Sunday after Ascension – Holy Fathers 2025

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. For

anything else, I want to congratulate the newly

illumined. Assure them of our prayers and of

our admiration for their struggle to get to this

place, this beautiful day. the day of the Fathers

of the First Ecumenical Council. And that's significant

that the baptisms took place today, and it was

planned in that way. And you'll see why in just

a moment. We are, of course, still celebrating

the Feast of the Ascension of Christ. You heard

the hymns. We're also celebrating the Feast of

St. Justin. the martyr, a saint of the second

century, and those that were with him in that

martyrdom, and we congratulate our three beloved

parish members that bear the name of Justin the

Martyr. But the primary commemoration of today

is that of the Holy Fathers, 318 of them. Of

course, they had their retinue, they had their

helpers, they had their subdeacons. Apparently

it was maybe a thousand people gathered. They

were called together by the Emperor Constantine

to the city of Nicaea, now known as Iznik in

Turkey, in the year 325. And the opening session

was May 20th in the year 325. So this is... the

1 ,700th anniversary of that sacred council.

This is a sermon. It's not a history lesson.

Besides the events of those years prior to 325

and after 325, way up until the 380s, are very

complex. One famous patristic scholar, religious

writer, said that history is polyphonic. Many

things going on in different directions all at

once, and right now, we don't need to grasp those

things. So, I'm not going to tell you about the

history of the council, but what we should affirm,

what we have to affirm and confess, and what

we do confirm and confess, is that without doubt,

the first council, the fathers of that council,

gave us one of the most meaningful, profound,

and I have to say, influential, and beautiful

synopsis of the faith in the Father, the Son,

the Holy Spirit, the Church, the life of the

age to come, that exists and its influence has

been more profound than you and I could ever

imagine in the history especially of Western

civilization. I believe in one God, the Father

Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all

things visible and invisible, and especially

the Council spent its time on This next phrase,

and I believe in one, in one Lord Jesus Christ,

the Son of God, the only begotten, begotten of

the Father before all ages, light of light, true

God of true God, begotten, not made of one essence

with the Father. By him, Jesus, all things were

made. That creed, the catechumens say it before

they are baptized. We sing it at every single

divine liturgy. You hear it at numerous services.

We did great Compline every day or Compline,

that type of thing. And it's one of those collection

of words, a monument, poetry even you could call

it, that I think, should be on the lips of every

dying person that can be conscious enough to

hear it or to say it. Because when I bring communion

to someone who is sick, we say the creed. It's

important for them to remember that they are

also part of the whole church, even if they're

isolated. And that they confess that faith of

these holy fathers. You know, we don't make it

up. When a catechumen is being enrolled, it's

as if we give them the creed. Because, of course,

Christ is who he is. We don't make up our faith

in Jesus Christ. We don't have to theorize and

philosophize or even imagine anything. Jesus

is who he is. And listen to what he said in this

incredible prayer to his father. Now they have

known, O Father, that all things which you have

given me are from thee. For I have given to them

the words which thou hast given me, and they

have received them, and have known surely that

I came forth from thee, and they have believed

that thou hast sent me. This is faith in Christ.

This is eternal life. At the very heart of this

council was the passionate defense of that. The

divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he came

from God and is God and is one in essence, light

of light, true God of true God. The teachings

of this Alexandrian priest named Arius, he was

a public relations master and a scriptural scholar.

What he was teaching was threatening to distort

the very... essence, and we use that word, essence

of Christ's nature. And it was causing division.

It was causing turbulence in the eastern part

of the Roman Empire. The West was fine for now.

They were orthodox in every way. And so the emperor

called this council to deal with this issue,

and this turmoil lasted for many decades after

the council. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

don't expect That in the church, everything is

going to be perfect. In heaven, that will be

the case. But on the earth, it has never been

that way. Not even with the holy apostles. So

we struggle, we strive, and we have to be intentional

about forgiving and about remaining faithful.

Now Arius... this priest from Alexandria who

was teaching this doctrine that Jesus was not

of one essence, not the same as, he was divine.

He was a God -like figure. But he was not the

same as God. This is a false and spiritually

deadly teaching. Otherwise, what have you been

baptized into? In some creation. But no, you

were baptized into Christ. And those that came,

to defend the faith. They didn't come to make

something up, as some Western scholars and authors

have sort of put out there. No, these men bore

scars of torture and persecution from the last

period of persecution and martyrdom only ten

years before. Only ten years before. And it's

said that St. Constantine greeted and embraced

each of these holy men, St. Spyridon, St. Nicholas,

and on and on. He embraced them with love and

honored them and their wounds. Some came with

no feet. Some came, their hands had been chopped

off. Some came, they had been blinded. They bore

witness to the faith. They came to affirm which

teachings were the ones received from Christ.

As I said, I have given to them the words which

you have given me, O Lord, and they have received

them. And which ones were made up and false and

counterfeit. Arius had twisted the scriptures

to conform to his dangerous ideas. It didn't

fit for him. Bishop Irine, a Serbian bishop with

whom Machka, Anne, and I were friends with at

seminary, bishop on the East Coast in the Serbian

diocese, he wrote this. The council's proceedings

remind us of the responsibility we bear as stewards

of this faith. Each of us is called not only

to believe, because what is belief? No, it has

to be action. but also to defend and share the

truth of the gospel. Let me interject here. We

can't do that unless we know the gospel, unless

we study the gospel, unless we love the gospel

message. And it is in our hearts, not something

just in a book that's dusty on a shelf somewhere.

As we recite the Nicene Creed at every divine

liturgy, let us do so not as a matter of ritual,

rather as a living confession that shapes our

lives. What shapes your life? Is it this creed

and the gospel? Or is it social media? That will

go away. It guides her in interactions with others.

By heeding the liturgical call to love one another,

that with one mind and heart we might confess

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Trinity One

in essence, may we truly confess our faith with

oneness of mind. Here and now, brothers and sisters,

today, the significance of this First Ecumenical

Council on its 1700th anniversary, may it inspire

us. to reflect on our own beliefs and our own

zeal, to try and understand and live this faith

that we say and we sing. Take heed, says St.

Paul in Acts. You heard him speak to the elders

of the church. Take heed against distortions

of the faith in yourself. You're not called.

to fix somebody else's. Take heed against the

distortions of your own faith. Can you offer

love, in love, an explanation? If you were asked

about this creed, if someone said to you, you

people, you have this creed, I believe, this

so -called Nicene Creed, what is that? Could

you tell them the basics? You don't have to give

them a theological seminary lesson. But can you

offer in love an explanation of that creed to

someone who might ask you? Would you be courageous

enough? Can you be courageous enough? Receiving

the message that those that formulated and offered

this creed to the church, what they bore, the

sufferings they bore, can you be that courageous

too? Emboldened to speak with clarity. and compassion.

Let's remember the Holy Fathers on this day as

present in our midst. Not as something long ago,

1700 years ago, what's that have to do with me?

What it has to do with you is you will say their

words in a few moments. Let those words come

out of you and within you and rejoice, take courage

when we sing that creed in not so many minutes.

To our Lord be glorified now and ever to ages

of ages. Amen.