How do we not lose faith on this feast when so many terrible events are taking place in the world around us, including the current flagrant schism and events in Ukraine?
Cross procession at the Iveron Convent in Donetsk, destroyed during the 2014–2015 hostilities. Photo: Pravlife.org
Isn’t this the Triumph of Orthodoxy?
Archpriest Alexander Avdyugin:
In 2015 I was preparing a sermon for the first Sunday of Lent, the feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, and I involuntarily asked myself such a question. Especially since there were still hostilities at the front, the curfew was strict, Lugansk lay in ruins, and horrifying shell-holes gaped in our villages between scorched and burned houses and huts. Traces of past battles were visible everywhere.
How can we speak of the Triumph of Orthodoxy when Orthodox Christians by Baptism continue not only to fight, but also kill each other?
Of course, I could have limited myself to a dogmatic explanation of the feast, but how can those ancient events of the Seventh Ecumenical Council and the triumph of the veneration of icons be linked to this day?
It turned out that all I needed to do was look at the church events in our war-devastated cities and villages.
In Lugansk, a missile flew from the “liberated” territory of Ukraine to the temporary Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh just before the end of the Liturgy. It punched through the ceiling, but thankfully it didn’t explode—the Lord did not allow it. And what next?
The next day, the same people who had prayed the day before, attended the Liturgy.
Isn’t this the Triumph of Orthodoxy?
And in summer in our God–preserved city of Lugansk, as if by special order exactly during the Eucharistic Canon—the main Church sacrament—the glass in our church windows and stained-glass windows would always begin to shake badly from the nearby artillery fire. And what next?
No one left! More than that, in the toughest times, when the city was deserted, when there was no communication and water, when children’s laughter could no longer be heard, we would get together and walk around the city in cross processions. The drivers of buses and the rare cars who before the war would be exasperated by the obstacles we had made on the road during our processions, stopped during the July and August war days, got out of the cars and made the sign of the cross over themselves, some even on their knees.
This is the Triumph of Orthodoxy!
Archpriest Alexander Avdyugin Since November 2014, I have been traveling to Rostov-on-the-Don and Azov (a town in the Rostov region) for medicine—there is nowhere else to go. The only “supplies” coming from the West that are alternatives to food, pensions and medicaments, are Smerch, Grad rocket systems and other murderous “goods”. Medicine for a total of over 1 million rubles (c. 11,190 US dollars) has already been delivered to date.1 Money is coming from all over Russia, from Kazakhstan, the USA, New Zealand, Germany, etc. My smartphone constantly notifies me about new donations from the Orthodox… bit by bit.
And this is the Triumph of Orthodoxy too!
So it is in our times. The evil one has staged an anti-Orthodox “dance” along the right bank of the Dnieper, and he is even trying to penetrate the fully Russian-speaking east of Ukraine. And what is the outcome? Only a tiny minority of parishes have left the canonical Church. Have unarmed parishioners and clergy resigned themselves to it? Without sparing themselves, their own health and lives, they stand firm in faith in Christ, defending their churches from brutal nationalists and the young people they have fooled, who have never even set foot in church.
This is the Triumph of Orthodoxy.
Patriarch Bartholomew aggravated the schism in Ukraine, but Orthodoxy remained and remains in its fullness and Truth. Church history knows many examples of such schisms. Judas’ sin is not only an event of the apostolic age: it is beyond the limits of time, as the Apostle Peter warns us: But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction (2 Pet. 2:1). We’ll survive this, becoming purer before God and wiser before the enemies of our faith.
So on this day the Triumph of Orthodoxy is a real Triumph.
You cannot walk the path of Orthodoxy without suffering
Priest Valery Dukhanin The path of Orthodoxy is neither a triumphal march with your head held high, nor proudly raised banners of the invincible, but the way of the cross of the faithful to Christ. This is the path that the martyrs and confessors walked. And you cannot walk this path without suffering. But this is the path that, even with seeming hopelessness, will be crowned with Victory and Triumph. Because God is with us, and He leads us through suffering to spiritual victory.
Historically, the Triumph of Orthodoxy was proclaimed following a long period of iconoclasm, or rather even two periods, after centuries of strife over various heresies. The Triumph of Orthodoxy is like an affirming seal after the acts of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, the final victory over the major heresies. To Christians of that time some situations seemed hopeless, but God unexpectedly for them brought Orthodoxy to Triumph.
