Homily for 19 July 2015, the Sunday of the Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical Councils--"Who Cares About the Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical Councils?"

Who Cares About the Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical Councils?

Homily for the Sunday of the Fathers of the 1^st Six Councils (19 July 2015, 13 July 2008)

Titus 3:8-15                         Matthew 5:14-19

 

On 13 July or the first Sunday after that date, the Church celebrates the memory of the Holy Fathers of the first six Ecumenical Councils, which took place in the 4^th through the 7^th centuries.

After so many years, why should we remember them?  Who were they, anyway? And what did they do?  Who cares about the Fathers of the first six Ecumenical Councils?

As the Christian Church, we remember them and care about them because they faced and dealt with conflicts over the Faith and the Church in ways that defined the Christianity we know and love today.  They were all the bishops of the Christian world, pastors and teachers and scholars, called together to represent all the people who believed in Christ as Lord, God, and Savior.  After deep prayer, long discussion, and some fierce argument, the Fathers of the Councils established Christian belief and the Christian Church.

This wasn’t accomplished all at once.  Without established doctrine, Christians came up with all sorts of questions about God and all sorts of answers to those questions.  Some of the answers were terribly wrong.  Some were different ways of saying essentially the same thing in different languages, which led to divisions in the Church that have not yet been healed.

The First Ecumenical Council, held at Nicea in 325, was called by the Emperor Constantine because he wanted unity of belief in the Church just as he wanted unity of loyalty in the Empire.  The Fathers of the first council formulated the Creed, and in doing so condemned Arius, a priest who taught that Christ was not God.  They also recognized four principal national Churches—Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem—and designated the Bishop of Rome as “first among equals” because Rome was the capital city of the Empire.

At the Second Ecumenical Council, held in Constantinople in 381, the Fathers finished writing the Creed by clarifying the identity of the Holy Spirit as co-equal with the Father and the Son in the Holy Trinity of the One God.  They also added Constantinople to list of major Churches, in second place because it was the New Rome.

The Third Ecumenical Council, at Ephesus in 431, emphasized the unity of Christ as God and Man, condemning the teaching of Nestorius that the Virgin Mary was only Christotokos (mother of Christ), not Theotokos (mother of God).

At Chalcedon in 451, the Fourth Ecumenical Council condemned the teaching called Monophysitism (that the divine nature and the human nature in Christ are so essentially combined that He has only one nature—monophysis).  This decision caused the split between the Coptic and Syriac Churches and the Orthodox Church that remains to this day, even though theologians now understand that the problem was that the Greeks could not (or would not) understand the way the Copts and Syriacs spoke about the nature of Christ.  This Council also designated the five major Churches—Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem—as patriarchates and gave their bishops jurisdiction over all the Christians in their territories.

The Fifth Ecumenical Council, held in 553 at Constantinople, reaffirmed the doctrine of the two natures in the one person of Christ.

The Sixth Ecumenical Council, in Constantinople in 681, dealt with a further dispute about Christ, affirming that He has two natures, God and Man, and two wills, divine and human.  The Fathers condemned a teaching called Monothelitism (that Christ has only one divine will).

So, the first six Ecumenical Councils accomplished two important things:  they established doctrine (the teaching and explanation of Christian belief) and the organization or structure of the Church.

Bearing in mind that today is the Sunday of the Holy Fathers, the Scripture readings teach us about what bishops are supposed to do and how they are supposed to act.  But these teachings don’t apply just to bishops; they apply to all Christians.

In his Letter to Titus, whom he had sent to be bishop of the Christian community in Crete, St Paul, gives this advice for church leadership:

·         Teach the people to do good works

·         Avoid “stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the Law”

·         Admonish those who cause divisions, then ignore them (or maybe throw them out)

And in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus teaches His disciples (and bishops and all of us):

·         You are the Light of the world—show it, don’t hide it.

·         Let your good works reveal the glory of God.

·         Observe and teach the commandments of the Law, as fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

We can ask how well the Holy Fathers of the first six Councils lived up to these guidelines and how well bishops—and all of us—live up to them now.

The early Fathers did teach the people to do good works.  There was a great emphasis in the early Church on caring for the poor, the sick, widows, and so on.  Throughout history, Christians have often been the ones who founded and maintained hospitals, orphanages, and other charitable institutions.

The early Fathers also dealt with people who caused divisions.  Sometimes they did this too harshly, without really understanding what they were doing and why.  Often the early Church Fathers got caught up in nationalism (Greeks vs. non-Greeks) and politics (the good of the Empire, the wishes of the Emperor, West vs. East).

They didn’t do so well (and we still don’t do so well) at avoiding quarrels, controversies, dissensions, and so on.  Some Fathers were very passionate, but not very nice.  At the First Ecumenical Council, for instance, St Nicholas punched Arius in the face instead of sitting down to talk with him.  In our own time, some very high-ranking cardinals and bishops have used very harsh language to disagree with Pope Francis.

Sometimes, both then and now, bishops have been too concerned with the power and prestige of the Church as an institution.  They feel a need to “protect” the Church instead of to connect the Church with society.  As a result, sometimes we don’t shine our light very well.

Christians—the bishops and the people—have always had a tendency to get caught up in the details of Church law and to forget or neglect good works.  For instance, if we worry too much about the rules of fasting, we miss the point of why we should fast.  Or, with regard to sharing Communion with other Christians, should we insist on doctrinal agreement first or should we build unity by sharing the Eucharist in charity?

We must remember that bishops—the Holy Fathers—even those who are saints, are human, just like the rest of us.  Sinners, just like the rest of us.  As our prayer for the departed says, “There is no one who lives and does not sin.”  They have a difficult job, trying to define correct belief, teaching, administration, giving a good example.  And they don’t always succeed.

So we must love them, pray for them, and even criticize them when necessary to call them back to the guidelines established by our Lord Jesus Christ and set forth by St Paul.

And we must devote ourselves to good works to meet urgent needs and reveal the glory of God, praying that the grace of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit will be with us now and ever and unto the ages of ages.  Amen.