Of Emperors and Martyrs
Mar. 13, 2022 -Sun. of Orthodoxy John 1:43-51
Today’s gospel gives us a quick lesson in all we need to know about evangelism. Philip tells his dear friend Nathaniel that he has found the Messiah! When Nathanial protests the unlikeliness of this claim, Philip doesn’t argue with him, he simply says “Come and see” for yourself.” That’s it, that’s all we need to do. We don’t need to debate theology or the latest insight into scriptural interpretation. Just ask your friends and families to “Come and see.” They too are searching for God, for truth and light! When they come into the Church, God will meet them. “Christ is in our midst.” Simply by coming to church with you they are expressing their desire to know God and He will come to meet them.
Today’s Sunday of Orthodoxy service is almost 1200 years old. Christopher Columbus’s voyage to our continent was only a little over 500 years ago. In Church history, we are talking about a time 700 years before Martin Luther was even born, and he started the entire Protestant reformation. The thousands of Protestant church variations all came after this – more than a few started up in the last week I’m sure.
The Sunday of Orthodoxy which we are gathered here today to celebrate was first instituted by the Empress Theodora on the first Sunday of Lent 843. The institution of this service represented the final victory after over 100 years of Struggle, starting when the Emperor Leo the 3rd issued his Decree to ban and destroy the Icons in 730. The Church reacted very strongly, as not to allow Icons was tantamount to denying that Christ our Lord was fully human. If He is fully human then his human form can be depicted in an Icon. If Christ is not fully human then everything involved in our very Salvation goes out the window. Every Icon of the various Saints is really an Icon of the image of Christ. Each Saint in an Icon has cooperated with Christ in allowing Christ’s image to be revealed and formed in them. We never Worship Icons – Worship is reserved for God alone. St Basil stated, “when we venerate the Icons, the veneration passes directly to the Prototype.” We are not venerating the wood and paint, the actual physical reality of icons. There are two very distinct Greek works used to explain this distinction. “Proskynesis” means reverence /respect, this describes the veneration given to icons. “Latreia” means worship and is reserved for God alone. Christ is the only head of the Orthodox Church! To Him and the Father, and the Holy Spirit alone is given Latreia!
Our Church is not controlled and guided by Emperors, Presidents or Kings, or anyone else, but by Christ Himself through His faithful bishops and saints. Emperor Leo the 3rd had stepped way out of line by trying to politically control the Church. His son Emperor Constantine 5th went even further, by declaring himself both Emperor and Priest. It was a huge battle and Countless defenders of the Icons were killed. The 7th and last Ecumenical Council came about ½ way through this struggle in 787, strongly affirming Icons. Even after this, the struggle continued until 843 when this Sunday of Orthodoxy was finally established, and the Church triumphed over the Iconoclastic group for good. At least until a whole new crop of Iconoclasts sprung up during the Protestant reformation with Calvin, Zwingli and their followers. It pretty bare on most Protestant church walls today.
In more recent memory, the communist leaders in Russia and the Soviet Union attempted similar political control of the Church and millions of Christians died for the faith. Like during the 100-year battle over the icons, we find a mixture of true godly bishops and clergy and pious members cleaving to Christ and the Orthodox Church, and sell out bishops and clergy and laity working in opposition to Christ and the Church to support the political regime. One way to tell the good guys from the bad guys in these battles is that the bad guys seem to feel justified to kill people if they don’t agree with them. The good guys end up with the Martyrs crying out (Rev. 6:10) “…How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge out blood on those who dwell upon the earth?” It is the Orthodox way to die for the faith not to kill for it! Christ taught (Matt.10:39) “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” There is no teaching of a Holy war or Jihad kind of thinking in the Church. The Crusades were a horror. The true Church is consistently built upon the blood of the martyrs. It seems we may be heading into another period where these lessons will need to be understood!
What is this light which illumines the saints and forms the golden background of their icons? St. Nicolas Cabasilas, writing in the 14 century gives a very compelling description of how the light of Christ fills all the world through His saints. He writes “…no-one has holiness of himself; it is not the consequence of human virtue, but comes to all from Him and through Him. It is as if we were to place mirrors beneath the sun; each would shine and send forth rays of light, so that one would think there were many suns; yet in truth there is but one sun that shines in all; Just so Christ, the only holy One, pours Himself forth upon the faithful, shines in so many souls, and give light to many saints; yet He alone is holy, in the Glory of the Father.”
What a gift we have in the treasures that have been given – passed down faithfully from our forefathers in Christ. The “light of Christ that illumines all.” This soul saving inheritance has been carefully guarded from alteration by countless generations of faithful Orthodox Christians, with millions of them giving their very lives to pass this treasure on to us. We should never take this lightly. Let us try to cultivate a better awareness of what, or rather Who we are part of. Can we commit to disengaging from the tyranny of businesses we often find ourselves in? Here is your practical point for the day to help with this! Let us commit to try to say, “Thank You God” and the Lord’s prayer at least at the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th hours. (7:00am; 9:00am; 12:00noon; 3:00pm; 6:00pm and bedtime) 6 x 3 minutes = a 18 min. daily commitment during great Lent.
Today we are taking part in the Sunday of Orthodoxy service with over 1200 years of continuity. We are worshiping God with living Icons of Christ, our brothers and sisters right beside us, and also with the Saints who have already finished their race here on earth – represented in the very Icon’s we will soon be processing with. There are no dead in Christ! They are now cheering us on. We have a pretty large crowd here today!
Glory to Jesus Christ!