Our Melkite parish hosts the exhibition of Byzantine icons, which is organised by the British Association of Iconographers, on the first Sunday of Lent, the Sunday of Orthodoxy at St. Barnabas church. Most iconographers exhibit their icons at St. Barnabas church for one day, and they end their exhibition with the celebration of the Melkite vespers. Also, our parishioners, as well as the iconographers are invited to share a lunch in the church hall after the liturgy. Deacon Richard Downer is in charge of this activity.
The Church proposes on the first Sunday of Lent that we venerate the holy icons of Christ and of the saints, and that we commemorate the second Council of Nicea (787 A.D.), which defines the doctrine concerning the veneration of images and relics. This veneration must be clearly distinguished from the cult of adoration, or latria, offered to God alone. In 843 A.D., the Synod of Constantinople instituted for the First Sunday of Lent a special celebration to commemorate the triumph of the Church and called this day the “Sunday of Orthodoxy”, or “Sunday of the True Faith”. Later, and particularly at the Council of Blachernes in 1166, the feast was extended to include the celebration of the triumph of the True Faith over all heresies of the past.
