Memory of the Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils
Concelebrating with His Grace Eugene, Bishop of Nizhny Tagil and Nevyansk, were Mitred Archpriest Georgy Poteev, Mitred Archpriest Gennady Vedernikov, Archpriest Evgeny Kuzminykh, Priest Grigory Elokhin, Priest Evgeny Samoilov, and Priest Alexy Ismagilov.
He preached a sermon based on the sacramental verse. priest of the monastery Alexy Ismagilov:
“In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Today the Holy Church commemorates the holy fathers of the seven Ecumenical Councils. To do this, we will return to the first centuries of Christianity, when the devil tried, through persecution, through fear of death, to intimidate and destroy the Church, to force people to abandon the Lord. But it turned out the other way around. Through the blood of martyrs, the Christian Church grew, and people saw how the martyrs suffered, saw their valor and began to turn to faith.
But now the time of persecution has passed, and the devil comes up with, invents a new trick - not to force one to abandon the faith, but to pervert the doctrine so that a person, believing in the Lord, is no longer saved, he believes wrongly. And then the era of the Ecumenical Councils began.
The first major heresy that shook the Church was the creed of Arius, who said that the Lord Jesus Christ is not God, but is a created man. The proud Arius rejected and did not accept what he could not understand. For him, the criterion of truth was the ability to grasp with the mind, to understand simple things. The devil gave him the opportunity to sow this heresy. Trying to attract pagans to the Church, he invented the position that Christ is an ideal man, and nothing more. Many people liked this simplicity. There is no need to think, reflect, no need to change. When many followed Arius and deviated into this creed, the holy fathers appeared to the world, the same ones who had recently suffered for the faith, the same ones who defended the faith, confessed the faith in torment and persecution. They were now given by the Holy Spirit to understand that the teachings of Arius are a lie. Then the Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine convenes a Council. Crippled, burned, but not broken saints, bishops, monks, and laity came to see him. Where in disputes it was not possible to crush the heresy with a word, to enlighten erring people, the Lord Himself intervened, Who with miracles helped to expose it, showed where the Truth was and where the lie was.
The error of Arius was overthrown and eradicated. Following him, other heresies appeared. All wrong teachings rebelled against the nature of Christ, against our main dogma that Jesus Christ is God and Man. Some argued that He is not God, others - that the mind in Him is replaced by the Logos, and still others - that there is no human will in Him. Various distortions of faith violated the right teaching about the nature of Christ. But the holy fathers of the Church were given by the Holy Spirit to understand and comprehend these errors.
If you read the acts of the Councils, then it is difficult for an inexperienced person to understand these definitions, it is difficult to understand where the truth is in theological disputes. The Holy Fathers, the lamps of the Church, were given by the Spirit to know where the Truth is. Their holy life, their asceticism was a condition of their right faith. We know that many heresiarchs were subject to terrible sins, were in unrepentant sins. Lack of godly living distorted their minds. Thus their minds were turned away from the right path. Out of their pride, they invented different creeds, and often they enjoyed the patronage of secular authorities. Then real persecution of believers in Christ began, only now not from the pagans, not from the enemies of the Lord, but from their own erring brothers. The blood of martyrs was shed again, there were expulsions again, it even happened that there were few adherents of the right faith left, and most people went into heresy.
The Lord allowed these heresies and errors to torment people for a long time, so that Orthodoxy would finally prevail. During the Councils, Orthodox dogma was forged and formed, so that we can now understand exactly how we believe. It is no coincidence that the Lord allowed heresies to dominate for decades, centuries, so that they would become entrenched in history as wrong.
It may seem unimportant how to believe, since a person believes in Christ, but we know from history that minor change religious doctrine led to sad consequences. Thus, at one of the Councils it was indicated that a priest could be either married or celibate. Heretics argued for mandatory celibacy of the clergy. As a result of this error, many who could not live an angelic life fell into grave sins of the flesh. A slight deviation from dogma led a person away from a pious life. Calling himself a Christian, a person no longer lived like a Christian and perished in great sins. The Council stated that a priest can have a high life equal to the angels, or he can have an ordinary life.
Centuries pass, but the human soul does not change its structure. We, outwardly participating in the sacraments, can be heretics if we do not know the Orthodox doctrine. Now you can find the following words: “Kazanskaya doesn’t help me, but Vladimirskaya helps.” This is a real heresy. Often a person does not see these distortions due to his ignorance.
