Holy Fathers of the Seventh Council

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to you, O Lord.

Those last few words of the Lord and that incredible

prayer that we are privileged to listen to, remembered

by the Holy Apostle John. This should... lift

our hearts, that they may have my joy. That's

what Jesus says. Isn't that, brothers and sisters,

what we really need? The joy of God's love. The

joy of God's presence. And that's what this day

is all about. So I wish you a joyous feast of

the fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council.

Oh, it seems so long ago. Maybe it has no connection,

but... It may have been long ago, but the connection

is quite immediate and important for us. This

week, I and our delegates are going to a church

meeting. We're going to the Diocesan Assembly

in the God -protected city of Las Vegas. Where

money is made and lost. And probably not much

of it goes to the poor or to the church for evangelism.

And what? And souls are lost too. Yes. But in

any case, we'll get in our car on Monday morning.

We'll drive to the airport. We'll get in the

airplane. We'll land. We'll walk by the slot

machines in the airport. We'll get a rented car.

We'll go to our hotel. We'll go to the church.

We'll have a nice dinner. This is the way we

do church meetings now. And we'll discuss the

finances of the diocese. We'll discuss the monastic

life. We'll discuss... The liturgical life, we'll

discuss the Metropolitan's trip to Russia. We'll

probably discuss the mess that's in the Ukraine

made by the Patriarch of Constantinople and of

all that. But it'll be comfortable. There'll

be no threats. It'll be quite easy. Well, today

we're commemorating this council of the year

787, which took place in the... city of Nicaea,

now known as Iznik, and there's nothing left

of Nicaea there. We have to be cognizant of being

thankful for what we have. Not just the building,

not just the property, but the faith and the

blessings. Because even, as the Lord says, even

that which you think you have, that'll be taken

away from you. If we are not diligent and fruitful

with what we have. A meeting was called in the

city of Nicaea by, let's say, the statecraft

of the Empress Irene. There's a whole life history

about all these figures there. Patriarch Tirasios

and other people that weren't there. St. John

of Damascus, the defender of the icons, painted

here. I remember what he says in that scroll.

St. Stephen the New, the defender of the holy

icons. St. Theodore the Studite. And on and on

these names go. Representatives came from Rome,

came from all parts of the empire. They didn't

get into a car and in a plane and come to a nice

comfortable hotel. And they didn't do it without

threats. A number of years since the year 724,

if I have that right, icons were being taken

out of churches, out of homes, out of monasteries,

and being destroyed in public by the state sponsorship

terror of iconoclasm. We have no idea, none,

what this is like. Perhaps the Russians who survived

in the Bolshevik Revolution and saw the destruction

of churches, they have some idea of the way this

went. These people gathered not to discuss, let's

decorate our church. It should be really beautiful.

It was life and death because it has to do with

salvation. We think of life and death, well,

we might get killed if we're not safe, but life

and death also has to do with ultimate life,

our ultimate spiritual health, and that's what

this is about. That which was from the beginning,

wrote St. John, which we have heard, which we

have seen with our eyes. which we have looked

upon and our hands have handled concerning the

word of life. The life was manifested. We had

it. We saw it. We encountered it. We participated

in it. And we have seen and bear witness and

declare to you that eternal life, which was with

the Father and was manifested to us, that which

we have seen and heard, we declare to you that

you also may have fellowship with us. And truly

our fellowship is with the Father and with his

Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write

to you, says St. John, echoing his Master, our

Lord, that your joy may be full. When we had

the glendi and all the church tours, I noticed

over all those years, that there were usually

two responses to the icon tour and to seeing

the icons. One response was, well, I'm not going

in there. There's all those images. They must

be worshipping idols. At least one person who

became an Orthodox Christian and is now a member

of this parish had that experience. At least

one of you. I won't ask you to raise your hand.

The other experience was that, oh, isn't this

wonderful? Ancient and colorful ceremonies. Both

are wrong, of course. This is about the reality

that God himself in Jesus Christ became man.

He took our human nature upon himself. Being

God. We can be joined to him now. Listen, Jesus

says this prayer to the Father. I've manifested

your name. I've given your name to all those

that you have given me, O Father. They were yours.

You gave them to me. They have kept your word.

I pray for them. All mine are thine. I want them

to have, he says, the same glory that I have

with you. Because I'm united to you and they

are united to me. That's the meaning of the icon.

It's the vision of salvation. You can click on

your computer on that little icon and it opens

up a whole world. Unfortunately... it's fallen.

You fall into it, and sometimes we never come

out. You look at this, and you see the life of

the age to come. You see what we shall be, which

we don't know yet, that God will transform us

into. And finally, brothers and sisters, listen

to this. They are in me, and I in thee, that

they may be perfect in one, that the world may

know that thou hast sent me. So my question to

myself today, pretty simple. Is my experience

of being, of living the life of Christ, an experience

of one with the Father? And one with the Son.

And one with the Holy Spirit. And just as importantly

is my experience of living the life of Christ

that I'm one with you. And that we all share

in the holiness and the life of Christ together

in unity. Because if it's not, we're doing something

wrong. So let's ask ourselves today, remembering

that Nicaea doesn't exist anymore and that the

minutes of the Seventh Ecumenical Council are

in a book, thankfully. But if we don't live them

and live that unity of oneness with God, then

what are we as a parish? How can the gospel be

spread? What would the good news be? And will

we have the joy of Christ within us? That's what

we have to ask ourselves today when we look at

the icon. Is Christ's joy fulfilled in us? Is

the union with God the same that he has with

the Father by grace? This is a great and noble

and incredible calling and invitation. And it's

the reason we're here. So let's live according.

Let's really be Christian, brothers and sisters,

and have the joy of the kingdom. Amen.