To The Monastic And Parish Clergy
And
To Beloved Faithful of The Romanian Patriarchate,

Grace, joy and peace from God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
and from us hierarchical blessings!

Distinguished ministers of the Holy Altars,
Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord,

We are, from a liturgical standpoint, in a period of profound and amazing spiritual beauty. It is the time of the Great Lent, in which we strive, every one of us, to recapture what we have lost by accepting the presence of the sin in our lives. I mean, the state of paradise, of grace and of purity of the heart, fully and truly acquired in the Sacrament of the Holy Baptism, and constantly actualized through the other Sacraments of the Orthodox Church.

The deep sense of the Great Lent consists of an ascetic journey for forty days, as a radical renunciation to the sins through the Sacrament of Confession, and partaking in a more often and in a more conscious way the communion with the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ crucified and risen, Who overcame sin, hell and death and made us partakers to the light without end and to the eternal life.

After a week of fasting and intense prayer, the Church offers us the blessed occasion to meditate on the significance of today's Sunday, called of the Orthodoxy. It is the Sunday in which we are called to realize, in a humble and worthy way, the identity, the unity, and the actuality of our faith.

Being orthodox means not only formal affiliation to a religious institution, but means especially a way of life embodied in the dogmatic, liturgical and philanthropic tradition of the Orthodox Church. It means the right faith, the right living and the right acting/doing. Orthodoxy is that beauty that is talking about an important theologian of the 20th century in the following words: "Yes, there is a special beauty, spiritual, which can not be captured in logical formulas, but is at the same time the only true way that allows us to define what is and is not Orthodox. The experts of this beauty are the spiritual fathers, masters in “the Arts of the arts," as the Church Fathers call the asceticism. They, to say so, "have acquired skills" in the discerning of the value of spiritual life. Orthodox taste, Orthodox form are felt, but they can not be subject to arithmetical calculation;

Orthodoxy is seen/contemplated, it is not proven. That's why for anyone who wants to understand Orthodoxy, there is only one way: the direct Orthodox experience”[1].

Orthodoxy is "the salt of the earth" (Matthew 5:13), about which Jesus Christ speaks to us in the Gospel. It is the fullness of truth and the integrity of human life. Orthodoxy is, at the same time, the right faith and the right living. It is the life of Christ present and working in the life of the pious Orthodox Christian (Galatians 2, 20; Colossians 3, 3). This living in the spirit of Christ is seen especially in the lives of the saints.

Beloved spiritual sons and daughters,

This beauty of the truth of the faith and of the holiness of Christian life is celebrated on today Sunday. The origin of this holiday has at its root the dogmatic and spiritual fight for over a century (726-843) of the worshippers of the holy icons against those who denigrated and despised the holy icons, called iconoclasts.

Beginning with Emperor Leon III the Isaurian (717-741), the iconoclasm became the official religious policy of the imperial court in Constantinople, determining the very prompt and articulate apologetic reaction of St. John Damascene (675-749), who wrote Three Treatises against iconoclasts, founding the reality and meaning of the icon on the dogmatic truth of the Incarnation of the eternal Son of God. Thus, St. John Damascene states that the icon is the image that represents the visible human nature of the unseen Son of God: "Once," he says, "the intangible and formless God was not represented at all. Now, however, by the fact that "God has appeared in the flesh," they make the icon the image of God. I do not worship the matter, but I worship the Creator of matter, the Creator Who was made for me matter and He accepted to abide the matter, and to bring through matter my salvation. I will not cease to honor the matter through which my salvation has been accomplished (...). We do not defame the matter, for it is not unworthy of honor."[2]

The Seventh Ecumenical Council of September-October 787 ended a long line of persecutions and exiles for those who honored the icons. The artisans of this moment, which restored the worshiping of the icons, were Empress Irina (752-802) and the Patriarch Tarasius of Constantinople. Based on the biblical and patristic tradition, by the dogmatic definition of this Council it has been established that, as it is venerated the Holy Cross, so the holy icons should be venerated: "like the model of holy and the life-giving Cross, so that holy icons, whether of color or mosaic, or of any other suitable material, in God’s Churches, holy vessels, holy garments, walls and wood in homes and by the way; namely the icon of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ and our Most Pure Holy Mother of God, holy angels, and all saints and men."[3]

