"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Igumen Tikhon)
True Orthodoxy and its enemies in the modern world (Archbishop Averky Taushev)
But to think so is either extreme naivety based on ignorance, or a definitely malicious distortion of the truth.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God" (Igumen Tikhon)
These words resonate especially powerfully now, in a world accustomed to tension. We're accustomed to arguments, to fighting for our own position, to constantly defending our position. Peace is often understood as a temporary truce, a pause between conflicts. But Christ speaks of something different—peacemaking as an inner calling.
A peacemaker is not simply someone who avoids quarrels. They are not indifferent observers or someone who seeks silence at any cost. A peacemaker is someone who has first made peace within themselves. Someone who has restored peace with God and then brings this peace to others. Without inner reconciliation, it is impossible to become a true peacemaker.Peace begins in the heart. As long as a person struggles within—pride, anger, envy—then they unwittingly spread this tension around them. He may speak the right words, but his inner state will be transmitted. Peacemaking begins when a person has learned self-control, when they have stopped responding to irritation with irritation.
We all have a tendency to defend ourselves, to justify ourselves, to prove ourselves right. When we are offended, we want to respond. When we are not understood, we raise our voices. This is a natural reaction. But a peacemaker chooses a different path. They do not suppress their feelings, but they also do not allow them to control them. They know how to stop.
Peacemaking requires inner maturity. It is the ability to see a situation beyond one's own grievance. It is the ability to listen to others, even if their words are harsh. It is a willingness to seek not victory, but the truth. A peacemaker does not necessarily agree with everything, but they do not turn disagreement into war.
Patristic commentaries indicate that peacemakers are called sons of God because they become like God. God is the source of peace. He reconciles people with Himself; He does not destroy the sinner, but calls them to return. When a person becomes a peacemaker, they reflect this Divine image. They become a vehicle for reconciliation.
It's important to understand: peacemaking is not weakness. It's not a renunciation of the truth. It's a union of truth and love. Sometimes a peacemaker must speak a difficult word. Sometimes, they must rebuke. But they do this not out of a desire to hurt, but out of a desire to heal. Their goal is restoration, not destruction.
In everyday life, peacemaking manifests itself in simple things. In the family, it's the ability not to incite conflict but to seek understanding. In work, it's the ability to smooth over tensions and not fuel rumors and hostility. In society, it's the willingness not to succumb to aggression but to maintain dignity and composure.
A peacemaker is a person who does not spread evil further. When rudeness befalls them, they don't return it. They break the chain of retaliation. This is difficult. Sometimes it seems unfair. But this is precisely where spiritual strength is manifested.
The saints noted that true peace is impossible without reconciliation with God. As long as a person lives disconnected from the Source of peace, they cannot find complete peace. Their anxiety will manifest itself in their relationships. Therefore, peacemaking begins with prayer, with repentance, with inner trust in God. Only those who have experienced God's peace in their hearts are capable of sharing it.
Christ's promise—"they shall be called the sons of God"—speaks of deep intimacy. A son is one who resembles the Father. A peacemaker becomes like God not in appearance, but in spirit. They bring into the world what they have received from above. And this is their dignity.
A person who lives by peacemaking becomes more resilient. They are less torn by other people's emotions. They don't get drawn into every argument. They maintain their inner center. This is not coldness, but a calm clarity.
In our time, when words easily become weapons, peacemaking is especially important. It requires courage. It is easier to join in an outrage than to stop it. It is easier to prove one's point than to listen. But Christ calls blessed those who choose the difficult path of reconciliation.
Each of us faces a daily choice—to increase or decrease tension. Small decisions shape the atmosphere around us. If even one person maintains peace, the space changes. The peacemaker becomes a quiet source of light.
And perhaps this is the depth of the commandment: peacemaking is not a one-time action, but a way of life. It is a constant striving to maintain peace in the heart and bring it into relationships. It is a path by which a person becomes increasingly like God.
"Blessed are the peacemakers." Blessed are those who do not live by war. Those who know how to reconcile—first themselves with God, then themselves with others, and people with each other. Because in their hearts, that peace begins to breathe, which makes a person a true son of God.
