THE SACRAMENTAL NATURE OF AUTHORITY: FORMATION, HEALTH, AND THE MYSTERY OF CULTURAL IMMUNITY BASED ON FAITH

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By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

INTRODUCTION

It is one of the strange constants of human history that large, long-standing religious establishments, regardless of the truth or falsity of their claims, possess an uncanny ability to preserve and protect their adherents. Empires rise and fall, philosophies are born and die, but the deeply rooted traditions of established faiths continue to nourish the bodies, minds, and spirits of their members. Those who deliberately place themselves under such systems often enjoy a form of what might be called psychical protection: an integrated cultural, moral, and social immune system. And yet, history also reveals that religious innovators and reformers, as those who break away from the inherited system of authority, suffer disproportionate turmoil, decline, and fragmentation, even if their cause initially appears noble or necessary.

CONTEXT

From a purely historical perspective, the pattern is unmistakable. The early Protestant reformers of northern Europe, for example, endured not only theological conflict but also widespread social unrest, civil war, and personal tragedy. Martin Luther’s own life was marked by severe bouts of depression, physical ailments, and relentless political struggle. Likewise, founders of splinter movements within both Christianity and other religions, from the Montanists of the second century to the more recent cultic innovators of the twentieth, tend to die in disillusionment, exile, or violent circumstances. Yet over time, as these reformist traditions stabilize, they inevitably form their own cultural immune systems, which are codified norms, moral codes, and sacramental or quasi-sacramental rites that confer belonging, identity, and protection to those born within them.

WHAT IS AUTHORITY?

The question thus arises: What is this “authority” that sustains life and guards the health of a people? Is it a purely human construction, a kind of tulpic reality (an “egregore,” to borrow the term from esoteric anthropology), formed by mass psychological agreement until it shapes the physical and social world around it? Or is it, as the Christian would contend, a spiritual reality that reflects humanity’s participation in the divine order, an outward manifestation of an inward grace?

MEDICINE

Medical science offers suggestive evidence that the moral frameworks learned in early childhood have profound biological consequences. Psychoneuroimmunology, the study of how psychological processes affect the immune system, has repeatedly shown that moral stability, clear social norms, and low levels of existential stress correlate with longer life expectancy, lower rates of chronic disease, and better mental health outcomes. The American Journal of Psychiatry has published numerous studies linking violations of deeply held moral beliefs with higher incidences of depression, anxiety disorders, and immune dysfunction. Dr. George F. Solomon, a pioneer in this field, demonstrated that shame, guilt, and chronic moral dissonance directly impair immune function through the dysregulation of cortisol and inflammatory pathways. In the past, such things were considered unreal, and a psychological condition called “hypochondria,” but now we know that you can think your way into sickness, when negative emotions find a foothold in your being through trauma, indiscretion, or moral disagreement. 

ANTHROPOLOGY

Anthropologists have long observed similar patterns in their studies. Émile Durkheim, in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, argued that religion is the foundation of societal cohesion, serving as both a mirror and molder of collective moral consciousness. He famously documented that communities with strong, binding religious authority displayed lower rates of suicide and mental breakdown, regardless of the objective “truth” of their metaphysical claims. Cultural anthropologist Victor Turner expanded on this by noting that rituals, especially those embedded in sacramental systems, “encode” moral and social realities into the body through repeated, embodied actions, producing stability not merely in belief but in the neurophysiological rhythms of the participants. These findings also reveal why so many young people, raised in the disordered chaos of the secular world, find rest and solace within Orthodox rituals of prayer.

TRADITION

The Christian tradition deepens this insight by seeing authority not simply as a pragmatic necessity but as a sacramental channel of grace. The Apostle Paul’s command to the Hebrews, “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls” (Hebrews 13:17), is not merely administrative advice. It reflects the conviction that godly authority, exercised within the accountability and community of the Church, mediates divine protection and forms the faithful into the likeness of Christ. St. Ignatius of Antioch, writing in the first century, insisted that “where the bishop is, there let the people be; even as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” For Ignatius, authority is not optional, but is the matrix within which salvation unfolds, and outside of which the soul is imperiled by isolation and spiritual disintegration. Isolation, alienation, wandering in the desert places, and reacting to the settled harmony of human life, has often been the characteristic of the possessed, the oppressed and the depressed. Submitting to the mutuality and love of family life, looking out for one another in dependability and positive emotions, is a sign of a life-giving, spiritually healthy reality. 

