Secondary Level

Sunday of the Holy Fathers
of the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787 A.D.)
 

"Sir, Whose image is this?”

  “It is mine,” answered the emperor.  Then Stephen, a monk, threw the coin on the ground and stepped on it.  He was seized by imperial guards and taken away to be punished.

  “Remember this!” cried Stephen as he was being led away.  “If I am punished for dishonoring the image of an earthly king, what punishment do they deserve who burn the icon of Christ!”  Such was one of many scenes during the controversy over the use of icons in the Church during the seventh and eighth centuries.

 “Icon-smashers” or iconoclasts -- that’s what they were called.  They unsuccessfully tried for almost two centuries to destroy holy icons as forms of spirituality and Christian education.  They contended that Christ being divine could not be depicted through art and that icons smacked of idolatry -- indeed there were some great abuses of icons from time to time.  But the great Church Fathers were convinced that the Christian faith can validly be expressed through art forms.  They taught that HOLY ICONS ARE NOT TO BE WORSHIPPED BUT VENERATED OR REVERED -- THE RESPECT BEING GIVEN NOT TO THE WOOD AND PAINT BUT TO THE PERSON BEING DEPICTED ON THE ICON.  Christ took on human flesh, a part of earth’s matter; so it was possible to depict Him through material symbols.  The Gospels are verbal images portraying through words the divinity and ministry of Jesus.  So also holy icons portray the divine sonship and actions of Jesus by means of paints and colors.  Just as we remember Christ and experience His presence when we prayerfully read the Gospels, so also WE  REMEMBER HIM AND EXPERIENCE HIS PRESENCE WHEN WE PRAYERFULLY BEHOLD HIM IN ICONS.

The Gospel Reading for the Sunday of the Holy Fathers is Lk. 8:4-15, the Parable of the Sower.  This relates to the Holy Fathers’ working in the field of the Lord.