March 4, 2012 Sunday Sermon

Fr Ambrose Young
Entrance of the Theotokos Skete

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters, we have now completed the very important First Week of Great Lent, and we have
survived! Now we come to the first Sunday of the Fast, called the Sunday of Orthodoxy, and great and
important day.

The historical background and reason for this Sunday is already well known: this day commemorates the victory
of the Church’s teaching about sacred images over the iconoclasts, as clearly and carefully defined by the
Seventh Ecumenical Council, which provided the theological and Scriptural justificat
justification
ion for icons for use both in
churches and in our homes.

This means that icons are not “optional devotional extras” or nice decorations, as some might be tempted to
think, but a vital part of Orthodox Christianity and a natural consequence of Christ’s Incarnation
In here in our
world. Although icons are not in themselves sacraments, they do have a special “sacramental” character because
of the person or event represented on them. We are of course already completely familiar with icons and frescoes
in our churches,
urches, but no Orthodox home would really be without an icon corner or wall, where the family gathers
for prayers, either.

“Icons are venerated by burning lamps and candles in front of them, by the use of incense and by kissing. But
there is a clear doctrinal
rinal distinction between the veneration paid to icons and the worship due to God. The former
is not only relative, it is in fact paid to the person represented by the icon. This distinction safeguards the
veneration of icons from any charge of idolatry.” (GOA website for the Sunday of Orthodoxy)

A great deal of our Faith does indeed involve looking back in time, in history, as we are doing this morning.
After all, Christianity is completely rooted in and founded upon the historical appearance in the flesh
fle of the Son
of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, two thousand years ago
ago—He He who died a most terrible death on
the Cross and then rose again. In a sense, we can say that His life and resurrection were the very first “triumph”
of Christianity.

But then, after He ascended into heaven and the Christian Faith began to be preached throughout the known
world, there were many who appeared who tried to change the faith, introducing innovations, errors, and even
outright heresies. Also, terrible persecution
secution against the Church broke out and for some centuries there were
many martyrs—bishops,
bishops, priests, and laity.

Eventually the persecutions came to an end and Christianity was free to grow and increase in holiness and
numbers. But the attempts on the part of heretics did not cease, simply because the devil constantly tries to
attack and destroy the Church, which is the only sure Ark of Salvation. We all know something about the
heretics Arius and Nestorius (at least we should know their names!), but aamong
mong those trying to introduce error
into the fabric of the Faith were the iconoclasts, the haters of images. And we know how the Holy Spirit,
inspiring the Church, once again triumphed over this.

It has been observed by many others that on this Sunday w

wee not only commemorate the triumph of icons more
than a thousand years ago, but we also remember two other events, one in the present and one in the future.

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March 4, 2012 Sunday Sermon
Fr Ambrose Young
Entrance of the Theotokos Skete

But not all “triumphs” belong to the past. If that were true, then Orthodoxy today would be a dead Faith. Yet,
within recent and living memory, we have seen a new triumph of Orthodoxy in the former Soviet Union, when
the Orthodox Church rose from the ashes of the horrific fires of the Soviet Empire and, today, is one of the
healthiest and most vigorous
rous and even aggressive of Orthodox Churches in the world.

And then, every time the Church inspires someone to want to repent and grow and change and strive for
holiness—in
in this there is still another “triumph” in the present.

But what about the future?

Even still, today we have those who wish to innovate, to be “creative” and “relevant” in Orthodoxy and change
the Church, to somehow water down our holy Faith and introduce modern and even sometimes secular ideas and
end up destroying the “faith given
en once and for all to the saints.” (Jude 1:3) But this is an area in which
Orthodoxy must also be victorious, triumphant. But it hasn’t happened yet, and it won’t happen without our
active participation.

Orthodoxy in the West—in in the “diaspora”, as we say; that is, outside the boundaries of the traditional old world
Orthodox countries and cultures, such as Greece, Russia, and so forth
forth--Orthodox
Orthodox Christianity in Europe, the
Americas, and the Orient is small in numbers and relative poor by comparison with old world Orthodoxy. But
the Church in the early centuries was also poor, small in numbers, and without worldly power. Yet the Lord has
called us, few and poor as we are, living in the 21st century, to study and know our Faith and be able to give a
witnesss and a defense just as surely as the Church Fathers and saints of old whom He summoned to defend the
Faith and cast out errors. So this is the triumph of Orthodoxy that is still to come.

