Dear brethren, we have embarked upon the spiritual endeavor of the Great Lent, and now – on the first Sunday of Lent – we celebrate a special event: the Triumph of Orthodoxy.
What does the triumph of Orthodoxy mean? On a historical plane this celebration was initiated during the reign of the Greek Empress Theodora in 842 A.D. to commemorate the overcoming of the heresy of iconoclasm and the restoration of icon worship. But even earlier there was the following historical moment: in 303 A.D. the Roman Emperor Diocletian began a most cruel and terrifying persecution of Christians. He issued an edict to destroy all the Bibles in the world and to kill all Christians. The persecution of Christians was so merciless that a year later the iniquitous persecutors decided that they had already accomplished their objective and had erased Christianity from the face of the earth. Diocletian even erected an obelisk with the following inscription: “The name of Christian has been destroyed forever!”
At that time Christians were drowning in blood, burning in bonfires, tortured, suffering, dying, – and Diocletian’s boast had all the appearance of reality. But who came after Diocletian? Emperor Constantine the Great, who called himself a Christian and who established Christianity as the official state religion. He removed pagan symbols from the standards of the Roman army and the soldiers’ shields, and ordered them to be replaced with the symbol of Christianity – the Lord’s Cross. What a miraculous transformation took place in that year of 312 A.D. – just nine years after Diocletian erected his famous obelisk of stupidity!
But these are just historical events. And what does the triumph of Orthodoxy mean in our days, when the persecution of true Christians – true Orthodox Christians – proceeds in a manner no less cruel and merciless than in Diocletian’s times, albeit not always so openly, but more often in cunning ways? We should ponder this more attentively.
First of all, when we are asked: what is our religion? – we promptly reply that we are Orthodox Christians. But what do we exactly mean by that? We must always remember that Orthodoxy is not simply a religion on paper, a box to be checked or a name to be written on a dotted line, – but it is a way of life. When we come to be baptized, we are asked very important questions: first – do we reject Satan? and second – do we unite ourselves with Christ? The answer to both these questions must be affirmative, otherwise the priest cannot continue with the sacrament of baptism. Therefore, we must always especially remember that we – Orthodox Christians – have become united with Christ. This means that we must live fully in accordance with the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
And we must always remember that Orthodoxy differs greatly from all other religions. Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists and others – all seem to be Christians, and yet they have fallen away from the truth of Christ’s Church, while Buddhists, Moslems, Hindus, etc. do not recognize the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, at all. But we should not judge them, for they will be judged by Christ Himself.
In His Gospel the Lord said to His apostles: go forth and preach My Gospel to all, and baptize people in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; and whoever accepts My baptism shall be saved, while those who reject it shall perish.
And so all of us here have embraced the sacrament of baptism, dear brethren, and it means that we have accepted all the commandments of our Saviour: it means that we will love one another and our enemies, we will keep all the fasts, we will remain in constant prayer to the Lord, and thus we will fulfill the law of Christ. And that is what the Triumph of Orthodoxy means. For almost two thousand years Orthodoxy triumphs in that people become baptized and unite with Christ, live by Christ’s commandments, instill the Orthodox faith into their lives and – most importantly – make Orthodoxy their way of life.
Let us be among such people, dear brethren! Let us live with Christ, in accordance with His commandments; let us make use of this precious time of the Great Lent to purify ourselves in order to unite with Christ, and in this way we, too, will take part in the Triumph of Orthodoxy, we, too, will add our small share to this triumph. And then not only over the Church of Christ, but even over ourselves the gates of hell will never be able to prevail. Amen.
Father Rostislav Sheniloff
I do agree with you that you can and should worship the Lord every day of the week. You obviously love to serve the Lord, and I respect you for this. 