Today is the time of information wars, and it is more important than ever to have information. Once upon a time statesman K.P. Pobedonostsev said that the simple faith of ordinary Christians could fail the country. 100 years ago we saw the results of this “simplicity”. When attacks began on the hierarchy, on the Church, on the faith, such “simpletons” quickly fell away from Orthodoxy, not knowing the depths of their faith. They fell away due to their inexperience. Today the Lord lets us know his faith: there are all the necessary means. He left us the memory of heresies, the errors of heresiarchs, the works of the holy fathers, knowledge of their holy ascetic, confessional life, so that we could forge our faith, identify the essence of what we believe in, so that we would be Christians who not only know about Christ, but those who know who Christ is and who God is. Amen".
At the end of the Liturgy Bishop Eugene addressed the honest fathers, abbess and sisters, parishioners of the monastery:
“The Lord gave us life in the morning. We woke up in this world. We have the opportunity to live and choose with our own will: whether we should fulfill God’s commandments or not. But for each of us there will come a morning, afternoon or evening when we will no longer be able to choose, when, according to the Gospel, “they will gird you and lead you even if you don’t want to” (John 21:18). The day of our death will come, and we will no longer decide whether to go to church today or not to go, whether to go do good or do some bad deeds. Death will girdle us and lead us to where we do not want to go, where we will see all our deeds, all our thoughts, all our wishes and all the commandments of God. The Holy Fathers say that this place is scary, especially for that person who did not strive to devote every day, every morning and, moreover, every moment of his conscious life to God and what the Lord brought to this earth.
Today is the day of remembrance of the holy fathers of the seven Ecumenical Councils. They kept the fire of faith alive for us. Many people have read the story of how people lived before. There are many different tales in history, but there is one fact about true service. Previously, when there were no stores that sold matches and lighters, when there were no thermal power plants, it was necessary to keep the fire going, i.e. there was always a responsible person in the family who kept the fire burning in the fire, hearth, stove, because it was not easy to get it . Making fire is a lot of work. Therefore, it was better to preserve it than to mine it again. Even women were called the keepers of the hearth: they kept the fire so that it would not go out. This is an image of how the fire of grace is preserved in the Church, and not some kind of hidden knowledge... Still, Orthodoxy is called not Orthodox knowledge, not Orthodox teaching, but Orthodox faith. This faith, which lives and grows in grace, is given by God, and the holy fathers of all seven Ecumenical Councils preserved it and did not allow it to be distorted.
How does it sometimes happen today? A man comes to the store and wants to buy something. For example, it says “milk”, a person thinks: “I’ll buy a bag” - and does not suspect that there is no milk in the bag at all. There is something similar to milk, but if a specialist starts to analyze the composition of the liquid, it may turn out to be anything, but it is not milk. They take sausages or other products and encounter the same thing. If you feed on such lies, the human body stops working normally. And at the level of the soul, the spirit of a person, substitution is deadly. When they start talking about supposedly truth (but this fiction is not the Truth), they say something so strange about God, about Christ, can you imagine what will happen? There lived a man who sincerely believed that Christ was not God, and acted in accordance with this false teaching, then his life ended, and he did not fulfill anything that the Lord commanded. The man didn't live by God's commandments, he did not live in God. This will be a deception worse than the deception on the shelf in any store.
The Holy Fathers preserved this inviolably and did not preserve it so that it would be written down in a textbook on dogmatics and seminarians would then open the right page and read, or so that we would become familiar with the Law of God in a book and remember these great people as if they were dead monuments. They kept the faith in order to pass it on to the next generation. Today this generation is you and me.
Today you and I live and are essentially the fathers of seven Ecumenical Councils. They formulated and preserved the heritage, and we need to know it and live by it. And the Truth about the Holy Trinity, and about the Mother of God, and about the life and dogmas of the Church, and about holy icons, and about the sacraments, and about what the Holy Orthodox Church preserves in its entirety. You can go to church Sundays according to the commandment of God, you can read a chapter of the Gospel and two chapters of the Acts of the Holy Apostles a day, but you cannot understand or preserve this Truth. The Lord God gave us the gift of health, so that we could live and work, and the gift of reason, so that we could fill our lives not with TV series, not novels, not empty words, but to fill it with what God will reveal to us to each in his own measure - the knowledge of faith in God. If we do this, we will imitate the holy fathers of all the Ecumenical Councils, the saints of God and the sisters of the Sorrowful Monastery. Nuns, like no one else, bear this good burden of recognizing God and keeping him in their hearts.
