Light of Light, Brightness of the Father,
You have made the whole creation shine with joy!

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We glorify Christ on this blessed and glorious Feast for having come to us and for revealing the abundant and redeeming grace of God. We glorify Him for entering our humanity for our salvation. We glorify the miracle of His Incarnation and give thanks with great joy for this mighty act of God. We glorify God before all the world, because our Savior has come and the people who sat in darkness, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, Light has dawned. (Matthew 4:16)

Today, the Son of God, as Radiance sent by the Father, has come and illuminated all of Creation. As in the darkness of night when the angels appeared to the shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone all around them (Luke 2:9), Christ enters a world that has fallen into the darkness of sin and in need of the hope of light. Christ is born, and just as the shepherds we will go out glorifying and praising God for all that we have seen in the light of this holy Feast.

We glorify Him today, for as the Son of Brightness, as the Live-giving light, Christ illuminates the path to God. As the star led the wise men to Bethlehem so they could worship the newborn King, He reveals to us the way of regeneration and salvation. He is the light that guides us on our way to communion with God on our journey of faith. As He is the dawn of a new day of deliverance, we see that every valley has been lifted up, and every mountain and hill has been made low (Isaiah 40:4), and in His glory the way of the Lord has been revealed.

Christ is born, and we now see truth. He is the light of divine wisdom, and His radiance dispels the shadows of deception, fulfills the ancient prophecies, and reveals the divine plan for our redemption. All who witness His Holy Nativity glorify Him as being the ultimate light of truth and the sublime wisdom of God.

On this holy Feast we proclaim that our Lord and Savior has come. We join with the heavenly hosts in glorifying Him. As His glorious light shines in and through us, we witness to the world that Christ brings light in the darkness. His glory dispels fear and hopelessness. His radiance overcomes hatred and greed. The brilliance of His Incarnation reveals the truth of our life, existence and purpose, freeing us from sin and death. On this blessed day, may the light of Christ and His Holy Nativity shine in your hearts. May you know the assurance of His promises and the joy of His presence. As you cherish this blessed time with your brothers and sisters in the faith, and with family and friends, may His light shine through you so that others will glorify Him and see the way to truth and life eternal.

With paternal love in Christ,

† DEMETRIOS
Archbishop of America

Bartholomew
By God’s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch
To the Plenitude of the Church
Grace, Mercy and Peace from the Savior Christ Born in Bethlehem
* * *

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, dear children,

By the grace of God, we are once again deemed worthy to reach the great feast of the birth of the divine Word in the flesh, who came into the world to grant us “well-being,”1 remission of sin, of captivity to the works of the law and death, in order to grant us true life and great joy, which “no one can take from us.”2

We welcome the “all-perfect God,”3 who “brought love into the world,”4 who becomes “closer to us than we to ourselves.”5 Through kenosis, the divine Word condescends to the created beings in “a condescension inexplicable and incomprehensible.”6 He “whom nothing can contain” is contained in the womb of the Virgin; the greatest exists in the least. This great chapter of our faith, of how the transcendent God “became human for humankind,”7 while remaining an “inexpressible” mystery. “The great mystery of divine Incarnation ever remains a mystery.”8

This strange and paradoxical event, “which was hidden for ages and generations,”9 is the foundation of the gift of human deification. “There is no salvation in anyone else; for there is no other human name beneath heaven through which we must be saved.”10

This is the supreme truth about salvation. That we belong to Christ. That everything is united in Christ. That our corruptible nature is refashioned in Christ, the image is restored and the road toward likeness is opened for all people. By assuming human nature, the divine Word establishes the unity of humanity through a common divine predestination and salvation. And it is not only humanity that is saved, but all of creation. Just as the fall of Adam and Eve impacts all of creation, so too the Incarnation of the Son and Word of God affects all of creation. “Creation is recognized as free when those who were once in darkness become children of light.”11 Basil the Great calls us to celebrate the holy Nativity of Christ as the “common feast of all creation,” as “the salvation of the world—humanity’s day of birth.”12

