WEBVTT

00:00:00.460 --> 00:00:02.859
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

00:00:02.859 --> 00:00:06.580
of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

00:00:08.140 --> 00:00:11.560
So we have reached the conclusion of the first

00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:14.980
week of Lent, and we come to the first Sunday

00:00:14.980 --> 00:00:20.579
of Lent, which, as you know, today is the Sunday

00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:29.039
of Orthodoxy. We believe, as Orthodox Christians,

00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:35.719
that the Orthodox Church is the one holy Catholic

00:00:35.719 --> 00:00:41.399
and apostolic church. We're in the teaching of

00:00:41.399 --> 00:00:44.759
our Lord, the preaching of the apostles, and

00:00:44.759 --> 00:00:48.719
the doctrine of the fathers has been held consistently

00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:53.500
from the earliest days of the church down to

00:00:53.500 --> 00:01:00.280
us in the 21st century. should be received with

00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:06.079
humility and not be a cause of triumphalism because

00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:11.879
St. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians that we

00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:20.439
hold this truth in earthen vessels. Throughout

00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:23.959
the history of the Church, there have been many

00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:28.069
false teachings, false doctrines Even from the

00:01:28.069 --> 00:01:32.730
apostolic times, we could enumerate a lot of

00:01:32.730 --> 00:01:35.950
them. Gnosticism, especially if you read St.

00:01:36.109 --> 00:01:40.010
Paul carefully, you see the heresy of Judaism,

00:01:40.329 --> 00:01:50.689
that you have to adopt Jewish practices and eating

00:01:50.689 --> 00:01:57.290
codes in order to become a good Christian. So

00:01:57.290 --> 00:02:02.049
with all reverence to that, what we have received

00:02:02.049 --> 00:02:10.289
is that we have tried to avoid heresies in the

00:02:10.289 --> 00:02:14.409
history of our church. I would single out, of

00:02:14.409 --> 00:02:17.949
course you could single out many heresies. A

00:02:17.949 --> 00:02:22.849
lot of these are with us today. Secularism, materialism,

00:02:22.990 --> 00:02:28.060
even... about Arianism and what we'll talk about

00:02:28.060 --> 00:02:33.879
today also, Arianism and iconoclasm. But I want

00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:37.479
to focus our attention this morning on what I

00:02:37.479 --> 00:02:40.780
would, two of the most central and persistent

00:02:40.780 --> 00:02:45.080
heresies in the church, which were Arianism.

00:02:45.659 --> 00:02:49.560
That Jesus is not the son of God, but he is a

00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:53.979
creature. And of course, this story is told.

00:02:54.680 --> 00:03:00.180
on the Sunday before Pentecost, when we commemorate

00:03:00.180 --> 00:03:02.639
the fathers of the First Ecumenical Council.

00:03:03.340 --> 00:03:09.400
And they have given to us the Nicene Creed, belief

00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:14.699
in Jesus Christ as true God of true God, light

00:03:14.699 --> 00:03:19.219
from light, true God of true God, begotten, not

00:03:19.219 --> 00:03:27.870
made, of one essence with the Father. And also,

00:03:28.150 --> 00:03:38.090
towards the 6th, 7th century, another heresy

00:03:38.090 --> 00:03:44.250
arose in the church, which was iconoclasm, that

00:03:44.250 --> 00:03:48.490
we shouldn't have Christian art. We should neither

00:03:48.490 --> 00:03:52.770
have it nor venerate the icons. And of course...

00:03:53.310 --> 00:03:55.870
I was thinking of this beautiful church this

00:03:55.870 --> 00:03:59.509
morning when St. Paul's Epistle was read to the

00:03:59.509 --> 00:04:04.409
Hebrews. We are surrounded by such a great cloud

00:04:04.409 --> 00:04:09.430
of witnesses, Jesus and the saints who are our

00:04:09.430 --> 00:04:16.610
family. The early church, though, was allergic

00:04:16.610 --> 00:04:23.420
or guarded in its reception. of Christian art

00:04:23.420 --> 00:04:29.439
because one of these was that the Christians

00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:34.839
were only a brief time away from paganism with

00:04:34.839 --> 00:04:41.319
the worship of idols and of course idols is one

00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:45.779
thing that God wanted to protect the Hebrew people

00:04:45.779 --> 00:04:52.939
from any contamination with the people and their

00:04:52.939 --> 00:04:57.180
culture and religion in lands where they lived

00:04:57.180 --> 00:05:02.240
or conquered. So the remembrance of the times

00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:06.379
when the church was very cautious about icons

00:05:06.379 --> 00:05:10.560
was still there. And then with the development

00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:15.519
of Christian art and icons, we have this coming

00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:20.519
to the head in the seventh century. and 8th century.

00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:31.040
The 7th Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 787 defined

00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:37.680
the veneration of icons, that we adore God alone,

00:05:37.980 --> 00:05:44.000
but we give veneration to the icons. And I've

00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:48.269
always reminded people that I've talked to that

00:05:48.269 --> 00:05:52.110
are not Orthodox or converts when they come into

00:05:52.110 --> 00:05:56.910
the church, I would use this example. And I think

00:05:56.910 --> 00:06:02.490
it's very true. I know it is for me. But when

00:06:02.490 --> 00:06:06.230
you have pictures of your parents, pictures of

00:06:06.230 --> 00:06:12.790
your family, pictures of your spouse, and there's

00:06:12.790 --> 00:06:16.660
a certain... presence of that person when you

00:06:16.660 --> 00:06:21.860
see that picture, that image. And that's basically

00:06:21.860 --> 00:06:25.720
what we have as Orthodox, that we even kiss the

00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:29.540
icons because a lot of times we show our love

00:06:29.540 --> 00:06:33.720
for our departed members of our family, at least

00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:38.500
I do, by giving a kiss to the image of that person.