I would like to wish mother, sisters, monastery assistants and all the mourners who come to this convent to be filled with the Truth, which is real life and food for human life. I would like to wish to the sisters of the holy monastery that what we heard today from the Sermon on the Mount in the Holy Gospel of Matthew about the need to guard your heart, your mind from all temptations: not to commit fornication, not to commit adultery from God, will be fulfilled. St. Nicholas of Serbia, an ascetic of the twentieth century, voiced the idea that every person who deviates from the Truth in his life commits adultery. The soul of man is destined to be betrothed to the Bridegroom Christ. It doesn’t matter whether you are a man or a woman, a child or an old man, you must betroth your soul daily to the Heavenly Bridegroom Jesus Christ. There should be no adultery in relation to God. Any deviation from the Truth is fornication. I would like to wish to all those who carry out monastic work that the Lord fills you with strength, that you be a light for the world that lies around us, and that no enemy intrigue darkens your heart, and that people who see your good deeds glorify our Creator. May God grant you strength and success in the work of merciful service that you perform, so that you do it with pleasure and do not forget the fatherly words that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Remember also the patristic testimony that the Lord replenishes the person who gives two, three, ten and a hundred times. May the Lord replenish and you give generously.”
Upon completion Divine Liturgy Bishop Eugene became acquainted with the life of the monastery.
In this celebration, all seven pillars of the Church are together - the seven All-Lena Councils.
Our Church separately celebrates the memory of the holy fathers of each Universal Council.
The Seven Universal Councils are the formation of the Church, its dogmas, the definition of the foundations of Christianity faith teachings. For this reason, it is very important that in the most blood-veined, dog-ma-ti-che-sky, behind-the-questions of the Cer- -you never took the opinion of one person into higher av-to-ry. It was determined, and to this day it remains so, that the auto-ri-te-tom in the Church is considered a co-bor-ra -Zoom Church.
The first two All-Len So-bo-ras were in the fourth century, the next two - in the fifth, two - in the sixth.
The seventh All-len-sky So-bo-rum in 787 for the kan-chi-va-et-sya era of the All-len-So-bo-rs.
In the 4th century, when there was a period of mu-che-no-things - pagans and Christians - it was obvious and understood here -but who is on which side, who is fighting for what.
But the enemy is not asleep, the fight continues and uses more sophisticated weapons: this is not a fight of tongues. ties with Christianity, and the struggle is dia-vo-la and man. There are no plus-sa and mi-nu-sa here anymore. Now, in the midst of the Christians, among the Christians, there appear to be church people who those who carry the spirit of darkness - it would seem that these are saints or even saints. Z-wed-wives of the “church-teachers” of the heresy, followed by hundreds and you-sya-chi-christ-s an.
The devil invents such a new way of fighting man: The Church “tests for strength” from within -ri here-sya-mi and ras-ko-la-mi, here-ti-che-student.
IV century - the time of the first two Universal Councils - the era of education, when great teachers came -the Church, Niko-lay Mir-li-kiy and many others.
The Holy Fathers are trying to formulate theological thought, but until it is formed, heresy they are trying to understand the understanding, the revelation about God, about the persons of the Holy Trinity - Spa-si-te-le , Holy Spirit. It has become extremely important to gather and work on those holy principles that will remain and will grow stronger. What stone, solid thing, will remain until the end of the entire existence of the world.
All Len-Bo-rys usually met in the most complex historical periods of the life of the Church, when the unrest in the Christian world became the right-glorious people before the election.
Mo-gu-tea era-ha of the All-len-So-bo-rs from the IV to the VIII centuries, you-ra-bo-ta-la those dog-ma-you and those laws, which are invariably present in our Church to this day.
The church you stood in such incredible tormented conditions, incredible experi- ences -yah, and the right-glory triumphs in 1014.
The holiday, on which the memory of the holy fathers of these Ecumenical Councils is honored, has never been forgotten -that-ness, because to this day the enemy of the people invents new, very serious ways to fight against the man and the Church.
