We may wonder, living in these times, centuries after the 1st Ecumenical Council, what that council has to do with us. Maybe we understand that the council established important truths about our faith in Christ, but we still feel that it isn’t something that really touches our daily life. How often, on any given day, do we think about the 1st Ecumenical Council, and, perhaps, breathe a sigh of relief because the teachings of Arius were stopped?

There are a number of ways, though, that the 1st Ecumenical Council has to do with us. First of all, it has to do with us in the same way that all the feasts of the Church have to do with us. We are now in the time between the Lord’s Ascension, and Pentecost. In other words, we are at a particular point in the Liturgical year, which is a cycle we repeat each year. Just like the seasons pass as the earth revolves around the sun, so we experience the cycle of the Church year again and again. As we do so we are being reminded of important spiritual lessons, and invited to worship God “in spirit and in truth.”

We also find that each of these feasts is a celebration of something particular that God has done for us, out of His love for us. And what God has done for us tells us something about us and our life.

In the Ascension, the Lord rises to Heaven, making a way for us also to ascend. On this feast we are reminded to anticipate the Lord’s coming again, living our life in a state of expectation. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples, baptizing the Church and bestowing the precious “gift of the Holy Spirit” that is granted and sealed at our Chrismation. The reality of our need for the Holy Spirit to live as Christians is brought home to us on this feast, and we have the opportunity to renew this “seal.”

Likewise, on this Sunday of the Holy Fathers, we are reminded of a number of things. We are reminded that the Holy Spirit didn’t come to isolated individuals. He came to those who were gathered together as the Body of Christ. Jesus spoke to the Father in the Gospel passage we heard today, praying, “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” We are called to be one Body, united like the Father and the Son are united. The Holy Spirit is also united with the Father and the Son, and unites the Trinity with us, but this is connected with the concrete Body of the Church; the Holy Spirit joins us to the Body, and acts through the Body.

We are also reminded, today, of the danger of division caused by heresy. In today’s passage from Acts, St. Paul warns the elders - the clergy - of the church in Ephesus, saying, “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” He tells them to be alert, because of the danger of Christians being drawn away by false teachers.

Arius was indeed one of these false teachers, who taught that Jesus Christ was not really God. To many people at the time of the 1st Ecumenical Council, his teaching made sense. It seemed very rational, less foolish from a worldly perspective than the idea that Jesus Christ was God. There are plenty of Ariuses in today’s world. The danger is no less for us than it was for the Ephesians. We have to be alert, wary of “men speaking perverse things,” as St. Paul said. There are savage wolves; it’s a strong expression, but the point is that lies hurt people, and there are liars in the world.

Finally, while we could speak of many other things that this Sunday of the Holy Fathers teaches us, I will mention just one more, which is that “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” This teaching of the Lord’s which is only mentioned here in the book of Acts is at the heart of the Gospel and of our Christian lives. God is a giver; He gives endlessly, and so teaches by example that it is more blessed to give than to receive. He created the whole visible world as a gift for us. He is not interested in taking.

Takers - those who are greedy - can be bribed; they can be bought. But in the passage from Deuteronomy that we heard at Vespers last night, it says that God will not “by any means accept a bribe.” Everything already belongs to Him: the heavens, and the earth, and “all things that are therein.” God cannot be bought, because all things are His already. But He desires to share all things with us.

Arius wanted to take something for himself. He wanted to take the prestige and glory of making a name for himself by teaching something new and captivating. All false teachers, and those who lead the little ones astray, are takers, wanting to take some pleasure, some power for themselves, while trampling on those who get in their way.

The Holy Fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Council could not be bribed. They refused to sell out. They wanted to give to the children of the Church the unadulterated Faith; they wanted to impart the truth. They, and the whole Church, live the reality that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Countless martyrs shed their blood, as Christ shed His blood, in order to give truth and life to the children of the Church. It is more blessed to lay down one’s life for the other; there is no greater love than to give this gift.

It’s one thing to be a receiver; we are all the receivers, the recipients of God’s gift. At the Liturgy we receive the precious gifts of the Eucharist. This is a very blessed thing, and leads us to the further blessing of self-giving. It’s another thing to be a taker. That’s what this world teaches us to be. To be like a savage wolf, biting the others and seizing what we want for ourselves. People demand their rights, and forget about what their supposed rights do to other people. Society’s leaders claim rights for the adults, and leave the children to suffer.

This is not the way given to us by the Lord. It is not the way of life. We are created to be givers, like God. We are called to sacrifice, to offer a sacrifice of love. The Holy Fathers teach us this, and themselves lay down their lives to pass on the true faith to us. This is the glorious reality that we are celebrating today, and it is the challenge that we receive. Are we willing to be what God has made us to be? Are we willing to be givers?

May the Holy Spirit come and abide in us, uniting us as one Body. May we receive ever more fully the gift of the true and life-giving Faith that has been handed down to us by the Holy Fathers. And may the divine self-giving of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit inspire and enable us to fulfill our calling to lay down our lives and pour ourselves out in love for one another. Amen.