My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!
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PEACE FROM GOD CHRIST IS BORN!
By Patriarch Pavle of Serbia (+ 2009) of blessed memory
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (St. John 6:68).
Persons and events come and go with the relentless march of time. That which today seems important and crucial may be completely forgotten tomorrow. Persons regarded by their contemporaries as influential and powerful are forgotten as if they never existed. History brings and then carries away everything with itself, it concocts and then abandons to oblivion. Everything appears temporary and relative, even we ourselves. Man can carry on in various ways with the pessimism of history, but it is far more important how God sees history. By His constant presence and action in history God, through what only appears like a meaningless course of events, prepares the way that leads toward a predetermined goal. By His entering into history, He has transformed history so that particular events are not relative and temporary, but on the contrary, they are unique, unrepeatable and of crucial importance both for God and for man. God's presence in history cures history itself of its natural pessimism.
And precisely today, here and now, for the two thousandth time we celebrate and remember the event that divides history in two; the events so significant that we count the years from it and now complete the second millennium. Two thousand years have passed since that night when history's greatest miracle took place in the cave near Bethlehem when the Son of God Himself came and put on flesh and became like one of us and "dwelt among us" (St. John 1:14). He is none other than the Eternal and Uncreated Son, the Word or Logos of God, through Whom all things were made. Since that night nothing in human life and history is as it was before. "The Sun of Righteousness" (Mal. 4:2) was born to us and all the depths of human fallenness and struggle against God have been filled by His warmth and light. From the night on, all human life and the history of every nation comes down to only one dilemma, to one simple question: Are you for or against Christ? One simple question, but a question so crucial that our entire life and the future of our people hinges upon it. That question overshadows and defines every historical period of the past twenty centuries.
For or against Him? Earlier periods that were, at least for the most part, "for Christ," brought forth fruit that stands as an example and a starting point for all times. That fruit is called Christian culture. It represents an attempt to Christianize every segment of personal, social and national life, so nothing remains outside or apart from Christ. We call it an attempt since nothing in history is absolute and final. But the value is truly in the deeply Christian attempt since a basic characteristic of Christianity is its all-inclusiveness--that Christ be all in all.
Let us simply remember how the writer of the life of the Serbian Lazarevic said to him, that he wished that "life throughout his land truly be like the Church of God." The fruits of life directed in this way are magnificent. Christianity was poured into the everyday way of life. It Christianized every soul and created the atmosphere in which all personal and social life developed. No matter what area of life in that period we examine, we always find at its core a Christian vision and understanding of life and the world. It was an inexhaustible source of vitality and, most importantly, optimism for the age that declared itself "for Christ." Even the tragedies that occurred, such as our Kosovo, could take on a Christian character in the national consciousness. Historical periods cannot be repeated, neither can models from the past be transplanted into the present. But what remains as an example for all times is the creative effort to base all of life on Christ, so that there are no spheres of life or activities that honor laws or rules other than Christian ones...
"...What is man, and what is he worth? The twentieth century said that man is nothing, but this feast today tells us, just as that day two thousand years ago told us, that man is sacred. And that applies not only to his spirit or his soul but also to his body. The whole of man, body, and soul together, is an inviolable shrine of incalculable and eternal worth. Today's feast tells us this, the day on which the Bodiless becomes embodied and on which the Son of God becomes the Son of man. This precisely is what is radically new in our faith.
That the soul is holy is suggested by other religions, but that the body is equally sacred is found nowhere else. During the whole first eight centuries of Christianity, which were characterized by struggles against heresies, the Church unyieldingly defended this truth: that the whole of man, both and body and soul, is holy. And that applies to every human being, regardless of his religion or nationality. Every murder, every disrespect of human personality and freedom is sin, even more so when it is justified on ideological nationalistic grounds.
In contrast to this dismal picture of the twentieth century, today we see before us a young mother holding her newly-born Child to her bosom, and are moved to feel one of the greatest of human virtues and attributes: a warm heart. The motherly love of the Most Holy Theotokos permeates today's entire event and radiates a warm feeling within us. Christmas is the feast of warmth and of warm human hearts. If it seems that there is no place today a person can "warm" himself, it is because human hearts have grown cold. They have become hard and unfeeling even towards the suffering of so many of our brothers and sisters who in recent years have been left homeless, exiled from their birthplaces, and some even without their loved ones. (Source: Orthodox Heritage)
(To be continued)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George