Synodicon of Orthodoxy - Part 5

"This reproach wherewith the enemies of the Lord reproached, wherewith they reproached the recompense of His Christ, was remembered by God, Who was besought by His own compassion, and Who yielded to the prayers of His Mother, and moreover His apostles and all His saints who, with Him, were rendered of no account by the insolent defamation of the holy icons, so that even as the saints suffered in the flesh, so might they, as it were, suffer with Him the insults directed against the holy icons God then wrought later that which had been counseled today, and He subsequently brought about that which He had previously performed; previously, because after many years during which the holy icons were spurned and dishonored, He re-established true piety. "

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besought by His own compassion: What caused God to remember the affliction of his recompense? First, it is in His nature to notice when His own are suffering. Why is this? Because when we suffer, He suffers. Compassion means "suffering with." So when the Orthodox were bing tortured and killed by the heretics God felt it. He could not ignore it. We are his body, so just as my brain is aware of the pain in my foot when I step on a tack, God feels any pain inflicted on the Church.

Who yielded to the prayers of His Mother : There is quite a history in this statement, and any person from the Ancient Near East would know exactly what it means. It means, talking to the Queen Mother, one who has earned the automatic attention, respect, and love of the king. We can see how this kind of relationship works in 1 Kings chapter 2. The chapter begins with Solomon as king of Israel but immediately jumps to a converstion between Adonijah and Solomon's Mother.

Adojiah said to Bathsheba " Speak, I pray thee, unto Solomon the king..." And Bathsheba said, "Well; I will speak for thee unto the king." Bathsheba therefore went unto king Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand. Then she said, "I desire one small petition of thee; I pray thee, say me not nay." And the king said unto her, "Ask on, my mother: for I will not say thee nay."

Thus it is and always has been with Queen Mothers. The Queen Mother, by virtue of her relationship to the King has the King's ear and can serve as a conduit for supplication. Of course, a King can say "no", as Solomon denied Bathsheba's request, but sometimes a King grants the request, even when he'd rather not, as in the case of Mary and Jesus at the wedding in Cana (John 2).

His apostles and all His saints who, with Him, were rendered of no account by the insolent defamation of the holy icons : I have a ot of Icons in my house. Sometimes the boys will get them down off the walls to sleep with them, and they will wind up under the bed, or between the bed andthe wall. And I have been known to just pick them up and set them on a table, or on top of the dresser, and thngs get piled on top of them, or one of the boys grabs it and uses it to build a house, or to hit his older brother, or...I will never carelessly stack or handle Icons again. In short, if our praise reaches God and His holy Ones through the icons, so do our insults.

so might they, as it were, suffer with Him the insults directed against the holy icons: All suffering does not automatically end when we are in Heaven. It is still possible to suffer in Heaven because of things done on Earth.

after many years during which the holy icons were spurned and dishonored, He re-established true piety. : True devotion to God precludes the spurning or dishonoring of Icons.