The great mover of our time, the recently departed arch-hi-mand-rit, noted that the Russian Church has many -stra-distance-in the image of Os-no-va-te-lya her - we all follow the Lord, the Cross.
What did the 20th century do to our Church-view? How far was man from God in ancient times and now?
Look at the other Churches, who is more like Christ? There is no more mu-che-no-che-sky, go-ni-mine and uni-what-zha-e-mine than the Russian Right-to-Glorious Church.
Nowadays we have begun to return our thoughts to God, but there is already a false messiah standing behind us: who only in the 90s Yes, we haven’t seen in Russia: some people are building their temples, they are pro-te-stan-you, krish-na-i -you and the Hindus - everyone teaches differently about God, and what happens in the Ukraine - the Russian Jordan, on the Dnieper ? And now the struggle for the right-to-glory is only strengthened, if you take the si-tu-a-tion around the pre-po-da-va- education at the mass school “Foundations of the right-to-glorious culture.” After all, after all, you are the heart of a person...
Once-di-ra-et-Xia Body of the Church is the principal-tsi-pi-al-ny-mi race-de-ni-i-mi, the highest ku-mir, “the measure of all that exists” is a hundred-but-vit-sya person. Young people want to be successful, God, and they follow this doubtful path to achieve it would-be success in this world, not knowing that the words of the Holy Scripture “look for the same before the King” the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this will be applied to you” () remain about-ro-che-ski-mi for all time.
To understand where to go in this many roads, like pillars, like a support for the memory of the holy fathers and what they remain see after yourself. All their doctrinal decisions are preserved by the Right-glorious Church. We are called right-to-glory, which means we are standing on the right path.
The Holy Fathers do not allow us to get lost in this stormy sea of modern scientific and non-scientific opinions. They left us with an un-gla-di-my legacy in the form of the dog-ma-tov of the Church, which holds us for some-le-bi-mo on pu-ti right-to-slav-viya.
Theological thought in the time of the holy fathers was shaped under the influence of one powerful fact -ra: it is necessary to defend Christianity, on the one hand, from the onslaught of the language of the world ra, on the other hand - from the decaying influence of heresies. But their basic ideas are for all time.
The Christian-go-word-word has developed, forming a harmonious religious-teaching system, concluding -I feel in myself eternal truths, explained in a language understandable to modern man, supported by linen races-de-ni-ya-mi ra-zu-ma.
The great-ness of the holy-father's-god-word is that it has developed, not from based on the Divine Revelation and co-responsibility va-lo for life itself.
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Seventh Ecumenical Council(also known as Second Council of Nicaea) was convened in 787, in the city of Nicaea, under the Empress Irene (widow of Emperor Leo Chosar), and consisted of 367 bishops, representing mainly the eastern part of the church, and legates of the Pope.
The Council was convened against iconoclasm, which arose 60 years before the Council, under the Byzantine emperor Leo the Isaurian, who, wishing to remove obstacles to a peaceful neighborhood with Muslims, considered it necessary to abolish the veneration of icons. This trend continued to exist under his son Constantine Copronymus and grandson Leo Khozar.
Ecumenical Councils(of which there were only seven) gathered to clarify issues of faith, misunderstanding or inaccurate interpretation of which caused unrest and heresies in the Church. The rules of church life were also developed at the Councils.
Orthodox Church recognizes the seven Ecumenical Councils held before Great church schism . After the division of churches, the Western Roman Church, correlating catholicity (as an indispensable sign of one indivisible Ecumenical Church) only with the episcopal see of Rome and considering all other local churches as “falling away from unity with the see of Peter,” began to call its councils Ecumenical, accordingly assigning them serial numbers. Thus, until now, from the point of view Roman Catholic Church , the 21st Ecumenical Council took place.
Ecumenical Councils
325
First Ecumenical Council
(First Council of Nicaea)
Took place under the emperor Constantine the Great, in 325, in Nicaea.
It was dedicated to exposing the heresy of Arius, an Alexandrian priest who blasphemed the Son of God. Arius taught that the Son was created and that there was a time when He did not exist; He categorically denied the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father.
The Council proclaimed the dogma that the Son is God, consubstantial with the Father. The Council adopted seven members of the Creed and twenty canonical rules.
