Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to you, O Lord.
Those last few words of the Lord and that incredible
prayer that we are privileged to listen to, remembered
by the Holy Apostle John. This should... lift
our hearts, that they may have my joy. That's
what Jesus says. Isn't that, brothers and sisters,
what we really need? The joy of God's love. The
joy of God's presence. And that's what this day
is all about. So I wish you a joyous feast of
the fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council.
Oh, it seems so long ago. Maybe it has no connection,
but... It may have been long ago, but the connection
is quite immediate and important for us. This
week, I and our delegates are going to a church
meeting. We're going to the Diocesan Assembly
in the God -protected city of Las Vegas. Where
money is made and lost. And probably not much
of it goes to the poor or to the church for evangelism.
And what? And souls are lost too. Yes. But in
any case, we'll get in our car on Monday morning.
We'll drive to the airport. We'll get in the
airplane. We'll land. We'll walk by the slot
machines in the airport. We'll get a rented car.
We'll go to our hotel. We'll go to the church.
We'll have a nice dinner. This is the way we
do church meetings now. And we'll discuss the
finances of the diocese. We'll discuss the monastic
life. We'll discuss... The liturgical life, we'll
discuss the Metropolitan's trip to Russia. We'll
probably discuss the mess that's in the Ukraine
made by the Patriarch of Constantinople and of
all that. But it'll be comfortable. There'll
be no threats. It'll be quite easy. Well, today
we're commemorating this council of the year
787, which took place in the... city of Nicaea,
now known as Iznik, and there's nothing left
of Nicaea there. We have to be cognizant of being
thankful for what we have. Not just the building,
not just the property, but the faith and the
blessings. Because even, as the Lord says, even
that which you think you have, that'll be taken
away from you. If we are not diligent and fruitful
with what we have. A meeting was called in the
city of Nicaea by, let's say, the statecraft
of the Empress Irene. There's a whole life history
about all these figures there. Patriarch Tirasios
and other people that weren't there. St. John
of Damascus, the defender of the icons, painted
here. I remember what he says in that scroll.
St. Stephen the New, the defender of the holy
icons. St. Theodore the Studite. And on and on
these names go. Representatives came from Rome,
came from all parts of the empire. They didn't
get into a car and in a plane and come to a nice
comfortable hotel. And they didn't do it without
threats. A number of years since the year 724,
if I have that right, icons were being taken
out of churches, out of homes, out of monasteries,
and being destroyed in public by the state sponsorship
terror of iconoclasm. We have no idea, none,
what this is like. Perhaps the Russians who survived
in the Bolshevik Revolution and saw the destruction
of churches, they have some idea of the way this
went. These people gathered not to discuss, let's
decorate our church. It should be really beautiful.
It was life and death because it has to do with
salvation. We think of life and death, well,
we might get killed if we're not safe, but life
and death also has to do with ultimate life,
our ultimate spiritual health, and that's what
this is about. That which was from the beginning,
wrote St. John, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes. which we have looked
upon and our hands have handled concerning the
word of life. The life was manifested. We had
it. We saw it. We encountered it. We participated
in it. And we have seen and bear witness and
declare to you that eternal life, which was with
the Father and was manifested to us, that which
we have seen and heard, we declare to you that
you also may have fellowship with us. And truly
our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write
to you, says St. John, echoing his Master, our
Lord, that your joy may be full. When we had
the glendi and all the church tours, I noticed
over all those years, that there were usually
two responses to the icon tour and to seeing
the icons. One response was, well, I'm not going
in there. There's all those images. They must
be worshipping idols. At least one person who
became an Orthodox Christian and is now a member
of this parish had that experience. At least
one of you. I won't ask you to raise your hand.
The other experience was that, oh, isn't this
wonderful? Ancient and colorful ceremonies. Both
are wrong, of course. This is about the reality
that God himself in Jesus Christ became man.
He took our human nature upon himself. Being
God. We can be joined to him now. Listen, Jesus
says this prayer to the Father. I've manifested
your name. I've given your name to all those
that you have given me, O Father. They were yours.
You gave them to me. They have kept your word.
I pray for them. All mine are thine. I want them
to have, he says, the same glory that I have
with you. Because I'm united to you and they
are united to me. That's the meaning of the icon.
It's the vision of salvation. You can click on
your computer on that little icon and it opens
up a whole world. Unfortunately... it's fallen.
You fall into it, and sometimes we never come
out. You look at this, and you see the life of
the age to come. You see what we shall be, which
we don't know yet, that God will transform us
into. And finally, brothers and sisters, listen
to this. They are in me, and I in thee, that
they may be perfect in one, that the world may
know that thou hast sent me. So my question to
myself today, pretty simple. Is my experience
of being, of living the life of Christ, an experience
of one with the Father? And one with the Son.
And one with the Holy Spirit. And just as importantly
is my experience of living the life of Christ
that I'm one with you. And that we all share
in the holiness and the life of Christ together
in unity. Because if it's not, we're doing something
wrong. So let's ask ourselves today, remembering
that Nicaea doesn't exist anymore and that the
minutes of the Seventh Ecumenical Council are
in a book, thankfully. But if we don't live them
and live that unity of oneness with God, then
what are we as a parish? How can the gospel be
spread? What would the good news be? And will
we have the joy of Christ within us? That's what
we have to ask ourselves today when we look at
the icon. Is Christ's joy fulfilled in us? Is
the union with God the same that he has with
the Father by grace? This is a great and noble
and incredible calling and invitation. And it's
the reason we're here. So let's live according.
Let's really be Christian, brothers and sisters,
and have the joy of the kingdom. Amen.