IS IT NECESSARY FOR A CHRISTIAN TO GATHER IN CHURCH?

This question is very relevant today, and although we briefly touched upon it earlier, here we will attempt to elaborate more thoroughly on the answer.

In our times, unfortunately, we often see people who consider going to church as unnecessary or pointless. We believe it was for such people that Christ said: "For where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there among them" (Matthew 18:20). Christ clearly emphasized the necessity of gathering together because, "If the authority of the Church as a communal gathering is not respected, Christianity will turn into a purely individualistic religion" (Catholicos Karekin I).

For a believing Christian, the Church is his spiritual Mother, who gave birth to him from the holy font of baptism. And, "He who does not recognize the Church as Mother, cannot have God as Father" (St. Cyprian of Carthage, 250 AD). Moreover, as Christians, we should not only avoid neglecting the Church, but actively seek it out, because: "[Just as] a mother draws her children to herself, [likewise] we seek our mother — the Church" (Clement of Alexandria, 195 AD). This is why it is extremely important to become a part of the Church’s life. This truth is conveyed to us by the Holy Scripture, which exhorts us: “Do not forsake gathering together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY "CHURCH" AS A BUILDING?

Earlier, we discussed the Church as a gathering of believers, but the Church is also the place of God’s presence — the House of God (Isaiah 56:7).
The material church is a consecrated and sanctified structure, with its unique interior and exterior characteristics. In the Armenian Apostolic Church, it is required that important parts of the Church be consecrated. For example, it is interesting to know that the church’s foundations are laid with 16 consecrated stones: twelve named after Jesus’ Apostles, two after the Evangelists (since the other two Evangelists were also Apostles), one after the Apostle to the Gentiles — Paul, and one after St. Gregory the Illuminator.

The consecration ceremony of churches is not a meaningless ritual, as some think, but a necessity. In the Old Testament, we read that only after the Temple was sanctified and prayers were offered, “the glory of the Lord filled the temple” (2 Chronicles 7:1–2).
The significance of the consecrated Temple as the place of God's presence was confirmed by Christ Himself when He said, “Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). Moreover, our Lord Jesus Christ considered it extremely important to maintain the sanctity of the Temple and zealously cleansed it of merchants, reminding them of the words spoken by the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah: “It is written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of thieves” (Isaiah 56:7, Jeremiah 7:11, Luke 19:46).

Therefore, unlike other buildings used for various occasions or needs, the Church is the House of Prayer, the House of Holiness.

WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN GOD’S TEMPLE AND THE BELIEVING CHRISTIAN?

According to our faith, apart from the material Church, the true Christian is also considered God’s temple, because the Holy Spirit of God dwells within him (1 Corinthians 3:16). That is why the Bible forbids us to defile or corrupt ourselves — “For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple” (1 Corinthians 3:17), says the Apostle Paul.
God has called us Christians to holiness and perfection, not to defilement (Matthew 5:48).
Therefore, as true followers of Jesus, we are being built into a dwelling place for God through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:21–22).

Hayk Madoyan
(To be continued)