00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:43.689
Not venerating, of course, the paper. but the

00:06:43.689 --> 00:06:49.750
person represented there. Fast forward a bit

00:06:49.750 --> 00:06:55.910
from the Seventh Ecumenical Council to what we

00:06:55.910 --> 00:07:01.970
celebrate today, the Sunday of Orthodoxy. Because,

00:07:02.069 --> 00:07:06.470
as with all ecumenical councils, once a decision

00:07:06.470 --> 00:07:12.649
was made, there is always a lingering non -acceptance

00:07:12.649 --> 00:07:17.189
of that teaching. That's true in all of the councils.

00:07:18.529 --> 00:07:23.189
And so there were people who were unwilling to

00:07:23.189 --> 00:07:26.069
accept the decrees of the Seventh Ecumenical

00:07:26.069 --> 00:07:30.490
Council. And finally, the sort of lid was put

00:07:30.490 --> 00:07:39.620
on this error in the year 843 with the veneration

00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:44.920
of icons, the proclamation of orthodoxy. But

00:07:44.920 --> 00:07:47.459
you might, I don't know if you were, but that

00:07:47.459 --> 00:07:51.240
didn't close the issue completely because until

00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:55.660
an ecumenical, what was sometimes considered

00:07:55.660 --> 00:07:59.139
an ecumenical council, but a council in the year

00:07:59.139 --> 00:08:07.470
869 presided over by Patriarch Photius. who's

00:08:07.470 --> 00:08:12.389
a famous person for many things, especially his

00:08:12.389 --> 00:08:16.410
teaching on the procession of the Holy Spirit.

00:08:17.509 --> 00:08:24.149
The issue arose, okay, so we receive iconoclasts,

00:08:24.149 --> 00:08:30.089
or Christians who did not feel comfortable with

00:08:30.089 --> 00:08:36.009
icons. We receive them back into orthodoxy through...

00:08:37.019 --> 00:08:40.539
and then they are allowed to receive the Eucharist.

00:08:40.740 --> 00:08:44.899
But the question arose, which I find fascinating,

00:08:45.240 --> 00:08:48.779
that, well, what do we do with the iconoclastic

00:08:48.779 --> 00:08:53.820
clergy? Sure, they can be received by repentance

00:08:53.820 --> 00:08:57.779
and communion, but can they come back into the

00:08:57.779 --> 00:09:03.919
church and exercise their orders of bishop, priest,

00:09:04.039 --> 00:09:07.049
and deacon? There are two sides of that issue.

00:09:09.049 --> 00:09:14.009
The previous patriarch, Ignatius, was, he was

00:09:14.009 --> 00:09:17.710
a monastic, and he was a little bit of a hardliner,

00:09:17.870 --> 00:09:21.529
as sometimes monks can be, take things very,

00:09:21.629 --> 00:09:25.230
very seriously. And he thought, no, he was the

00:09:25.230 --> 00:09:28.350
leader of what I call the hawk party, that said,

00:09:28.389 --> 00:09:33.379
no, they come in as laymen. Then Patriarch Photius

00:09:33.379 --> 00:09:37.860
came to the throne, and before he became patriarch,

00:09:38.220 --> 00:09:42.000
he was a high -ranking member of the diplomatic

00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:47.799
service of the emperor. And as a diplomat, he

00:09:47.799 --> 00:09:52.360
thought, no, let's choose the softer line. Once

00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:55.399
they have rejected the heresy of iconoclasm,

00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:59.919
they can come in and exercise their orders as...

00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:08.279
bishops, priests, and deacons. So we have this

00:10:08.279 --> 00:10:14.320
treasure, which St. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians.

00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:20.500
We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, our

00:10:20.500 --> 00:10:25.379
holy orthodox faith. And we are surrounded by

00:10:25.379 --> 00:10:29.350
this great cloud of witnesses. who again are

00:10:29.350 --> 00:10:34.529
our friends and our spiritual family. We venerate

00:10:34.529 --> 00:10:41.190
their image and we show our love and our respect

00:10:41.190 --> 00:10:47.309
and veneration for the person represented in

00:10:47.309 --> 00:10:51.669
the icons. So today on this glorious feast day,

00:10:51.789 --> 00:10:56.889
we ask our Lord Jesus Christ. whose images are

00:10:56.889 --> 00:11:00.669
before us, and through the intercession of the

00:11:00.669 --> 00:11:05.090
saints, whose images are before us, to let us

00:11:05.090 --> 00:11:10.009
keep this treasure firmly and consistently and

00:11:10.009 --> 00:11:14.230
be faithful Christians, and especially Orthodox

00:11:14.230 --> 00:11:18.570
Christians, in our thoughts, words, and deeds.

00:11:18.889 --> 00:11:19.649
Amen.