Homily 49 #
On Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent: A Teaching on Faith, on the Love of God, and on Standing Firm in the Faith Established by the God-Bearing Fathers at the Seven Ecumenical Councils
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.
Hear this, brothers—fathers and sons—how God created all things beginning with light. For God Himself is Light. As the Lord said: “I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness.” And again the Lord said: “He that believeth on Me shall never see death, but shall have everlasting life, and shall pass from death unto life.” And again He said: “He that loveth Me and keepeth My commandments shall be loved of My Father, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.”
What a great and fearful thing it is for the God who is glorified in Trinity, praised by the angels and worshipped by archangels, who sits upon the throne of the cherubim and receives hymns from the seraphim—to dwell in our poor hearts and in our lowly bodies, which have been darkened by sin and transgression.
As the holy Apostle Paul, teacher and enlightener of the whole world, says: “Brethren, ye are the temple of the living God.” “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.”
People defile this temple with fornication, slander, drunkenness, envy, hatred, irreverence in church, murmuring against their brethren, resentment, obeying lies, and making the sign of the cross falsely or without sincerity. But worse than all of these is to fall into heresy. May the most gracious Lord Jesus Christ deliver us from this evil.
Therefore, let us pray, brothers and fathers, to our good and merciful God—Jesus Christ, whom we worship with the Father and the Holy Spirit—as the holy Apostles, teachers, and lights of the whole world have taught us. Let us hold fast, brothers, to the teaching of the holy Apostles, to the proclamation of the divine prophets, and to the corrections of the holy Fathers.
For the cursed devil, along with his demons, envying our salvation, has sown every weed of false belief into the hearts of evil and unbelieving men. But the holy hierarchs and venerable Fathers, the lights of the world, moved by the love of God and by faith, uprooted the devil’s tares with the sickle of faith and caused the wheat of faith to grow, gathering together in councils.
The First Council took place under the great Emperor Constantine. There were 318 holy and God-bearing Fathers who condemned the impious and accursed Arius, who had blasphemed our Lord Jesus Christ by claiming Him to be a created being and not co-eternal with the Father.
But the holy and divine Fathers—these 318 gathered in Nicaea—anathematized Arius and confessed our Lord Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. They set forth and established the faith and wrote the Creed, saying:
“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and all that is visible and invisible…” and so forth.
These same 318 holy and divine Fathers also established the proper celebration of Holy Pascha. At that time, our holy Father Alexander was Patriarch of Constantinople, and in Rome, Pope Sylvester held the throne.
The Second Council took place fifty-six years later, under the great Emperor Theodosius. This council, composed of 150 holy Fathers, was called against Macedonius, who blasphemed against the Holy Spirit. That wretched Macedonius, darkened in his mind, would not heed how the prophets spoke by the Holy Spirit:
“By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.”
And again: “By Thy good Spirit Thou hast established me.”
And again: “Thy good Spirit shall lead me in the land of uprightness.”
The holy Fathers anathematized that wretched Macedonius and glorified the Holy and Life-Giving Spirit, equal in honor with the Father and the Son.
The Third Council. And after the death of the great Theodosius, in the one and fortieth year thereafter, there was held the Third Council, of two hundred holy fathers, under Theodosius the Younger, the son of Arcadius and grandson of the great Theodosius. Two hundred holy fathers gathered in Ephesus against Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, who blasphemed the holy God-bearer Mary, the Mother of Christ our God. But the holy fathers glorified our Sovereign Lady, the God-bearer, and condemned the ungodly Nestorius.
The Fourth Council. And after Theodosius, Marcian reigned, his son-in-law; and under him was held the Fourth Council in Chalcedon, of six hundred and thirty holy fathers, during the time of Leo, the Pope of Rome, and Anatolius, Patriarch of Constantinople. They gathered against Eutyches the archimandrite, and Dioscorus, bishop of Alexandria, who taught thus: that the Lord’s flesh was unlike our flesh, and that He clothed Himself in our flesh only in appearance. But the six hundred and thirty holy fathers anathematized Eutyches and Dioscorus, and confessed the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered in the flesh and tasted death not according to His divinity, but according to His humanity; for according to His divinity He is immortal.
The Fifth Council. Then, after one hundred and two years had passed, there was held the Fifth Council of the holy fathers in Constantinople. At that time Justinian was emperor, Eutychius was patriarch, and in Rome was Pope Vigilius. The holy fathers—one hundred and sixty-five in number—gathered against Evagrius, Origen, and Didymus, who spoke deceitful and impure fables, saying that our bodies would not rise again, that torments would come to an end, that Paradise would not be, that Adam was not made in the flesh, and that the devils would once more be restored to their former rank, as they had before. But the holy fathers anathematized that heresy and the heretics with it, and confessed rightly that Paradise is in the East, and that Adam, our forefather, was formed from the earth, from whom all men are descended even unto this day; and that the devils are accursed, and so are the heretics and their disciples; and that the resurrection shall come unto all mankind. This is the teaching of the holy fathers and of the divine apostles, and the correction handed down by the holy fathers.
The Sixth Council. And thereafter, one hundred and twenty-nine years having passed, there was held the Sixth Council in Constantinople, under Constantine the Bearded, with one hundred and seventy holy fathers. George was then patriarch in Constantinople, and in Rome the Pope was Agatho. The council gathered against Theodore, bishop of Pharan, and against Honorius, Pope of Rome, and against Sergius, Pyrrhus, Cyrus of Alexandria, Paul and Peter, who had all been bishops of Constantinople. For the heretics said that in our Lord there was but one will. But the holy fathers of the Ecumenical Council anathematized those heretics and their heresies, and confessed that in our Lord Jesus Christ there are two wills and two operations: as man, He is mortal according to the flesh; and as God, He is immortal according to the divinity. He, the Son of God, took on our flesh, suffered in the flesh as man, tasted death, lay in the tomb, and on the third day rose again, and raised up with Himself those that were in hell, for He is God.
The Seventh Council. And again, after one hundred and twenty years had passed, there was held the Seventh Council under Emperor Constantine and his mother Irene, concerning the holy icons, and against the iconoclasts. There gathered three hundred and sixty-seven holy fathers. Among them were these leaders of the holy council: Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople; Politian, Pope of Alexandria; Theodoritus of Antioch; Elias of Jerusalem; and other holy men.
For the heretics claimed that Christians worship icons as God. But the holy fathers anathematized the heretics and all their heresies. And they commanded that holy icons be venerated with great reverence and fear, even as the holy apostles taught, and as the holy fathers also commanded and handed down to us—to make and to venerate.
Hearken, O fathers and brethren, how many tares the devil hath sown! Yet the God who loveth mankind taught and strengthened the holy fathers to destroy the sowing of the devil. He adorned the churches and established them upon the preaching of the prophets, the teachings of the apostles, and the corrections of the holy fathers.
O brethren and fathers, take heed, lest any of you be led astray by the devil! For the holy apostle Paul saith: “Watch ye, and pray, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity” (1 Corinthians 16:13–14). “Hold fast the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle” (2 Thessalonians 2:15). And again: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8). And again he said: “Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8).
Therefore, brethren and fathers, hold immovably to the traditions and apostolic teachings and those of the holy fathers. For we, men, are created by God with free will, to do either good or evil. And if we set our mind upon good, then the holy angels, by the commandment of God, guard us and help us and watch over us. But if we turn to evil, then the devil with his demons helps us toward it.
Therefore also the holy apostle James, the brother of the Lord, saith: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7–8). And we, brethren and fathers, let us pray unto God, that He may strengthen us, as the divine David said: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth” (Psalm 120:1–2).
To our God be glory, now and ever.