WEBVTT 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:02.990 Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to you, O Lord. 00:00:10.109 --> 00:00:16.670 Those last few words of the Lord and that incredible 00:00:16.670 --> 00:00:23.530 prayer that we are privileged to listen to, remembered 00:00:23.530 --> 00:00:29.539 by the Holy Apostle John. This should... lift 00:00:29.539 --> 00:00:34.159 our hearts, that they may have my joy. That's 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:37.579 what Jesus says. Isn't that, brothers and sisters, 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:42.520 what we really need? The joy of God's love. The 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:45.340 joy of God's presence. And that's what this day 00:00:45.340 --> 00:00:49.380 is all about. So I wish you a joyous feast of 00:00:49.380 --> 00:00:53.219 the fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. 00:00:53.640 --> 00:00:56.920 Oh, it seems so long ago. Maybe it has no connection, 00:00:57.079 --> 00:01:01.159 but... It may have been long ago, but the connection 00:01:01.159 --> 00:01:06.780 is quite immediate and important for us. This 00:01:06.780 --> 00:01:14.439 week, I and our delegates are going to a church 00:01:14.439 --> 00:01:17.840 meeting. We're going to the Diocesan Assembly 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:27.150 in the God -protected city of Las Vegas. Where 00:01:27.150 --> 00:01:30.769 money is made and lost. And probably not much 00:01:30.769 --> 00:01:35.790 of it goes to the poor or to the church for evangelism. 00:01:37.689 --> 00:01:46.670 And what? And souls are lost too. Yes. But in 00:01:46.670 --> 00:01:50.409 any case, we'll get in our car on Monday morning. 00:01:50.489 --> 00:01:53.250 We'll drive to the airport. We'll get in the 00:01:53.250 --> 00:01:57.329 airplane. We'll land. We'll walk by the slot 00:01:57.329 --> 00:02:01.189 machines in the airport. We'll get a rented car. 00:02:01.269 --> 00:02:03.189 We'll go to our hotel. We'll go to the church. 00:02:03.230 --> 00:02:05.989 We'll have a nice dinner. This is the way we 00:02:05.989 --> 00:02:11.789 do church meetings now. And we'll discuss the 00:02:11.789 --> 00:02:14.629 finances of the diocese. We'll discuss the monastic 00:02:14.629 --> 00:02:19.580 life. We'll discuss... The liturgical life, we'll 00:02:19.580 --> 00:02:22.900 discuss the Metropolitan's trip to Russia. We'll 00:02:22.900 --> 00:02:25.580 probably discuss the mess that's in the Ukraine 00:02:25.580 --> 00:02:29.439 made by the Patriarch of Constantinople and of 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:35.080 all that. But it'll be comfortable. There'll 00:02:35.080 --> 00:02:40.400 be no threats. It'll be quite easy. Well, today 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:43.719 we're commemorating this council of the year 00:02:43.719 --> 00:02:48.979 787, which took place in the... city of Nicaea, 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:52.099 now known as Iznik, and there's nothing left 00:02:52.099 --> 00:02:59.159 of Nicaea there. We have to be cognizant of being 00:02:59.159 --> 00:03:01.800 thankful for what we have. Not just the building, 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:06.439 not just the property, but the faith and the 00:03:06.439 --> 00:03:11.919 blessings. Because even, as the Lord says, even 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:14.759 that which you think you have, that'll be taken 00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:18.319 away from you. If we are not diligent and fruitful 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:23.360 with what we have. A meeting was called in the 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:27.900 city of Nicaea by, let's say, the statecraft 00:03:27.900 --> 00:03:34.400 of the Empress Irene. There's a whole life history 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:37.879 about all these figures there. Patriarch Tirasios 00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:40.879 and other people that weren't there. St. John 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:43.599 of Damascus, the defender of the icons, painted 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:48.740 here. I remember what he says in that scroll. 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:51.759 St. Stephen the New, the defender of the holy 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:55.539 icons. St. Theodore the Studite. And on and on 00:03:55.539 --> 00:04:00.060 these names go. Representatives came from Rome, 00:04:00.219 --> 00:04:04.419 came from all parts of the empire. They didn't 00:04:04.419 --> 00:04:07.400 get into a car and in a plane and come to a nice 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:10.560 comfortable hotel. And they didn't do it without 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:17.589 threats. A number of years since the year 724, 00:04:17.750 --> 00:04:22.069 if I have that right, icons were being taken 00:04:22.069 --> 00:04:24.949 out of churches, out of homes, out of monasteries, 00:04:24.949 --> 00:04:28.089 and being destroyed in public by the state sponsorship 00:04:28.089 --> 00:04:34.850 terror of iconoclasm. We have no idea, none, 00:04:35.050 --> 00:04:38.170 what this is like. Perhaps the Russians who survived 00:04:38.990 --> 00:04:43.110 in the Bolshevik Revolution and saw the destruction 00:04:43.110 --> 00:04:48.769 of churches, they have some idea of the way this 00:04:48.769 --> 00:04:57.089 went. These people gathered not to discuss, let's 00:04:57.089 --> 00:04:58.750 decorate our church. It should be really beautiful. 