Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea, holding the first beginning part of the Nicene Creed
HOMILY FOR THE SUNDAY OF THE HOLY FATHERS
Today,
dear brethren, spiritually we are still on the Mount of Olives, because
the Church continues to celebrate the Ascension of our Lord. But these
are the final moments. Another two or three days, and we will have to
descend from the Mount of Olives, we will have to return together with
the Apostles to Jerusalem and await the coming of the Holy Spirit. But
how do we prepare ourselves for such a celebration? This greatest event –
the Descent of the Holy Spirit – will be the crowning moment of all the
blessings that the Lord has given us. And just think of how much the
Lord has done for us already! Most importantly – He has redeemed us from
Adam’s original sin, He has given back the greatest gift that had been
lost by Adam in Eden – the Tree of Life. Only now it is something much
greater than that original Tree of Life. Now it is the Holy Eucharist,
the Body and Blood of Christ Himself. And the Lord says to us: “Whoever
partakes of My Body and drinks of My Blood shall have eternal life, and I
shall resurrect him on the day of judgment.”
But
in order to have eternal life, we must be prepared for it. And how do
we achieve this state of readiness? The answer to this is provided by
the Sunday which the Church calls the “Sunday of the Holy Fathers.”
Today marks the establishment of rules according to which a Christian
must live in order to attain the New Testament Tree of Life – i.e. the
Body and Blood of Christ. Today we commemorate the First Ecumenical
Council, convened in Nicea in 325, at which the Holy Fathers gathered to
condemn the heresy of Arius. But what is that heresy? Does it relate to
us in any way? Not only does it relate to us, dear brethren, but if we
do not follow the rules of the Church, and if we do not become aware of
the nature of Arius’ violation, we will not be Orthodox Christians!
So
what constitutes the evil of Arianism? Apostle Paul, while passing
through the Greek city of Athens, found an altar to the Unknown God. The
Apostle then preached to the Athenians that this Unknown God is Jesus
Christ. The Athenians willingly accepted that and began to worship the
True God. However, they were only able to worship God and believe in His
majesty, but were unable and unwilling to live according to God’s will,
they were unwilling to live as the Gospel demanded. And this desire to
live in a pagan manner became so strong among the Athenians, that it
began to surface even in the Church, and Arius became the ideologist of
this trend. So what did he say? When the Council convened and began to
denounce Arius, he said to them: “You, Fathers, are saying that Christ
is a God-man, that there is no separation between His divine nature and
human nature. From this you deduce that a Christian, too, must always
and everywhere be a Christian, both in family life and in social life.
But I say that Christ is God and man separately, and that this gives us
the right to separate the various aspects of our lives: be a Christian
in terms of religion and worship Christ, but in our private and social
lives live as we wish, as we used to live, in a pagan manner.” The Holy
Fathers replied to Arius: “In that case you, Arius, and your followers
cannot be Christian. You do not understand the significance of Christ’s
coming down to earth. Christ became incarnated not only to reveal to us a
true comprehension of God, but to live according to God’s will. He came
to earth in order to fulfill the commandment of love towards God and
one’s neighbor. And He expects us, too, to fulfill this commandment.
Thus those who do not fulfill this commandment will be looked upon as
pagans and will merit the fate of pagans.”
Thus
the Holy Fathers replied to Arius. And this is what the Church says to
us today. Look around you, and you will see the grim reality of all the
horrors that make up the fate of pagans: here are modern wars with their
destructive bombs, here is forgotten old age, here is the madness that
prevails among the young generation. Absolute horror! However, in order
to avoid these horrors we must be Orthodox Christians. And a Christian
cannot be a Christian and a member of society separately. Even in our
social lives we must always be Christian, we must always live according
to God’s rules. Only then will we be able to achieve eternal life and
divine joy in Christ. Amen.
Archbishop Andrew of Novo-Diveevo
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