March 1st, 2026: First Sunday of Lent

Glory to Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We've

had a week that changes everything for us, this

last week, clean week. Our schedule's different,

our prayers are different, our diets are different.

It's been a week of spiritual therapy. In whatever

way you could do here or at home, the grace of

God is not limited by geography. And that effort

and that grace that has led us through these

last days has now brought us to a feast day,

made even more bright and more joyful by the

baptism of three precious people, three precious

catechumens. reminding us what this is all about.

That is the life of Christ, being clothed with

Christ, living the new life of the kingdom. This

feast day brings with us some interesting history

as well. You're all holding icons, church is

full of icons, because of an event. and a terrible

disturbance that the church suffered for actually

just a little over 100 years in the 8th and 9th

centuries. I don't want to talk about that, except

to say that the feast we have today, the Sunday

of Orthodoxy, the restoration of the icons, is

from a proclamation that dates from the year

843. And we can thank the wonderful Empress Theodora

for making sure that the church was victorious,

that faith was victorious. Not over other people,

not as an institution, but in the hearts of the

faithful. And I see my granddaughter Thea somewhere,

dressed very accurately as Saint Theodora. And

it's a lovely sight. Thea, you're here somewhere,

yes? But before, you know, that's something new

in the church history. This feast day. Because

before that, it was the feast day of the holy

prophets. And the martyrs. And the hymnography,

you could tell. And the two readings you just

have, what were they about? Moses, it starts

with. When he was in Pharaoh's house. And then

the list of all these prophets and the travails

that they suffered. This is very much about the

prophets. And then the gospel itself, Philip

finds Nathanael. We have found him that is the

Messiah, the one that Moses and the prophets

spoke about. So today, my brothers and sisters,

this is a feast that spans the entire history

of God's salvation history. So there's so much

to rejoice about, so much to celebrate. I have

to leave my remarks very concise. You heard how

St. Paul ends that passage in Hebrews that we

heard about the prophets. He brings this whole

thing to a conclusion that they subdued kingdoms,

they worked righteousness, they obtained promises.

Women received their dead back. They stopped

the mouths of lions. They stopped the strength

of the fire. And then St. Paul is brought to

the conclusion, he says, that because of that,

we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.

He says then, now see if you make sense of this.

Because of that, let us lay aside every weight.

And the sin that so easily ensnares us. Is because

we have the intercession. Of all of these righteous

men and women. Do you avail yourself of their

prayers? I come into the church. This hit me

very strongly last week. First thing in the morning

about 730. I come in. I pray to the Lord. Pray

to the Theotokos. I go over to St. Nicholas,

I go over to St. Vladimir and St. Panteleimon

and I'm praying and then I realize, dear holy

ones, forgive me because I only talk to you once

a week for two minutes. How is that offering

any kind of prayer between beloved members of

the Church of Christ? And I thought, this Lent,

I will make a pledge to begin a more fruitful,

constant, and loving and dedicated conversation

with the saints. Not just to walk up to an icon

and put in my prayer like I'm putting in a quarter,

hoping that I'm going to get some kind of answer.

What kind of relationship is that? These are

living people, living and glorified, and they

dwell as the counsel of God. So, of course, St.

Paul says, let us lay aside every weight and

the sin which so easily ensnares us. Because

then we can run the race of our life that is

set before us with endurance, looking to Jesus,

the author, he says, and finisher, the completer,

the perfecter of our faith. That race, for our

purposes today, is Lent. Yes. Sure, striving

to have a part of Christ's resurrection active,

inspiring, working, and sanctifying us. It's

also, let us run the race with endurance, the

message to the catechumens, that it will not

be easy. You will need endurance. If you do not

have Christ in your vision, you will fail. Willpower

is not enough. Willpower is not going to do it.

Since his feast is also one of, and especially

the prophets, as I said, predating the 9th century

Sunday of Orthodoxy, the race set before us to

be faithful is to not settle for counterfeit

Christianity in the way we live. We may adhere

intellectually to Orthodoxy, but we may live

in a counterfeit way. Let's have no plan B. Let's

have only Jesus Christ. And that means that like

it says in that epistle, like Moses raised in

Pharaoh's house, we may have to choose rather

to suffer affliction with the people of God than

to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. He says,

esteeming the reproach of Christ, the reproach

that was put on Christ, his crucifixion. greater

riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he looked

to the reward, to Christ, the completer and finisher

of our faith. The Old Testament speaks about

the love of God for us. And it speaks in a way

that it sounds like he is foolish. He's continually

chasing humanity. His love is so zealous, so

full of divine eros. And we're so fickle, yet

he continues to pursue us. In a way, let me speak

how St. Basil says the same, whose prayers we

will recite in a few moments. He says that God

was unable, he could not bear to endure the loss

of his creation, and he set aside his unspeakable

glory and humbled himself, becoming as we are.

Orthodox Christians really believe, and they

live according to that belief, that Jesus is

fully divine. He is fully human in one person.

Orthodox Christians really believe in the incarnation.

Orthodox Christians really believe that the Son

of God, who is divine, with the same divinity

as God the Father, really became a human being.

A man just like us without ceasing to be God.

And the gospel today wants to affirm that message

to us. That he is not merely a man, but he is,

as it says in the gospel from John, the son of

God. He's confessed as the king of Israel, that

is the king of all. He is confessed as the son

of man. He has confessed as Jacob's ladder the

way we ascend to the Father. And that means,

coming to my point, that if we keep the faith

faithfully, like Moses and the prophets, whatever

it is we need to endure, that Orthodox Christians

believe that his image can be painted. Those

who say, that icons or graven images shouldn't

even have a picture in their house. They shouldn't

watch television and they shouldn't look at any

cartoons because it says don't have any graven

images. So obviously that's foolishness, right?

Orthodox Christians believe that by painting

this, we are painting the gospel in an icon.

We're proclaiming the salvation of Jesus Christ

our Lord. One famous elder said this about the

Lord coming to us, leaving this unspeakable glory.

He says, when the highest, that is God, entered

the lowest, when God himself entered the realm

of Hades and death, everything there was turned

upside down. The devil was defeated. Death yielded

to life. Darkness was swallowed up by light.

Fallen man ascended to heaven. In union with

Christ, human nature now sits on the throne of

God, being filled with the Holy Spirit. God has

descended and reduced himself for our sake. He

continues to pursue us and to chase us. These

are the words of Elder Emilio Nos of Mount Athos,

reposed in 2019. Our faith, this day that we

celebrate, is rooted in that strange defeat,

said Father Alexander Schmemann, of the cross.

That strange defeat of the cross is rooted in

that strange defeat, which became the most glorious

victory. The defeat of the man nailed on the

cross on Golgotha, who rose from the dead, who

is the Lord and Master of this world and of all

worlds. He is not just the king of Israel. He

is not just the son of God. He is the son of

the highest. He is the king of the world. This

is the triumph of orthodoxy. This is why we can

paint icons. But it has to do with the image

of God being restored in us. Because Jesus assures

us that the living icon, you and me, can have,

as that hymn said, That choir just sang, the

corrupted image, sin healed, suffused with divine

beauty. This is our path during Lent. Look to

Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Look to all the prophets and saints who surround

us, who pray for us, who encourage us. Look to

Jesus and his beauty. That's everything. That's

everything. What else needs to be said today?

That's why we celebrate, to our Lord be glory,

now and ever, to ages of ages. Amen.