Sunday of Orthodoxy

THE WOODLANDS, Texas– It’s a one-of-a-kind, ancient celebration that dates back to the 9th Century, and it is being celebrated in The Woodlands. The public is invited to attend The Sunday of Orthodoxy marking the final defeat of Iconoclasm and the restoration of icons to the Church in AD 843. A special service begins at 5 p.m. on March 1 at St. Cyril of Jerusalem Orthodox Church. Also called “The Triumph of Orthodoxy,” the commemoration is always held on the first Sunday of Great Lent.

This year, the Orthodox Church’s Easter falls one week behind Easter in the Western Church. The difference in the time that Easter is celebrated between East and West is because the Eastern Church uses the Julian calendar, which allows Easter to sometimes coincide with Passover, as it did during the time of Christ and the Apostles, and the Western Church uses the Gregorian calendar, which is more astronomically accurate, but sometimes puts Easter before Passover.

The word icon is the Greek word for image. A holy icon is a graphic image or picture drawn in a stylistic manner on a piece of wood. Holy icons are pictures of Jesus, Mary, all the Saints, and biblical events. Icons are considered “windows into heaven,” because they help people understand the events of the Gospels and bring them closer to God. In the times of the early church, most people could not read or did not have access to the Gospels to read. So icons were drawn to use as teaching tools to help explain the events of the Gospel. For example, we can’t depict God in an icon because no one has ever seen God. However, because God came into the world as the man Jesus, who had flesh and blood, icons depicting Jesus can be drawn.

Why did icons have to be restored to the church?

Some early Christians and others outside the church mistakenly thought that Christians within the church were actually worshipping the icons. This was and is totally untrue. Christians do not worship icons; they venerate them because icons teach us and help us reflect on the events in the Gospels. These mistaken Christians smashed the icons and so were called “iconoclasts.”

The iconoclastic controversy occurred from AD 726 until AD 780 and again from AD 815 through AD 843 when Empress Theodora permanently stamped it out. Thenceforth, icons returned to being “open books to remind us of God.” The mysteries of the Christian faith unfold visually when one enters an Orthodox church, thus helping those who do not have time to study theology and those of us who wish to continue to deepen our understanding of the faith.

Sunday of Orthodoxy services include clergy and the faithful processing around the church holding icons of their patron or parish saints. There are 21 Orthodox churches in the greater Houston area, but only one in The Woodlands–St. Cyril of Jerusalem. Clergy and members of all of these 21 churches are invited to attend the Sunday of Orthodoxy service each year at whichever Orthodox Church it might be held.

Won’t you join us as well at St. Cyril of Jerusalem Orthodox Church (3333 S. Panther Creek Drive, behind Hope Point Anglican Church) to experience this ancient ceremony?

If you would like to find out more about the most ancient of Christian churches in the modern world, visit our website www.stcyril.us. You can also email Fr. John at monkjohn@gmail.com or call (281) 298-3232.

About St. Cyril of Jerusalem Orthodox Christian Church

St. Cyril of Jerusalem Orthodox Christian Church was established in 2004 after 6 families who had been meeting in homes requested that Archbishop Dimitri Royster approve the establishment of a mission church in The Woodlands. He gave his blessing and recommended that the church be named after St. Cyril of Jerusalem. After the Archbishop’s blessing, the church moved to a storefront near Rayford and I-45, where it remained for several years, until in 2010 after another growth spurt, it moved to the current location in the rear chapel of the Hope Pointe Anglican Church campus at 3333 S. Panther Creek Drive. Since then, the regular membership has increased by 50%. Today, St. Cyril serves Orthodox faithful from The Woodlands, Magnolia, Montgomery, Spring, and Katy. All are welcome, whether cradle Orthodox of any ethnicity, to converts, to those searching for a new spiritual home. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of America (OCA) Diocese of the South, which has parishes, monasteries, and missions located in 14 states on the Southern and Southwestern United States. All services are conducted in English.