And those soldiers came to arrest and harass
the 263 fathers that were gathered there. This
seventh council in the third session, this went
on for months, by the way, this council, gave
its definitive decree on the veneration of images,
icons, on October 13th, 787. 1 ,237 years ago,
if I subtracted that correctly. It's a long decree.
You can read it online if you like. I won't read
it to you now. But I will note that what it did
not say, what it did not decree, is that sacred
images, icons, frescoes, are merely good and
useful. No. But that they are necessary. They
are the witness that Jesus Christ, our God and
man, actually walked on this earth. They bear
witness to what the church has always believed
and always taught. One saint put it this way.
He said, care must be especially given about
that which was believed, he says, everywhere,
always, and by all. That which is believed everywhere,
always, and by all. This Saint, Saint Vincent
of Leroy, he says, by this triple norm of belief,
endurance and universality, a Christian can distinguish
religious truth from error. He can tell the difference
between a false hundred dollar bill of faith
and a real hundred dollar bill. Something false
and something true. A dear friend was telling
me back east where I was, former parishioner,
about her little five or six year old grandson
who asked her this question. He said, Grandma,
do you know Jesus? And she said, of course I
know Jesus. And he responded, do you know Jesus
works for God? Well, yes. Did you hear the reading
from the Gospel of John today? That's true, as
long as we mean what Jesus said. And this is
life eternal, that they might know thee the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work that thou gavest me to do. The young
man turns out to be a theologian. What the Seventh
Council affirms for us is that God truly and
completely and 100 % became man. We worship our
Lord Jesus Christ because he is truly God. You
know, you can go to dozens of different churches
amongst our Orthodox, non -Orthodox, non -Orthodox
brothers and sisters, and you are not going to
hear this. Some believe Jesus was sort of like
God. Some believe he wasn't God at all. Some
believe, yes, you call him God, but we don't
mean God like God the Father, and on and on and
on. There is no... What does St. Paul say in
Hebrews? He says, don't be carried away with
strange doctrines. We hear that today in honor
of these holy fathers. He became man, our Lord,
the Word of God, the Son. became man in a concrete
and visible way, and we can depict him in a concrete
and visible way. The icons depict the reality
of his person. Obviously, no Orthodox Christian
is going to worship the wood that that icon is
painted on. No Orthodox Christian is going to
offer Thinking that God himself inhabits this
icon. That's idolatry. You see, when the Hebrews
fled and they escaped over the Red Sea, walking
over it as if it were dry land. And then Moses
went up into the mountain 40 days later to pray.
And he comes down and what's he see? Worshipping
a golden calf. They believed that God... The
God who saved them had taken up residence in
that golden calf. We don't think that God inhabits
or takes up residence in an icon, which is exactly
what an idol worshiper believes about his idol.
We don't offer bread and wine to a statue as
an idol worshiper would to feed the idol. In
fact, you know you're here today because God
feeds you. And he feeds me. The bread that we
offer to him. The wine that we offer to him.
In the Lord's name. The church where that council
took place. Then it was called Nicaea. You've
heard of the Nicene Creed and so forth. Now that
city is modern day Iznik, Turkey. The church
where that council took place is a mosque. There's
no image. At all in that building. They've all
been destroyed. They are not coming back. However,
think, brothers and sisters, the image of God
that he has given you. That cannot be destroyed.
We are free to ignore it. We are free to trash
that image with sin and idolatry and immorality.
We are free to defile it and to fragment it and
to deny it, but it abides in us. And by God's
grace, it is cleansed. It's clarified. It's matured.
This is the parable of the seed you heard. We
have to do something to water that seed. St.
Paul says, by purity, by knowledge, by long -suffering,
by fasting, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit.
by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the
power of God, by the armor of righteousness on
the right hand and on the left, by honor and
dishonor, by evil report and good report, as
deceivers and yet as true, as unknown and yet
known, dying and behold, we live, as chastened
yet not killed. And by other things, many canons
were given to us in this council and all the
councils. There are some very simple things I
want to share with you now. You might say, oh,
Father, this is way too simple when I'm done.
