REV. FR. THOMAS MUELLER
Saints Cyril and Methodius Church
Milwaukee, WI
Sunday of Orthodoxy commemorates the end of Iconoclasm, when emperors banned and destroyed icons during the 8th and 9th centuries. On this day, icons were restored to the Church. Behind the iconoclasts’ assault on icons lay an attempt to diminish faith in the Mystery of the Incarnation—the Word of God made human in the flesh. This Mystery is at the very heart of the Gospel and of our salvation. It finds expression in the writings of the Sts. Irenaeus and Athanasius: God became human so that humanity might become divine.
The iconoclasts were influenced by other religions, which deny that God can ever be seen or pictured. They see God’s condescending to become human in Christ as a scandalous blasphemy: how could God appear as an infant in a manger or an outcast condemned to crucifixion and laid dead in a tomb? How could God consort with Samaritans, publicans, lepers, and sinners? But this is the depth of God’s love—that He takes up our life with all its wounds to raise it up and deify it from within. To question the Incarnation is to try to limit the One-Who-Is love itself. This questioning attempts to leave the “least” of his brethren—the poor and despised, diseased and disabled, refugees and aliens, public sinners—outside of His loving redemption. Today, supposed Christians presume to disdain and abuse such people, creating a new iconoclasm that would reject God’s choice to identify Himself with these “least” ones (Matt. 25:31-46). Today, we celebrate our boldly Incarnational Faith; how can we fail to be generous and loving to His living icons among us?
We venerate Thy most pure image, O Good One;
and ask forgiveness of our transgressions,
O Christ our God. Of Thy good will Thou wast
pleased to ascend the cross in the flesh and
deliver Thy creatures from bondage to the Enemy.
Therefore with thankfulness we cry aloud to Thee:
“Thou hast filled all with joy, O our Savior, //
for Thou didst come to save the world.”
Troparion for the Sunday of Orthodoxy
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