NON-Triumph of Orthodoxy

Triumph of Orthodoxy. Photo: sofija.com

The Triumph of Orthodoxy, which we joyfully celebrate this day, is merely a subject of mockery and ridicule for the people of this world. But for us, it is an opportunity to reflect on what exactly we are celebrating today.

We celebrate the triumph of the Crucified One over death, hell, and sin. The Crucifixion is not a throne of glory but a path of pain and suffering. This is precisely the path the Church walks on earth. And this is where its triumph lies – not in a throne and sceptre, but in the Cross, which has become the symbol and banner of victory. Our triumph, therefore, is in our communion with Christ’s Golgotha, with His crucifixion.

In a world disfigured by the Fall, everything has been turned upside down. Metaphorically speaking, humanity fell from the heights of paradise onto the earth headfirst and has continued to live in this state ever since. From that moment on, everything that appears upright in this world is, in relation to Heaven, actually inverted. The Heavenly world is reflected in an earthly, mirror-like reversal.

When the Church reflects Heaven on earth in its true form, the rest of the world sees everything in it upside down.

And so it happens. We call victors those who “had trial of mockings and scourgings… chains and imprisonment.…. were stoned, sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword, wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented” (from the Apostolic reading for the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy).

As paradoxical as it may seem, in the mirror-opposite reality of the Kingdom of God, people are glorified in Heaven to the same degree as they were humiliated on earth. This is precisely what the parable of the rich man and Lazarus teaches us.

From this perspective, we can analyse Divine Providence. God operates in our world according to an “upside-down” logic. If any of us, having the financial means, needed tools for gardening or home renovations, we would naturally choose the most reliable and durable ones. If we could afford it, we would buy a strong, dependable car rather than a cheap one that would soon break down.

God has no lack of omnipotence – yet for some reason, He always chooses the weakest, flimsiest, and least reliable instruments to accomplish His will.

Why did the Jewish people become the “chosen nation”? At the same time, ancient civilisations such as India and China were flourishing, with their millennia-old philosophical and religious traditions. Why not Mesopotamia or the Persians? Why not the Egyptians, for that matter? One could have built a solid foundation upon such an ancient culture. And yet, God chose a week nation that does not have its own statehood, without even a written language (which the Jews would later “borrow” from the Phoenicians). A people with no cultural heritage, no history, no past. And yet, for some reason, God chose them!

Then, God led these slaves out of Egypt through Moses. And once again, in the person of his prophet, God chose not a great orator with eloquent speech but a man who stuttered to negotiate with Pharaoh. And the chosen people behaved according to their level: in the desert, they constantly grumbled, whined, and found fault with everything: there was no water or meat, then something else was wrong. The moment Moses left them unattended, they immediately melted down their gold to make a calf and began dancing around it.

Having conquered the Promised Land solely by God’s help, the Israelites were quick to turn to the pagan tribes around them, adopting their customs and betraying the One True God. Then, they grew tired of God’s rule over them and demanded a king “to be like other nations”. They killed the very best among them – those who proclaimed God’s will. Eventually, they even divided themselves into two warring kingdoms, which ultimately led to their captivity.

And yet, this is the people God chose to shape the destiny of the world!

The entire life of our Lord Jesus Christ, from birth to death, was a paradox of Divine "weakness".

The Creator of the universe "has nowhere to lay His head". While multiplying loaves, He Himself endures hunger. Though able to summon legions of angels, He suffers the mockery and cruelty of His executioners. Even after rising from the dead, He does not reveal Himself in victorious glory to Caiaphas, Pilate, or Annas, any of those who had said, "If you are the Son of God, come down from the Cross, and we will believe in you."

And this pattern continues. In the first century, the Apostle Paul wrote words that will always remain relevant in the Church: "For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong."

The entire Sermon on the Mount, from the perspective of the earthly world, is an upside-down system of values. Christ calls "blessed", which means "happy", "the poor in spirit", "those who mourn", the "meek", "those who hunger and thirst", "the persecuted", and "the slandered". And all this, He says, is a reason to "rejoice and be glad". For this world, standing on its head, such statements seem like madness. That is why the world will readily embrace the one who comes in place of Christ, for the human heart will feel closer to the anti-Christ.

Yet one day, this world – this earthly anti-mirror of Heaven – will be shattered by Heaven itself.

Then everything will fall into place. The rich will become poor, and the poor will become rich. Those who wept will laugh, and those who laughed will mourn. The wronged and powerless will be comforted, while their oppressors will face judgment. And even now, our conscience assures us that this will indeed happen. Somewhere deep within, we sense and understand: for everything, there will be an answer. Moreover, those with perceptive hearts can already see with their inner vision that the executioner who kills an innocent victim destroys himself; the thief who robs another is the one truly impoverished; the liar deceives not others but himself.

The Christian who has kept faith and loyalty to God at the cost of his own life has not died – he has already risen. Through our spiritual experience, we already know that the dead can be far stronger than the living. Even now, we see around us people who are the walking dead, while from icons, the living saints gaze upon us. This knowledge has long been carried by the Church in the lived experience of the righteous.

Thus, the triumph of the Orthodox Church is the reflection of a heavenly glory that has not yet been fully revealed but is already present. Today, our Church triumphs just as Christ did: beaten and wounded, yet silent before His accusers, cursing no one.

He silently sacrificed Himself for the sins of the world. He triumphed over the world, death and the devil.

What is important is that each of us who wishes to share in this triumph with Christ must also offer ourselves as a sacrifice to God. Only in this way can we attain victory. The hope that we might somehow "cling on from the side" and slip unnoticed among the saved into the gates of paradise is an illusion. Entry into the Kingdom of God is by admission only – through tickets stamped with our own personal Golgotha, however small, and our own cross. On each must also be inscribed our personal roadmap of life: with a bold red line marking the path set by God, and a dashed line tracing the choices we have made ourselves. The red line and the dashed line must align as closely as possible.

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