A Single Soul does not Make the Church

The following is a commentary on statements from Protestant Christians (those calling themselves Anglicans, Baptists, Pentecostals, non or interdenominationals, 'simply Christians', etc.) by Ecumenical Metropolitan of Antioch, Auriel Jones referring to themselves as the Church. This commentary rebukes this well meaning, yet dangerous notion.

In the Protestant world—which is a term referring to any Christian that is not from the Catholic Church in Rome, the Orthodox Catholic Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and other ancient bodies of the Christian faith which preserve the historical catholicity and apostolicity of Christendom—there is a dangerous false doctrine parading around the world, particularly since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic from the altar to the door, as if it is some deep matter of inner truth. This false doctrine is "you are the Church."

As a single soul does not make the team, a single soul likewise does not make the Church, for the word "church" is translated from the Greek "ekklesia", which refers to a gathering of multiple persons called out into an assembly, wherever they may be. This false doctrine of naming a single person as a church, or bringing the thought as if they makeup the assembling of saints as a whole, is ignorant at best and soul-destroying at worst. Saint Ignatius of Antioch—a disciple of Saint John the Apostle—has said in the Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, "Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic Church," destroying any notion of a single person declaring themselves to be the Church, or of a gathering without an ordained clergy as a church, at that time and in these present days.

This erroneous teaching stating "you are the Church" is the namesake for many false teachers who have become self-appointed priests and bishops, and forgo assembling, even virtually—abusing the exegesis on those forming the royal priesthood in Christ—and should be preached against with that true vigor found in the Lord.