www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Patriarch Alexei II"s Christmas Message

Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia: Christmas Message to the
Archpastors, Pastors, Monastics and All Faithful Children of the
Russian Orthodox Church

The earth has stretched forth its wings and receives the Creator
who receives glory from the angels, a star from the heavens,
praise from the shepherds, gifts from the Magi and recognition from
the whole world.
Troparion from the 3rd Ode of the Canon for Compline of Christmas Eve

Beloved in the Lord your graces the archpastors, beloved of God
presbyters and deacons, honourable monks and nuns 'fighting the good
fight' (2 Tim 4:7) and all Orthodox Christians who abide in the
garden of the Church - 'grace and peace be multiplied unto you
through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord' (2 Pet 1:2).

It is with joy in my heart that I greet you all on the great feast of
the Nativity in the flesh of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Throughout these holy days we again in prayer relive the greatest
event in human history. In his great humility the Lord desired to
come down to earth in human form, and he was born not in a wealthy
palace, not in an abode of the powerful of this world, but in a
wretched cave in the desert. It was not kings and courtiers who were
the first to hear of Christ's Nativity, but simple shepherds who
watched their flock near the cave of Bethlehem. It was to them,
simple men, that the words of the angel were addressed, announcing to
the world the beginning of the new Christian era: 'Fear not: for,
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour,
which is Christ the Lord' (Lk 2:10-11).

My beloved! Let us listen to the angel's message: 'I bring you great
joy.' We often forget about this eternal, incorrupt joy, for we live
in a world subject to sin and death in which we suffer from sickness
and infirmity, at times experiencing parting and grief, we encounter
violence and cruelty. Yet our faith teaches us, even amidst the woes
of everyday life, to keep in our hearts and announce to all people
the joy that has come to us from above and of which the Gospel tells
us that no one can take away from us (cf. Jn 16:22).

God, who has come to us in the form of an infant, desires that our
hearts become a cave and manger where he abides and that in our souls
the angel's doxology resound: 'Glory to God in the highest and on
earth peace and goodwill to all men' (Lk 2:14). The miracle and power
of the Christian faith consists of the fact that this 'great joy' is
granted to us today in all its fullness as it was two thousand years
ago. We do not recollect, but celebrate the Nativity of Christ, for
having happened once it eternally fills people with peace and joy.
The Lord Jesus Christ is always at the centre of our lives and
witness to the world. And our Church never ceases to travel along the
path marked out for her by God and preaches the saving teaching of
Christ, 'so that the world may believe' (Jn 17:21).

My beloved! The past year has been for us a year of the Lord's
goodness. By the grace of God the successful building up of Church
life has continued in Russia and abroad, where the care and pastoral
responsibility of our Church extends. Our people are ever more
returning to the faith of our fathers. In many towns and villages
children and young people are coming to know the Orthodox faith and
culture. The churches are full with parishioners of all ages and
occupations. Millions of people pray to God, read religious
literature and take part in the affairs of the Church. I became a
witness to all this when I visited this year the dioceses of
Vladimir, Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, St. Petersburg and Saransk.
Our visit to the Latvian Orthodox Church, meetings and conversations
with Latvia's statesmen and prayerful communion with the Orthodox
people, was every important for the maintenance of unity among the
Church's children.

A visible sign of God's grace towards our Church was the visit within
her boundaries of the right hand of the Holy Prophet John, Forerunner
and Baptist of the Lord. Many of the Church's children received a
blessing from the hand that was once laid upon the Saviour's head at
his baptism. Our country was visited by other greats objects of
veneration kept on the Holy Mountain of Athos - the precious hand of
the Equal-to-the- Apostles Mary Magdalene, particles of the
Life-Giving Cross of the Lord and the relics of the holy martyr
Kirik. A multitude of believers venerating these objects received
from them succour and comfort.

An important landmark in the life of the Church was the celebration
this year of the three-hundredth anniversary of the Sarov Hermitage
of the Dormition, the site of the spiritual endeavours of St.
Seraphim of Sarov. The jubilee was marked by the revival of monastic
life in this renowned abode. Henceforth under the vaults of once
derelict and now restored churches the Bloodless Sacrifice 'on behalf
of all and for all' is offered.

In the year which has now come to a close the Lord vouchsafed me once
more to visit Valaam monastery, a place dear to my heart. It is a joy
that the life of the sketes is being reborn in the ancient northern
monastery. New testimony to this revival is the laying of the
foundation stone of a Church of St. Vladimir in the Vladimir skete
and the consecration of a Church of the Resurrection of Christ in the
Resurrection skete.

Success in the cause of bringing together the Church in the homeland
and our brothers and sisters in the Russian Church Abroad cannot but
gladden the faithful. Unity and communion, broken off as a result of
tragic events of more than eighty years ago, are today being
restored; we see God's beneficence in this.

The tragic events in the Holy Land brought great pain to the hearts
of all believers. There, where two thousand years ago the angels
announced 'glory to God in the highest and on earth peace,' once more
the blood of innocent children has been shed. We pray to God that the
land sanctified by the birth, life, sufferings and Resurrection of
our Saviour will at last become a place where 'righteousness and
peace kiss each other' (Ps 8:11).

