wishes to be saved must be in living union with the true Church.

The Lord, having established the Holy Church through the holy Apostles, put into it all that was salvific for preservation and distribution on earth. "In it are all the mysteries of the faith and all the understanding of the truth; in it is all grace and all the sacraments that bestow it; in it is true pastorship, truly guiding unto salvation; in it rests the goodwill of God, which watches over it and listens to its prayerful voice; Angels and men, and all rational creation, united, serve the one all-good God" [Ibid.].