Once again, the words that “Christ is born” are unfortunately heard in a world filled with violence, perilous conflict, social inequality and contempt of foundational human rights. 2018 marks the completion of seventy years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which, after the terrible experience and destruction of World War II, manifested the common and noble ideals that all peoples and countries must unwaveringly respect. However, the disregard of this Declaration continues, while various abuses and intentional misinterpretations of human rights undermine their respect and realization. We continue either not to learn from history or not to want to learn. Neither the tragic experience of violence and reduction of the human person, nor the proclamation of noble ideals have prevented the continuation of aggression and war, the exaltation of power and the exploitation of one another. Nor again have the domination of technology, the extraordinary achievements of science, and economic progress brought social justice and the peace that we so desire. Instead, in our time, the indulgence of the affluent has increased and globalization is destroying the conditions of social cohesion and harmony.

The Church cannot ignore these threats against the human person. “There is nothing as sacred as a human being, whose nature God Himself has shared.”13 We struggle for human dignity, for the protection of human freedom and justice, knowing full well that “true peace comes from God,”14 that the transcendent mystery of the Incarnation of divine Word and the gift of human deification reveals the truth about freedom and humanity’s divine destiny.

In the Church, we experience freedom through Christ, in Christ and with Christ. And the very summit of this freedom is the place of love, which “does not seek its own”15 but “derives from a pure heart.”16 Whoever depends on himself, seeks his own will, and is self-sufficient—whoever pursues deification by himself and congratulates himself—only revolves around himself and his individual self-love and self-gratification; such a person only sees others as a suppression of individual freedom. Whereas freedom in Christ is always oriented to one’s neighbor, always directed toward the other, always speaks the truth in love. The aim of the believer is not to assert his or her rights, but rather “to follow and fulfill the rights of Christ”17 in a spirit of humility and thanksgiving.

This truth about the life in Christ, about freedom as love and love as freedom, is the cornerstone and assurance for the future of humankind. When we build on this inspired ethos, we are able to confront the great challenges of our world, which threaten not only our well-being but our very survival.

The truth about the “God-man” is the response to the contemporary “man-god” and proof of our eternal destination proclaimed by the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church (Crete, 2016): “The Orthodox Church sets against the ‘man-god’ of the contemporary world the ‘God-man’ as the ultimate measure of all things. “We do not speak of a man who has been deified, but of God who has become man.” The Church reveals the saving truth of the God-man and His body, the Church, as the locus and mode of life in freedom, “speaking the truth in love,” and as participation even now on earth in the life of the resurrected Christ.”

The Incarnation of the divine Word is the affirmation and conviction that Christ personally guides history as a journey toward the heavenly kingdom. Of course, the journey of the Church toward the kingdom, which is not realized remotely or independently of historical reality—or its contradictions and adventures—has never been without difficulties. Nevertheless, it is in the midst of these difficulties that the Church witnesses to the truth and performs its sanctifying, pastoral and transfiguring mission. “Truth is the pillar and ground of the Church … The pillar of the universe is the Church … and this is a great mystery, a mystery of godliness.”18

Brothers and sisters, children in the Lord,

Let us celebrate together—with the grace of the divine Word, who dwelt in us, as well as with delight and fullness of joy—the feasts of the Twelve Days of Christmas. From the Phanar we pray that our Lord and Savior—who was incarnate out of condescension for all people—may in this coming new year grant everyone physical and spiritual health, along with peace and love for one another. May He protect His holy Church and bless the works of its ministry for the glory of His most-holy and most-praised Name.