Basic piety, basic orthodoxy. It's not stupid
or merely trivial. These are the doorway to the
holiness that all this we're talking about. So
here are some basic ways we live our faith. Some
are from the canons of the church. Some are from
the tradition of the church. And some are just
common sense that has been passed down to us.
In terms of the commandments, the moral life,
the ethical life of the church, what? We must
honor our parents and pray for them. No exceptions.
Sex and living together is for marriage. Period.
Christians keep the Lord's Day and the feasts.
Christians prepare for the liturgy carefully,
with love, knowing whom they're going to meet.
Christians attend Vespers on Saturday night as
a preparation for communion. They abstain from
marital relations the day before liturgy. They
participate in the Eucharistic fast from midnight.
They offer a recent confession, a month or so.
They say they pray the traditional pre -communion
prayers. They are at peace with their neighbor.
Then they go to liturgy and they receive communion.
We have the canon of daily prayer, the canon
of reading scripture. and other spiritual readings.
We have the canon of supporting our parish, often
with a tithe financially, volunteering our physical
sweat for parish ministries and service within
the parish and outside the parish in the name
of our Lord. Then there are the practical canons
of our actual church attendance. Maybe the main
one would be, do unto others. as you would have
them do unto you. Do unto others. Naturally,
care if this is regard to children. Offer your
help if a parent needs it with their child, instead
of looking down at them and wishing they were
not here. Have a sense of humor and a spirit
of encouragement. Parents, ask for help. We want
to help. Parishioners, Extend a helping hand
and love for the families. This is the canon.
Then there are those canons about how we dress
when we come to church. Is it just sort of up
to, no. Dress to meet the king, especially on
Sundays. Don't put logos on your clothes. Don't
wear short pants. Prepare yourself. It's about
modesty and respect. We go to various social
events dressed in the way that we would be expected
to dress. Well, think about this. The Lord God
sees us. He doesn't care, but we should care.
Then there is the de facto canon, I'm sorry to
say, about arriving on time for church services.
Someone recently asked me, how late can I come
and receive communion? Well, that's the wrong
question, isn't it? Not all of us have little
children that may do something as we're getting
to go. Not all of us have an elderly person we're
taking care of. Not all of us are in the kitchen
preparing lunch for us. Not all of us live 50,
75 miles away. There's reasons. Some do, and
some are blessed to come late. But the rest of
us, let's try to be better about that. I'm not
aware of any formal canons. Again, I apologize.
Talking in church, but let me be blunt. As a
parish, we talk way too much during the liturgy.
The church is a holy place. The liturgy is a
holy time. We ourselves are to be holy before
the liturgy, during the liturgy, and yes, after
the liturgy, during communion. We receive the
body and blood of our Lord. And we hang on to
that with all our spiritual might, with joy and
thanksgiving. There's a time to greet others
and embrace others, but that's not it. That's
the time to be deeply in your heart so that the
seed, the word of God, is springing up with joy
for you. Christ is in our midst quite literally.
So we come before him with our arms crossed.
We don't stand in the back and turn our backs
on communion. He is offering himself to us. Our
brothers and sisters are still receiving him.
As long as others are receiving him, imagine
you too are still receiving him. We say, let
us attend. I know this wasn't a formal sermon.
I know maybe I went on too long. I know this
is all. Maybe unspiritual. You know, Orthodox
faith and the councils that defend the faith
always, I'd say, delighted in expounding how
the human and the divine go together. Our piety,
the way we live, is not just physical, not just
spiritual. It's together. And we believe that
the right worship, the right belief, seriously
leads not only to spiritual growth, but to actual
union with our Lord and God, to become one with
him. Let us attend then, brothers and sisters,
to the riches of the faith, whether they be lofty
or they be simple, like the things I'm talking
about. And may we aim to live out our faith in
the spirit set forth by our holy fathers, our
teachers, and yes, our holy mothers too. whose
memories we keep and honor this day, and with
them, may we never fail to worship with our whole
hearts and our minds and our bodies the all -holy
Trinity, one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.