Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy
This coming Sunday, March 20th, which by the Orthodox calendar is the First Sunday of Great Lent, the Church celebrates the "Triumph of Orthodoxy." In the 8th century, an emperor took over, who was under the sway of the "Iconoclasts," those who destroyed the Holy Images and forbade their use in prayer and worship. After a century long struggle, the Church convened the 7th (and to this date "last") Ecumenical Council, which convened in Nicea (as did the first council). The council upheld the use of icons, and anathematized those who forbade there use.
In my parish, we will have a procession with the holy icons after the Liturgy, and proclaim a selection from the proclamation declared by that Holy Council:
As the prophets beheld, as the Apostles have taught,...as the Church has received... as the teachers have dogmatized,...as the Universe has agreed,... as Grace has shown forth,...as Truth has revealed,...as falsehood has been dissolved,...as Wisdom has presented,...as Christ Awarded,...thus we declare,...thus we assert,...thus we preach Christ our true God, and honor as Saints in words, in writings, in thoughts, in sacrifices, in churches, in Holy Icons; on the one hand worshipping and reverencing Christ as God and Lord; and on the other hand honoring as true servants of the same Lord of all and accordingly offering them veneration.
(Louder) This is the Faith of the Apostles, this is the Faith of the Fathers, this is the Faith of the Orthodox, this is the Faith which has established the Universe.
We then sing:
Who is so Great a God as our God? Thou art our God, who doeth wonders!
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