The peace of the orthodox worshipers of the holy icons did not last long because was disturbed by the crowning of iconoclast emperor Leon the Armenian, who reigned between 813-820. Theological resistance against iconoclasts of this period was assumed by St. Theodore the Studite (759-826), who clarified the Christological basis of the icons’ veneration in simple words: "We know that the Son of God, being truly man, was similar to us in all. And because man can be depicted, it means that Christ can also be depicted. And the painted icon is a holy light, a saving memory to those who see Him baptizing, performing miracles, being crucified, being buried, rising up and ascending to heaven, not denying that they would not be so, cooperating with the sight to the contemplation of the mind, and sustaining by both of them the faith in the mystery of salvation."[4]

The definitive victory of the veneration of the holy icons was established after almost thirty years of persecution and denigration by iconoclasts against them. Thus, in the first Sunday of Great Lent, March 11, 843, Empress Theodora, and the newly elected patriarch of Constantinople, Methodius (843-847), supported by the Orthodox people, after a theological encounter focused on the veneration of the icons, which took place a few days before, went together in triumphant procession from the Blacherne Church to the Cathedral Saint Sofia, proclaiming, officially and definitively, the cult of the Holy Icons. So, starting with 843, the first Sunday of the Great Lent became for the whole

Orthodox Church the day celebrating the victory of the Orthodox faith on all heresies, solemnly being proclaimed at the front door of St. Sophia Cathedral, at the end of the Divine Liturgy, the Synodicon of Orthodoxy, which contains acclamations to the defenders of the right faith and anathema to the heretics.

Dear Christian believers,

Sunday of Orthodoxy reveals an essential truth of our Christian life: God the Son is made man out of the perfect love for us, assuming Himself our human nature with all its specific features except sin. So, Christ, as St. Maximus the Confessor says, "He offers Himself to us men, as an imprint of virtue and as a living icon of the benevolence and the love for Him and between us, to persuade all of us to respond in the same way".[5] So, the incarnation of the eternal Son of God has as its scope to unite man with God in order to acquire the eternal life. Therefore, like the Holy Gospel, the icon reveals us the love of God for all men. In this regard, St. John Damascene says: "What is the book for the those knowing to read, that is the icon for those not knowing to read. And what is the word for the hearing, that is the icon for the sight, for with the help of the mind we are united with the icon."[6]

The Apostle Paul calls Christ "the image of the unseen God " (Colossians 1, 15) for us, those who were created "in the image and the likeness of God" (Genesis 1: 26), that is, according to our prototype - Christ. He is the unseen icon of God, and we are configured spiritually after this icon, that is, in the image of Christ. In this respect, St. Theodore the Studite states that the veneration of the icon of Christ is directed to the Person of Christ, not to the material of His icon: "The icon of Christ is nothing but Christ, obviously apart from the difference of substance, as has been shown several times. That is why her worship is worship to Christ, since there is nothing devoted to the matter of the icon, but only to Christ the one represented in it. And those who have only one likeness have only one worship."[7]

Since we, men, are created in the image of Christ, in all we have to do, we have to be in touch with our prototype, that is, to pay attention to the Gospel of Christ and to the way in which Christ lived, to fulfill the commandments of loving Christ and to partake in His Body and Blood. Only in this way we become living and sanctified icons of God.

Unfortunately, we are not always able to respect our peers as being created "in the image of God" meaning as living icons of Christ. Why? Because we are captives, without any critical sense, to the civilization of artificial sight, considering that the image expresses the truth. We can easily see that we live in the age of videocracy, when "the word is dethroned by the image"[8]. The more we are today invaded by more fugitive images, the poorer is the content of the communication, of the communion between people. Everything becomes an image of the limited and ephemeral material things that means that, we are "informed by seeing" without realizing that "the images can deceive more than the words" and that "for the seer (and only so) the unseen does not exist".[9] That's why a picture of him/herself, a photograph of the self becomes for me an idol: I post it on all social networks, I look forward to be as widely distributed and appreciated as possible, which coincides with the assertion among the others. I post as many photos, so I exist. It's important to be seen by others, and not being personally looked at by the eyes of others. From here idolatry begins to emerge:[10] I like to be adored, appreciated according to the images which I want to select and deliver in the public space and which may not really express who I really am beyond the outer image.

In such a context, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the communion of holy icons, is more than actual, because the holy icon reminds us a holy person living eternally. Only through the image of the holy icon, the image or the civilization of the visual can get rid of self-sufficiency, narcissism and opaque materialism. Because the true purpose of the icon is not to see it, turning it into an object of aesthetic contemplation, but to help us to live in the presence of God and of the saints. We want to be seen, heard and loved by the eternal God and all His saints, not just by the ephemeral and changing persons.

