One of the mottoes of the early ecumenical movement was “doctrine divides, service unites.” The instinct was that disputes about theology have been going on for centuries but the one thing all Christians can agree on is the need to care for those who are in need. While this makes sense at one level, service is not sufficient as the bond of unity. Only truth is. Today’s saints, Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen insisted that you need right doctrine (orthodoxy) if you are to get right behavior (orthopraxis.) For example, during their time disputes arose because of a theological opinion that Jesus was just a nice guy, a good teacher, but not the Son of God. Basil and Gregory (along with Basil’s brother, Gregory of Nyssa) explained that Christian faith demanded that Jesus be the Son of God. It is because a human nature was able to become one person with a divine nature that all of humanity is divinized, is precious in God’s sight, is capable of intimacy with God, is part of God’s family. We engage in service to others because we recognize everyone as Children of God.
