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.].

The Holy Church is an inexhaustible storehouse of the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit, so necessary for our growth in Christian virtues. This well is inexhaustible because Divine love is inexhaustible and God's promises about the Church are not false (Matt. 16:18). The grace-filled gifts of God in the Church are not only abundant, but also diverse. "Our Mother of Care, the Church," instructs St. Theophan instructs, "guided by Her Head, and has prepared all that is beneficial, preserves it and gives it generously to us, Her children, at the proper time and in due measure" [96: p. 264].

The Church, as the great body of her Head, the God-Man, animated by the Holy Spirit, is holy and infallible. The foundation and source of the holiness and infallibility of the Church is the Lord Himself, the Head of the Church, Who, by the power of the All-Holy Spirit, preserves in it in all its purity and intact the Divine truth and preserves it from error.

Для того чтобы быть в живом союзе с Церковью и быть членом ее, необходимо через исполнение воли Божией стремиться к чистоте и святости, и тот, кто не соблюдает себя в чистоте, остается вне тела Церкви, отделен ли он формально или нет [118, с. 422).

Святая Церковь есть «столп и утверждение истины» (1 Тим. 3,15), принесенной на землю Сыном Божиим. По словам епископа Феофана, «Господь Спаситель яко ипостасная Премудрость принес в Себе Самом на землю, из таинниц Триипостасного Божества, всю спасительную премудрость. Но не удержал ее сокровенною в Себе Самом, а сначала преподал ее апостолам, заповедав им преподать ее и всем верующим» [101, с. 237]. Эта истина пребывает в Православной Церкви и будет пребывать в ней до скончания века.

Святая Церковь — сокровищница не истины только, но и благодати. Проводниками и источниками Божественной благодати являются семь таинств.

В Церкви Христовой имеются все средства к духовному возрождению человека. Без союза со Святой Церковью нельзя нигде найти и получить благодатные силы, которые посылаются последователям Христа через живое общение с ней. Поэтому общение со Святой Православной Церковью так же необходимо для человека, ищущего спасения, как необходимы благодатные силы в духовной жизни. «Как для семени развивающегося, — пишет преосвященный Феофан, — пищу доставляют облежащие его стихии, так и новоотрожденного благодатию в Церкви духовные стихии в пищу ему доставляются таинствами и всем чином священнодействий церковных. В то же время внутренняя сила приходит к нему от целого тела, к коему он привит, от тела Церкви, через которую от Главы ее нисходят в его жилы духовные живительные соки» [118, с. 119–120].

В Церкви зреет христианин и преуспевает в духовной жизни, а «вне Церкви нет духовной жизни и духовно живущих лиц. Почему быть в Церкви, в живом с нею сочетании и союзе есть неотложное условие для желающих жить духом и в христианской преуспевать ЖИЗНИ» [118, с. 31].