Monday, March 9, 2009

Sunday of Orthodoxy, Part One

"As the Prophets beheld,
As the Apostles taught,
As the Church received,
As the Teachers dogmatized,
As the Universe agreed,
As Grace illumined,
As the Truth revealed,
As falsehood passed away,
As Wisdom presented,
As Christ awarded,

Thus we declare,
Thus we assert,
Thus we proclaim Christ our true God
and honor His saints,

In words,
In writings,
In thoughts,
In sacrifices,
In churches,
In holy icons.

On the one hand, worshiping and reverencing Christ as God and Lord.
And on the other hand, honoring and venerating His Saints as true servants of the same Lord.

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."

I love this selection from the Seventh Ecumenical Council. It's read at the end of church every Sunday of Orthodoxy, which is the first Sunday of Great Lent. It dates from 787 A.D., which tells you how old this writing is. More information on the Seventh Council and the issues resolved by it here (http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Seventh_Ecumenical_Council).

3 comments:

Mimi said...

I love hearing this proclaimed in our churches each Sunday of Orthodoxy! It resonates in my soul.

Glad to "meet" you thank you for stopping by. I love your Blog!

Pres. Kathy said...

This is my favorite part - it brings tears to my eyes.

Caeseria said...

I keep reading it over and over, because it's like the Chrysostom Paschal homily - it's just so perfectly written!
I've been trying to figure out what it reminds me of, and what it reminds me of is St. Patrick's Breastplate. The rhythm, the repetition, the blocks of similar lines grouped together. Then I read online that the Breastplate is probably 8th century, and not actually written by St. Patrick, so that puts them in the same century (literary forms are interesting to me).
It's just beautiful. Obviously of Divine inspiration.