The Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York City celebrated the Sunday of Orthodoxy on March 9, 2025 with Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, Bishop Athenagoras of Nazianzos, Bishop Nektarios of Diokleia, Dean of the Cathedral V. Rev. Archimandrite Chrysostomos Gilbert and faithful of the community including many children who all processed with icons around the church holding their icons proundly in honor of the day.
In his Homily, the Archbishop noted, “On this First Sunday of the Holy Fast, we gather as a community of Greek Orthodox Christians here in our National Cathedral, to celebrate the triumph of Orthodoxy that occurred nearly twelve hundred years ago in Constantinople. On the First Sunday of Lent in the year 843 – after two periods spanning nearly ninety years, which not only forbade the use of icons, but actively persecuted to the point of martyrdom those who protected and prayed before them, the Church finally achieved peace and the restoration – the Ἀναστήλωσις – of the most perfect expression of the theology of the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity.”
Find below the homily of Archbishop Elpidophoros of America
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
On this First Sunday of the Holy Fast, we gather as a community of Greek Orthodox Christians here in our National Cathedral, to celebrate the triumph of Orthodoxy that occurred nearly twelve hundred years ago in Constantinople. On the First Sunday of Lent in the year 843 – after two periods spanning nearly ninety years, which not only forbade the use of icons, but actively persecuted to the point of martyrdom those who protected and prayed before them, the Church finally achieved peace and the restoration – the Ἀναστήλωσις – of the most perfect expression of the theology of the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity.
It is hard to imagine the generations of Orthodox who grew up without reference to the Holy Icons. What would happen in this community, or any parish, if tomorrow, the government outlawed the use of Icons, and instructed us to take them down or cover them up? What would we tell our children? Our revered and aged parents? What we would tell ourselves about our faithfulness to our precious Orthodox Faith in such a circumstance?
That is why today’s confluence of the Sunday of Orthodoxy with the feast of the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sevasteia is such an auspicious occasion. For these heroic warrior Martyrs of Christ manifested the solidarity of faith and commitment – the same faith and commitment that aided the Church in passing through nearly a century of persecution by its own people and government.
The story of these Forty Martyrs, who made their sacrifice deep in the heart of Asia Minor, is well known, and was famous in the days of Saints Basil the Great, his younger brother, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, and Saint Gregory the Theologian. It concerned a company of Forty Roman soldiers who were Christians, and were martyred together for their refusal to abandon their faith in Jesus Christ. They were made to stand in a lake in freezing conditions, surrounded by guards. Fires were lit on the shore, and a warm bath house was set up with drinks and food which were offered to them, if only they would renounce the Lord Jesus Christ. But they stayed in the lake. Or at least thirty-nine of them did.
One of the Forty deserted his company. He abandoned his faith, and the torment of the freezing cold. But when a soldier guarding the shoreline witnessed his desertion, and beheld how the others held fast, he was so moved by the faith of the other thirty-nine, that he stripped off his armor and plunged into the freezing lake. He knew their number had always been Forty, and so to complete the number of their company, he joined them in their love for Christ.
Thus, my beloved Christians, do we have the Forty Martyrs of Sevasteia. And as they sank one by one beneath the icy waters, crowns were seen to float down from the sky and alight upon the spot where each one descended into his martyr’s death.
These Holy Forty Martyrs are an example of the power of community, of solidarity, and of loyalty. They stood with each other, and when one weakened and broke ranks, God provided another to take his place.
These same virtues exist within our Church, and within this Cathedral family. When we stand with one another, or as the Lord said, when just two or three assemble in His Holy Name, God is there.1
The power of community, solidarity, and loyalty – under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit – will always be a blessing to you. Community is the outgrowth of our practice of receiving Holy Communion. Solidarity is the bond that we feel with one another. And loyalty is the fruit of that bond.
Like the Forty Martyrs who were forged into a community by their struggles as soldiers, you are forged into community by the practice of your Faith. By this Divine Liturgy. By every Divine Liturgy and Holy ceremony, when you enter into the spiritual arena, where the real challenge is to bring forth patience, joy, mercy, and love. And there is no better crucible to be forged in than the Holy and Great Lent.
Like those Forty who stood together in oneness and harmony – even in that freezing lake where they met their deaths with courage – you stand together as our Archdiocesan Cathedral. You honor the sacrifices of those who have come before you. And like the Soldiers of Sevasteia, whose one desertion was made whole by the guard “fulfilling the number of the Martyrs”2 and deciding to join them in the lake, you stick together through thick and thin.
Finally like those Forty Spiritual Heroes, whose loyalty was to their God and to one another, you exemplify the best in our parish communities. For you maintain the Faith of the Fathers in this place, and as you know, πίστις in Greek means “faith,” it means “trust,” and it means “loyalty.”
My beloved friends:
On this Sunday of Orthodoxy, when we celebrate the Holy Icons, look into one another’s eyes, for you are also images of the Divine. Community, solidarity, and loyalty. These will never let you down. They will uphold you and make you worthy of the offerings of our spiritual ancestors, whose memory and victory we commemorate today.
Through the prayers of all these Forty, who knew what it was to march together into the battle, may you continue in your “progress in life, faith, and spiritual understanding” 3 as we prayed in the Holy Liturgy today.
So be it. Γένοιτο. Ἀμήν.
Photos: Orthodox Observer/Dimitrios Panagos
