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God’s Triumph or Ecclesiastical Triumphalism? A Reflection from the Sunday of Orthodoxy

By Brother Christopher             Every year on the first Sunday of Lent we celebrate the “Triumph of Orthodoxy,” which officially commemorates the Seventh Ecumenical Council’s proclamation of the doctrine of the veneration of icons in the 9th century: 842 A.D. to be precise. That’s a long time ago: 1176 years. Nevertheless, it’s always a joyful occasion, one we fittingly repeat each year at the beginning of Lent. Yet, we misunderstand the feast if we view it solely in historical terms, looking backwards nostalgically to the “glory days” of Orthodoxy, when it spanned the Roman Empire, when it was understood as “Christianity” and not simply one small denomination among a vast diversity of Christian churches. We can be tempted to be self-conscious about our numerically challenged church, intimidated by our larger Christian neighbors, and miss focusing on the real challenge this feast offers us: the very revelation of God. For what is at the core of venerating icons isn’t so much