CULTURE

But authority also shapes the body and mind through culture. The human person is best understood, as the ancients knew, as a tripartite being: not merely body and soul, but body, mind/nous/soul, and culture, all anchored in the invisible spiritual reality that connects us to God. The West’s modern tendency to treat culture as an external ornament, rather than as an integral part of human nature, is a profound error. Cultural norms, habits, and rituals are not optional accessories for our consumerist life. No, they are the patterned environment in which human physiology, psychology, and spirituality are designed to flourish. Remove these patterns, or replace them with experimental and unstable alternatives, and the results are measurable and dramatic. Without these rhythms and realities, we have higher stress levels, increased morbidity, and social alienation.

UNIVERSAL TRUTH

This is why, across civilizations, traditional moral systems (Christian, Confucian, Hindu, or Islamic), emphasize remarkably similar virtues over vast differences of time, space, language and cultural environment. Fidelity to one’s family, honesty, sexual chastity, hospitality, respect for elders, moderation in diet and drink, regular rhythms of work and rest, and participation in communal rites are all universally understood to make us “good people.” The World Health Organization’s 2018 study on “Social Determinants of Health” concluded that these moral and social structures correlate strongly with positive health outcomes, even when controlling for income and access to medical care. Poor people with high levels of virtue exhibit better health and function than rich people living in degenerate societies. In short, a stable authority structure encodes a form of “cultural immunity” that shelters the individual from many of life’s destabilizing shocks.

Theologically, this is not accidental. In the Christian understanding, God’s moral law is not arbitrary but expressive of the deep structure of creation. Authority is rooted, not in lineage, and not in an abstract canonical system, but in lived holiness and good works. As St. Maximos the Confessor taught, the logoi(the divine rational principles embedded in all things) are fulfilled in the Logos, Jesus Christ. To live under godly authority, which actively lives in unity with the principles of love, life, beauty and truth, is to live in harmony with these divine person of Jesus Christ, who orders not only the soul but also the body and the community. Conversely, to live outside such human authority is to expose oneself to chaos, both spiritual and physical. This aligns with the biblical definition of the demonic, which brings alienation, division, instability, alienation and marginalization. This also directly reflects the process of moral evil, immorality, schism and heresy within the Church. 

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Thus, the lesson of history, science, and theology is consistent with the biblical worldview. Healthy, long-lived cultures are anchored in strong, sacramental/ritual authority, and individuals flourish when they submit to the right authority, one that safeguards not only their spiritual destiny but their physical and psychological well-being. In an age of radical individualism, where personal autonomy is idolized and inherited authority is treated with suspicion, Christians must recover the understanding that formation and enculturation within a sacramental system are not optional add-ons to the faith, ornamental smells and bells that are “unnecessary,” but the very context in which salvation is ordinarily worked out in the human condition. 

SUMMARY

For the Christian, this thought process means discerning where true authority lies. Not merely identifying where power is claimed, but where the apostolic faith is preserved, lived in virtue, the sacraments rightly administered according to the revealed commandments of the Word of God, and the moral law upheld in love. For as Christ Himself taught, “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit… by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:18, 20). Authority is thus both a spiritual and a cultural reality, one that must be chosen carefully, for upon that choice rests not only the health of our souls, but the integrity of our bodies, minds, and the generations yet to come.

COLLECT

O Almighty and Everlasting God, who hast ordained that thy people should be gathered into one Body under the care of faithful pastors, and hast given authority for the guarding of their souls; Grant us grace to submit ourselves to godly rule, that being formed in the ways of thy truth, we may be preserved in health of body, mind, and spirit, and so attain unto the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.