MARCH 13, SUNDAY. THE FIRST WEEK IS THE TRIUMPH OF ORTHODOXY

The Triumph of Orthodoxy is celebrated on the first week (Sunday) of Lent. It was established in Greece in the IX century, in memory of the final victory over the enemies of Orthodoxy - the iconoclasts. The teaching about the veneration of icons, based on the Holy Scriptures and approved by the custom of the first Christians, remained intact until the eighth century. But the Iconoclastic heresy, which originated in Greece itself, spread to many countries. The Church of God was persecuted, more so than by the pagans. For more than 100 years there were tears and the innocent blood of the True Orthodox who fought for the right to represent Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Mother of God and the saints on icons and to pray to them before icons. These Orthodox were imprisoned, tortured, and executed. Honorable icons and relics of saints were burned.

After the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787), which consolidated the veneration of icons, the rate of persecution subsided, but only in the mid 9th century were the iconoclasts released from prison and confinement and returned to their former positions, whereas the iconoclasts were invited either to abandon their error or to cease their church services. The Christ-loving queen Theodora declared: "Whoever does not honor the image of our Lord, His Blessed Mother, and all the saints, let him be accursed!"