A Little Theology – Sermon, 14 July 2019
The Lord said to his disciples, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 4:14-16 in today’s Gospel reading)
Today we celebrate the Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, the one that took place in Chalcedon in the year 451 – a long time ago. Most of the saints we honour in the Orthodox Church lived many centuries ago. Is it because there are very few saints among us today? I don’t think so. I’ve known quite a few myself, and only a few of them were on Mount Athos. Most of the saints I’ve known are ordinary people with ordinary jobs and lives. Some have been right here in this Holy Trinity Church of Portland!
We celebrate saints of the past because of the extraordinary circumstances in which their light shone. Most of today’s saints shine their light in ordinary circumstances, in which the Holy Spirit guides them to live humbly, quietly, far from the spotlight. So many of today’s saints will never get their haloes in icons, but will get their haloes directly from the hand of the Saviour.
You see, the quiet saints of today have something very important in common with Jesus Christ. But let’s backtrack to all those centuries ago.
Christianity spread around the Mediterranean during the period known as the Hellenistic age. Now Hellenistic thought could not accept the union of two perfect principles—δύο τέλεια έν γενέσθαι ου δύναται—‘two perfects cannot become one’. Because of this fundamental philosophical obstacle, it took the church four centuries to work out the most important doctrines about Christ, so that Christian foolishness could finally triumph over Greek ‘wisdom’. ‘The Word became flesh’; but deity did not become humanity, nor was humanity transformed into deity. That is the core of the decision made by the Fathers of the Council of Chalcedon. It is truly one of the most profound statements of Christian belief:
‘In conformity with the tradition of the Fathers, we unanimously proclaim that we should confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, perfect in deity and perfect in humanity, true God and true man, composed of a reasonable soul and body, being consubstantial with the Father through the Divinity and consubstantial with us through the humanity, alike to us in all, save sin, born of the Father before all the worlds in His deity, born in these last times of Mary the Virgin, Mother of God, in His humanity, for us and for our salvation; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only-Begotten, who was made known in two natures without being mingled (ἀσυγχύτως), without change (ἀτρέπτως), indivisibly (ἀδιαιρέτως), inseparably (αχωρίστως, in such a way that the union does not destroy the difference of the two natures, but on the contrary the properties of each nature only remain the more firm since they are found united in one person or hypostasis which is neither separated nor divided into two persons, being the one and the same person of the Son, only-Begotten, God and Word, Lord Jesus Christ.’
(Doctrinal Definition of the Council at Chalcedon, as quoted in Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, page 143)
The union of the two natures is expressed by four negative definitions: ἀσυγχύτως, ἀτρέπτως, ἀδιαιρέτως, αχωρίστως. We know the fact of the union of the two natures in one person, but the ‘how’ of this union remains for us a mystery based on the incomprehensible distinction—identity of the nature and of the person. The Divine Person, Christ, has in Him two principles which are different and united at the same time.
And that, dear friends is also the mystery of our union with Christ. We are different, but we can be united with Christ. And that’s because he was fully human – “alike to us in all, save sin,” in the words of Chalcedon. Jesus said, I am the light of the world; yet he also commands us today to be the light of the world. When we are united with him, we are the quiet saints of today. We do the work of light without drawing attention to ourselves – because for the most part our lives are unremarkable by worldly standards; But our lives are remarkable by Christ’s standards. And for us, those standards are the only ones that matter.