Seventh Sunday after Pascha. Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, Octoechos Tone 6; Our Holy Father Nicephorus the Confessor (829)
Read
Acts 20:16-18, 28-36; John 17:1-13
Today we commemorate the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council (325). At that time, there was a priest from Alexandria named Arius. He taught that Jesus Christ was not God but only a created being contrary to the Apostolic Teaching that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully human. Arius did not relent. Apparently, St. Nicholas of Myra was so upset with Arius’ impertinence and obstinance that he struck Arius (and was taken from his episcopacy and jailed and then later reinstated – it’s a long story). In the end, Arius’s teaching was condemned and the Apostolic Teaching was upheld. We commemorate these Fathers because of their witness to the trust of who is Jesus Christ.
The Gospel reading is taken from just after the Last Supper, it is part of what we call the Lord’s great priestly prayer before His Passion and Death. It confirms that very same Apostolic Teaching that the Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully human and, according to the Monk of the Eastern Church, in both a pastoral and doctrinal manner.
… this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent… for I have given them the words which you gave me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you… I am praying for them… that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
As we continue to celebrate the feast of the Ascension of our Lord, we await the coming of the Holy Spirit. Let us ask that we been given the grace of how much our Lord, the God-Man, loves and cares for us, and the courage and the joy to proclaim the Gospel to others like the Apostles on the day of Pentecost.
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