Homily for the Sunday of Orthodoxy #
Dear brothers and sisters!
I congratulate you on the first Sunday of Great Lent—the Sunday of Orthodoxy!
Fasting is the springtime of the renewal of our souls, a spiritually joyful time in which the radiant Sun—Jesus Christ—manifests His love, melting within us the ice of despondency, negligence, avarice, and idle talk, granting us the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love.
Venerable Theodore the Studite, in his teaching on fasting, writes: “The present days of the holy fast, among the various seasons of the year, are likened to a quiet harbor, where all gather and find spiritual peace—not only monks but also laypeople, both small and great, rulers and subordinates, kings and priests—for this time is beneficial and salvific for every rank and age of people. Fasting at first seems to us a difficult endeavor, but if we apply diligence and effort day by day, then with God’s help it will become easier for us.” Further, Venerable Theodore instructs that during the fast, we must abstain not only from non-Lenten foods but from all sin, both bodily and spiritual; we must pray fervently and diligently at home and attend church services, guarding ourselves against passions—vainglory, envy, hatred, and enmity—for they secretly slay the soul. We must particularly beware of self-will, “for nothing is more pleasing to the devil than to find a man who does not seek counsel from another and does not take advice from one who can guide him to what is good; then the enemy easily deceives the self-willed man and ensnares him in everything he does and considers good.”
And Saint Symeon the New Theologian, in “A Word on the Necessity of Observing the Salvific Fast Not Only in the First Week of the Holy Forty Days but in All Others as Well,” writes:
“All Christians strive in the first week of Great Lent… but at this time the wicked devil, envious of all our good, stealthily approaches each Christian and, binding him with negligence and sloth, persuades him to turn away from the holy fast, so saving for us, and to return again to his former evil habits. For this reason, I remind you now, and beseech you, do not heed your enemy the devil, do not return again to the wicked custom of insatiable gluttony… but as we honored the first week of this Great Lent, so let us honor the second, and then the following ones in order… Fasting gradually refines the sinful covering that lies over the soul and dispels its mental darkness, just as the sun disperses the mist. Fasting, when assisted by vigilance, drives away the hardness of heart, draws forth streams of tears of contrition—which I urge you, brethren, to strive to obtain. For if we come to compunction, then, with the help of God’s grace, we shall easily be delivered from all turmoil of passions and from the storm of the enemy’s temptations and shall attain the peaceful haven of dispassion. This, my brethren, is not achieved in a single day or a single week, but is accomplished, with God’s help, over a longer or shorter period of time, through toil and fasting, depending on the zeal and diligence of each person.”
Today, Christ’s Church celebrates the Triumph of Orthodoxy, which has been preserved unceasingly from the apostles and will be guarded by the Holy Church until the end of the world.
The apostles exhort us to remain steadfast and unshakable in the true faith and unwavering devotion to the Orthodox Church. The apostolic words—“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong”—lay upon us a great duty always to hold the Orthodox faith inviolate, to grow in true piety and Christian virtues, so that we may attain eternal blessed life in the heavenly mansions.
Sending forth His apostles to preach the Gospel and commanding them to baptize those who believe in Him, Jesus Christ said: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16).
Without the true Orthodox faith, it is impossible to attain salvation; “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6), writes the apostle. Without faith, a person walks in the darkness of ignorance, unaware of the purpose of his life, wandering through the paths of paganism and impiety.
Faith is more necessary to us than anything else—more than any knowledge, any art, or the various earthly goods, however beneficial and essential they may seem. The Apostle Paul says that for the sake of preserving faith in Jesus Christ, he counts everything else as nothing: all knowledge, all dignity, honor, glory, friendship—everything that the world loves and highly values—he considers as nothing, only to acquire faith in Jesus Christ, that is, to draw near to Him and unite with Him forever: “For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Philippians 3:8).
Let us remember the great struggles of the first Christians in confessing their faith. They willingly went to suffering and death, that through faith in Jesus Christ they might receive eternal life. Let us recall the labors of the apostles in their evangelical preaching, bringing the light of true faith to those perishing in the darkness of ignorance and error. Let us remember the toils of the Holy Fathers and Teachers of the Church, the successors of the apostles. Let us remember the valiant ascetics who preserved the faith in deserts, mountains, caves, and the hidden depths of the earth. Let us remember the holy and venerable men and women, who throughout their entire lives, with unceasing labors, deprivations, and fasting, waged war against the lusts of the flesh, offering themselves wholly as a sacrifice to Christ.
