June sermons 2025

Sunday June 1
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Each year on the Sunday between Holy Ascension and Pentecost, the church celebrates the memory of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, the Nicaean council.  This year is the 1700-year anniversary of that event which took place in 325 AD. It is hard for us to imagine how those bishops and church people felt coming together for the first time, after recent persecutions, and in the presence of the Roman emperor himself, the honorary chairman, St Constantine!  On Tuesday, June 3, we will celebrate his memory as well as the memory of his mother, St Helen.  
 
The Nicaean Council would have been a joyful event, but at the same time there was worry about the spread of a heresy that originated in Alexandria, Egypt and was quickly spreading. This was the teaching of Arius, which undermined the teaching of Christ about Himself as one of the Holy Trinity, True God and true man.  Many of the Christians of that time had come from pagan culture.  It was difficult for them to feel comfortable about one God in Three Persons and with the Son of God becoming a man. The Arian understanding of Christianity was easier to accept. It spoke of the Son of God as the first creature of God the Father. The Council dealt with this challenge by accepting a common creed, which speaks of the Son being of one Essence with the Father, for the whole church. In his letter for the occasion, Patriarch Kirill highlighted the enduring theological and ecclesial significance of the Council of 325 AD quoting from church historian Prof Vasili Bolotov: “The Nicaean symbol was so precise that it could not be reinterpreted.  It could either be accepted or rejected. (Lectures on Early Church History, Vol 4. In Russian) The creed has been in use since then. It was slightly expanded and edited in the second Council a few decades later, in 381.  We use it in church in Liturgy, and in private prayers. 
 
 The Council also dealt with some practical aspects of church life.  For instance, it brought together Eastern and Western Christians to celebrate Easter together.  The Eastern Christians used to celebrate it together with the Jews.  In the West they developed a practice which the church now follows, always celebrating it on a Sunday. 
 
The Old Testament had emphasised the oneness of God in the world environment where there were countless pagan gods. We begin the creed with that affirmation: I believe in one God.  Yet, Christ revealed the inner life of God, the Trinitarian life. Christ’s salvation is about healing fractures in humanity, both on a personal level in us and on a social level in the community of the Church.  The Holy Trinity is a model and inspiration that gives strength for church unity.  Patriarch Kyrill, in his address, points to the challenges that the Orthodox world faces today.  He stresses that the only way we can overcome these problems is to act together in the way that the Church acted together 1700 years ago, in the first great Council. He writes, “The Lord looked upon His church and gave His faithful children strength and wisdom as well as courage to remain the salt of the earth and the light of the world, (Mt 5:13-14) and to be His fearless witnesses to the ends of the world, as He told His apostles (Acts 1:8).