Nativity of Christ – Metropolitan of Strumica Nahum
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St. Gregory the Theologian says: “He who sits in Heaven above the heavens, in the east of His glory and light, is glorified [today] in the west of our poverty and nothingness; and the Son of God accepted to be and to be called the Son of Man.”
The uncreated One, Who, before the ages, without passion, without body, is born in a non-contemplative way, from God the Father, was born today passionlessly and in body, in a non-contemplative way, from the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, in Bethlehem of Judea.
The Unplaceable (Transcendent), in Whose arms rests all that has been created, today, being incarnate, rests in the arms of His Most-Holy Mother. Oh, an unspeakable miracle; not by changing the place, because He is present everywhere, but by the clemency of God, because He is the only One who Loves Man!
God became man, so that man could become god by grace.
The One sent by God the Father, that is, the One who voluntarily came, the Son of God, He grants to us in the Church – that uncreated icon of the Holy Trinity – through Its Holy Eucharist to transfigure our existence, by shaping our personal relationships in accord with the likeness of Christ’s (Holy Trinity’s) “as We Are”: That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. ” (John 17:21).
By loving one another, let us be living and radiant icons of God’s appearance in the flesh, eternal witnesses of the Holy Trinity’s graceful Dispensation of Salvation revealed in the Person of the God-Man Jesus Christ, in His resurrected Body – the Church, and the logous (sealed by the Logos) voices of the good news: Christ is born!
The Nativity of Christ, as a historical event and as a festive Liturgical participation, is essentially connected with the personal mystical experience and gift of God of the opening of the heart. When the uncreated grace of Baptism is manifested from our sufficiently purified heart, and when the “place of our heart” is revealed, then we too will become trustworthy confessors of Christ’s Nativity.
The same can be said of the grace of participation in every moment of Christ’s life, which we all receive at the Liturgy, whilst gathered around our Bishop to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, with the grace of Holy Baptism which is manifested in our heart, after we have sufficiently purified it of the passions.
In the Church, in Its Holy Liturgy, i.e. the thanksgiving of the Church, the whole life of Christ becomes the content of the gracious life of our heart.
That is why the theme of Christ’s death and resurrection is not inappropriate for the Nativity, because the manger in which Christ is laid is shown on the icon as His future tomb (grave), and the bandages with which Christ is wrapped are like burial bandages. And in general, when Eternity enters history, time becomes a relative category – a constant present time. In fact, His whole Dispensation of our salvation is suffering to exhaustion. The beginning shows the end. Born in a cave, buried in a cave and resurrected from there. “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (see Luke 9:58)
Through the Orthodox spiritual life we purify the heart from vainglory, covetousness and love of pleasures. If we do not purify the heart from our passions, then our heart becomes like the homes of Bethlehem in which Christ could not find a place, that is, the Mother of God could not find a place to give birth to Christ, so He had to be born in a cave, in some manger outside (away from) the homes of the inhabitants of Bethlehem. And that cave represents any place, other than our heart, defiled by passions and sin. That is why we say that, on a personal level, we can truly celebrate the Nativity of Christ only if we find with our mind the entrance to the inner heart, the entrance to the cave where Christ lays in the manger.
Do you think that the people of Bethlehem really had no place in their homes? No, they simply did not want to disturb their comfort, they did not want to give up the comfort and the compromise with this world; it was tight in their hearts. Just like today, it is difficult for us to make an effort in the ascetic-hesychastic struggle or to receive and feed a poor person at our own homes, not realising that this is how we do not receive Christ Himself.
The people of Bethlehem had no place in their hearts, but unlike us, they did not know what they were doing. Will we find place for Christ in our hearts?
Therefore, in these days of celebration, remember Christ by taking action – in the neighbour that suffers, and be in prayer with Him, for the special grace given to us in the Church, in these days of celebration, so the grace does remain unused and does not leave our home – our open heart, without Him. And be careful not to replace true joy with euphoria, with sentiment (soul)!
Yes, in this time of the great feast days of Christ, such as the Nativity of Christ, we have a special grace given to us to enter into our hearts, if we have prepared ourselves properly for it, and if we really want it. Therefore, we should try to enter the heart and prayerfully abide there, and not waste this period of grace in celebration of the body only; let us seek the Kingdom of Heaven first and foremost, let us not seek everything else first and then as an afterthought, the Kingdom of Heaven. So that it does not turn out that we celebrate the Nativity of Christ without Christ Himself (outside of Christ).
Let us not be puzzled if we do not feel the grace of the Nativity of Christ; and let us not grieve, nor be compelled from within to produce such a feeling; we just need to humble ourselves as being unworthy recipients, and grace will appear. It is a gift. Just as our life and approach to God is giving and a gift.
Christ is born!
Metropolitan of Strumica Nahum
(06.01.2022 16:55)
