Homily on the Seventh Sunday After Pascha:
Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Synod
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1964)
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1964)
"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3).
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ! Today the Holy Church remembers and glorifies the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Synod, which took place in the city of Nicaea in the year 325 after the Nativity of Christ. This Synod of the Holy Fathers, gathered from all corners of the Christian world, condemned and publicly anathematized the impious teaching of Arius and his like-minded people, who taught unjustly about the Person of Jesus Christ, humiliated His Divine dignity and reduced Him to the level of a lower creature: as if Jesus Christ is not the true God, but a creature created by God. This impious teaching, inspired by the devil in Arius and his followers, overthrew the Christian faith and its entire essence at its very foundation. For if we admit that Jesus Christ was not consubstantial and co-enthroned with the Father, if He is not the true God, then our redemption remains a dream, we are still in sin and have no hope of salvation and resurrection from the dead. For the whole strength of the Christian faith lies in the recognition of Jesus Christ as the true God, Who by His suffering and death redeemed the human race, granted people the remission of sins and eternal life. Therefore, the Holy Fathers, 318 in number, having gathered in the city of Nicaea, proved the entire lie and absurdity of the Arian teaching, since in fact it was impossible for anyone other than the Only Begotten Son of God to accomplish the redemption and salvation of the human race and take upon Himself the sins of the whole world.
The heretics wanted, through their impious teaching, to take away from the believers their hope, their trust, their joy, their glory and their strength – that which Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, was, is and will be for us. Having anathematized heretical impiety, the Holy Fathers set forth their Orthodox teaching and imprinted it in the Orthodox confession, called the Symbol of Faith, which our Church maintains intact. The second article of the Symbol of Faith states: "I believe… in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten, born of the Father before all ages; Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, by whom all things were made…" The Holy Church thanks the Lord that He raised up on earth intelligent lights – the Holy Fathers, who established and preserved the Orthodox faith.
To assure us that Jesus Christ is the true God, consubstantial with the Father, the Church now offers for our edification the Gospel reading, in which we hear the High Priestly prayer with which the Savior addressed His Father before His torment on the Cross. From this prayer it is clearly evident that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true God, Who redeemed the entire human race by His sufferings and death. Coming to His voluntary passion, the Savior raised His eyes to heaven and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word... And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are" (John 17:1–6, 10–11).
This prayer reveals that the Lord Jesus Christ is consubstantial and co-equal with God the Father. In addition, this prayer teaches us that in order to inherit eternal life, it is necessary to have the correct knowledge of God the Father and Jesus Christ sent by Him, and it is also necessary to know the teaching of Christ and His commandments. And for this, it is necessary to be a member of the Church, because the Lord placed in the Church, as in a treasury, everything necessary so that everyone could draw from it the true teaching about God and the necessary means for salvation.
But one must know God not with a cold heart and mind, but with heartfelt love and warmth of feelings, correction of one's life, rejection of one's vices and passions and everything bad and sinful, a virtuous life and gradual striving for holiness and perfection. "Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy" (Lev. 11:44). "Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48 ). The Holy Apostles in all their epistles in which they address Christians exhort them to combine the correction of their lives and success in virtue and blameless morality with the knowledge of God.
Saint Peter the Apostle writes: "Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control patience, to patience godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, to brotherly kindness love. If these things be in you and abound, you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacks these things is blind, and has shut his eyes, and has forgotten the purging of his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure. If you do these things you shall never stumble: for so shall an entrance be abundantly given unto you into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 1:5–11).
Therefore, if you know that the Lord is holy, try to be holy yourself. If the Lord is good and merciful, be merciful and compassionate. If the Lord is meek, be meek, imitating your Creator in everything.
Dear brothers and sisters, glorifying today the Holy Fathers who established the Orthodox faith, let us pray to the Lord that He will help us all to preserve the true holy divine faith until the end of our lives and by this faith to attain the desired blessed eternity. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