381
Second Ecumenical Council
(First Council of Constantinople)
Convened under the Emperor Feodosia the Great, took place in Constantinople, in 381.
The reason was the spread of heresy by Bishop Macedonius, who denied Deity of the Holy Spirit.
At this Council the Creed was adjusted and supplemented, including by a member containing Orthodox teaching about the Holy Spirit. The Council Fathers compiled seven canonical rules, one of which prohibited making any changes to the Creed.
431
Third Ecumenical Council
(Ephesus Council)
Held in Ephesus in 431, during the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Lesser.
It was dedicated to exposing the heresy of the Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, who falsely taught about Christ as a man united with the Son of God by a grace-filled connection. In fact, he argued that there are two Persons in Christ. In addition, he called the Mother of God Christ Mother, denying Her Motherhood.
The Council confirmed that Christ is True Son of God, A Mary is the Mother of God, and accepted eight canonical rules.
451
Fourth Ecumenical Council
(Council of Chalcedon)
Held under Emperor Marcian, in Chalcedon, in 451.
The Fathers then gathered against the heretics: the primate of the Alexandrian Church, Dioscorus, and Archimandrite Eutyches, who argued that as a result of the incarnation of the Son, two natures, Divine and human, merged into one in His Hypostasis.
The Council made a determination that Christ is the Perfect God and together Perfect Man, One Person, containing two natures, united unfused, immutable, inseparable and inseparable. In addition, thirty canonical rules were formulated.
553
Fifth Ecumenical Council
(Second Council of Constantinople)
Held in Constantinople, in 553, under Emperor Justinian I.
It confirmed the doctrine Fourth Ecumenical Council, condemned Origenism and some writings Theodoret of Cyrus and Willow of Edessa. However, he was convicted Theodore of Mopsuestia, teacher of Nestorius.
680
Sixth Ecumenical Council
(Third Council of Constantinople)
Was in town Constantinople in 680, during the reign of the emperor Konstantin Pogonat.
His task was to refute the heresy of the Monothelites, who insisted that in Christ there are not two wills, but one. By that time, this terrible heresy had been replicated by several Eastern Patriarchs and Pope Honorius.
The Council confirmed ancient teaching Church that Christ has two wills in Himself - as God and as Man. At the same time, His will, according to human nature, agrees in everything with the Divine.
787
Seventh Ecumenical Council
(Second Council of Nicaea)
Took place in Nicaea in 787, under the Empress Irene. The iconoclastic heresy was refuted there. The Council Fathers compiled twenty-two canonical rules.
At the end of the 8th century, a new heresy emerged in the Church - iconoclasm. The iconoclasts denied the veneration of the earthly holiness of the Mother of God and God's saints and accused the Orthodox of worshiping a created creature - the icon. A fierce struggle arose around the issue of venerating icons. Many believers, upon whom severe persecution fell, rose up to defend the shrine.
All this required giving the full teaching of the Church about the icon, clearly and clearly defining it, restoring the veneration of icons on a par with the veneration of the Holy Cross and Holy Gospel.
Holy Fathers VII Ecumenical Cathedral collected church experience in the veneration of holy icons from the first times, substantiated it and formulated the dogma of icon veneration for all times and for all peoples who profess Orthodox faith . The Holy Fathers proclaimed that icon veneration is a statute and Tradition of the Church; it is directed and inspired by the Holy Spirit living in the Church. The figurativeness of icons is inseparable from the gospel narrative. And what the word of the Gospel tells us through hearing, the icon shows the same thing through the image.
The Seventh Council confirmed that iconography exists special shape revelation of Divine reality and through the Divine service and the icon, Divine revelation becomes the property of believers. Through the icon, as well as through Scripture , we not only learn about God, we come to know God; through the icons of the holy saints of God we touch the transfigured man, a participant in the Divine life; through the icon we receive the all-sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. Every day the Holy Church glorifies the icons of the Mother of God and celebrates the memory of God's saints. Their icons are placed in front of us on the lectern for worship, and the living religious experience of each of us, the experience of our gradual transformation through them, makes us faithful children Holy Orthodox Church. And this is the true embodiment in the world of the works of the holy fathers VII Ecumenical Council. That is why, of all the victories over many different heresies, only one victory over iconoclasm and the restoration of icon veneration was proclaimed The Triumph of Orthodoxy. And the faith of the fathers Seven Ecumenical Councils is the eternal and immutable foundation of Orthodoxy.