And what are these modern errors or heresies?

First of all we have to be aware that many Orthodox in the Western world are heavily influenced by and even
assimilated into the culture in which they live, which is no longer Christian. Western cultures are extremely
materialistic, encouraging individuals to be self-centered and narcissistic. This message is loudly delivered, over
and over and over by our news and entertainment media
media—films,
films, TV, music, novels, and so forth, and we are
inundated with it. Much of this contemporary message is also just plain filth
filth,, but we have grown so accustomed
to the cesspool around us that we hardly even notice it all around us any more. Yet this has had a slowly
degenerating influence on how we think, behave, dress, and so forth.

But one of the greatest errors of all in our time is the idea that all churches and religions are basically the same—
same
even, for some, Christians and pagans may be equated!
equated!--;; it’s the false idea that if you are what is called a
“good” or a “nice” person, that’s what matters most. But for real Christians, ians, there is something else that matters,
and that is what the Lord Jesus Christ has taught us in Scripture
Scripture,, and which has been faithfully and fully
preserved and passed down by His Holy Church.

Of course it is absolutely true that Christ taught us hhow to live, how to behave—towards
towards our own minds and
bodies and also towards other people-- --;; He also commanded us to be loving and forgiving. But this is not all
that He taught and bound us to believe! He also revealed that the true God is a Trinity of Three
Th Persons in One:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and and that He Himself is one of that Trinity, God the Son. In other words, Jesus is

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March 4, 2012 Sunday Sermon
Fr Ambrose Young
Entrance of the Theotokos Skete

true God.. And as true God He therefore has complete authority over us, body and soul. Since this is not what
many others in our world believe—including,
including, believe it or not, many who call themselves Christians—then
Christians how
can we be the “same” as they, or they the same as we?

For example, He also commanded and clearly instructed His followers to be baptized and eat His flesh and drink
dr
His blood—that
that is, receive Him in Holy Communion
Communion—butbut many people do not accept this teaching at all, again
including some who consider themselves to be “good Christians.” In addition, Christ also gave the power to
forgive sins to His Church—that is to the Apostles and to their successors, the bishops and priests of His Church.
Yet how many, even among the Orthodox, do not avail themselves of this vital sacrament, and carry their sins,
like the Ghost of Marley (in Dicken’s “Christmas Carol”) like huge cchains
hains around them, weighing them down to
the earth?

And let us not forget that Christ clearly commanded us to obey His Church when He said: “He who hears you
hears Me!” (Luke 10:16). This, then applies to all of the moral and theological teachings of the
th Church, which
we are bound to hear and follow, to the best of our ability, without argumentation or dissembling. “He who
hears you hears Me!”

In addition, the Lord commanded fasting, almsgiving, and prayer

prayer—real prayer, and He taught us how to do this,
too. Our Holy Church has worked all of this out for us in long ago time
time-tested
tested ways that have led our forefathers
and mothers in the Faith to purification of sin and sanctification of soul. Yet many do not fast, give alms to the
poor, or know how to pray, if they even pray at all. I could go on.

But the point is that our Orthodoxy is very weak and it is getting weaker with each generation. This very
weakness is itself a very great error growing in the Church, and it is something to be ashamed of. It is developing
today into monstrous proportions. It is of self
self-satisfied
satisfied people like us, then, that Scripture speaks when the Lord
says: “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit thee out of my mouth.”
(Revelation 3:16)

These,
ese, brothers and sisters, are among the serious errors that the Lord expects us to identify and cast out from
our midst, so that once again there may be a true “triumph of Orthodoxy”.

The “triumph of Orthodoxy” in the past, the present, and the future, is all implied by today’s Sunday of
Orthodoxy. Let us not be content to rest in a remembrance of our past glorious past history. Let us be attentive
to the on-going work of grace in the present
present,, in devout and faithful souls, and let us also work for the triumph of
the Faith in the near future,, lest we be called to judgment for our lukewarmness!

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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