Homily on Christmas – Father Gavril Galev
Christ is born!
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How can we chant this feast without mentioning the One through whom everything happened. The Most-Holy Theotokos, the one who gave birth to our Saviour. The one who gave Herself completely to serve God and the one who lived Her whole life worthily without sin, in order for Her womb to be dignified and to bodily receive the Omnipotent One, the One who came to save man.
Her role is irreplaceable in the entire dispensation of God’s salvation, for our salvation. Without Her, nothing would have happened of that which did happen. Without Her, our Saviour would have not been born. Without Her we would have not received our reconciliation with God. Without Her, the true sun of enlightenment would not have risen. Without Her, the salvation of the world would not have come. And that is why, we should be grateful to Her more than anyone else.
On this day God became man, so that man, by God’s grace, might become god. God became man so that we, through participation in his nature (grace), might become worthy to receive the kingdom of heaven, which God has prepared for us. And that is why Jesus came to earth, not for anything else, but to give us the opportunity, once again, to be people, as God intended us to be. Not as we are now, fallen, sinful, insignificant, but; simply holy, deified. That is why we should always compare, correct and straighten our life according to the life of Christ. Christ became Man to manifest what man should be. And therefore, the more we are similar to Christ, the more man we are, the more different to Christ we are, the more inhuman we are.
On this day, God reconciled with humanity and took upon Himself the fallen human nature, in order to restore it, and return it to its original state. Man, who, because of his irresponsibility and self-love, renounced God, wanting to become a god without God, lost even his human dignity. From heaven, in the place of delight, where peace, love and freedom reigned, he chose to live in this world of persecution, in the place of torment and suffering and inherited unrest, anger and slavery. That is why humanity has become the way it is.
However, thanks to the Most-Pure and Ever Virgin Mary,
the one who made Herself worthy to receive the Pure-One in Her womb and gave birth to Christ for us, and thus we were given the opportunity to free ourselves from the intractable slavery of sin, satan and death. So that, just as the Most-Pure Mary willingly agreed to participate in the plan of God, so too we willingly take part in His life in the Church for our salvation. First through baptism, then by living a sacramental and virtuous life, we fulfil the promise that we will renounce satan and unite with Christ.
Let us strive for our life to always be in harmony with Christ’s life, fulfilling God’s commandments perfectly and impeccably, in order to know Him, and not to be like those who did not receive the Infant Christ (although they had the opportunity for God the Saviour to be born to them, in their homes), in Bethlehem. But they, because of their selfishness, because of their comfort, closed themselves and did not recognise the Saviour, so they rejected Him. People did not recognise Him, but that is why nature recognised Him and opened the cave for Him so that the God-Baby Jesus Christ could be born there. In that cave, the shepherds admired Him, the wise men bowed down to Him and offered Him gifts, and the angels glorified Him: “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and goodwill among men!”
The cave of Bethlehem also symbolises our heart, our soul, our homes. Let us open our heart to Him, just as nature did, so that Christ may be born in it. But in order for Christ to be born in our heart, it has to be pure, so that there is a place for Him to rest His head. That cave – our heart, we need to fill it with fasting, prayer, repentance, love and every good deed and create an atmosphere, so that Christ shall be born mysteriously and by grace in it. By preparing in this way, we truly celebrate the feast and gratefully participate in it. In all other cases, we are only observers, or in an extreme sense, spectators.
May Christ always bring us peace, may He always bring us love, always give us true freedom and may we receive Him in our hearts and celebrate this feast with honour and worthiness for many years to come.
Christ is born! For many years!
Father Gavril Galev
abbot of the monastery “St. Kliment Ohridski”,
Kinglake, Melbourne, Australia
07.01.2023
