The Sunday of Orthodoxy and the Current State of Affairs (Photios Kontoglou)

 

The Sunday of Orthodoxy was established in order for the Church to celebrate the restoration of the Icons and the victory of true religion over the Iconoclasts. The Iconoclasts were the modernists of that time, who began with the abolition of iconography, so that they might proceed gradually, as all such people are wont to do, to other destructive reforms, the end result being to leave nothing in Orthodoxy intact. The Icon was the symbol of Orthodoxy, and Byzantium was in turmoil over the Icons, in civil war, for 116 years. In 787 A.D., the Seventh Ecumenical Synod took place in Nicaea. This Synod proclaimed the restoration of the Icons, and put an end to the Iconoclasm which had started in 726, in the reign of Leo the Isaurian. But even after the Seventh Ecumenical Synod, Iconoclasm was revived, and so another Synod took place in Constantinople in 842, and this Synod confirmed the Seventh Ecumenical Synod. Thus did that madness of Iconoclasm cease.

Commentary on the Synodikon of Orthodoxy (Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos)

The “Synodikon of Orthodoxy” is a text contained in the “Triodion” and read on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the first Sunday of Lent.

It is well known that through the ages various heresies have appeared which deny the experience of revelation and in fact make use of philosophy and conjecture, doubting the Church’s truth on various dogmatic topics. The Fathers who formed the Synods opposed these errors. The decisions of the Synods on dogmatic topics are called “provisions”. More generally speaking, each decision of the Synods is called a “Synodikon”. Thus we have the synodical tome and the synodical provision, and moreover, each synod has its own synodikon.

The “Synodikon of Orthodoxy” is the decisions of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, which refer to the veneration of holy icons. The reading of them on the Sunday of Orthodoxy gave the title “Synodikon of Orthodoxy”. Of course it must be said that later there was also added to the “Synodikon of Orthodoxy” the definition of faith of the hesychastic Councils of the fourteenth century. Thus the “Synodikon of Orthodoxy” comprises the decisions of both the Seventh Ecumenical Council and the Councils of the fourteenth century, which, as will be said below, have all the elements to characterise and regard as a Ninth Ecumenical Council.

An analysis will be made of the “Synod of Orthodoxy” in its central points. There will not be a broader analysis of the whole Council, but what I consider to be the main points will be emphasised, because they express the ethos of the Church. And this is necessary, because the mind of the Church is linked to, and in harmony with the decisions of the Fathers of the Church as it has been expressed with conciliar authority.

The Synodikon of Orthodoxy compiled in 1583

Whosoever, therefore, shall confess Me before men, him will I confess before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I deny before My Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 10:32-33).

The term synodikon is applied to an official definition promulgated by a synod or council, or to a statement which has synodical origin or conciliar authority. The present synodikon was approved and issued by the Synod of 843 which restored the veneration of icons, i.e., it upheld and re-imposed the authority of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod which had fallen into abeyance during the intervening second period of Iconoclasm (815-842). In the manuscripts, the titles are various: The Synodikon of Orthodoxy, The Synodikon Confirming Orthodoxy Read on the First Sunday of Great Lent, The Synodikon Confirming Orthodoxy, The Synodikon Against All Heresy, and different combinations of all the above. In the printed Triodion, the synodikon is titled The Synodikon of the Holy and Ecumenical Seventh Synod for Orthodoxy. Although not entirely correct, we have retained it because the Synod of 843 did not form any new definitions, but was concerned to proclaim again the authority of the Seventh Council and to re-establish the definition of the Faith propounded there.

Sermon on the Sunday of Orthodoxy (St Ignatius Brianchaninov)

Beloved brethren! The beginning of our sermon on Orthodox Sunday is most naturally the question: What is Orthodoxy?

Orthodoxy is true knowledge of God and worship of God; Orthodoxy is the worship of God in spirit and truth; Orthodoxy is the glorification of God through true knowledge of Him and worship of Him; Orthodoxy is the glorification by God of man, the true servant of God, by the gift of the grace of the All-Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the glory of Christians ( John 7:39 ). Where there is no Spirit, there is no Orthodoxy.

Description of the feast of Sunday of Orthodoxy

THE HISTORY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CELEBRATION OF THE SUNDAY OF THE TRIUMPH OF ORTHODOXY.

The very first mention of the Triumph of Orthodoxy as such was made only in 899 (in the Clitorology of Philotheus), and it is certain that this celebration became an integral part of the life of Byzantium from 843 onwards. It was in March of this year that Saint Methodius was ordained as patriarch and the veneration of holy icons was restored.