Christmas Greeting

Peace of God!
Christ is born!

“Today the Virgin giveth birth unto the Transcendent One, and the Earth offereth a cave to the unapproachable One. Angels and shepherds give glory, the magi journey with the star. For unto us, a Child is born, the pre-eternal God.”

In this beautiful Christmas hymn, dear Brothers and Sisters, the miraculous event of the birth of Christ is described. Heaven and Earth rejoice; both visible and material nature give an offering.
The birth of Christ is the most joyful and most miraculous event in the history of the whole universe. It is the only new and miraculous thing since the creation of the world; everything else is natural and ordinary, according to the words of St. John of Damascus.

Therefore St. Gregory the Theologian exclaims: “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, because of Him who is of heaven and is now on earth who through his incarnation granted us the restoration of life and renewed our lives, again to behold our former beauty with our God.” St. John Chrysostom describing this event says: “Bethlehem this day resembles heaven, hearing from the stars the singing of angelic voices, and in place of the sun, enfolds within itself on every side, the Sun of Justice.” And ask not how: for where God wills, the order of nature yields. For He willed, He had the power, He descended, He redeemed; all things move in obedience to God. This day He Who is, is Born; and He Who is becomes what He was not. For When He was God, He became man; yet not departing from the Godhead that is His. And how should we understand this great mystery? Our Holy Patriarch Pavle of blessed memory advises us: Every one of us needs to see in every other person the image of God, the image of our brother and of our eternal friend. Then will our hearts truly be Bethlehem’s cave in which Christ is continually being born anew. And the more hearts there are like this, the better everything will be and the better we will all be.

I greet you all with the traditional Nativity greeting of our faith: The Peace of God, Christ is Born! I wish you a most blessed Christmas and a Happy New 2023 Year! Your intercessor before the

Christ God,
Fr. Blasko Paraklis

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