Sunday of the 7th Ecumenical Council

Today we remember the 7th Ecumenical Council that took place in Nicea in 787.  At this Ecumenical Council the Orthodox Church hailed victory for veneration of Icons.  This feast falls on October 11th if it is a Sunday.  If not then it is celebrated on the following Sunday.  Thus it was declared, "As the sacred and life-giving cross is everywhere set up as a symbol, so also should the images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, the holy angels, as well as those of the saints and other pious and holy men be embodied in the manufacture of sacred vessels, tapestries, vestments, etc., and exhibited on the walls of churches, in the homes, and in all conspicuous places, by the roadside and everywhere, to be revered by all who might see them. For the more they are contemplated, the more they move to fervent memory of their prototypes. Therefore, it is proper to accord to them a fervent and reverent adoration, not, however, the veritable worship which, according to our faith, belongs to the Divine Being alone — for the honor accorded to the image passes over to its prototype, and whoever adores the image adores in it the reality of what is there represented."

Troparion:

Most glorious are You, O Christ our God!

You have established the Holy Fathers as lights on the earth!

Through them you have guided us to the true faith!

O greatly Compassionate One, glory to You.

Kontakion:

The Son who shone forth from the Father

Was ineffably born, two-fold in nature, of a woman.

Having beheld Him, we do not deny the image of His form,

But depict it piously and revere it faithfully.

Thus, keeping the True Faith,

The Church venerates the icon of Christ Incarnate