Let us recall the hosts of valiant ascetics who labored for the preservation of the purity and inviolability of the Orthodox faith in Rus’. We glorify the wondrous multitude of saints who have shone forth in the Russian land—those who are bound to us by blood, whose lives intertwined with the events of our history, the ascetics who are the glory of our land, the rich and beautiful fruit of Christ’s sowing. In their boundless patience in the Lord, in the greatness of their humility, in their self-sacrificing love for God and neighbor, in their unwavering endurance, the Russian ascetics have shown us the image of holiness—the image of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Let us also remember our Old Believer ancestors. Scattered across the face of the earth, despite cruel persecutions, deprivations, and hardships, they preserved the true faith, the reverent purity and fullness of divine worship. Today, we can be inspired by their courage, stand in reverence before their steadfastness, and bow before their spiritual feat. For centuries, they remained firm in faith, in the purity of confession, in truly evangelical spirituality, and they have preserved for us a precious, instructive, and salvific Church Tradition.
Let us also remember today those martyrs for the faith who, in the past century in Russia, in the dreadful years of persecution against the Church, suffered a torturous death in prisons and labor camps, yet did not renounce the faith of their fathers. They endured because they knew how to love sacrificially, because they held in their hearts the words of the Savior: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:11–12).
Let us, then, also keep this greatest and most sacred treasure, which has been given to us as a precious inheritance from our fathers and forefathers—the Orthodox faith, the pledge of our salvation. Let us strive above all to preserve it in purity, abiding in it always, firmly and unshakably. Let us avoid both unbelief and superstition, courageously overcoming temptations and the snares of false beliefs. Let us zealously fulfill the commandments and statutes of the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
Christians! The Holy Scriptures call us to preserve the Orthodox faith, to live by it always, and to seek the salvation of our souls within the Holy Orthodox Church, which, as the Apostle teaches, is “the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). The Church of Christ is founded upon faith, and by faith, it shall remain unshaken until the end of the world, as promised by its Founder and Head, Jesus Christ: “I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
Our Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church firmly and unwaveringly upholds and preserves all the dogmas of faith and piety, faithfully adhering to all that has been received, established, and affirmed by the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and rejecting all that has been condemned by it. The Holy Church calls upon her children to steadfastly maintain unity in faith, to firmly adhere to the lawful ecclesiastical authority, and to obey it in all things concerning the salvation of the soul, according to the words of Scripture: “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves” (Hebrews 13:17).
The Holy Church now instructs her children to approach the holy Mysteries of Christ with reverence and diligence, to strive to fulfill all the commandments and statutes of the Church, to pray fervently to God, to observe the Church feasts and all the fasts, and to faithfully adhere to everything prescribed by Christian law. Every work should be undertaken with prayer. The Church now calls upon her children to openly and fearlessly confess their faith whenever necessary, before all people, in every place, and at all times. When encountering unbelievers or those who have gone astray, a Christian must consider it his duty to defend the truth he confesses and never, by word or deed, betray his righteous conviction, but rather confirm the high calling of an Orthodox Christian by the very example of his life.
The Orthodox Church grieves deeply over her disobedient and rebellious children who are drawn away by the vanity of this age and do not abide by the laws of the Church. “For these things I weep,” she cries out with the prophet, “mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the enemy hath prevailed” (Lamentations 1:16). Judgment and condemnation fall upon all those who unlawfully separate themselves from the Church of Christ and break the sacred bond of faith. The Lord Himself declares of them: “If he neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican” (Matthew 18:17). On this day, which we now celebrate, I call upon you with the apostolic words: “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Romans 16:17).
The judgment of the Church also falls today upon all lawless ones who lead a corrupt and impious life, utterly careless about the salvation of their souls, living unrepentant in sin and without any desire for conversion to virtue. Condemned are all godless and wicked enemies of Christ—those who do not acknowledge or confess the Holy Trinity, those who dishonor the God-bearer, those who deny the immortality of the soul and the coming Dread Judgment, those who do not venerate icons and the Holy Mysteries, and those who accept evil and impious heresies and false teachings. Such individuals the Holy Church sternly and solemnly rebukes, imposing upon them excommunication.
Yet the Church exercises this severity for a benevolent purpose—that the ungodly lawbreakers might come to their senses, repent of their grievous sins and destructive deeds, renounce their heresies, and forsake their evil and God-opposing doctrines. The Church, desiring the perdition of none, seeks that all may come to repentance, to the knowledge of the truth, and to the unity of faith and love.
Let us pray to the Lord, that He may turn all those who have strayed from the Orthodox faith to repentance and enlightenment, with the words of the holy prayer:
“O Lord, enlighten with the light of Thy knowledge those who have departed from the Orthodox faith and are blinded by destructive heresies, and unite them to Thy Holy, Apostolic, and Catholic Church.” (Cell Commemoration).
