Sunday of Orthodoxy in Great Lent celebrates unity

I look at life as a great journey. It is a journey with a destination to obtain eternal salvation. This great journey is made up of smaller journeys to bring us closer to God.

For instance, when one runs a marathon, he does not just get up and run the 26-mile journey all at once. He must train for it by running many smaller stints, building up to the final run. Even when he runs the full marathon, he may break up the marathon run in shorter trips, keeping his eye on the final destination. Sometimes it gets difficult. Many times we may want to quit. But he finds something to encourage him to keep going. In a way, that is how we may look at life. We may set in our life in short term goals in order to obtain our long term goal of Salvation.

In the Orthodox Church, we are given guidelines and help to direct us in our journey. Our Christian walk consists of fast and feast periods to help direct us. This past Monday, Great Lent began. This is a period prescribed by the church in order to help us prepare for the feast of all feasts — Pascha (Easter), the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This year, the Orthodox Easter is April 19. Great Lent for Orthodox Christians begins on Clean Monday (not Ash Wednesday). Lent is 40 days before Holy Week, which begins on the Saturday of Lazarus, the day before Palm Sunday. During Great Lent, we are called to fast, cut back on entertaining ourselves and intensify our prayer life to better understand and experience the death and Resurrection of our Lord.

As we enter into our Lenten journey, we will find that it consists of special services with themes to unite us in our faith, and to bring us closer to Christ. I want to discuss one of the services.

This weekend, the first Sunday of Lent, is also known as the Sunday of Orthodoxy. On this day, we celebrate the victory of the Church against Iconoclasm and the restoration and veneration of icons in 843 A.D.

In the 700-800s there was more than a 100-year controversy on whether icons should be used in the churches. After much prayer and bloodshed, the Church stood victorious in the use of icons. A Great Council, known as the Seventh Ecumenical Council, was called, consisting of representatives of the entire Christian Church.

The council in its infinite wisdom states: “We define that the holy icons, whether in color, mosaic or some other material, should be exposed in the holy Churches of God, on the sacred vessels and liturgical vestments, on the walls, furnishings, and in houses…, namely the icons of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, that of our Lady the Theotokos (Mother of God), those of the venerable angels and those of all holy men. ... We define also that they should be kissed and that they are an object of veneration and honor, but not of real worship, which is reserved for Him Who is the subject of our faith and is proper for the Divine Nature alone. ...”

The Ecumenical Council’s decision was a great victory for the Church because this attack from the iconoclasts was trying to undermine the very essence of how the Church expresses its worship to God. Thus, for more than 1,100 years, on the first Sunday of Great Lent, the triumph of Orthodoxy is celebrated with an evening vespers service.

This tradition is still observed today. Each year in our area, all of the Orthodox churches celebrate our unity together with the Sunday of Orthodoxy vespers. The Orthodox churches in Mahoning County will convene at 6 p.m. at St. John the Forerunner Greek Orthodox Church, 4955 Glenwood Ave., Boardman. We will be blessed as the nuns of Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Ellwood City, Pa., will chant the responses. Mother Christophora, the abbess of the monastery, will offer the homily at the end of the service.

The Sunday of Orthodoxy is just one occasion that helps us to keep going in our journey in life. Our Christian journey may seem easy on the surface. However, as we make this journey, we may find many obstacles to stop us from wanting to continue. That is when we must focus on the end result — salvation. I am very thankful for Christ’s holy church. We can find true strength and encouragement there to help us in our journey. As an Orthodox Christian, I look to the Church for the direction that will lead us to eternal life. I pray that this Lenten season will be one of encouragement, strength and spiritual fulfillment. May we all experience the joyous resurrection of our Lord.

XThe Rev. Thomas M. Constantine is pastor of St. John the Forerunner Greek Orthodox Church in Boardman.