On the Fathers of the 7th Council

And those soldiers came to arrest and harass

the 263 fathers that were gathered there. This

seventh council in the third session, this went

on for months, by the way, this council, gave

its definitive decree on the veneration of images,

icons, on October 13th, 787. 1 ,237 years ago,

if I subtracted that correctly. It's a long decree.

You can read it online if you like. I won't read

it to you now. But I will note that what it did

not say, what it did not decree, is that sacred

images, icons, frescoes, are merely good and

useful. No. But that they are necessary. They

are the witness that Jesus Christ, our God and

man, actually walked on this earth. They bear

witness to what the church has always believed

and always taught. One saint put it this way.

He said, care must be especially given about

that which was believed, he says, everywhere,

always, and by all. That which is believed everywhere,

always, and by all. This Saint, Saint Vincent

of Leroy, he says, by this triple norm of belief,

endurance and universality, a Christian can distinguish

religious truth from error. He can tell the difference

between a false hundred dollar bill of faith

and a real hundred dollar bill. Something false

and something true. A dear friend was telling

me back east where I was, former parishioner,

about her little five or six year old grandson

who asked her this question. He said, Grandma,

do you know Jesus? And she said, of course I

know Jesus. And he responded, do you know Jesus

works for God? Well, yes. Did you hear the reading

from the Gospel of John today? That's true, as

long as we mean what Jesus said. And this is

life eternal, that they might know thee the only

true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.

I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished

the work that thou gavest me to do. The young

man turns out to be a theologian. What the Seventh

Council affirms for us is that God truly and

completely and 100 % became man. We worship our

Lord Jesus Christ because he is truly God. You

know, you can go to dozens of different churches

amongst our Orthodox, non -Orthodox, non -Orthodox

brothers and sisters, and you are not going to

hear this. Some believe Jesus was sort of like

God. Some believe he wasn't God at all. Some

believe, yes, you call him God, but we don't

mean God like God the Father, and on and on and

on. There is no... What does St. Paul say in

Hebrews? He says, don't be carried away with

strange doctrines. We hear that today in honor

of these holy fathers. He became man, our Lord,

the Word of God, the Son. became man in a concrete

and visible way, and we can depict him in a concrete

and visible way. The icons depict the reality

of his person. Obviously, no Orthodox Christian

is going to worship the wood that that icon is

painted on. No Orthodox Christian is going to

offer Thinking that God himself inhabits this

icon. That's idolatry. You see, when the Hebrews

fled and they escaped over the Red Sea, walking

over it as if it were dry land. And then Moses

went up into the mountain 40 days later to pray.

And he comes down and what's he see? Worshipping

a golden calf. They believed that God... The

God who saved them had taken up residence in

that golden calf. We don't think that God inhabits

or takes up residence in an icon, which is exactly

what an idol worshiper believes about his idol.

We don't offer bread and wine to a statue as

an idol worshiper would to feed the idol. In

fact, you know you're here today because God

feeds you. And he feeds me. The bread that we

offer to him. The wine that we offer to him.

In the Lord's name. The church where that council

took place. Then it was called Nicaea. You've

heard of the Nicene Creed and so forth. Now that

city is modern day Iznik, Turkey. The church

where that council took place is a mosque. There's

no image. At all in that building. They've all

been destroyed. They are not coming back. However,

think, brothers and sisters, the image of God

that he has given you. That cannot be destroyed.

We are free to ignore it. We are free to trash

that image with sin and idolatry and immorality.

We are free to defile it and to fragment it and

to deny it, but it abides in us. And by God's

grace, it is cleansed. It's clarified. It's matured.

This is the parable of the seed you heard. We

have to do something to water that seed. St.

Paul says, by purity, by knowledge, by long -suffering,

by fasting, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit.

by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the

power of God, by the armor of righteousness on

the right hand and on the left, by honor and

dishonor, by evil report and good report, as

deceivers and yet as true, as unknown and yet

known, dying and behold, we live, as chastened

yet not killed. And by other things, many canons

were given to us in this council and all the

councils. There are some very simple things I

want to share with you now. You might say, oh,

Father, this is way too simple when I'm done.

