05/17/2026
Reflection for the Sunday of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council
Today’s readings present us with two moving farewells. In the Gospel according to John, we hear the prayer of Christ at the Mystical Supper, just before His Passion. In the Acts of the Apostles, Paul the Apostle gives his farewell to the presbyters of Ephesus before his journey to Jerusalem, knowing suffering awaits him.
Today the Church also commemorates the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council held at Nicaea. This remembrance fits perfectly with today’s readings because both the Gospel and the Epistle speak about guarding the flock and preserving the truth of the faith.
The Fathers gathered at Nicaea because “savage wolves,” just as St. Paul warned, had entered the Church through the false teaching of Arius. It was Arius who taught that Christ was not truly God, but merely the highest of creatures. If this teaching were true, then humanity would not truly be saved, because only God can save mankind.
The Fathers defended the apostolic faith handed down from the beginning. They proclaimed that the Son is “of one essence with the Father,” true God from true God. Many of those bishops bore in their own bodies the scars of persecution. They were not philosophers playing with ideas. They were confessors defending the truth for which Christians had already shed their blood.
Athanasius of Alexandria, the great defender of Nicaea, wrote: “The Son of God became man so that we might become god.”
This is why doctrine matters. The faith is not an intellectual game. What we believe about Christ determines whether we truly know Him and whether we truly receive salvation.
In today’s Gospel, the Lord says: “Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me.” This is the heart of today’s Gospel. Christ does not ask the Father to remove His disciples from the world. He asks that they be kept: guarded, preserved, sanctified, in the Name of God.
Cyril of Alexandria teaches: “Christ asks not that we should be taken out of the world, but that we should be preserved from evil while living in it.”
The Christian life is not escape from the world, but faithful endurance within it. The saints did not flee the struggle. They endured it with Christ.
We live in a time when many people want spirituality without obedience, Christianity without sacrifice, and religion without the Church. But Christ did not leave behind isolated believers. He established His Body, the Church, and entrusted it to shepherds.
That is exactly what St. Paul addresses in Acts. He tells the Ephesian elders: “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” Notice first: “Take heed to yourselves.” Before a man can shepherd others, he must guard his own soul. Gregory the Theologian once wrote: “One must first be purified before purifying others; one must be instructed to instruct.”
Then Paul says they are to shepherd “the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” The Church is not a human organization or merely a social institution. The Church belongs to Christ. It was bought at the price of the Cross.
For this reason, Paul warns that “savage wolves” will come. False teachers, corruptions, divisions, and temptations would arise even from within the community itself.
John Chrysostom comments on this warning: “The wolves are not only from outside, but from among yourselves. Therefore, vigilance is required on every side.”
The Church in every age faces this danger. Error rarely arrives openly. Usually, it comes clothed in pride, novelty, compromise, or the spirit of the age.
The Fathers of Nicaea understood this well. They knew that preserving unity did not mean compromising truth. True unity comes only through fidelity to Christ and the apostolic faith. The Fathers constantly warn us that the devil does not always attack through persecution. Often, he attacks through distraction and spiritual laziness.
St. John Chrysostom also says, “Nothing is colder than a Christian who does not care for the salvation of others.”
St Paul certainly cared. He reminds the Ephesians that he served “with many tears.” He says, “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel.” Paul worked with his own hands. He endured hardship. His ministry was sacrificial, not self-serving. The Christian understanding of leadership is entirely different from worldly power. In the world, authority often means being served. In the Church, authority means sacrifice.
Ignatius of Antioch wrote that shepherds must imitate Christ, “who pleased not Himself but died for us.”
Christ Himself shows this perfectly in today’s Gospel. On the eve of His suffering, He is not concerned for Himself. He prays for His disciples. Even as He goes voluntarily to the Cross, His love remains fixed upon His flock. And then He says something remarkable, “That they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.” Not worldly happiness. Not comfort. Joy.
The joy of Christ comes through union with God. The martyrs possessed this joy in prison. The saints possessed it in poverty and hardship. This joy is born from faithfulness, purity of heart, and communion with the Holy Spirit.
At the end of the reading from Acts, the clergy and faithful embrace Paul with tears because they know they will not see him again in this life. It is a deeply human and deeply Christian moment. The Church is not an abstract institution. It is a family united in Christ.
Cyprian of Carthage wrote, “He cannot have God for his Father who does not have the Church for his mother.” This is why we pray for one another, bear one another’s burdens, forgive one another, and remain faithful to one another. Salvation is personal, but it is never individualistic.
Today, as we honor the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, we give thanks that the true faith has been preserved and handed down to us. Their courage reminds us that every generation must guard the treasure entrusted to the Church.
Today Christ still prays for His people. He still guards His Church. He still calls shepherds to vigilance and the faithful to perseverance.
So let us hear these readings personally. Guard your soul. Remain faithful to the Church.
Pray seriously. Receive the Holy Mysteries with repentance and reverence.
Do not be carried away by every new spirit or fashionable teaching.
Stay close to Christ. For only in Him is there true unity, true joy, and eternal life.
