In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ.
Glory be to Christ. Today, the Church commemorates
and celebrates liturgically the Holy Fathers
who gathered at the First Ecumenical Council
of Nicaea. They gathered for a number of important
reasons, but the overwhelming issue at that time
was that central question that our Lord himself
once asked of his disciples, whom do men say
that I am? Who is Jesus Christ? During the first
three centuries of the church, the problems which
afflicted the church were primarily external.
Sure, there were what proved to be later on conflicting
and even erroneous opinions that were held by
some people in the church. But these never really
bubbled to the surface until after Christianity
was allowed its freedom of religion and expression
by Emperor Constantine. And almost as soon as
the external problems ceased momentarily, then
the internal problems came to the forefront.
I'm sure this is the reason why on the Sundays
that we commemorate the Holy Fathers of Nicaea,
that this particular epistle and gospel are selected
by the church to be read at the liturgy. Once
again, St. Paul says in... chapter 20 of the
Acts of the Apostles, speaking to the elders
of the church, the leaders of the church in Ephesus.
Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock
to shepherd the church of God, among which the
Holy Spirit has made you overseers. to shepherd
the church of God which he purchased with his
own blood. For I know this, that after my departure,
ravenous wolves will come in among you, not sparing
the flock. And this, of course, refers to the
heresies of false teachings that now afflicted
the church and were brought to the forefront
by Arius. This is why also today's gospel from
chapter 17 of St. John's Gospel, Jesus' great
high priestly prayer at the Last Supper, where
the key issue, the key thing for our discussion
this morning is when Jesus says, Now, Father,
glorify me together with yourself with the glory.
which I had with you before the world was. So
in other words, before creation of the universe
as we know it, Jesus shared with the Father the
eternal glory of his divinity. So the fathers
who gathered at Nicaea, they were called together
by Constantine to settle this issue which was
tearing the church apart. They gathered between
Easter and Pentecost in the year 325. That's
the reason, of course, that we have the commemoration
of the fathers at this particular time of the
liturgical year between Easter and Pentecost.
They gathered together and produced what has
come down to us the Nicene Creed. The statement
of faith, of what it means to be a Christian.
Notice the structure of the Nicene Creed. It
is Trinitarian and it is Christological. These
are the two unique features of the Christian
church that are not shared by any other religion.
The belief in the Trinity. and the belief in
who Jesus Christ was and is. Certainly many of
the ethical teachings of Jesus are shared by
other religions, but these are the two unique
features. Belief in one God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth, and in one Lord
Jesus Christ, the only begotten, begotten of
the Father before all ages, just like... we see
in today's gospel. Light of light, true God of
true God, begotten, not made, that was the issue,
that he was eternally begotten, he was not created,
begotten, not made, of one essence or being or
substance consubstantial with the Father, shares
with the Father in his divinity. And then actually,
the Nicene Creed concluded, and in the Holy Spirit.
What has come down to us now as the Nicene Creed
more exactly should be called the Nicene Constantinopolitan
Creed, but since that's quite a mouthful, we
simply say Nicene Creed. The belief in the Holy
Spirit is what formed the essence of the teaching
of the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople
two generations later in the year 381. But this
is a marvelous heritage which we have as Christians,
and particularly as Orthodox Christians, because
we consider this not simply and historical event
which took place almost 1700 years ago but this
is the faith of the fathers is our living faith
the apostles teaching the apostles preaching
and the father's teaching have established one
faith for the church belief in the holy trinity
and belief in jesus christ who he was when he
took flesh from the Virgin Mary, suffered and
died on the cross, and rose from the dead, and
then now liturgically ascended into heaven, and
next Sunday will send the Holy Spirit upon his
disciples and upon the church once again. This
is our heritage which we hold humbly as Christians.
The World Council of Churches and the National
Council of Churches, when it was formed about
100 years ago, debated, well, you know, who can
be members of the church, members of this organization,
rather. And they said those who believe in the
Trinity and those who believe in the divinity
of Jesus Christ. Those are the two criteria,
which rightly distinguishes. Christianity from
other religions. These are recognized everywhere
as the distinctive features of the church. This
is what unites all Christians, although there
is a certain level of different interpretation
among some Christians. not what we as Orthodox
maintain as this unique faith in the Nicene Creed,
the teaching of the fathers. These thoughts are
commemorated and reasserted in the Toparian and
the Kentuckian, which speak about the holy fathers.
By the way, we had a discussion before liturgy.
I thought this was Father's Day. Well, you know
what? It is Father's Day. The spiritual fathers
are our fathers in the faith. The apostles and
the fathers, not only at Nicaea, but throughout
the centuries that articulated this beauty of
the Orthodox faith which has been transmitted
to us. So the Troparian says, Most glorious art
thou, O Christ our God, who hast established
the Holy Fathers as lights on the earth, and
has guided us through them to the true faith.
The Kentuckian, the Apostles' preaching, and
the Fathers' doctrines have established one faith
for the Church. One faith. for the church, which
is the Christian faith and the Orthodox faith
that has been handed down to us through the centuries.
So today we have a lot to be thankful for, not
only for everything that God gives us in so many
different ways, but the blessing of being members
of his community, his church. And this is why
I think very appropriately, in a few minutes,
we will sing once again the Nicene Creed because
we will affirm together as a body once again
that faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
the faith in who Jesus Christ is and was and
what he has done for us. So thank you, Lord.
Most glorious art thou. who has established the
Holy Fathers as lights on the earth. Amen.