I felicitate You, O all-honourable fathers, brothers and sisters, beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, on
the occasion of [this] great Feast of the Nativity of God the Word, our Lord
Jesus Christ, saluting you with the words of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist
Luke, who declared unto us this joy: "today hath been born unto you in the city of David, the Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord" (Lk. 2, 11).
Heaven
rejoiced at the birth of the Son of God, and the angels hymned His coming,
with paeans of praise proclaiming peace amongst men; announcing the birth
of the promised Messiah, come to take the sins of the world upon Himself.
For almost two thousand years, this angelic song has declared unto us the
coming of Christ the Saviour into the world.
Many
of us, today, beholding the discord in the Church and the calamities occurring
throughout the world, will say: what is there to rejoice about; where is
that promised peace; where is that good will amongst men? But it is man
himself who is the source through which evil seizes upon the world with an
ever-tightening grip.
We
are witnesses to the fact that the Nativity of our Lord has been made into
a "seasonal" festival, immuring in total oblivion Him, in Whose honour this
Feast was established. Christmas without Christ, and peace without Christ?!
Is such a thing possible? Is this the Christian attitude to the Saviour's
coming into the world? The Peace of Christ and that peace which is ever
more vociferously spoken of around us are two totally contrary concepts.
The Peace of Christ is peace with God, the peace that pervadeth our conscience;
it is genuine peace, filling man's soul with inexpressible blessedness, to
which nothing earthly can compare.
Contemporary
man, undesirous of knowing Christ and His true Church, screams with wicked
cunning of "peace on earth"; and it is they who speak most of it, who are
themselves the first to violate [that] peace: all the contemporary atheists
and theomachs, false teachers and instructors in schism, regardless of what
guise they might take on; regardless of what lofty names they might bear;
[regardless of] what knowledge they might camouflage themselves with. Thus
do they attempt to lull to sleep men's spiritual vigilance, in order that
they might thereby the more easily enslave them and bring them under their
sway. And thereby break down all opposition when the time comes for the
enthronement in the world of their god -- antichrist.
Genuine peace is possible
only in Christ, made accessible only by Divine righteousness and joy in the
Holy Spirit. A Christian must always be irreconcilable to evil, regardless
of whatever deceptive and attractive guise it might appear. There can be,
for us, no peace with iniquity, which means -- with satan and his servants.
It is not for naught that the Church of Christ on earth is called militant,
while Christians are warriors of Christ. A warrior does not sit idly by,
with folded hands, but enages the foe in combat. A Christian must not lay
down his weapons of righteousness before diabolic evil and surrended himself
into captivity, hypocritically disguised as supposed love and false peace.
Peace, peace! But there is no peace -- thus did the prophet of God castigate
false prophets. So it is today, as well: they scream peace, peace, but where
is it? there is no peace, nore shall there be, for without Christ, without
following in Christ's wake, without carrying out His commandments, there
can be no true peace.
Speaking
of peace is extremely suspicious, when there is no peace in the hearts of
men; yet, this is so important, for it is from out of the heart of man that
deeds, both good and evil, proceed. And how many are these lovers of peace
that have now appeared in the world, who call us to peace with satan himself
-- under all sorts of seemly and plausiblle pretexts, of course.
O
Orthodox Christians, dear brothers and sisters, regardless of what difficult
circumstances of earthly life we might find ourselves in, amidst iniquity
and persecution, let us remember and treasure that peace which our Saviour
brought to earth.
Let us now, together with the angels and the magi, give thanks unto the Lord and glorify the universal day of Christ's Nativity.
The
devout magi, directed by God's beckoning and by a guiding star, reached Bethlehem,
where they worshipped the Divine Infant Christ. They brought Him gifts:
gold, frankincense and myrrh. Bringing gold, they confessed the One born
to be a King; offering Him a gift of frankincese, they confessed Him to be
God; and offering myrrh, they confessed the New-born One to be a mortal Man.
In
order that we, too, might secure within our hearts the King of Glory and
the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and attain unto spiritual Bethlehem,
let us also bring our Saviour three gifts: instead of god -- our hearts,
cleansed from all evil desires and sinful thoughts; instead of fragrant frankincense
-- our prayer, redolent with humility andd mixed with love toward God and
neighbour; [and] instead of myrrh -- repentance of our sins and a sincere
and firm desire to mortify our passions and sinful habits.
Putting
our trust in the mercy and support of God, and the intercession of the Mother
of God, the Most-holy Bogoroditsa and Ever-virgin Maria, let us depart from
our former path of committing sin, which led us to eternal death; and let
us choose another -- that path which bears us into life eternal -- of endless
joy in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
Christ is born! Glorify ye Him!
+ Bishop Vladimir
The Nativity of Christ 2002
GO TO THE RUSSIAN VERSION OF THIS PAGE