Sermon Preached on Orthodox Sunday
Preaching in the Russian Church; Lectures and Sermons by a Priest of the Holy Orthodox Church: Chapter IX
“Who is so great a God as our God? Thou art a God that alone doest wonders.”
(Ps., lxxvii. 13-4)
On this first Sunday in Lent, the Church, in memory and in thanksgiving for her victory in the struggles and labors in protecting the true Faith against the contentions of evil-minded heretics, celebrates the “Triumph of Orthodox Christianity,” and for this reason, we call this day “Orthodox Sunday.” It was in 787 A.D. that the Church, in Universal Council assembled, decreed, among other resolutions and canonical acts, that it was lawful for Christians to use in their private and public worship sacred images, i.e., pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ, His Holy Mother, of the Saints, and sacred events in Biblical and Christian history, but, of course, when divine adoration was ascribed to God alone, and when reverence is offered in honor of His works—the objects which these cherished pictures represent to us.
The Christian doctrine necessary for our salvation, as revealed in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, has been expounded and delivered for us free from all mixture of human and heretical interpretation, by the Seven Great Councils. The one mentioned before was the last, namely, the Seventh Ecumenical Council. These councils defined the teaching concerning the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity in the one God-head, the advent in the world of the Son of God, the relations between ourselves and our Saviour, the relations between the Church Militant on earth and the Church Triumphant in heaven, the Providence of God in our reward and in our punishment, the Apostolic Succession and Hierarchical Economy as necessary for the continuance of Christ’s work in the world, the seven Sacraments, etc.
It was not long, however, when again heresy began to show itself in some of the branches of the Church, and when some ambitious people would impose upon the Church their personal and fallible opinions. To ward off the false shoots and upstarts, and to remind the Christians of the binding rules and canons of the Seven General Councils, a large assembly of Holy Fathers and teachers gathered in Constantinople in 842 A.D., under the protection of the good Empress Theodora, and, mindful of the Divine Judgment pronounced of the Holy Ghost though it was by the condescendingly lovable Apostle St. Paul that if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema. Maranatha! They declared: “To those who reject the councils of the Holy Fathers and their traditions which are agreeable to Divine Revelation, and which the Orthodox Catholic Church piously maintains, anathema!”
This council sat in convention during the first week of Great Lent. While fasting and praying they collected all the decisions of the Seven General Councils. When Sunday came they marched in solemn procession, bearing the holy cross, sacred images of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, and the Saints, being followed by a multitude of Christians devoutly chanting under the leadership of the learned monk well known by the name of St. Theodore the Studious, his newly composed hymn which you have heard today and which translated reads thus: “To Thy most pure Icon1 we bow down, O Blessed One, praying for forgiveness of our sins, Christ our God; for, of thine own will, thou didst condescend to ascend the cross in flesh, and thereby to deliver thy creatures from the yoke of the enemy. Therefore, we thankfully cry unto thee, Thou hast filled all things with joy, O our Saviour, thou who camest to save the world.”
Having come into the cathedral of St. Sophia this religious and noted assemblage offered the most impressive praise service, or “Te Deum,” ever known in the grand liturgies of the Holy Orthodox Church. We have in the words of the Psalmist David the key-note which re-echoed in the thunder of anathemas and resounded in the peals of praise of this complete and universal thanksgiving service: Who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God that alone doest wonders! Here were recounted all the false teachings condemned by the Ecumenical Councils, and even persons were anathematized for willfully adhering to heresy, who did not repent of their sins, and earnestly seek the truth by their return to membership in the Church of Christ. Among such were those “who deny the existence of God, and unreasonably maintain that the world existeth of itself, and that all things happen through fate and without the providence of God; those who insolently dare to say that the All-pure Virgin Mary, before her bringing forth, in her bringing forth, and after her bringing forth, was not a virgin; those who believe not that the Holy Ghost gave wisdom to the Prophets and Apostles, and through them proclaimed to us the true way to everlasting salvation, and that He confirmed them by wonders, nor believe that now He dwelleth in the hearts of the faithful and true Christians, leading them into all truth; those who deny the immortality of the soul, who reject the councils of the Holy Fathers, and the traditions unanimous with the divine revelation which the Orthodox Catholic Church with veneration preserveth; those who defame and blaspheme the holy icons which the Holy Church useth to remember the works of God and of His Saints, so that they who look upon the same may be incited to fear God and to imitate what they see; and those who say the icons are idols.”
It may be necessary before we proceed to explain the word anathema; it means condemnation and excommunication until restored after sincere repentance. In some cases, it may not be only a temporal ban, but a curse. Indeed, there are some members of the Church today, Christians, who do not fully realize that the Church of Christ is a living organism, which, through the supernatural indwelling of the Holy Spirit, exists as a moral being, empowered within her sphere not only to bless, but also to curse. Such ones of course do not read the Bible. Those who studied the Epistles of the Apostles know that it was required of the Corinthians to put away from among themselves that wicked person (1 Cor., v. 13). Likewise, the command was given to Titus, hear: A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject (Tit., iii. 10). Did not our Lord Jesus Christ say: If thy brother neglect to hear the Church, let him be to thee as a heathen man and a publican? (Matt., xviii. 17.) And again our Lord speaks: Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matt., xviii. 18).
Since the time of this council which we have just now been considering, the Church, annually, until our day “has celebrated the triumph of Truth over heresy, and blessed the memory of, as well as commended the work of all them that by words, writings, teachings, and sufferings, as also by a life well-pleasing to God, have contended for Orthodoxy as her defenders and helpers.” Among those now living are named: The Royal and Imperial Benefactors, the Orthodox Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, the Holy Synods of the Russian and other Orthodox Churches, the Most Reverend Bishops, the Reverend Clergy, all right-believing Christians who, through saving faith and good works, are expecting everlasting blessedness. Thus the Church today in most of the Diocesan cathedrals throughout the world, while joyfully praising and honoring them that submitted their understanding to the obedience of the Divine revelation, and have contended for the same by following the Holy Scriptures and holding fast the traditions of the primitive Church, at the same time “humbly supplicates Almighty God for those who, by heresy or by schism, have set themselves against His evangelical truth that He may soften their hearts, open their ears that they may recognize His voice, heal their corruptions and deliver them out of error.”
When we see how the Lord of creation and the Shepherd of His elect flock has preserved His Church undefiled and whole through long ages of the most terrible temptations, and when we hear the prophet cry out that God wills no one to be lost, but that all may come to repentance and to the understanding of truth, we can not else but cry out: Who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God that alone doest wonders.
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