CHRISTMAS MESSAGE by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia to archpastors, pastors, the monastics and all children of the Russian Orthodox Church

PATRIARCH ALEXY II OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA

Russian version

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia
to archpastors, pastors, the monastics and all children
of the Russian Orthodox Church

The day-spring from the East our Saviour
has visited us from on high,
and those in the darkness and shadows have found the truth:
for the Lord has been born from a Virgin.

Hymn of Light for the Feast Day

Beloved in the Lord Your Graces my brother archpastors,
all-honourable fathers,
beloved-of-the-Lord monks and nuns,
pious laity – children of our Holy Mother Church who are dear to my heart!

I congratulate you on the great and joyous feast of the Nativity of Christ.

The holy night of the Nativity is for us every year an eternal and living reliving of that night when the angels first sang, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.’ In a wretched cave of Bethlehem the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Beginning of all beginnings, He Who is from all ages, is born. He is born on earth in order to become like all people in all things save sin. On this holy feast day before our mental gaze there appears the Infant God lying in a manger, as touching and defenseless as all children. The almighty God conceals His power and glory for the sake of the human person in order to accomplish the great deed of redemption and to return to our lives its lost meaning by revealing to us an image of righteousness and sanctity which is accessible to all people.

In this voluntary poverty, in this infirmity of a child, assumed of His own volition by the Saviour, the great mystery of God’s love for us sinners is revealed: ‘In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him, In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the expiation for our sins’ (1 Jn 4:9-10).

It is not through force that Christ wishes to acquire us; rather He wants to draw us to Him through His love, through the beneficent word of the Gospel reveal to us the way to salvation, to conquer sin and death through the Cross. Therefore, my dear ones, the true meaning of life consists first of all in accepting with humble thanks and reverence this great gift of God, to submit to the healing and life-giving power of this love and respond to it with all our strength, all our body and all our mind. Then our hearts will open to those who around us, and we shall learn how to receive every person whom God sends to us on our way through life as we would receive the Lord Himself. This love will teach us to accomplish all of our deeds, be they small or great, in His name for the glory of God.

My beloved! Let us bring into the world this joy in the Lord Who has been born in a wretched cave, which we today experience anew, let us bring into the world this thankful love for Him by sharing this joy with those who have mot yet found God, who have not found their way to church, with those who have become exhausted and have despaired in this world, who have become lost along the world’s dangerous byways. Let us accomplish deeds of mercy and not be disheartened if our resources are weak, if our opportunities are limited, if the good that we do seems to us to be too little or insignificant, even if we do nothing other than pray and sigh to the Lord for the hard fate of others. Let us not be disheartened – our merciful and loving Father will accept all things, Who has promised us a reward in heaven for cup of cold water given in His name (Mk 9:41). And our love will never fade as the Fount Who gave it life will never run dry. Today thousands of people are in need of this love, which ‘is patient and kind; … is not jealous or boastful; … is not arrogant or rude’ (1 Cor 13:4).

Millions of our compatriots suffer and bear great burdens, many children are left to wander homeless in our land; young people are entrapped by various alien teachings and are becoming spiritually and physically degraded; alcoholism and drug addiction are on the increase. One cannot look upon all of this without bitterness. The Holy Mother Church is striving with all her might to help people acquire a spiritual support, without which the human person cannot withstand the time of trials. She never refuses anyone spiritual support and care; she but meekly reminds us that the most important thing in life – the ‘one thing needful’ – can only be found within the confines of the Church.

The Church will always, as best she can, endeavour to establish accord between peoples and nations, encourage the authorities and society to resolve peacefully various conflicts, to build a dignified life, to care for each person living in the countries of the Commonwealth, the Baltics, Europe, the world. Herein lies the Church’s partnership with the state and various secular organizations – a partnership which we are aiming for and which is already bringing tangible results.

Let us recall the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: ‘The kings of the gentiles exercise lordship over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather let the greatest among become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves’ (Lk 22:25-27). So let us then warm within our hearts this love and humility of the ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords’, which is revealed to us on this joyous day of His Nativity on earth in order to then behold the great glory of His Resurrection. Everyone of us is in that place where God has put us – let us accomplish our deeds with faith, hope and love as though we are labouring for the Lord Himself, without expectation of reward or human glory. In doing this, each of us will be serving his earthly homeland. Let us recall that while Russia prayed much and with zeal built the Lord’s churches, while she fasted and did good deeds, manifesting the love bequeathed to her by the Saviour, then she always prospered and grew. Yet once the light of faith in Christ and active love faded in the people, our motherland lost her strength and collapsed beneath the yoke of the haters of God, who strove to turn her into a spiritual desert.

Through divine providence Holy Russia has not perished, and we believe that the new century will bring her a new prosperity. The past year has given us a foundation for the strengthening of our faith: the restoration and building of churches has continued across the face of the land of Russia and in other countries where Orthodox Christians live and are being saved in the bosom of our Holy Mother Church; monastic life has revived in many monasteries, parishes have been strengthened in the towns and villages of our God-protected fatherland, religious education and the Church’s social ministry have been expanded.

By the grace of God, in the past year we have made pastoral visits to the dioceses of our Church and have been able to see with our own eyes all of this: in fraternal Belorussia and in the Siberian capital of Novosibirsk, in ancient Ryazan and in the city of St. Peter, in Tambov and Kostroma, in Tomsk and Astrakhan, and everywhere we have been met with the love of God’s people for their Church and her ministers and with the zealous labours for the revival of Orthodox Christianity in our fatherland.

This coming year will be a special year for our Church, for it is the 100-year anniversary of the glorification among the saints of Seraphim of Sarov. A wondrous sign was given to our people a hundred years ago: a saint pleasing to God shone upon the horizon of Holy Russia, in whose great spiritual heroism, in whose profound love of neighbour Holy Russia again showed forth her countenance. Let us take refuge in the heavenly intercession of blessed Fr. Seraphim, firmly believing that through his holy prayers our earthly homeland shall forever remain Orthodox.

Dear brothers and sisters, on the holy feast day of the Nativity of Christ let our hearts be open to the words of the Apostle: ‘Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another’ (1 Jn 4:11). Let us then love God through obedience to His word. Let us endeavour to fulfil His will in deeds of love. Let us seek unity with Him in prayer and in the Sacraments of the Church. On this joyous day of His Nativity let us greet Christ with our humble confession: ‘I love Thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer’ (Ps 17:2-3). May the Light Which has shone forth at Bethlehem illumine our souls! May our faith increase! May our fidelity to Christ be strengthened, and may too our readiness to fulfil His eternal commandment of love grow stronger!

With love I greet Your Graces the archpastors, the clergy and all children of our Holy Church and I congratulate you all on the forthcoming New Year. May this New Year, the third year of the twenty first century, be peaceful, creative and prosperous, and for each one of us may it be a year for our salvation.

The blessing of the Lord be upon you, through His grace and love for mankind, always, now and forever, and unto ages of ages.

Amen.

PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA

The Nativity of Christ
Moscow
2002/2003