In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Beloved in Christ, today we celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy, when the Church restored the holy icons to their rightful place in worship. But this feast is not merely about historical victory – it proclaims the very reality of our salvation.
Let me share a story that helps us understand this profound truth. In a small workshop in Durham, there was an elderly iconographer named James. Young visitors would often ask him, “Why do you paint Christ with such specific features?” He would smile and say, “Because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us – real flesh that could be seen, touched, and thus depicted. To deny this is to deny the Incarnation itself.”
St John of Damascus, that great defender of icons, teaches us: “In former times, God, who is without form or body, could never be depicted. But now when God is seen in the flesh conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see.” This, beloved, is why the Church places this feast at the beginning of Great Lent – because our entire fast is about the reality of matter being transformed by spirit.
St Theodore the Studite explains further: “If Christ could not be portrayed, then He was not truly human; and if He was not truly human, then we are not truly saved.” See how the defence of icons becomes the defence of our salvation! This is why our forebears suffered exile and martyrdom for this truth.
But what does this mean for us today? St Gregory Palamas tells us that the triumph we celebrate is not just about images on wood, but about the possibility of matter being transfigured by divine grace. When we venerate an icon, we are affirming that our own flesh can become a vessel of holiness.
Consider how the iconoclasts, like modern materialists, could not conceive of matter being a vehicle of grace. St Nikephoros of Constantinople responds: “The same God who said ‘You shall not make graven images’ also commanded Moses to make cherubim of gold. The difference is not in the matter, but in the worship.”
The Church places this feast here because, as St Symeon the New Theologian teaches, “The Fast is our time to become what the icons show us – persons transfigured by divine light.” Each prostration we make before an icon is both an affirmation of the Incarnation and a step toward our own transformation.
In our own times, we face new forms of iconoclasm – not the breaking of images, but the breaking of the image of God in humanity. The saints teach us: “Each person is an icon of God, and our neighbour is therefore our joy, our heaven.” When we defend icons, we defend the dignity of every human person.
This feast teaches us about true vision. The iconoclasts had eyes but could not see the holy in the material. St Isaac the Syrian says: “The humble man sees glory everywhere because he first sees Christ everywhere.” Icons train our eyes to see this glory, to recognise the sacred in the material world.
Let us remember the words proclaimed today: “This is the Faith of the Apostles, this is the Faith of the Fathers, this is the Faith that has established the universe!” We are not simply commemorating a historical victory but proclaiming that God truly became man, that matter can be sanctified, that we ourselves can become living icons of Christ.
As we make our procession with the holy icons today, each step we take affirms what St Athanasius boldly proclaimed: “God became man so that man might become god.” The icons surrounding us are windows into this reality, showing us what we are called to become through this Lenten journey.
Let us therefore begin this first week of the Great Fast with renewed understanding. When we bow before an icon, we are not merely honouring a painting but confessing the fundamental truth of our faith – that the invisible God became visible for our sake, and that through His grace, we too can be transformed from glory to glory.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Copyright © 2025 The Rev. Adrian Augustus. The Russian Orthodox Church of the Archangel Michael, Blacktown, NSW
