Pastoral Encyclical
Sacred Metropolis of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
Christmas 2012
Sacred Metropolis of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
Christmas 2012
Beloved brethren,
We glorify God and thank Him for His great gift: that He loved the world — especially mankind — and revealed this love abundantly. The Son and Word of God, with the good pleasure of the Father and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, became man; He assumed our human nature and deified it, without departing from His divinity. We also glorify God and the Church, which has filled our lives with these divine gifts — that is, the feasts of the Nativity of Christ, the Circumcision of Christ, and the Holy Theophany, the Baptism of Christ in the River Jordan. In these days we will once again experience the great love of God toward all of us, provided that we possess the necessary conditions to understand it.
This is of great importance, because the mystery of the divine Incarnation cannot be understood rationally or egoistically. For this reason, one must approach it with humility, reverence, and respect. After all, every great event is approached with a humble disposition, a sacrificial ethos, and an ecclesiastical mindset. Since the understanding of the mystery does not flourish in cold rationality, the Church has clothed this entire event in poetry — in the hymns that we chant during these days. Iconography, too, is another form of poetry, since through it the Church brings us into contact with the mystery of the Nativity of the Son and Word of God.
If we carefully observe the icon of the Nativity, with its varied expressions, we will notice that it presents, on the one hand, the Church itself, and on the other, the manner in which we must live within her.
Christ as an infant is at the center of the icon and at the center of the attention of all who served the mystery. Around Christ are the Most Holy Mother of God, Joseph, the shepherds, the Magi, and the angels. From Christ proceeds the light that illumines all things, even irrational creation. The dimensions of time and space are transcended, and everyone has Christ as the center.
At the same time, the icon of the Nativity of Christ also describes the manner in which one approaches Christ. First of all, Christ is filled with humility; He is not surrounded by worldly power, but appears as a humble infant in a manger of animals. Then, the Mother of God gazes upon Christ with corresponding humility and reverence. Joseph, the betrothed of the Most Holy Theotokos, serves the mystery of Christ’s Nativity with obedience and modesty. The shepherds worship Christ with their simplicity, which made them worthy to receive the revelation of the angel. The Magi offer precious gifts after a long search and a difficult journey. The angels glorify Christ with their purity. The entire atmosphere of the icon of Christ’s Nativity manifests humility, simplicity, purity, obedience, reverence, and respect.
This shows how we too must approach this great mystery, and also how we must live within the Church. Arrogance, egoism, and pride are foreign both to the icon of the Nativity and to the Church. It is characteristic that in the icon of the Nativity there is no depiction of the cruel Herod, distinguished by arrogance, nor of the scribes and Pharisees, who were filled with self-sufficiency and hypocrisy, nor of the Jewish people of that time who lived worldly lives. Such mentalities lie outside the atmosphere of the Church.
The icon of the Nativity of Christ also reveals to us what the Divine Eucharist is and how one participates in it. If we pay attention to the icon, we will notice that everything is arranged as though the Divine Liturgy is being celebrated. At the center is Christ, who lies in the manger as upon another Holy Altar, and all who surround Him are present as though they are serving with reverence and humility. Ultimately, this is the ecclesial and eucharistic ethos that creates unity in the Church and in the Divine Eucharist. This is how we must live in order to rejoice in our presence in the Church and in the Divine Eucharist and to benefit spiritually.
Beloved brethren,
In the midst of winter — and also of the economic, social, and spiritual winter that creates coldness and chills our souls — the feast of the Nativity of Christ, as expressed through the hymnography and iconography of the Church, is a spiritual warmth, a comfort, a note of hope for all of us, clergy and laity alike. However, this spiritual springtime and warmth of the feast must not remain merely a feeling, but must touch our hearts, transform our lives, and teach us to live within the Church and the Divine Eucharist with humility, obedience, reverence, and purity of soul, so that the light of the Sun of Righteousness may rise within our souls.
I wish you all many blessed and grace-filled years.
With warm wishes,
The Metropolitan
of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
† Hierotheos
of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
† Hierotheos
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.