Vladimir Berzonsky, in his contribution to ‘Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism‘ sets out in a striking way a characteristic feature of Orthodox worship, and how this contrasts with (what he understands to be) the Evangelical view.

‘When the Orthodox Christians come together to experience the joy of Eucharist’, Berzonsky explains,

‘only the best will do. Church as building becomes a temple, set apart to be made holy—prelude and paradigm of the world become church. The structure is cruciform—using the Hagia Sophia as a model—where the four corners of the earth are crowned with the heaven above, the meeting between the Bridegroom and the bride he has come to claim. Within, the walls surround worshipers with the images of the saints of the past in company with angels and remind them of the saving events of sacred history.’

It is a multisensory experience:

‘All the senses share in the earnest of the heavenly banquet feast breaking into a moment of time: the aroma of incense, the icons of the grace-filled saints, the sounds of chanted psalms and hymns, the ecstatic awareness of elevation beyond the mundane, and finally the invitation to taste and see how good the Lord is (Ps. 34:8).’

Berzonsky recognises that this is alien – idolatrous, even – to an evangelical Christian.  An evangelical would not react favourably to the teaching of St. John of Damascus,

‘who in an attempt to enlighten the Muslim sultan, said that the admonition against making an idol had been in effect until the incarnation of the God-Man Jesus Christ.’

Indeed,

‘When our Lord took on human flesh, matter was blessed as the bearer of holiness. Through him all matter is potentially restored to its status before the fall of Adam.’

We can agree with Berzonsky that, on this point, Orthodox and Evangelical are far apart.

But can this Orthodox view of church and worship be justified on biblical and theological grounds?  Hardly.

In truth, the notion of building as temple is altogether alien to the New Testament doctrine of the church.  As Michael Horton remarks in his response to Berzonsky’s essay, this is to privilege the Mosaic types and shadows above the reality that has now arrived in Christ.  The uniquivocal teaching of Christ and his apostles is that the people of God  – with Christ at their head – constitute the temple of God.  In the words of 1 Peter 2:5 –

‘You yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.’