In his hometown, Tala of Paphos, Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus held the Divine Liturgy on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Synod, assisted by the Presbyter of the Monastery of Apostle Barnabas, Archimandrite Ioannis, and other clergymen of the Holy Archdiocese and the Metropolis of Paphos.
Chrysostomos stressed in his sermon that in the sacred gospel of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Synod we hear a section of the archieratic prayer of our Lord.
The Lord refers to the glory of His upcoming sacrifice. True glory is found in the road to sacrifice. We rise when we sacrifice ourselves; when we suffer temptations, contempt, slander, injustice; when we know to forgive and to benefit others; when we daily crucify ourselves and our passions.
As the prayer goes on, the Lord prays for the unity of believers because He knows that when Christians lose the unity of faith, they also lose the Grace of God.
This truth was well known to the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Synod. That is why they vigorously fought the heretic Arius. Because they understood that anyone who is not united with the Church is deluded, haunted in pestilence-laden gloom.
