Glory to Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We've
had a week that changes everything for us, this
last week, clean week. Our schedule's different,
our prayers are different, our diets are different.
It's been a week of spiritual therapy. In whatever
way you could do here or at home, the grace of
God is not limited by geography. And that effort
and that grace that has led us through these
last days has now brought us to a feast day,
made even more bright and more joyful by the
baptism of three precious people, three precious
catechumens. reminding us what this is all about.
That is the life of Christ, being clothed with
Christ, living the new life of the kingdom. This
feast day brings with us some interesting history
as well. You're all holding icons, church is
full of icons, because of an event. and a terrible
disturbance that the church suffered for actually
just a little over 100 years in the 8th and 9th
centuries. I don't want to talk about that, except
to say that the feast we have today, the Sunday
of Orthodoxy, the restoration of the icons, is
from a proclamation that dates from the year
843. And we can thank the wonderful Empress Theodora
for making sure that the church was victorious,
that faith was victorious. Not over other people,
not as an institution, but in the hearts of the
faithful. And I see my granddaughter Thea somewhere,
dressed very accurately as Saint Theodora. And
it's a lovely sight. Thea, you're here somewhere,
yes? But before, you know, that's something new
in the church history. This feast day. Because
before that, it was the feast day of the holy
prophets. And the martyrs. And the hymnography,
you could tell. And the two readings you just
have, what were they about? Moses, it starts
with. When he was in Pharaoh's house. And then
the list of all these prophets and the travails
that they suffered. This is very much about the
prophets. And then the gospel itself, Philip
finds Nathanael. We have found him that is the
Messiah, the one that Moses and the prophets
spoke about. So today, my brothers and sisters,
this is a feast that spans the entire history
of God's salvation history. So there's so much
to rejoice about, so much to celebrate. I have
to leave my remarks very concise. You heard how
St. Paul ends that passage in Hebrews that we
heard about the prophets. He brings this whole
thing to a conclusion that they subdued kingdoms,
they worked righteousness, they obtained promises.
Women received their dead back. They stopped
the mouths of lions. They stopped the strength
of the fire. And then St. Paul is brought to
the conclusion, he says, that because of that,
we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.
He says then, now see if you make sense of this.
Because of that, let us lay aside every weight.
And the sin that so easily ensnares us. Is because
we have the intercession. Of all of these righteous
men and women. Do you avail yourself of their
prayers? I come into the church. This hit me
very strongly last week. First thing in the morning
about 730. I come in. I pray to the Lord. Pray
to the Theotokos. I go over to St. Nicholas,
I go over to St. Vladimir and St. Panteleimon
and I'm praying and then I realize, dear holy
ones, forgive me because I only talk to you once
a week for two minutes. How is that offering
any kind of prayer between beloved members of
the Church of Christ? And I thought, this Lent,
I will make a pledge to begin a more fruitful,
constant, and loving and dedicated conversation
with the saints. Not just to walk up to an icon
and put in my prayer like I'm putting in a quarter,
hoping that I'm going to get some kind of answer.
What kind of relationship is that? These are
living people, living and glorified, and they
dwell as the counsel of God. So, of course, St.
Paul says, let us lay aside every weight and
the sin which so easily ensnares us. Because
then we can run the race of our life that is
set before us with endurance, looking to Jesus,
the author, he says, and finisher, the completer,
the perfecter of our faith. That race, for our
purposes today, is Lent. Yes. Sure, striving
to have a part of Christ's resurrection active,
inspiring, working, and sanctifying us. It's
also, let us run the race with endurance, the
message to the catechumens, that it will not
be easy. You will need endurance. If you do not
have Christ in your vision, you will fail. Willpower
is not enough. Willpower is not going to do it.
Since his feast is also one of, and especially
the prophets, as I said, predating the 9th century
Sunday of Orthodoxy, the race set before us to
be faithful is to not settle for counterfeit
Christianity in the way we live. We may adhere
intellectually to Orthodoxy, but we may live
in a counterfeit way. Let's have no plan B. Let's
have only Jesus Christ. And that means that like
it says in that epistle, like Moses raised in
Pharaoh's house, we may have to choose rather
to suffer affliction with the people of God than
to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. He says,
esteeming the reproach of Christ, the reproach
that was put on Christ, his crucifixion. greater
riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he looked
to the reward, to Christ, the completer and finisher
of our faith. The Old Testament speaks about
the love of God for us. And it speaks in a way
that it sounds like he is foolish. He's continually
chasing humanity. His love is so zealous, so
full of divine eros. And we're so fickle, yet
he continues to pursue us. In a way, let me speak
how St. Basil says the same, whose prayers we
will recite in a few moments. He says that God
was unable, he could not bear to endure the loss
of his creation, and he set aside his unspeakable
glory and humbled himself, becoming as we are.
Orthodox Christians really believe, and they
live according to that belief, that Jesus is
fully divine. He is fully human in one person.
Orthodox Christians really believe in the incarnation.
Orthodox Christians really believe that the Son
of God, who is divine, with the same divinity
as God the Father, really became a human being.
A man just like us without ceasing to be God.
And the gospel today wants to affirm that message
to us. That he is not merely a man, but he is,
as it says in the gospel from John, the son of
God. He's confessed as the king of Israel, that
is the king of all. He is confessed as the son
of man. He has confessed as Jacob's ladder the
way we ascend to the Father. And that means,
coming to my point, that if we keep the faith
faithfully, like Moses and the prophets, whatever
it is we need to endure, that Orthodox Christians
believe that his image can be painted. Those
who say, that icons or graven images shouldn't
even have a picture in their house. They shouldn't
watch television and they shouldn't look at any
cartoons because it says don't have any graven
images. So obviously that's foolishness, right?
Orthodox Christians believe that by painting
this, we are painting the gospel in an icon.
We're proclaiming the salvation of Jesus Christ
our Lord. One famous elder said this about the
Lord coming to us, leaving this unspeakable glory.
He says, when the highest, that is God, entered
the lowest, when God himself entered the realm
of Hades and death, everything there was turned
upside down. The devil was defeated. Death yielded
to life. Darkness was swallowed up by light.
Fallen man ascended to heaven. In union with
Christ, human nature now sits on the throne of
God, being filled with the Holy Spirit. God has
descended and reduced himself for our sake. He
continues to pursue us and to chase us. These
are the words of Elder Emilio Nos of Mount Athos,
reposed in 2019. Our faith, this day that we
celebrate, is rooted in that strange defeat,
said Father Alexander Schmemann, of the cross.
That strange defeat of the cross is rooted in
that strange defeat, which became the most glorious
victory. The defeat of the man nailed on the
cross on Golgotha, who rose from the dead, who
is the Lord and Master of this world and of all
worlds. He is not just the king of Israel. He
is not just the son of God. He is the son of
the highest. He is the king of the world. This
is the triumph of orthodoxy. This is why we can
paint icons. But it has to do with the image
of God being restored in us. Because Jesus assures
us that the living icon, you and me, can have,
as that hymn said, That choir just sang, the
corrupted image, sin healed, suffused with divine
beauty. This is our path during Lent. Look to
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Look to all the prophets and saints who surround
us, who pray for us, who encourage us. Look to
Jesus and his beauty. That's everything. That's
everything. What else needs to be said today?
That's why we celebrate, to our Lord be glory,
now and ever, to ages of ages. Amen.