The Church now grieves and mourns for her disobedient and stubborn children, yet she does not lose hope for their return. All the more, she does not harden her heart against them, nor does she despise or reject them. Instead, she cares for them with peace and love, desiring to bring to their understanding the words of truth and wisdom. Concerning the Church’s compassionate care for her lost sheep, St. John Chrysostom says: “Do not say such heartless words: ‘Why should I care? I have nothing in common with them.’ We have nothing in common only with the devil, but with all people, we share much. They have the same nature as we do, they inhabit the same earth, they are nourished by the same food, they have the same Master, they have received the same laws, and they are called to the same good as we are. Let us not say, then, that we have nothing in common with them, for such words are the voice of Satan, the inhuman cruelty of the devil. Rather, let us show the proper care befitting brothers. And I promise with full assurance and pledge to all of you that if you all desire to share the concern for the salvation of those living in the city, then soon the entire city will be reformed… Let us share among ourselves the concern for the salvation of our brethren.” (St. John Chrysostom, Works, St. Petersburg, 1998, vol. 2, p. 25).
Today, the one, pure, and undefiled faith of Christ is confessed in the Orthodox Church. She alone, throughout the world, preserves the true faith, having been founded upon the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20). Today, the Russian people have been entrusted with the words of God (Romans 3:2) of the New Testament—the pure Orthodox faith, the pledge and stronghold of our salvation, granted to us by our pious ancestors. Yet this treasure has not been given to us because of our merits or worthiness, so let us not boast of it before the world, but rather walk worthily of our calling with all humility, meekness, and longsuffering (Ephesians 4:1). Let us be filled with the desire and resolve, in the Holy Spirit, to preserve our faith from all impurity and corruption, and to remain steadfast in love, unity, and Divine Truth, remembering the words of the Apostle: “One Lord, one faith” (Ephesians 4:5).
On the first Sunday of Great Lent, the Holy Church celebrates the victory of Orthodox teaching on the veneration of icons over the heresy of iconoclasm. Today, we commemorate a historical event that took place over a thousand years ago when, by the decree of the pious Empress Theodora, the veneration of holy icons was fully restored.
With reverence, we pray before the saints depicted on the icons and kiss these holy images, yet there was a time when these sacred objects were persecuted by heretics and impious iconoclast emperors. The Seventh Ecumenical Council, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, condemned this heresy and affirmed the teaching on the veneration of holy icons. It was established, in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Fathers, that the honor rendered to the holy icons is not directed to the wood or material on which they are painted, as the iconoclasts falsely claimed, but to the holy image depicted upon them, and that prayerful veneration is directed to the prototype itself. Thus, when we venerate a holy icon, our prayer is offered to the heavenly intercessor whose image is depicted upon it.
The first example of iconography in Christianity was given by the holy evangelist Luke. He painted an image of the God-bearer with the Christ Child, of which the Most Pure Virgin herself declared: “With this image, My grace and power shall abide.”
From the earliest times of Christianity, the faithful have been strengthened by the depiction of saints and the Precious Cross of the Lord, as a means and instrument of salvation.
Holy icons depict those who, even in their earthly life, became living temples of God, and who, after their departure from this world, were glorified by miracles and signs.
How many wonders do we Christians know of that have been wrought through holy icons, how many deliverances from calamities and sicknesses have been granted through prayers before them! Especially numerous are the miracles performed through the icons of the Most Holy Theotokos. Let us give thanks to the Queen of Heaven and to all the holy servants of God for their mercy and condescension to our prayers and infirmities. Let us glorify and honor the holy icons, which portray our heavenly intercessors. Let us lift our eyes and prayers to them, turning away from earthly cares and sinful thoughts. Who among us has not felt how the mere sight of a holy icon or the Life-Giving Cross restrains one from grievous sins? How many examples of this can be found in the history of the Church!
To our great sorrow, there are today heretical preachers who, misunderstanding the commandments of God, have deprived themselves of the miraculous and grace-filled gifts bestowed through holy icons. These self-proclaimed sectarians, in their pride, hasten to “enlighten” others, but in truth, they only darken the souls of the Orthodox people of Russia. Yet to those who tempt us, to these sectarians and heretical preachers, the Lord Himself gives the best answer—through the countless miracles and signs that have been revealed through holy icons from ancient times until the present day.
As for us, brothers and sisters, let us remain faithful to the teachings and traditions of the ancient piety, faithful to the Orthodox faith that has been manifested on earth by the countless hosts of saints. Let us glorify and honor them with our prayers and our lives, bowing both soul and body before our Lord Jesus Christ, whom they served, singing: “We venerate Thy most pure image, O Master, and ask forgiveness for our transgressions.”
May these days of fasting serve as a cleansing for us from passions and sins. Fasting and prayer, good deeds and repentance—may all these, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, help us to reflect within our souls the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, who suffered for us and rose again, that He might also raise us to eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
To our God be glory, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen!