This Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Luke and the second Sunday of October is dedicated to the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. This Sunday celebrates the affirmation of Holy Icons after 100 years of Iconoclasm. The Gospel Reading for this Sunday is from the Gospel of Luke chapter 8:5-15, which is the story of the Parable of the Sower.
It is a story that we recall about a Sower of seeds who plants them in four types of soil where only the one planted on good soil and nurtured and cultivated grows emblematic of the Holy Fathers of the Church who throughout the centuries worked in the fields of the Lord, eventually bearing an abundant crop harvest.
The Church Fathers in giving their time to doing good deeds and providing for real needs were not only receptive to God’s Word but were also sowers of the Word of God for others. This gospel and this Sunday exhorts us in practical ways to become sowers of God’s Word in your own family, parish, school and work.
In the Orthodox Church great leaders of the past, saintly guides in the spiritual life, priests and monks are called “Fathers”, for this is a sacred title which bears as much significance as it does responsibility. The people of God are a family of Saints in which the tradition of spiritual Fatherhood is powerful.
This is why the Church, on a daily basis, holds up before us Saints, both male and female, and Church Fathers who participated in the Seventh Ecumenical Council, as examples to be remembered and honored.
Glory be to God, who is wonderful in His Saints!
