My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
“LIGHT OF LIGHT, TRUE GOD OF TRUE GOD…” [Orthodox Creed]
Orthodox Christians are approaching the great festival of the virgin birth, the Nativity according to the flesh of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. Our path is brightly illuminated by a holy star to the honorable and humble cave, the manger, where the Divine Infant is born. “Nothing done by God from the beginning of time was more beneficial to all or more divine than Christ’s Nativity,” which we celebrate at Christougenna [Christmas].
Saint Gregory Palamas writes: “He is NOT a spiritual creature coming into being after previously not existing; nor flesh which is brought to birth but will soon perish; nor flesh and mind united to form a rational creature, but God and flesh mingled unconfusedly by the Divine mind to form the existence of one Theandric hypostasis, Who entered the Virgin’s womb for a time. By the good pleasure of the Father and the cooperation of the Spirit, the Logos/Word Who transcends being came into being in this womb and by means of it, and now He is delivered from it and born as an infant, not losing but preserving the signs of virginity. He is born WITHOUT SUFFERING, as He was conceived WITHOUT PASSION, FOR AS His mother was shown to be above the pleasure of passion when she conceived, so she is above grievous pains when she gives birth.”
The words of Saint Gregory Palamas should echo in our minds and hearts, when preparing to celebrate the great feast of His Divine Birth Day. This Great Day of His Nativity must not be commercialized, or trivialized and reduced to a time of eating, resting, traveling, and having fun. Christians must remain faithful to our Holy Tradition and treat all Christian Holy Days with reverence, dignity, and keeping them always sacred. It is extremely important for the followers and disciples of Christ to be pious and to perform the traditional acts of piety i.e., prayer, fasting, vigils, worship, philanthropy, repentance, forgiveness of one’s enemies, etc. but they must be done with understanding of why they are done, what their purpose is, and to be done with faith and sincere and contrite spirit. Every pious act must be real and not to do things mechanically and without meaning or not having in mind any spiritual goal. Otherwise we receive no spiritual benefit at all.
The Divine Nativity of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ is hard to grasp by the human mind. “NOT only is His Divinity inscrutable , but the manner in which He was united with flesh IS PAST UNDERSTANDING… Even though you see in the flesh the child born to the Maid who knew no husband, He is still beyond compare,” says Saint Gregory Palamas. The Divine Redeemer did not come for any other reason other than to save all of humanity. Therefore, the celebration of Christmas is all about SALVATION! Saint Gregory writes: “Now that Christ has been born, the devil is trampled down by those who were previously UNDER HIS FEET, who are no longer presumptuous, as the DESTROYER advised, but identity with the lowly (cf. Romans 12:16), AS THE SAVIOR TAUGHT THROUGH HIS DEEDS, AND WIN HEAVENLY EXALTATION THROUGH HUMILITY.”
If the Christian does not think, feel, and act as a Christian he/she cannot understand the meaning and significance of the Holy Feast-Day of His Nativity. Even the divine services of the Church will be reduced to a mere superficial ritualistic or liturgical act of piety. Outward expressions of faith are condemned by Our Lord Christ when performed hypocritically and out of pride or show. He says, “But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues” [Matthew 23:5-6]. The Pharisees considered themselves as the “elite” and “privileged” men of their time and perpetuated systematic hypocrisy which CREATED A WALL BETWEEN THE PEOPLE AND GOD.
These warnings of Christ are especially important to Orthodox Christians. This historic Church has maintained the ancient liturgical obligations, beautiful holy objects, specific rituals which externally guard righteousness, and imposing tradition, hand down through God-fearing Fathers. These rites can be performed, invoked, defended and passed on without ever being taken by faith to heart, or they can be aids, safeguards, and doorways into the true life of Christ in us, which transforms us from glory to glory. It is the responsibility of each Orthodox Christian to act in true faith and spirit.
The Katavasias of Christmas changed at Orthros (Matins)) reveal the true meaning of the Birth of Christ:
CHRIST IS BORN, glorify Him! Christ is come from heaven,
go and meet Him. Christ is on earth, arise to Him. Sing
to the Lord, all you who dwell on the earth; and in merry
spirits, O you peoples, praise His Birth. For He is
Glorified.
To the Son, begotten without flux, of the Father, before
the ages, and Who was lately made incarnate of the
Virgin without seed; to Christ God now let us cry aloud:
You have exalted the horn of our strength.
Only You are Holy, O Lord.
Jesse’s root produced a branch, O Christ, and You
its flower blossomed forth, from the Virgin who by
Habakkuk prophetically once was called
overshadowed, dense mountain. From her who
knew not man You came incarnate, the immaterial
God. Glory to your power, O Lord.
God of peace and Father of mercies, Your Son You
have sent unto us as Your Messenger, the Angel of
Great Counsel Who is granting peace. Therefore
having been guided to the Light of godly knowledge,
waking from the night to dawn, we sing Your glory,
O Lover of man.
Such as it received Jonah as an embryo, the sea beast
disgorged him from its bowels intact. With the Virgin,
though, when the Logos/Word had dwelt in her taking
on flesh, He came forth from her preserving her yet
incorrupt. For from her no fluxion suffered He, and
He kept her unaltered in childbirth.
Kontakion Hymn. Node 3
On this day the Virgin Maid goes on to the grotto to give
birth to the Pre-Eternal Logos/Word in an ineffable manner.
Dance for joy, all the inhabited earth, on hearing. Glorify
along with Angels and with the shepherds Him Who willed
and appear as a newborn Child, the Pre-Eternal God.
____________
“Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!”
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 