Justifying evil with reference to religious faith is wrong. The
participants of the meeting of religious leaders in Moscow this year
called upon all believing people of the world to 'respect and receive
each other, in spite of their religious, national and other
differences. ' Our Church, as in all epochs, serves the cause of the
peoples' well being by uniting her efforts with those of the state
and society, Christians of all confessions, people of other faiths
and convictions. Through common labour, through participation in
public affairs and discussions we must bear witness to Christ who was
incarnate, preaching him not only in word but also through our whole life.

Beloved in the Lord brothers and sisters! I address you with the
apostle's words: 'Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings.
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all
appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly;
and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Thess 5:19-23).

Once again I congratulate you all on the great, world-saving feast of
the Nativity of Christ and the New Year of 2007. May the Lord and
Saviour grant to all of you grace, may he save and preserve those who
are on their earthly pilgrimage and vouchsafe them the joy of
communion with him in the life of the age to come. 'And let the peace
of God rule in your hearts, to which also ye are called' (Col 3:15).

+Alexy, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
Nativity of Christ 2006/2007, Moscow


Alexandr

This was very nice. I was very happy to read the news of the Orthodox Church's success in Russia, after so many years of atheistic domination. Thank you for sharing it.

With love in Christ,
Alice

"Justifying evil with reference to religious faith is wrong. The
participants of the meeting of religious leaders in Moscow this year called upon all believing people of the world to 'respect and receive each other, in spite of their religious, national and other differences. Our Church, as in all epochs, serves the cause of the peoples' well being by uniting her efforts with those of the state and society, Christians of all confessions, people of other faiths and convictions. Through common labour, through participation in public affairs and discussions we must bear witness to Christ who was incarnate, preaching him not only in word but also through our whole life."

PATRIARCH ALEXEI SHOULD PRACTICE WHAT HE PREACHES!!!

Indeed, so he should. So should all of us!

Fr. Serge

[font:Century Gothic]Dear Father Serge,

Bless!

Indeed, I thought the same thing when I read this...

My warmest holiday greetings and regards,
In Christ,
Alice [/font]

Своя рубашка ближе к телу.

Alexandr

Svoya rubashka blizhye k tyelu.

What does that mean?

Every time you guys post in a foreign language I'm going to ask what it means unless it is a standard greeting like "Khrystos Razhdayetsya!"

(Christ is born! for those of you who don't know.)

Dear Alexandr,

As a moderator of other forums (and I think that Fr. Anthony will agree with me), I would like to kindly suggest that you may want to refrain from intentionally writing posts in a language which you know that we do not understand.

This only serves to make one suspicious as to what the tone and content of the post might be, and besides, it is not really polite or fair to me and all other non-Russian speaking posters.

In Christ,
Alice

Dear Alice,

No offense was intended. I was merely agreeing with Father Serge. The translation of the proverb would be "Charity starts at home". I assumed that Mr Pavloosh, as he is an ardent defender of all that is Ukrainian, would have some knowledge of common Slavic expressions and idioms. I, frankly, am becoming disturbed at potshots at all that is Russian and at times, frank Russophobia. Whilst I do not agree with the Ukrainian Nationalistic bent, I have refrained from making comment on such as Patriarch Lyubomir's Christmas message as it is mere common decency to listen to what a hierarch of whatever jurisdiction has to say in regards to the Nativity of our Lord. If you notice, no one has had anything bad to say about any of the numerous Nativity messages of the various hierarchs, unless the hierarchs in question happen to be Russian.

I apologize for my blunt words, but I will stand in defence of my Shepherd and Church against any who malign them.

Alexandr

Dear Alexandr,

This is not my domain, but I most certainly agree with you on the tone taken against Patriarch Alexei. It is not charitable and I am sure that Fr. Anthony will take note of it as soon as he returns.

As I have said before on another forum, we should not be so quick to judge our brothers..In the case of those chosen to shepard flocks in the Church, it is even more important that we not judge, but rather pray for them. They are not perfect, and neither are we, and being mere mortal sinners, albeit with a great responsibility of example, they can make mistakes and often act in ways that we may not agree with, (most recently I felt this way with the action of a Bishop of the Holy Synod of Greece in some words he had with Archbishop Christodoulos), yet that does not mean that we should jump on these mistakes in an uncharitable fashion...to do so is indeed disrespectful and unchristian, so we are in agreement.

In Christ,
Alice

I am going to jump in here.

First, the forum has no policy regarding any statements in any languages, and is evident in other sections. If you want a clarification, you ask for it. The only policy we do have is that it be able to translated upon request and that it must be posted charitably.

Second, I agree with Alexandr's assessment regarding comments on the various hierachical Nativity messages and that the only one to be singled out for any negative comments is the Patriarch of Moscow. This will cease immediately! If you can not post anything that is of any spiritually redeeming value regarding this hierarch's or for that matter any hierarch's message, then do not post.

I think it is wonderful that we are sharing the different Nativity messages here of the various hierarchs of different jurisdictions and traditions. It can help us bring us closer together. Then again all we need is a couple grinches and we will never progress.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+
Administrator

Dear Father Anthony,

Sorry for my post, but I was a bit concerned that because of the context it was in, that maybe the Russian post was not charitable and that we might never know if it was or not!!

I also did not know if you were around or not.

Ofcourse, Alexandr was kind enough to answer promptly and to translate his post for us.

Regards,
Alice

I don't agree with all things the MP does, but it seems like some people on this board like to attack that church generally and its ruling hierarch specifically. I've seen it happen over and over in the time I've been here.

In other words, when we see hypocrisy we should ignore it?
NO WAY!