Saint Mark Orthodox Church
Bethesda, Maryland
March 13, 2022
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Your Eminence, Archbishop Benjamin,
Your Grace, Bishop Daniel,
Very Reverend and Reverend Fathers,
Beloved Children in the Lord,
Today, as we celebrate the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we are reminded of the fundamental truth of the Orthodox Christian faith. Note that I did not say fundamental truths.
While today is in a sense the celebration of the dogmas of the Church, crowned by the restoration of the holy icons, the meaning of the feast goes much deeper. Today is the Sunday of Orthodoxy, of right teaching and of right glory—that is, true understanding and a proper response to that understanding.
This is not a sectarian celebration, a celebration of our identity or of our religion, one among many. Rather, this is a celebration of the faith that founds the universe, as we proclaim at today’s service.
All of creation was called into being so that man might know God, and, knowing God, respond to God in loving obedience. The universe exists so that the first disciples could be called Christians. The world and all that abides therein was made from nothing so that we human beings might enter into relationship with God, and this relationship is what we call Christianity.
And Orthodoxy is none other than Christianity at its fullest extent: its truest, its most authentic, its most responsive to the revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the revelation of the very nature of our being. Because Orthodoxy is the truth of the world—because it is the faith that establishes our phenomenal existence and our eternal life—it is therefore never “ours.” It is something in which all Christians, all of the local Orthodox Churches, are called to participate.
And this shared participation in God’s plan for our existence is what calls us together every First Sunday of Great Lent, from various jurisdictions and various parishes, to manifest our common gratitude to God, who allows us to know His truth and to participate in it.
Today we manifest our communion in a visible way, but communion with the Lord and with each other is in fact a necessary element of Orthodoxy. This is why, as sharers of the same faith, we are called likewise to share the chalice of eternal life: the divine life that pours forth from the side of the Crucified God, the divine life that founds and sustains the Church in this world and in the world to come.
This is the meaning of Orthodoxy: to know the truth of the world as God’s creation, and to respond to that truth in the Church—One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, the common communion of all those who share in the faith that founds the universe.
It is crucial that each of us be mindful of this reality, of this communion, of this truth, especially in these days when we are witnessing a terrible and incomprehensible tragedy unfolding in Ukraine.
For the past few weeks, we have beheld the desecration of the image of Jesus Christ, not as depicted in icons but as contained in human beings of flesh and blood. We have witnessed heart-wrenching scenes of Orthodox Christians raising arms against other Orthodox Christians. We have watched helplessly as the powerful of this world exert their power without heed to the suffering of those who are weaker and more vulnerable. We are beholding a war that tragically shatters not only peace and unity among sovereign nations, but also leads to divisions and disunity within the Body of Christ, His Holy Orthodox Church.
Though war may not, strictly speaking, be an ecclesiastical heresy, one might consider it to be the perpetuation of the iconoclast mindset. Rather than the burning and destruction of sacred images of the Lord, the Mother of God, and the saints, we are witnessing brothers and sisters lifting up their hands in acts of violence and hatred. There can be no more immoral act than this. There can be no more sinful act than this.
As Orthodox Christians—as members of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, as partakers of the truth of the faith—we are called to preserve the unity not only of universal Orthodoxy from every heresy and schism, but also of the local expression of that universal Orthodoxy.
As we gather for this beautiful and prayerful service of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, we also share in the suffering that weighs over our brothers and sisters in Christ in Ukraine; we pray for the pain that is endured by the wounded, the widows, and the displaced; we acknowledge the hardships borne by the people of Russia who are also bearing the consequences of this fratricidal war; and we express our unity with all those who are affected by these events, those who have family in the affected regions, and those in the surrounding nations who are sacrificially giving themselves over to humanitarian aid in multiple ways.
My exhortation to you this evening is not only to continue to share in this suffering, not only to continue to pray. But even more directly, my exhortation to you is to preserve the truth of Orthodoxy here in North America, to maintain the unity of the faith in your local community, to devote yourselves more intensely to being authentic and right-believing Christians, to be the best witness of the Church through the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
There are many ways to accomplish this, many of which we have been accomplishing in our local area, such as the clergy brotherhood of the greater Washington, DC, area. I encourage all of you to participate in events such as this evening’s celebration—not because it is another thing to do, another obligation to add onto our already full schedules of work, family, and society, but because it is an opportunity for us to express our unity through prayer and through worship.
Those who fought against the heresy of iconoclasm used many words to defend the theological truth of icons. But they used those many words precisely to confirm the worship of the Church, to confirm that we can enter into communi0n with God even wordlessly, by means of the holy icons.
Our world today also uses many words. Too many words. There are so many words being cast about in the news and on social media that everyone feels compelled to shout all the more loudly so as to be heard. But most of these words are not directed at any particular holy aim. They do not instill peace in the heart; they do not lead to prayer, to humility, or to love.
The season of Great Lent is given to us to practice all of these virtues—not with our lips, but with our hearts and with our lives. May we be strengthened to strive to accomplish this, even in some small and humble way. As we do, let us send up to the Author and Finisher of our faith, our Lord Jesus Christ, all right glory, honor, and adoration, together with His Father and His Holy Spirit. Amen.