Since the year 843, the first Sunday of Great Lent in the Orthodox Church has come to be what is called officially the Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy.
The feast celebrates the final victory of the Orthodox Christians over the iconoclasts (icon breakers) in 843. Iconoclasts were heretics, influenced by Islam and Judaism, who claimed that the use of icons to depict Christ, the Mother of God and the Saints was unscriptural, because the Divine cannot be depicted in art or images.
Orthodox Christians hold that the icon is a defence of the central teaching of the Christian faith, the Incarnation: that in Jesus, God became man and dwelt among us, and that in Him we saw the glory of God (John 1:14), and that in Christ the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Col. 2:9-12). If Christ is God, and He truly became man, then His image can be portrayed.
We confess our Christian faith not only in words, but in images. Jesus is not only God's word; He is God's icon (Col. 1:15). Icons are not to be worshiped; only God is to be worshiped. The word for "worship" in Greek was latreia. There is no eikonolatreia (icon worship). People do not worship icons—but there is proskynēsēs (veneration of icons); there is veneration; there is showing honour, showing respect to icons, and that is not worship.
God alone is to be worshiped; Christ is worshiped, but Christ's image is venerated, it is honoured. As are those of the Theotokos, the saints and the martyrs. We venerate the icons of the saints because by grace they have become what Christ is by nature: divine. They have become through grace partakers in the Divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4).
Orthodox Christians hold that the veneration and honour that is shown to an icon, is given not to the image, but rather to its archetype, i.e. whoever is portrayed in the icon.
So, if a Christian venerates an icon of Jesus or of some saint or martyr, the veneration and the honour shown to the person who is depicted is transferred to the person himself, and in the case of Jesus, this would be to the Lord himself.
2nd Sunday of Great Lent: Sunday of Saint Gregory Palamas
(March 16th 2025)
On the second Sunday of Lent, we celebrate the teachings of St. Gregory Palamas, who upheld the Orthodox doctrine that humans can know God not only through the intellect but through direct experience of His uncreated energies.
3rd Sunday of Great Lent: Sunday of the Holy Cross
(March 23rd 2025)
On this Sunday, in the middle of Lent, the cross in brought out and placed in the middle of the church. What we are asked to contemplate is the cross itself, the cross itself as the means of our salvation.
We meditate on the cross as the instrument by which we are saved, as the weapon of God, the invincible weapon of God, the powerful, life-creating weapon of God by which all of God's enemies are defeated and destroyed.
We remember that the Gospel, the term "Gospel," is a proclamation of a victory in battle. It is the good news and the glad tidings that our King is victorious over all His (and our) enemies: Satan, sin and death.
We contemplate Christ as King, but we see that his throne is the cross, and the footstool is the holy cross, and he is holy and the cross is holy.
This instrument of public execution and death has become the holiest sign for Christians on earth. It is the cross that the Christians wear around their neck on their body. It is the cross with which they are inscribed when they're baptized and sealed with the Spirit. It is the sign of the cross that is put on our bodies when we worship God and pray to God. And the cross is the very centre of the Christian faith.
We preach Christ crucified, folly to Gentiles, scandal to Jews—and Muslims—but to us who believe it's the wisdom and the power of God (1 Cor. 1:23-30).
And so, in the midst of Lent, like in the midst of our life, every single day, Christians are called to venerate the cross, to contemplate the cross, to meditate on the cross. And they are exhorted to take up the cross.
4th Sunday of Great Lent: Sunday of Saint John Climacus
(March 30th 2025)
On the fourth Sunday in Lent we commemorate St. John Climacus, the great seventh-century ascetic and author of The Ladder of Divine Ascent.
As we continue the Lenten fast, we recall St. John's account of the labors necessary to approach God, and we take comfort in the Lord's words: "he who endures to the end will be saved" (Mt 24:13).
Parish Notices
No Grimsby Liturgy this month again
Please note: there is no Divine Liturgy this month at Grimsby. Because of this, there will be a Divine Liturgy at Louth on Sunday 9th of March at 10.30 am.
There are various good reasons for this change in services at Grimsby, which I will share with folks in due course.
As usual, a list of the services for this month are at the end of the newsletter.
Additional services and groups during March 2025
Please note: there will be no additional Lenten services (other than the Sunday services of the Hours and the Divine Liturgy) or groups at Saint Aethelheard's parish during March of 2025.
Unfortunately, I have extreme constraints on the time I have available to devote to parish work in March, due to extra work commitments this month, coupled with various study commitments.
God willing, from the beginning of the fifth week of Lent, I will be able to make various additional Lenten services available at Saint Aethelheard's in Louth.
In Christ, Father Alban