Christmas 2017
X Bartholomew of Constantinople
Your fervent supplicant before God

———————————————-
1 Gregory the Theologian, Oration XXXVIII, on Theophany, namely the Nativity of the Savior, iii, PG 36, 313.
2 John 10:18.
3 Doxastikon of the Aposticha from the Great Vespers of Christmas.
4 Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ, vi, PG 150, 657.
5 Ibid. vi PG 150, 660.
6 John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, iii, 1, PG 94, 984.
7 Maximus the Confessor, Various chapters on Theology and Economy concerning virtue and vice, First Century, 12, PG 90, 1184.
8 Ibid.
9 Col. 1:26.
10 Acts 4:12.
11 Iambic Katavasia on the Feast of Theophany, Ode VIII.
12 Basil the Great, Homily on the Nativity of Christ, PG 31, 1472-73.
13 Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ, vi, PG 150, 649.
14 John Chrysostom, On Corinthians 1, Homily I, 1, PG 61, 14.
15 1 Cor. 13:5.
16 1 Tim. 1:5.
17 Theotokion, Aposticha of the Ainoi, October 12.
18 John Chrysostom, On Timothy I, Homily XI, PG 62, 554.

by Fr. Hans Jacobse

What happens when we try to secularize Christmas, and why Orthodox Christians need to remain faithful to their traditions.

In the Christian tradition of both east and west, the twelve days of Christmas refer to the period from Christmas Day to Theophany. The days leading up to Christmas were for preparation; a practice affirmed in the Orthodox tradition by the Christmas fast that runs from November 15 to Christmas day. The celebration of Christmas did not begin until the first of the twelve days.

As our culture became more commercialized, the period of celebration shifted from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day. Christmas celebration increasingly conforms to the shopping cycle while the older tradition falls by the wayside. It’s an worrisome shift because as the tradition dims, the knowledge that the period of preparation imparted diminishes with it.

Our Orthodox traditions — from fasting cycles to worship –exist to teach us how to live in Christ. The traditions impart discipline. These disciplines are never an end in themselves but neither can life in Christ be sustained apart from them.

The traditions only make sense only when they have the Gospel as their reference. If we forget that these traditions are given to us to help us lay hold of Christ, then they appear to be superfluous and the disciplines they encourage us to do seem to serve no real purpose. We start to evaluate the discipline by the values of the dominant culture — by a cost-benefit calculus, rather than seeing them as ways to morally reorient ourselves towards Christ.

Instead of preparing for the birth of Christ through inward reorientation, we follow the direction of the dominant culture and skip any preparation altogether. We party instead of fast. We get caught up in the commercial energy of the season rather than wait on the Spirit of God.

It’s a dangerous path. Our culture is becoming increasingly secularized; the sacred dimension of creation is slipping from view. This loss of this sacred sensibility has grave ramifications for society that are expressed in many different ways such as the vulgarization of popular culture or the reduction of an unborn child to a commodity. If this view prevails our culture will inevitably view man as nothing more than an animal or a machine.

But man is more than an animal or a machine. The scriptures reveal man is created in the image and likeness of God, a phrase that means that man is not complete unless he partakes of God — God must be part of man’s life. This longing — this innate knowledge that man is created for God — never leaves man although a person can bury it if he so chooses.

A secularized mind is blind to the inherent holiness of life. Maintaining our traditions is one way to avoid this debilitating malady. Christmas is not just “Jesus’ birthday” (an impoverished notion heard more and more even among Orthodox faithful), but much more.

The birth of Christ and His baptism ought never to be divorced. Both events define the Christmas season. It imparts to the Christian the knowledge that Christ’s coming into the world and Christ’s sanctification of the waters makes our new life possible — a sonship by adoption accomplished through baptism.

When the link between Christmas and Theophany is broken (and by neglecting the proper preparation we break it), the cultural memory of the promise of new birth expresses itself in weakened and ultimately insufficient cultural forms. These forms function as a new tradition.

Religion is not the product of culture; religion is the source, writes philosopher Russell Kirk.

“It’s from an association in a cult, a body of worshipers, that human community grows…when belief in the cult has been wretchedly enfeebled, the culture will decay swiftly. The material order rests on the spiritual order.”

Orthodox Christianity can contribute to the recovery of the moral foundation of American culture by imparting knowledge that can strengthen and deepen that foundation. It won’t happen however, if the Orthodox faithful adopt the practices of the dominant culture in place of their own Tradition.