Basic piety, basic orthodoxy. It's not stupid

or merely trivial. These are the doorway to the

holiness that all this we're talking about. So

here are some basic ways we live our faith. Some

are from the canons of the church. Some are from

the tradition of the church. And some are just

common sense that has been passed down to us.

In terms of the commandments, the moral life,

the ethical life of the church, what? We must

honor our parents and pray for them. No exceptions.

Sex and living together is for marriage. Period.

Christians keep the Lord's Day and the feasts.

Christians prepare for the liturgy carefully,

with love, knowing whom they're going to meet.

Christians attend Vespers on Saturday night as

a preparation for communion. They abstain from

marital relations the day before liturgy. They

participate in the Eucharistic fast from midnight.

They offer a recent confession, a month or so.

They say they pray the traditional pre -communion

prayers. They are at peace with their neighbor.

Then they go to liturgy and they receive communion.

We have the canon of daily prayer, the canon

of reading scripture. and other spiritual readings.

We have the canon of supporting our parish, often

with a tithe financially, volunteering our physical

sweat for parish ministries and service within

the parish and outside the parish in the name

of our Lord. Then there are the practical canons

of our actual church attendance. Maybe the main

one would be, do unto others. as you would have

them do unto you. Do unto others. Naturally,

care if this is regard to children. Offer your

help if a parent needs it with their child, instead

of looking down at them and wishing they were

not here. Have a sense of humor and a spirit

of encouragement. Parents, ask for help. We want

to help. Parishioners, Extend a helping hand

and love for the families. This is the canon.

Then there are those canons about how we dress

when we come to church. Is it just sort of up

to, no. Dress to meet the king, especially on

Sundays. Don't put logos on your clothes. Don't

wear short pants. Prepare yourself. It's about

modesty and respect. We go to various social

events dressed in the way that we would be expected

to dress. Well, think about this. The Lord God

sees us. He doesn't care, but we should care.

Then there is the de facto canon, I'm sorry to

say, about arriving on time for church services.

Someone recently asked me, how late can I come

and receive communion? Well, that's the wrong

question, isn't it? Not all of us have little

children that may do something as we're getting

to go. Not all of us have an elderly person we're

taking care of. Not all of us are in the kitchen

preparing lunch for us. Not all of us live 50,

75 miles away. There's reasons. Some do, and

some are blessed to come late. But the rest of

us, let's try to be better about that. I'm not

aware of any formal canons. Again, I apologize.

Talking in church, but let me be blunt. As a

parish, we talk way too much during the liturgy.

The church is a holy place. The liturgy is a

holy time. We ourselves are to be holy before

the liturgy, during the liturgy, and yes, after

the liturgy, during communion. We receive the

body and blood of our Lord. And we hang on to

that with all our spiritual might, with joy and

thanksgiving. There's a time to greet others

and embrace others, but that's not it. That's

the time to be deeply in your heart so that the

seed, the word of God, is springing up with joy

for you. Christ is in our midst quite literally.

So we come before him with our arms crossed.

We don't stand in the back and turn our backs

on communion. He is offering himself to us. Our

brothers and sisters are still receiving him.

As long as others are receiving him, imagine

you too are still receiving him. We say, let

us attend. I know this wasn't a formal sermon.

I know maybe I went on too long. I know this

is all. Maybe unspiritual. You know, Orthodox

faith and the councils that defend the faith

always, I'd say, delighted in expounding how

the human and the divine go together. Our piety,

the way we live, is not just physical, not just

spiritual. It's together. And we believe that

the right worship, the right belief, seriously

leads not only to spiritual growth, but to actual

union with our Lord and God, to become one with

him. Let us attend then, brothers and sisters,

to the riches of the faith, whether they be lofty

or they be simple, like the things I'm talking

about. And may we aim to live out our faith in

the spirit set forth by our holy fathers, our

teachers, and yes, our holy mothers too. whose

memories we keep and honor this day, and with

them, may we never fail to worship with our whole

hearts and our minds and our bodies the all -holy

Trinity, one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.