The Sunday of Orthodoxy and the Image of God (Genesis 1:26–27)
Gerald Largent
Sunday of Orthodoxy — The Triumph of Orthodoxy
On the First Sunday of Great Lent, the Church celebrates the radiant feast known as the Sunday of Orthodoxy; the Triumph of Orthodoxy. At first glance, the word “triumph” may suggest political victory or ideological conquest. Yet the Church’s understanding of triumph is profoundly different. It is not the victory of one faction over another, but the victory of truth over falsehood, light over darkness, and the Incarnate Christ over every distortion of His saving work.
This feast commemorates the restoration of the holy icons in the year 843, following more than a century of iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire. During that turbulent period, icons were removed from churches, destroyed, and forbidden under the mistaken belief that their veneration was idolatry. Faithful clergy, monastics, and laypeople suffered exile, persecution, and even martyrdom for defending the Church’s teaching on icons.
At the heart of the controversy was not merely art, but Christology. The Church affirmed that because the Son of God truly became man—took on real flesh, a visible face, a tangible human nature—He can be depicted. As St. John of Damascus boldly proclaimed, “I do not worship matter; I worship the Creator of matter, who became matter for my sake.” The defense of icons was therefore a defense of the Incarnation itself. If Christ is truly God and truly man, then His human form may be depicted, and through that depiction we are led to contemplate the mystery of God made visible.
The Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicea II, 787) clarified the Church’s teaching: the honor shown to the icon passes to the prototype. Veneration is not the worship due to God alone. When we bow before an icon of Christ, the Theotokos, or the saints, we do not adore wood and paint; we honor the person represented. The icon becomes a window into heaven, a participation in the communion of saints.
The restoration of the icons in 843 under Empress Theodora was marked by a solemn procession in Hagia Sophia. Icons were carried triumphantly back into the churches, and the faithful proclaimed the eternal memory of those who defended the Orthodox Faith. Since then, each year on this Sunday, we renew that proclamation. We affirm the true faith handed down by the Apostles and Fathers.
Yet the Triumph of Orthodoxy is not only a historical commemoration. It is deeply personal. Great Lent has just begun. We have embarked on a journey of repentance, fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. The true restoration we seek is not only that of icons upon walls, but of the icon of God within ourselves.
The Book of Genesis tells us that mankind was created in the image and likeness of God. Sin has obscured that image, as dust settles upon a once-bright icon. Through repentance, confession, and the ascetical labors of Lent, that image is cleansed and restored. The triumph of Orthodoxy becomes the triumph of Christ in the human heart.
Orthodoxy is not merely correct doctrine, although right belief is essential. It is right glory, right worship, right living. It is faith expressed in love, humility, and obedience. The Church calls us not simply to defend the Faith intellectually, but to embody it. Every act of forgiveness, every hidden prayer, every struggle against the passions is a small triumph of Orthodoxy.
On this Sunday, as we hold icons in procession and proclaim, “This is the Faith of the Apostles! This is the Faith of the Fathers! This is the Faith which has established the universe!” we are reminded that the Church stands not by human strength but by divine truth. The same Christ who entered history, who allowed His face to be seen and touched, now calls us to behold His glory and reflect it to the world.
May this holy season renew in us the living icon of Christ, that our lives may bear witness to His Incarnation, His Cross, and His Resurrection.
From the St. Panteleimon Orthodox Christian Outreach bulletin for March 1, 2026.