Instructions of St. Ammon
From the teachings of our holy father Abba Ammon
There are four things, even if a person possesses one of them, he cannot repent, and God will not accept his prayers.
1. The first is pride: when a person thinks that he lives correctly, that his life is pleasing to God, that in his conversations he edifies many and that [some people], having retired to the desert, [thanks to him] were delivered from many sins; if a person thinks so, then God does not dwell in him 150 .
On the contrary, a monk should judge himself with a more severe judgment than that of foolish people, and not consider his deeds pleasing to God. For it is said by the prophet: "All the righteous acts of man are as filthy rags before Him" ( Isaiah 64:6 ) . 151 And if the soul is not truly convinced that it is more impure than foolish creatures, such as birds or dogs, then God will not accept its prayer. For foolish creatures, such as dogs or birds, never sin before God and will not be judged by Him. From this it is clear that a sinful man is more pitiable than beasts, since he, unlike foolish creatures, is destined for resurrection from the dead and will appear before God's Judgment . 152 For foolish creatures do not speak evil or take pride, but love those who feed them, but man does not love, as he should, God, who created and feeds him.
2. The second thing is: if someone harbors a grudge against someone, even if he were to blind that person, he would still not forgive them for the evil. The prayer of such a vindictive person does not ascend to God. And let him not delude himself: even if he were to resurrect the dead, he will not attain mercy and forgiveness from God.
3. Thirdly, if anyone condemns a sinner, he himself will be condemned, even if he performs signs and wonders. For Christ said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged" ( Matthew 7:1 ). Therefore, a Christian should not condemn anyone, "for even the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son" ( John 5:22 ). Therefore, anyone who judges before Christ is an antichrist . 154 And many who are robbers and fornicators today will be found saints and righteous tomorrow.
4. The fourth thing is, if anyone does not have love; without it, as the apostle says, even if we spoke with the tongues of angels, had all the right faith, moved mountains, distributed all our goods to the poor, and gave up our bodies to be martyred – [all this without love] brings us no benefit ( 1 Cor. 13:1-3 ). But you will say: “How can anyone give all his goods to the poor and not have love? Is not almsgiving love?” No. Almsgiving is not perfect love, but is [only] one of the manifestations of love 155 . For many give alms to some, and offend others; show hospitality to some, and bear a grudge against others; defend some, and slander others; show compassion to strangers, and hate their own. This is not love, for love hates no one, blasphemes no one, condemns no one, grieves no one, disdains no one—neither believers nor unbelievers, nor strangers, nor sinners, nor fornicators, nor the unclean. But, on the contrary, it loves sinners, the weak, and the negligent; for their sakes it suffers, grieves, and weeps. [Even more]: it rather sympathizes with the wicked and sinful, imitating Christ, who called sinners and ate and drank with them ( Matt. 9:11-13 ). Therefore, showing what true love is, He teaches [us]: “Be good and merciful, as your Father in heaven.” And just as He sends rain on the evil and the good, and makes the sun rise on the just and the unjust ( Matthew 5:45 ), so those who have true love love everyone, pity everyone, and pray for everyone. Some give alms and, relying solely on it, commit a multitude of sins, hate many, and defile their bodies with impure lusts. Such [people] deceive themselves, relying [only] on the alms they believe they give.
Source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Aleksej_Sidorov/tvorenija-drevnikh-ottsov-podvizhnikov/1_3_1
On Glory from people (vainglory) (Hieromonk Savvas Agioreitis)
Do you want to have glory from people? It is easy: do them favors! Agree with everyone. Say “no” to no one. To the one who tells you what is right, say “yes”; and to the one who tells you what is wrong, say “yes.” And then you become important to everyone and pleasing to all…
But then you are no longer a person. You have lost yourself. You are a chameleon that takes on the color of its surroundings. This is diabolical glory.
And today, you see—and always, but especially in our days—this kind of person is successful. The politician. The one who is involved in everything. He accommodates everyone. He manipulates everyone. He is a hypocrite.
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
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)
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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.
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