For us the celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy is a confirmation that, no matter what temptations may shake the Church of Christ, God will show victory. Regardless of how many discords, delusions, and human passions may be raging around us, the Lord will preserve Orthodoxy. In mysterious ways unknown to us, the Lord will restore what has been destroyed, help us regain what has been lost, and give us true and blessed unity. Thus, we should not be discouraged—the Holy Spirit will not abandon the Church of Christ.
The Lord gives us a good opportunity to show our faith and faithfulness to Him
Priest Dimitry Shishkin Our trouble is that sometimes, without realizing it, we begin to perceive God as a means of achieving “enlightenment”, “appeasement” or, worse still but most commonly, prosperity and success. But such a worldview is simply catastrophic from the perspective of the Orthodox faith, because it does not match it at all with that perspective. God is not a means, but the Ultimate Goal of our lives. And if we understand this, everything falls into place and no upsets, no catastrophes, illness or sorrow, nor even death, can separate us from God. Furthermore, we will understand that all of these and many other things that we see in this disintegrating world must happen, and we must bear all of this worthily, preserving unity with God in His Church.
True, our time is that of harsh trials, but firstly, when did they not exist? And secondly, they are even joyful, although it may sound strange, because the Lord gives us a good opportunity to show our faith and faithfulness to Him not thanks to, but in spite of the circumstances, which is particularly important. Of course, we cannot show faithfulness on our own, but with God’s help everything is possible, and the joy we are speaking about—the joy of being with Christ—is the very essence of the celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy.
This joy cannot be hindered by any disastrous changes, confusions, sorrows or difficulties. Moreover, this has always been the case, and even at the dawn of Christianity the Apostle Paul proclaimed: Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation (2 Cor. 7:4). So let us not be confused, but let us make efforts to be partakers in this all-conquering and ever-triumphant joy of being with God in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
The Triumph of Orthodoxy is getting through the first week of Lent without falls
Priest Sergei Begiyan The events that are marked on the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy surely have a certain historical background. But it has always seemed to me that they are so far from our individual Lenten journey. For example, the commemorations of St. Mary of Egypt, or St. John Climacus, or even St. Gregory Palamas intersect and are logically connected with the Lenten ascetical labors. The Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, which was born out of the palace traditions of Constantinople, also organically fits into the semantic space of Lent. The Triumph of Orthodoxy just chronologically fell into this “range”. Therefore, for me the real Triumph of Orthodoxy is in myself if I have managed to get through the first week of Lent without falls and temptations, when by Sunday, after the first six days of the Lenten feat, I feel good fruit in myself. Then I see the real Triumph of Orthodoxy in the world of sin, the flesh, and passions. If I don’t see this in myself, I will not have a festive mood on this day either. So, for me the Triumph of Orthodoxy does not depend in any way on political conflicts in the world, but only on the disorder in my soul.
Under all “triumphant” regimes Christ and His disciples will always be persecuted
Priest Alexander Dyachenko In our understanding, the word “triumph” is equivalent to “victory”. The “victory of Orthodoxy.” But what victory and over whom? The twentieth century gave mankind an example of two powerful totalitarian regimes. I will not compare them—this is the task of historians. I’ll only reflect on the spiritual aspect of the issue.
The triumph of both regimes seemed unshakable. In the USSR, everyone who dared resist this “triumph” of power was “purged”. The clergy were among the first to be killed. People living on one sixth of the Earth’s land area bowed their heads to the Bolsheviks.
In Germany, those dissatisfied with the authorities were dealt with and Christian communities were scattered in the same way, with the Government creating its own “social-nationalist Christian church.” The whole of Europe bowed to the tyrant.
But one day, the Soviet soldier came to Berlin and trampled on the “greatness” of the Nazis.
However, the Soviet Union did not last long either. “Woodworms” appeared in the highest echelons of the Government, undermining the foundation of the “indestructible” Union, and it disintegrated overnight. Both of these “triumphant” regimes were built by human will. Both were sustained by the power of punitive organs.
Today democracy is “triumphant” in the world. One day it will be replaced by the “triumph” of the antichrist. And under all “triumphant” regimes, Christ and His disciples will always be persecuted. But no matter how cruelly Christians were persecuted, the faith flourished all the same, coming up from the blood of the martyrs. And there is no power that could crush it.
The feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy was established over a thousand years ago to confirm that, no matter how hard the heretics may try, no matter what external efforts they make, the Truth of God will prevail.
The Triumph of Orthodoxy is that of Truth, and Truth cannot be overpowered, because the Church is based on love, not on external coercion. Even if only a handful of disciples keep this Love among themselves.