And glorifying the memory of the holy fathers VII Ecumenical Council, we must remember that it is to them that we owe gratitude for the fact that our churches and houses are consecrated with holy icons, for the fact that the living lights of the lamps glow before them, that we bow down before the holy relics, and the incense of incense lifts our hearts to heaven. And the gratitude of revelation from these shrines filled many, many hearts with love for God and inspired the already completely dead spirit to life.
After the closure of the council, the bishops were dissolved to their dioceses with gifts from Irene. The Empress ordered the image of Jesus Christ to be made and placed above the gates of Chalcopratia to replace the one destroyed 60 years earlier under Emperor Leo III the Isaurian. An inscription was made to the image:
“[The image] that Lord Leo once overthrew was re-installed here by Irina.”
The decisions of this council caused outrage among the Frankish king Charlemagne (the future emperor), and in 792 he sent the pope a list of 85 mistakes that were made at this council. Among other things, Charles did not agree with the expression of Patriarch Tarasius:
"The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son"and insisted on a different formulation:
“The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and from the Son.”
Since the words "and from the Son" sound filioque in Latin, further disputes on this issue came to be called the filioque controversy. In his response to Charles, the pope sided with the council.
The cathedral was unable to stop the movement of the iconoclasts. This was done only at the Council of Constantinople in 843 under the Empress Theodora. A holiday was established to commemorate the final victory over the iconoclasts and all heretics Celebrations of Orthodoxy, which is supposed to be celebrated on the first Sunday of Great Lent and which is still celebrated in Orthodox Church.
Therefore, we, walking as if on the royal path and following the God-specified teaching of the holy fathers and the tradition of the Catholic Church and the Holy Spirit living in it, determine with all care and prudence:
like the image of an honest and life-giving cross, to place in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and garments, on walls and on boards, in houses and on paths, honest and holy icons, painted with paints and made of mosaics and other suitable substances, icons Lord and God and Our Savior Jesus Christ, immaculate Our Lady Holy Mother of God, also honest angels and all saints and reverend men. For, the more often they are visible through the image on icons, the more those who look at them are encouraged to remember the prototypes themselves and to love them and to honor them with kisses and reverent worship, not with that true service according to our faith that befits Divine nature alone, but by veneration according to the same model as it is given to the image of the honest and life-giving Cross and the Holy Gospel, and other shrines, with incense and the lighting of candles, as was done according to pious custom and by the ancients. For the honor given to the image goes back to the prototype, and the one who worships the icon worships the hypostasis of the person depicted on it.
Dogma on the veneration of icons to the Three Hundred and Sixty-seven Saints, Father of the Seventh Ecumenical Council
The Feast of the Memory of the Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils is celebrated in Russia on Thursday, May 31, 2018. Believers emphasize that the Councils played a key role in the life of Christianity. At such meetings, the most important canonical, dogmatic, liturgical and any other issues related to faith were resolved.
The councils consisted primarily of the episcopate of Local Orthodox Churches. Then the Fathers of the Councils determined that the authority in the Church is considered to be the conciliar reason, and not the authoritative opinion of one person alone.
Such Councils were not held often, since they considered only decisions that were fateful for the people.
The first Council took place back in 325 in Nicaea. Then a decision was made to condemn the heretic Arius, who taught that Jesus Christ did not have a Divine nature. He argued that Jesus was God's supreme creation, but not God the Son or Creator.
During the times of the pagans, heretics tried to replace concepts, adjusting people to their own way. The Holy Fathers shaped theological thought and continued the fight against infidels. Ecumenical Councils were held during the most difficult historical periods activities of the Church. It was then that the unrest in Orthodox world Christians were faced with a choice.
Ecumenical Councils recognized by the Church
The Orthodox Church recognizes seven Holy Ecumenical Councils, such as Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, Chalcedon, Constantinople (second and third) and the second Nicene. The era of the Councils established those laws that indisputably operate in the Church in our time.
The First and Second Ecumenical Councils established the Creed. They became summary of the entire Orthodox and Christian faith, as sung at the Divine Liturgy. It is believed that every Orthodox Christian should know it.
The essence of special veneration of the holy fathers of the Ecumenical Councils
The meaning of honoring the fathers of the Ecumenical Councils is that only at such meetings it was possible to make infallible definitions for the Christian faith. The sages made decisions based on church piety.