On the other hand, when we understand the person next to us as the icon or the image of God, then we no longer allow ourselves the spiritual immaturity to slander him/her, to despise him/her, to deceive him/her, to discredit him/her, to judge him/her, but to love him/her in the hope of healing his/her soul, as Christ loved us, uniquely and

plenary, on the Cross, and made us partakers of the glory of His Resurrection. Only such a perspective will help us to understand that the icon "sanctifies the times and the places; from a dwelling place, it makes a church; from the inner life of a believer, a life in a perpetual state of prayer, an internalized and uninterrupted liturgy"[11].

Beloved Christians,

As you know, it has become a tradition of reciprocal unfailing support, starting with this first Sunday of the Great Lent - Sunday of Orthodoxy – organizing a collection for the Central Missionary Fund to support pastoral, missionary and social-philanthropic projects of the Romanian Orthodox Church. That’s why, we urge you with all our love, that "each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Corinthians 9, 7), by supporting, through your obedience, the missionary work of the isolated parishes, where only elderly people still live, the poor monasteries and dioceses from both our country or from diaspora, having poor financial resources, which need places of worship to preserve the identity of faith and as nation, for thus, as the Apostle Paul says, "that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble" (2 Corinthians 1, 4).

We thank the Lord for all His benefits poured over us and we pray Him to help us live the Great Lent as a spiritual ascent towards the union with the Crucified and Risen Christ. Finally, we urge you to use the words St. Paul the Apostle: "Finally, brethren, rejoice. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen." (2 Corinthians 13, 11-14).

President of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church
† D a n i e l
Archbishop of Bucharest,
Metropolitan of Muntenia and Dobrogea,
Locum Tenens of the throne of Caesarea of ​​Cappadocia and
Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church

[1] Pavel Florenski. The Pillar and the Foundation of Truth. Attempt for an Orthodox Theodicy in Twelve Letters. Romanian Edition by Emil Iordache, Rev. Fr. Iulian Friptu and Rev. Fr. Dimitrie Popescu, introductory study by Deacon Ioan I. Ică jr., Iaşi: Polirom Publishing House 1999, p. 12.

[2] St. John Damascene. The Three Treaties against Iconoclasts (I, 16), translation from Old Greek language, introduction and notes by Rev. Fr. Dumitru Fecioru. Bucharest: Publishing House of the Bible and Orthodox Mission, 2016, pp. 65-66.

[3] Rev. Fr. Sorin Selaru (Coordinator). The Dogmatic Decisions of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. Bucharest: Basilica Publishing House, 2018, p. 553.

[4] St. Teodor the Studite. Refutatio peom. Iconom., P.G. 99, col. 456, apud Rev. Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae. Christology and iconology in the VIII-IX centuries dispute, in The Teachings of the Holy Icons reflected in the Romanian Orthodox theology. Studies and Articles (I). Bucharest: Basilica Publishing House, 2017, p. 244.

[5] St. Maximus the Confessor. The same to John the Cubiculus. Letter of Recommendation (44), in Christological and Spiritual Writings and Epistles (translation from Old Greek language, Introduction and Notes by Professor Dumitru Staniloae.) Bucharest: Publishing House of the Bible and Orthodox Mission, 2012, p. 261

[6] St. John Damascene. op.cit. (I, 17), p. 68.

[7] Theodore the Studite. In the defense of Holy Icons. The dossier of a theological resistance, Antirettic III (14) (introductory, study and translation by Deacon Ioan I. Ică jr, Sibiu: Deisis Publishing House, p. 291.

[8] Giovanni Sartori. Homo videns. Imbecilization through television and the post-thinking (translation from Italian by Mihai Elin) Bucharest: Humanitas Publishing House, 2005, p. 11.

[9] Ibidem, pp. 25, 54, 66.

[10] Sorin Dumitrescu. We and the Icon (I). 31 + 1 discourses to learn the icon. Bucharest: The Anastasia Foundation Publishing House, 2010, p. 59: "An icon whose similarity does not refer to the prototype, but to itself, is an idol, and its veneration automatically becomes blasphemous."

[11] Paul Evdokimov. Art of the Icon - a theology of beauty (the collection "Art and Religion" 1), translated by Grigore Moga and Petru Moga. Bucharest: Meridiane Publishing House, 1993, p. 155.