The sixteen hundred year anniversary of the Council of Nicea in 1925 was the occasion for Pope Pius XI to promulgate the universal celebration in the Roman Church of the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King. This feast is also celebrated in all churches of the Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. The purpose of the feast, according to Pius Parsch, is “to renew in the minds and hearts of the faithful the ancient concept of Christ as divine King who, enthroned at the right hand of the Father, will return at the end of time in might and majesty.”
The theme of Christ’s kingship is celebrated often (if not also weekly) throughout the Church’s year of grace. Yet this theme is accentuated on the Sunday before the Orthodox churches in the Western tradition glorify the Lord who is triumphant in all His saints.
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