FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT - SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY
John 01:43-52.
This Sunday commemorates the return of the
Icons into the churches, according to the decision of the Seventh
Ecumenical Synod in 787 AD. The Church determined that this celebration
would take place each year on the first Sunday of Lent, as the Sunday of
Orthodoxy, starting March 11, 843. On this Sunday every year the triumph
of the faith of Orthodoxy is celebrated with ceremony.
Lent was in origin the time of final
preparation for candidates for baptism at the Easter Vigil, and this is
reflected in the readings at the Liturgy, today and on all the Sundays
of Lent. But that basic theme came to be subordinated to later themes,
which dominated the hymnography of each Sunday. The dominant theme of
this Sunday since 843 has been that of the victory of the icons. In that
year the iconoclastic controversy, which had raged on and off since 726,
was finally laid to rest, and icons and their veneration were restored
on the first Sunday in Lent. Ever since, that Sunday been commemorated
as the
"Triumph of Orthodoxy."
The Icon of
Christ, according to St. John Damascus, is a distinct affirmation and a
reminder of the fact of His Incarnation, which has a vital significance
for the salvation of the faithful, an affirmation which prevails to this
day in the Orthodox Church. The celebration of the day includes the
procession with the Icon of Christ around the inside of the church with
pomp and reverence. The Sunday of Orthodoxy calls upon the people to
rededicate themselves to the deep meaning of their faith and to declare
in unison,
"One Lord, one faith, One baptism,
One God and Father of
all".
Orthodox teaching about icons was
defined at the Seventh Ecumenical Council of 787, which brought to an
end the first phase of the attempt to suppress icons. That teaching was
finally re-established in 843, and it is embodied in the texts sung on
this Sunday.
From Vespers:
"Inspired by your Spirit, Lord, the
prophets foretold your birth as a child incarnate of the Virgin.
Nothing can contain or hold you; before the morning star you shone
forth eternally from the spiritual womb of the Father. Yet you were
to become like us and be seen by those on earth. At the prayers of
those your prophets in your mercy reckon us fit to see your light,
"for we praise your resurrection, holy and beyond speech. Infinite,
Lord, as divine, in the last times you willed to become incarnate
and so finite; for when you took on flesh you made all its
properties your own. So we depict the form of your outward
appearance and pay it relative respect, and so are moved to love
you; and through it we receive the grace of healing, following the
divine traditions of the apostles.
"The grace of truth has shone out, the things once foreshadowed now
are revealed in perfection. See, the Church is decked with the
embodied image of Christ, as with beauty not of this world,
fulfilling the tent of witness, holding fast the Orthodox faith. For
if we cling to the icon of him whom we worship, we shall not go
astray. May those who do not so believe be covered with shame. For
the image of him who became human is our glory: we venerate it, but
do not worship it as God. Kissing it, we who believe cry out: O God,
save your people, and bless your heritage.
"We have moved forward from unbelief to true faith, and have been
enlightened by the light of knowledge. Let us then clap our hands
like the psalmist, and offer praise and thanksgiving to God. And let
us honor and venerate the holy icons of Christ, of his most pure
Mother, and of all the saints, depicted on walls, panels and sacred
vessels, setting aside the unbelievers' ungodly teaching. For the
veneration given to the icon passes over, as Basil says, to its
prototype. At the intercession of your spotless Mother, O Christ,
and of all the saints, we pray you to grant us your great mercy. We
venerate your icon, good Lord, asking forgiveness of our sins, O
Christ our God. For you freely willed in the flesh to ascend the
cross, to rescue from slavery to the enemy those whom you had
formed. So we cry to you with thanksgiving: You have filled all
things with joy, our Savior, by coming to save the world.
The name of this Sunday reflects the great
significance which icons possess for the Orthodox Church. They are not
optional devotional extras, but an integral part of Orthodox faith and
devotion. They are held to be a necessary consequence of Christian faith
in the incarnation of the Word of God, the Second Person of the Trinity,
in Jesus Christ. They have a sacramental character, making present to
the believer the person or event depicted on them. So the interior of
Orthodox churches is often covered with icons painted on walls and domed
roofs, and there is always an icon screen, or iconostasis, separating
the sanctuary from the nave, often with several rows of icons. No
Orthodox home is complete without an icon corner, where the family
prays.
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 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.
Although the theme of the victory of the icons
is a secondary one on this Sunday, by its emphasis on the incarnation it
points us to the basic Christian truth that the one whose death and
resurrection we celebrate at Easter was none other than the Word of God
who became human in Jesus Christ.
