Orthodox Sunday

Orthodox Sunday - The first Sunday in Great Lent:
 
Fr Alexander - “This is the Apostolic faith, this is the Orthodox faith, this is the faith of the Fathers, this is the faith that is the foundation of the world.”  

This is our Faith, called Christian, direct from the Apostles. This is the faith that shines the True Light of the Cross of Christ to every generation without admixture of error, that True Light is Orthodox, Catholic, Apostolic.  Why? Because, in the collective saints of every age, we are the Body of Truth. HE, the Person who IS Truth is our head and we saints and sinners are HIS Body.  Having this wonderful treasure, let us live it, let us preserve it, let us keep it, and let us also use it in such a way that this treasure becomes the victory of Christ in us and in His Church and ultimately in the world as the Holy Prophets and Apostles foretell.  Let us not be caught in the mere form of the visible church, becoming "sacramentalized" instead of sanctified,  but rather let us be caught in the sanctifying LIFE of it, who is Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God, present to all that truly seek Him.

Our Heavenly Father
Let us not be caught in the fear of servile religion; keeping Tradition out of ignorance and offering our "correctness" as sign of righteous enlightenment.

Let us not be caught in the tyranny of our rational minds, which creates "innovations" upon the faith, which leads us to hold prideful "theologies" that diminish God to the level of our understanding, or worse, which deny Him altogether.

Let us not be caught by the tyranny of our emotions, mistaking our soul's phantasy producing powers for the working of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life.

Let us not be caught in the mere form of the visible church, but in the LIFE of it, who is Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God, present to all that truly seek Him. Let our keeping of Tradition spring from the warmth of your Love, from a heart that seeks continual repentance, from a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart you will not despise. Amen. Amen. Amen.  - Archpriest Symeon Elias.