The Church never deviates from previous dogmatic definitions or established church canons and does not replace them with new ones. Believers on this day can light a candle in the church to honor the memory of the holy fathers.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit!
The first who began to address the word of teaching and instruction to the flock of Christ from the pulpit - this elevation in the church for readers, was St. John Chrysostom. Before him, that is, until the end of the 4th century, archpastors and pastors preached from the High Place in the altar, which was arranged like the steps of an amphitheater and was very high, so that the person sitting on it could be seen praying in the temple, and there was also an altar barrier was low. It took a lot of effort for the elderly and sick clergyman to climb the High Place after singing the Trisagion Song, and even now, in following the Divine Liturgy, the blessing of the High Place - the High Throne - is preserved - asking the Lord for strength and help to ascend it.
Today, from this pulpit - a rare element of decoration of modern Orthodox churches in our Fatherland, but sanctified ancient tradition- with gratitude and warmth let us remember those who repeatedly ascended to the pulpit and the High Place to preach, to defend and preserve the truth of the faith of Christ - let us remember the fathers of the six Ecumenical Councils.
A galaxy of approximately 1,500 men - archpastors and shepherds, immaculate, sober, chaste, dean, honest, hospitable, teaching - over the course of three centuries formulated and put into words what every person who calls himself a Christian should know, created the church doctrine, defined the dogmas of faith - “God-revealed truths that transcend reason, possessing unsearchable depth.”
We ask: why did so many people work, why did they engage in these complex and distracted matters? After all, there is Holy Scripture, in which we find the words of Christ the Savior, by which we are guided in our lives, awaiting salvation and the inheritance of eternal blessings. To show off your intelligence and eloquence? For vanity and pride?
No! The fathers of the Ecumenical Councils we remember did not work for the sake of glory or because of idleness. “Only the malice of heretics forces us to talk about what it would be better to remain silent about,” said one of them, St. Hilary of Pictavia.
“Beware of those who cause divisions and temptations, contrary to the teaching you have learned, and turn away from them; for such people serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and with flattery and eloquence they deceive the hearts of the simple” (Rom. 16: 17-18), - with these words the Apostle Paul warns the Roman Christians of the 1st century. But how often do we forget this and succumb to temptation, including the temptation of flattering false teaching and lies.
Heresy is most often the fruit of a proud heart and an arrogant mind
“They do not gather figs from thistles” (cf. Matt. 7:16), and nothing good or good can grow from an unclean heart. And if we look at the complex, contradictory period in the life of the Church, which is called the era of the Ecumenical Councils, we will be convinced that heresy is most often the fruit of a proud heart and an arrogant mind.
A strict ascetic and famous confessor, who had more than 200 spiritual daughters, the Alexandrian presbyter Arius set himself the task of uniting Christianity and paganism. Maddened that the second Hypostasis of the Most Holy Trinity - Christ the Savior - was created by God the Father, he hardly tried to seduce the still fragile minds of Christians who had recently been pagans; on the contrary, his desire was essentially good - to make it easier for the pagans to understand the faith of Christ. Just as Geb and Nut give birth to the good Osiris, just as Apollo appears from Zeus and Leto, so, according to Arius, God the Father creates God the Son. A terrible distortion of the doctrine of Holy Trinity and about the eternal existence of each of Her Three Persons should have, in the opinion of the heresiarchal presbyter, become the most effective missionary technique, but it became a willful violation of the Eternal Truth and blasphemy. Many, many residents of Alexandria and Egypt were seduced by the preaching of Arius, this beautiful, gifted poet, who set out his heresy in the form of the poem “Thalia” and rhapsodic songs. The common people were delighted: pleasant and melodious, these songs were written especially for sailors, millers, and travelers and became very popular and loved. But we remember that the expression “Vox populi vox Dei” (“The voice of the people is the voice of God”) is erroneous, “for the fickleness of the crowd always borders on madness.”
