Fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Council Fr. James Jorgenson

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

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ.

Glory be to Christ. Today, the Church commemorates

and celebrates liturgically the Holy Fathers

who gathered at the First Ecumenical Council

of Nicaea. They gathered for a number of important

reasons, but the overwhelming issue at that time

was that central question that our Lord himself

once asked of his disciples, whom do men say

that I am? Who is Jesus Christ? During the first

three centuries of the church, the problems which

afflicted the church were primarily external.

Sure, there were what proved to be later on conflicting

and even erroneous opinions that were held by

some people in the church. But these never really

bubbled to the surface until after Christianity

was allowed its freedom of religion and expression

by Emperor Constantine. And almost as soon as

the external problems ceased momentarily, then

the internal problems came to the forefront.

I'm sure this is the reason why on the Sundays

that we commemorate the Holy Fathers of Nicaea,

that this particular epistle and gospel are selected

by the church to be read at the liturgy. Once

again, St. Paul says in... chapter 20 of the

Acts of the Apostles, speaking to the elders

of the church, the leaders of the church in Ephesus.

Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock

to shepherd the church of God, among which the

Holy Spirit has made you overseers. to shepherd

the church of God which he purchased with his

own blood. For I know this, that after my departure,

ravenous wolves will come in among you, not sparing

the flock. And this, of course, refers to the

heresies of false teachings that now afflicted

the church and were brought to the forefront

by Arius. This is why also today's gospel from

chapter 17 of St. John's Gospel, Jesus' great

high priestly prayer at the Last Supper, where

the key issue, the key thing for our discussion

this morning is when Jesus says, Now, Father,

glorify me together with yourself with the glory.

which I had with you before the world was. So

in other words, before creation of the universe

as we know it, Jesus shared with the Father the

eternal glory of his divinity. So the fathers

who gathered at Nicaea, they were called together

by Constantine to settle this issue which was

tearing the church apart. They gathered between

Easter and Pentecost in the year 325. That's

the reason, of course, that we have the commemoration

of the fathers at this particular time of the

liturgical year between Easter and Pentecost.

They gathered together and produced what has

come down to us the Nicene Creed. The statement

of faith, of what it means to be a Christian.

Notice the structure of the Nicene Creed. It

is Trinitarian and it is Christological. These

are the two unique features of the Christian

church that are not shared by any other religion.

The belief in the Trinity. and the belief in

who Jesus Christ was and is. Certainly many of

the ethical teachings of Jesus are shared by

other religions, but these are the two unique

features. Belief in one God, the Father Almighty,

creator of heaven and earth, and in one Lord

Jesus Christ, the only begotten, begotten of

the Father before all ages, just like... we see

in today's gospel. Light of light, true God of

true God, begotten, not made, that was the issue,

that he was eternally begotten, he was not created,

begotten, not made, of one essence or being or

substance consubstantial with the Father, shares

with the Father in his divinity. And then actually,

the Nicene Creed concluded, and in the Holy Spirit.

What has come down to us now as the Nicene Creed

more exactly should be called the Nicene Constantinopolitan

Creed, but since that's quite a mouthful, we

simply say Nicene Creed. The belief in the Holy

Spirit is what formed the essence of the teaching

of the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople

two generations later in the year 381. But this

is a marvelous heritage which we have as Christians,

and particularly as Orthodox Christians, because

we consider this not simply and historical event

which took place almost 1700 years ago but this

is the faith of the fathers is our living faith

the apostles teaching the apostles preaching

and the father's teaching have established one

faith for the church belief in the holy trinity

and belief in jesus christ who he was when he

took flesh from the Virgin Mary, suffered and

died on the cross, and rose from the dead, and

then now liturgically ascended into heaven, and

next Sunday will send the Holy Spirit upon his

disciples and upon the church once again. This

is our heritage which we hold humbly as Christians.

The World Council of Churches and the National

Council of Churches, when it was formed about

100 years ago, debated, well, you know, who can

be members of the church, members of this organization,

rather. And they said those who believe in the

Trinity and those who believe in the divinity

of Jesus Christ. Those are the two criteria,

which rightly distinguishes. Christianity from

other religions. These are recognized everywhere

as the distinctive features of the church. This

is what unites all Christians, although there

is a certain level of different interpretation

among some Christians. not what we as Orthodox

maintain as this unique faith in the Nicene Creed,

the teaching of the fathers. These thoughts are

commemorated and reasserted in the Toparian and

the Kentuckian, which speak about the holy fathers.

By the way, we had a discussion before liturgy.

I thought this was Father's Day. Well, you know

what? It is Father's Day. The spiritual fathers

are our fathers in the faith. The apostles and

the fathers, not only at Nicaea, but throughout

the centuries that articulated this beauty of

the Orthodox faith which has been transmitted

to us. So the Troparian says, Most glorious art

thou, O Christ our God, who hast established

the Holy Fathers as lights on the earth, and

has guided us through them to the true faith.

The Kentuckian, the Apostles' preaching, and

the Fathers' doctrines have established one faith

for the Church. One faith. for the church, which

is the Christian faith and the Orthodox faith

that has been handed down to us through the centuries.

So today we have a lot to be thankful for, not

only for everything that God gives us in so many

different ways, but the blessing of being members

of his community, his church. And this is why

I think very appropriately, in a few minutes,

we will sing once again the Nicene Creed because

we will affirm together as a body once again

that faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

the faith in who Jesus Christ is and was and

what he has done for us. So thank you, Lord.

Most glorious art thou. who has established the

Holy Fathers as lights on the earth. Amen.