00:04:59.990 --> 00:05:05.569 It was life and death because it has to do with 00:05:05.569 --> 00:05:09.519 salvation. We think of life and death, well, 00:05:09.660 --> 00:05:13.959 we might get killed if we're not safe, but life 00:05:13.959 --> 00:05:17.199 and death also has to do with ultimate life, 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:22.379 our ultimate spiritual health, and that's what 00:05:22.379 --> 00:05:27.120 this is about. That which was from the beginning, 00:05:27.300 --> 00:05:32.279 wrote St. John, which we have heard, which we 00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:36.279 have seen with our eyes. which we have looked 00:05:36.279 --> 00:05:39.540 upon and our hands have handled concerning the 00:05:39.540 --> 00:05:44.519 word of life. The life was manifested. We had 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:47.199 it. We saw it. We encountered it. We participated 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:50.899 in it. And we have seen and bear witness and 00:05:50.899 --> 00:05:54.819 declare to you that eternal life, which was with 00:05:54.819 --> 00:05:58.939 the Father and was manifested to us, that which 00:05:58.939 --> 00:06:02.360 we have seen and heard, we declare to you that 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:05.230 you also may have fellowship with us. And truly 00:06:05.230 --> 00:06:07.790 our fellowship is with the Father and with his 00:06:07.790 --> 00:06:13.850 Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write 00:06:13.850 --> 00:06:19.370 to you, says St. John, echoing his Master, our 00:06:19.370 --> 00:06:27.829 Lord, that your joy may be full. When we had 00:06:27.829 --> 00:06:33.509 the glendi and all the church tours, I noticed 00:06:34.759 --> 00:06:36.740 over all those years, that there were usually 00:06:36.740 --> 00:06:42.819 two responses to the icon tour and to seeing 00:06:42.819 --> 00:06:47.620 the icons. One response was, well, I'm not going 00:06:47.620 --> 00:06:51.040 in there. There's all those images. They must 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:55.560 be worshipping idols. At least one person who 00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:59.180 became an Orthodox Christian and is now a member 00:06:59.180 --> 00:07:02.600 of this parish had that experience. At least 00:07:02.600 --> 00:07:05.220 one of you. I won't ask you to raise your hand. 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:09.839 The other experience was that, oh, isn't this 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:13.800 wonderful? Ancient and colorful ceremonies. Both 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:17.519 are wrong, of course. This is about the reality 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:24.360 that God himself in Jesus Christ became man. 00:07:26.420 --> 00:07:32.579 He took our human nature upon himself. Being 00:07:32.579 --> 00:07:37.480 God. We can be joined to him now. Listen, Jesus 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:40.879 says this prayer to the Father. I've manifested 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:43.420 your name. I've given your name to all those 00:07:43.420 --> 00:07:48.060 that you have given me, O Father. They were yours. 00:07:48.339 --> 00:07:51.959 You gave them to me. They have kept your word. 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:03.879 I pray for them. All mine are thine. I want them 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:10.000 to have, he says, the same glory that I have 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.860 with you. Because I'm united to you and they 00:08:14.860 --> 00:08:19.660 are united to me. That's the meaning of the icon. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:23.480 It's the vision of salvation. You can click on 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:26.240 your computer on that little icon and it opens 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:29.560 up a whole world. Unfortunately... it's fallen. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:32.620 You fall into it, and sometimes we never come 00:08:32.620 --> 00:08:37.539 out. You look at this, and you see the life of 00:08:37.539 --> 00:08:41.200 the age to come. You see what we shall be, which 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:44.379 we don't know yet, that God will transform us 00:08:44.379 --> 00:08:51.639 into. And finally, brothers and sisters, listen 00:08:51.639 --> 00:09:01.230 to this. They are in me, and I in thee, that 00:09:01.230 --> 00:09:06.889 they may be perfect in one, that the world may 00:09:06.889 --> 00:09:12.409 know that thou hast sent me. So my question to 00:09:12.409 --> 00:09:19.789 myself today, pretty simple. Is my experience 00:09:19.789 --> 00:09:25.809 of being, of living the life of Christ, an experience 00:09:25.809 --> 00:09:30.409 of one with the Father? And one with the Son. 00:09:30.570 --> 00:09:35.789 And one with the Holy Spirit. And just as importantly 00:09:35.789 --> 00:09:39.470 is my experience of living the life of Christ 00:09:39.470 --> 00:09:44.029 that I'm one with you. And that we all share 00:09:44.029 --> 00:09:48.149 in the holiness and the life of Christ together 00:09:48.149 --> 00:09:52.830 in unity. Because if it's not, we're doing something 00:09:52.830 --> 00:09:59.070 wrong. So let's ask ourselves today, remembering 00:09:59.070 --> 00:10:02.629 that Nicaea doesn't exist anymore and that the 00:10:02.629 --> 00:10:05.529 minutes of the Seventh Ecumenical Council are 00:10:05.529 --> 00:10:10.629 in a book, thankfully. But if we don't live them 00:10:10.629 --> 00:10:17.409 and live that unity of oneness with God, then 00:10:17.409 --> 00:10:20.169 what are we as a parish? How can the gospel be 00:10:20.169 --> 00:10:23.190 spread? What would the good news be? And will 00:10:23.190 --> 00:10:28.090 we have the joy of Christ within us? That's what 00:10:28.090 --> 00:10:30.490 we have to ask ourselves today when we look at 00:10:30.490 --> 00:10:35.409 the icon. Is Christ's joy fulfilled in us? Is 00:10:35.409 --> 00:10:38.789 the union with God the same that he has with 00:10:38.789 --> 00:10:44.110 the Father by grace? This is a great and noble 00:10:44.110 --> 00:10:49.850 and incredible calling and invitation. And it's 00:10:49.850 --> 00:10:53.970 the reason we're here. So let's live according. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:57.700 Let's really be Christian, brothers and sisters, 00:10:57.940 --> 00:11:01.299 and have the joy of the kingdom. Amen.