On Sunday, March 9, 2025, the First Sunday of Great Lent, the St. Sava Parish in Cleveland, OH celebrated the Triumph of Orthodoxy, the resplendent victory over iconoclasm. 

His Grace Bishop Irinej of Washington-New York and Eastern America, celebrated the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, concelebrated by Protopresbyter Dragoslav Kosic, Parish Priest, and assisted by the Deacon Predrag Lemajic.

Following the reading of the Gospel, Bishop Irinej presented a very moving and edifying sermon. In the first part of his homily, His Grace spoke about Great Lent, the preparatory weeks, and their importance of leading us to our Lenten journey to the Feast of Feasts. His Grace continued to speak about the Gospel reading from St. John transmitting Christ’s relationship to and dialogue with Nathaniel to our own relationship with God.

Interpreting the Epistle of the day (Heb. 11:13), which speaks of the attestation of faith in the Old Testament, wherein the righteous did not receive what was promised them by God, Who has foreseen something better for us. The same being revealed in the appointed Gospel lection (John 1:51), “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

His Grace then concluded speaking about the historic Triumph of Orthodoxy, the restoration of icons led by Patriarch Methodius the Confessor, Empress Regent Theodora and her young son, Emperor Michael IV on March 11, 843 AD. Largely due to their efforts, today we rightfully worship and glorify God in His holy Saints, whom we venerate through icons. 

Following the Prayer Before the Ambo, all parishioners, young and old alike, processed around the Church carrying their icons signifying the solemn Triumph of Orthodoxy and honoring the initiators of the first procession held in 843 AD in Constantinople, and those who have fought iconoclasm, many of whom gave of their lives in preserving the orthodoxy of their faith.

Toward the conclusion of Liturgy, likened unto the God-fearing Christians who once followed the Empress Theodora and Emperor Michael IV, alongside Patriarch Methodius, celebrated the Triumph of Orthodoxy with His Grace Bishop Irinej and the clergy by processing with icons and reciting the Synodicon of Orthodoxy from the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787 AD) and the Nicean-Constantinoplian Creed (325 & 381 AD) in both the Serbian and English languages.