Nestorius, archbishop of the capital city of the great empire of Constantinople, originally from the remote Syrian city of Caesarea Germanicea on the Euphrates, a man of humble origin, small stature, with large expressive eyes and light reddish hair, was obsessed with enormous ambition and pride. Can any of us, disciples of Christ, say, turning to the ruler, as Nestorius turned to the emperor: “Give me a land cleared of heresies, and for that I will give you heaven; help me defeat the heretics, and I will help you in the fight against your earthly enemies”? We hope for God's mercy on ourselves and do not even dare to think that it is in our power to give heaven to someone. If Arius saw himself as a great preacher and missionary, then Nestorius took upon himself the responsibilities of the most zealous fighter against evil teachings and heresies. As a result, he himself became the founder of a heresy that denies the Divine Essence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The desire for absolute power and dominance over his neighbors, namely to be the first among all eastern bishops, prompted the Archbishop of Alexandria Dioscorus to support the heresy of Archimandrite Eutychus, who rejected human nature in the Lord Jesus Christ. Bearing the title of the Thirteenth Apostle and Judge of the Universe, he came to the city of Ephesus to investigate the evil teaching of the Monophysites, but instead condemned the righteous Saint Flavian of Constantinople at a false council. Seeing that he was losing in the struggle for power, he broke off communication not only with the Universal Church as an institution, but also with True Faith and carried almost all of Egypt and Syria into heresy.
Cowardly and afraid to contradict the emperor, Patriarchs Sergius of Constantinople, Cyrus of Alexandria, Pope Honorius, justifying their cowardice and servility with the high goal of serving the fatherland and the people, torn apart by Monophysitism and Nestorianism, began to falsely teach about the single will of the Savior. But their heretical compromise did not bring any benefit, and their memory perished noisily.
We believe, dear brothers and sisters, that there is only one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and her body cannot be cut without ceasing to live. Heretics and schismatics are like infected members who have fallen away from this Body and are in a state of spiritual death, without thereby violating the unity and integrity of the Holy Church.
Let's look around and see what is happening now with these ancient heresies. Once a third of Alexandria and Egypt sang “Thalia” Aria, the barbarian tribes of the Goths, Vandals, and Burgundians were Arians. The dioceses of the Nestorian Church of the East stretched from Mesopotamia to China. The Monophysite churches of Syria, Egypt, Armenia and Ethiopia have long lost both interest and ability for theological polemics in defending the doctrines of Eutychus and Dioscorus, and have become only closed national churches for Christian peoples surrounded by a hostile Muslim world.
We know that always " evil people and deceivers will prosper in evil, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:13), and as long as sin lives in people, new heresies will appear. But they “will not have much time; for their foolishness will be revealed to everyone” (2 Tim. 3:9), the Apostle Paul consoles us. St. Gregory the Theologian echoes him: “There is no harm if the heretics have warmed up and in the spring they dare to crawl out of their holes... I know very well that they will hiss for a short time, then they will hide, overthrown by both truth and time; and the sooner, with greater hope, we present everything to God.”
Instead of unnecessary disputes with heretics, let us work on studying our faith and the history of the Holy Church
So you and I, dear brothers and sisters, will leave everything to God, and He Himself, with truth and time, will destroy all the madness of those who doubt the faith of Christ. We ourselves will refrain from adding even under the plausible pretext of sinful oil to the fire of our anger, irritation, condemnation and slander, which first burns against erring heretics, and then burns our neighbors and will ultimately turn for ourselves into the endless fire of hellish flames . Instead of unnecessary disputes with heretics (and we remember that “the heretic, after the first and second admonition, turn away.” - Titus 3: 10), let us work on studying our faith and the history of the Holy Church, so that the names of Saints Athanasius the Great, Cyril of Alexandria, Gregory the Theologian, Maximus the Confessor, Mina of Constantinople and other fathers of the six Ecumenical Councils have become near and dear to us.
Today, on the day of remembrance of these true archpastors and shepherds, in order to keep ourselves from extremes and for spiritual edification, let us not forget the simple and wise word of St. Silouan of Athos: “The Holy Spirit, it is said, has appointed bishops in the Church to shepherd the flock of the Lord; and if people understood this, they would love shepherds until great love and their souls would rejoice at the sight of the shepherd. He who carries within himself the grace of the Holy Spirit knows what I am talking about. The Lord loves them for their humility and love for the people. They are engaged in great work and feat, and for this they are enriched by the mind of the saints, whom they imitate in their lives. Brothers, let us remain in obedience to our shepherds, and then there will be common world, and the Lord will be with us all by the Holy Spirit.”