First Sunday of the Great Fast

February 21, 2021
Sunday of Orthodoxy

John 1:43-51 - The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. And he found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." Now Philip was from Beth-sa'ida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathan'a-el, and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathan'a-el said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathan'a-el coming to him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" Nathan'a-el said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." Nathan'a-el answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these." And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." (RSV)

Are you following the Lord? – “To every thoughtful man there is a benefit" (Proverbs 14:23 LXX) … and Christ implied more than this when He said, “He that seeks finds.” (Matthew 7:8) This is whey I no longer wonder how it was that Philip followed Christ. Andrew was persuaded when he heard from John, and Peter was persuaded when heard from Andrews. But Philip, not having learned anything from anyone but Christ who said to him only this, “Follow me,” immediately obeyed and did not go back. In fact, he even became a preacher to others. For he ran to Nathaniel and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Laws and the Prophets wrote.” Do you see what a thoughtful mind he had, how assiduously he meditated on the writings of Moses, expecting the advent? For the expression “we have found” belongs always to those who are in some way seeking. (St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John)

On the first Sunday of the Great Fast we celebrate the feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy [True Worship].  This is an historical feast commemorating the restoration of icons, which had been banned for several decades, to their rightful liturgical use in the year A.D. 843.  The major emphasis of this feast is the victory of the true Faith, the Faith which always triumphs. [The icon above is a detail of the icon commemorating the Restoration of Icons.]