The Third Sunday after Pentecost 2024

The Holy Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council

Today, the third Sunday after Pentecost, the Church commemorates the Holy Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, which convened in Chalcedon in the year 451 AD. The emperor Marcian convened the council because he hoped to resolve, once and for all, a dispute that had ravaged the Church for several decades, especially in the East. The details of the dispute are too complicated to go into here. However, the dogmatic formula which the bishops who gathered in Chalcedon finally agreed, and which is today known as the “Chalcedonian Definition”, remains bedrock Orthodox teaching. Namely, that Christ is two natures in one person. In the words of the Holy Fathers of the Council, Christ is “one person in two natures—without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.” This is our Orthodox faith.

I wish I could say that the Chalcedonian Definition succeeded in uniting the Church around Holy Orthodoxy. But sadly, not all the bishops accepted the Council’s decision. And so, after Chalcedon, Christianity in the East would be forever divided.

It is perhaps because Chalcedon resulted in permanent schism that the Church has chosen today’s readings from the Scriptures to coincide with the commemoration of the Council. For as we heard, in his letter to Titus, St Paul writes this: “Avoid stupid speculations, for they are unprofitable and pointless.” 

Avoid stupid speculations. Stupid speculations give birth to heresy. Heresy comes between us and the Truth. Since this puts our salvation in jeopardy, the Church, when pushed, stands always at the ready to defend the truth against heresy. But, she would rather not have to. The Church would rather we followed the teaching of St Paul: to ignore divisive voices, avoid stupid speculations, and instead trust the message.

Trust the message. The message that, not from any merit of our own but simply through God’s boundless mercy, Jesus Christ our Lord has saved us. Saved us by a washing of rebirth in baptism and by a pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon us in chrismation—for the renewing of our minds. Yes, Christ has saved us, renewing our minds through faith: faith in the Word of God’s descent into enfleshment, suffering, and death; faith in Christ’s death-defying and death-defeating resurrection; faith in the Lord’s glorious ascension into heaven and in the Holy Spirit’s world-shaking descent in power. Through this faith in Jesus Christ and in his saving work, the Apostle says we are, by God’s grace, made righteous—vindicated, declared innocent—and made heirs in accordance with the hope of eternal life.

This is the message. By faith we are declared innocent! Eternal life is ours!

But notice, we who have been given this precious gift of faith must, as the Apostle then says, “be anxious diligently to practise good works”. The faith that vindicates us doesn’t give us permission to sit back, relax, and live a pleasant life doing exactly what we want, when we want. Faith doesn’t mean, “I believe in X and Y,” and that’s it. No. Faith is a constant practice. Faith is less like belief in something that happened long ago than it is trust in a person you are following, trust in the person just in front of you, leading the way, the person in whose footsteps you too are walking.

That person is Jesus Christ. His way is the Way of the Cross. And our faith in Jesus Christ is only as strong as our trust in the Way he laid out for us and our resolve to follow him upon it. So we must diligently pursue good works after the pattern of Christ, the Light of the World. As he himself says so clearly in today’s Gospel: “Let your light shine before all so that they may see your good deeds.” The light of Christ that burns within us, we must let it shine.

And you do not let your light shine by preaching on the street corner. You do not let your light shine by constantly debating Church dogmas with people—or by watching or listening to or reading about other people debating dogmas online. No, that would be to indulge stupid speculations, to pursue unprofitable controversies, to pander to divisive persons. Rather, you let your light shine by following Christ’s commandments. Those commandments must not be set aside. They must be taught and they must be kept—just as the Church teaches.

But what are those commandments?

Well, though yes, there are rules in Christianity, Christianity isn’t about rules. Because the Way of the Cross is not a science—it is an art. The art of self-emptying. The art of loving God so fully that, emptying yourself, you love your neighbour as yourself. And though arts have rules, they aren’t about rules. There are rules to dancing, for example. But dancing isn’t about rules. Imagine someone dancing while going over the rules in his head. He would look stiff and overly self-conscious. He wouldn’t be dancing. Dancing is about catching fire, about absorbing the rules and making them part of yourself, about uniting with the spirit of the dance.

Like dancing, the Way of the Cross is also a spiritual union. As the Apostle says: the Way of the Cross is found not in the letter of the Law, but in the spirit of the Law—the spirit of the Law which is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. And if you want Christ’s spirit, follow him, listen to His words.

Words like the Beatitudes, those nine spirit-filled sayings with which Christ begins his Sermon on the Mount.

Blessed are the poor in spirit! Are you poor in spirit? Or are you inwardly, secretly attached to material possessions? Envious of others? Anxious about social status? Inwardly, secretly full of yourself? If so, then: repent!

Blessed are those who mourn! Do you mourn over your sins? Or are you inwardly, secretly self-satisfied? Do you think, oh well, my sins don’t really matter. They’re so small, really. And I’m a Christian, after all. God forgives, right? If so, then: repent!

Blessed are the meek! Are you truly meek?—calm, patient, gentle? Or are you inwardly, secretly angry, impatient, and constantly critical? Is no one or no thing ever good enough for you? When someone contradicts you, or confronts you, or treats you badly, do you react, even only inwardly, with anger, fury, or contempt? If so, then: repent!

Blessed are the merciful! Are you merciful? Seeing others fall into sin, do you think, poor suffering soul!, and mourn for them in your heart, praying for them even more than you pray for yourself? Or do you secretly, inwardly condemn them? If so, then: repent! repent! repent!

We must walk the Way of the Cross. Love your enemies. Lay down your life for your brother. Pray ceaselessly. Give generously.

But take care! “Let your light shine before all,” the Lord says, “so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” We are not self-glorifiers. We are God-glorifiers. We are not self-righteous—at least we are meant not to be. We are made righteous by God. We are saved by Christ. (In our icons, Christ is always portrayed grabbing our arms. We don’t grab his.) 

So, in prayerful gratitude, we must struggle inwardly, focusing our whole attention on God, striving to love him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, so that when we perform the works he has commanded, we perform them to his glory. Never to our own.

“Glory be to God.” Glory be to God. This is our constant refrain. And this giving glory to God is also a constant, intentional, spiritual practice, and an essential part of the Way of the Cross. In the Old Testament, it is called “a sacrifice of praise”, a type of sacrifice requiring great attention and inner vigilance so that, whenever you perform a good work, and that impulse arises within you to give yourself the glory, to praise yourself, to be puffed up, whenever that happens, with sacrificial attentiveness you redirect that impulse away from yourself and towards God.

And it is a struggle, it is a sacrifice, a painful laying down of the flesh, of the ego-self. But without a sacrifice of praise, all our other efforts are in vain.

Let us, then, remember the Holy Fathers who protected our precious faith from error, and through whose prayers the Church has handed down the Mysteries across the generations to us today. And let us avoid stupid speculations and those people who peddle stupid speculations, especially online. Instead, let us renew our efforts to follow Christ—to walk the Way of the Cross.

Amen.