CHRISTMAS MESSAGE OF THE PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM THEOPHILOS III

 

Jerusalem Patriarchate

 Greek-English

HRISTMAS 2020 MESSAGE OF HIS HOLY BEATITUDE THE PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM THEOPHILOS III

“The Father was well pleased: the Word is become flesh,

 and the Virgin hath given birth unto God become man.

 A star is the herald; Magi worship; shepherds marvel;

 and creation doth rejoice.”

(Troparion of Christmas praises)

                   

Today, the Church celebrates festively in doxology and thanksgiving God’s condensation to man. Today, the Church preaches to its members and proclaims to the world and the whole universe, the bond and the union of heaven with earth, and the meeting of God with man. Today, God’s word “I will dwell in them, and walk in them” (Leviticus 26: 11 – 2 Corinthians 6:16) is fulfilled. Today, God’s compassion has exceeded His righteousness. Today, God has filled the creation with pardon and redemption. Today, God “hath visited and redeemed his people” (Luke 1:68). Today, God “reconciles the world unto himself, in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:19). Today, “the times of ignorance God winked at” (Acts 17:30) along with the times of man’s sin, and has visited him in His Only-Begotten Son and Word.

Acting in exceeding philanthropy, God was pleased, in the last ages, that His Word and Only-Begotten Son, the beloved, who is One Essence with the Father and sits along with Him in His Throne, would appear in the world visibly and in bodily form. According to the Evangelist of love, “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Sharing the same will with the Father, the Son received flesh through the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. He received a logical and soulful flesh and was born in the flesh by the Virgin. In this manner, Isaiah’s prophesy was fulfilled: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14 / Matt. 1:23). As the hymnographer says, “God becomes a man, in order to make man a God”. As the established Father of the Church, Saint Athanasios says: “the Word of God became incarnate, so that we may be deified, and He revealed Himself in a bodily form, so that we may receive the nature of the invisible Father” (On the Incarnation, 54). How was this made possible? How was the conception made, without consummation? It was made possible, because as the Angel announced to the Virgin, “that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35), and because it is written: “the order of nature is overruled to those things that God wills”. The Virgin gave birth to the Incarnate God, not to the deified man, and is therefore magnified as the Mother of God (Theotokos). This was done for the rebirth, the reformation and the transformation of the whole humankind. Man was received by God in Christ, in order to partake of His deity, as Saint Peter says: “that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter, 1:4), and become “a new creation”, according to the Apostle of Nations (2 Cor. 5:17 / Gal. 6:15). This very respectable change of man, namely, his change from earthly to heavenly man, is made possible in a secret manner, with the condensation of man, because the Incarnate Christ has received the whole man – “Thou entirely assumed my whole self in a union without confusion”, the Church chants.

This heavenly and God-originated mystery is being witnessed by its descent and manifestation in the course of the human history. It is revealed throughout the universe and to the area of the not-in-the-least minimal Holy Bethlehem, at the time of the people’s census during the reign of the Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus. The whole creation is being invited to participate in this event. The heavens guide the Wise Men, the Persian scientists and kings from afar, with a bright star, introducing the Church of the gentiles through them. The Angels from heaven chant “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace”, summoning the shepherds who kept the night watch from the nearby Beit Sahour. Wise Men and shepherds together, come and bow down in reverence, to venerate and offer their gifts, because they “recognize the timeless infant lying in the cave”.

He, who put on human flesh for us, who became an infant in the flesh, was born in a cave and was placed in a manger, dressed in swaddling clothes, is the One who “began to be about thirty years of age” (Luke 3:23), who was made known and was believed to be Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of man, from Nazareth, the God-man, in One Hypostasis of two natures, wills and actions. He is “anointed by God with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil” (Acts 10:38), and through the Cross, the Resurrection from the dead and His Ascension, He ascended the form of Incarnation that He had received, and made it sit on the right side of the Father and deified it.  

Having sat on the right side of the Father, Christ sent to His disciples the Comforter, the Spirit of consolation, the Spirit of enlightenment of the mind and of will-power. His mission of reconciliation of God with man, of peace, of love, even love for one’s enemies, of the sanctification and remission of sins, did He hand over to His body the Church, in order to continue working on it, until the end of time. This Church that “Christ also loved, and gave himself for it” (Eph. 5:25), and He is its head. The Church is not only the testimony of Christ’s beneficial incarnate presence on earth, but also the continuator of His mission; It receives the man from the beginning of his life until his death; through baptism, it makes man its member, it tames and beautifies his morals; it opposes any kind of violence; it feeds the hungry, liberates the prisoners; it is an oasis of a source of living water in the desert and loneliness of the people, a place of prayer for the healing of the covid-19 patients, and a provider of support to those affected by the protective measures against this plague.

The Church of Jerusalem and the Hagiotaphite Brotherhood, the guardian of the All-holy Shrines, works on this mission in the region of the historic appearance of the Incarnate Christ, and today, in the very place of His Nativity, the humble and God-receiving Cave and the modest manger, in the magnificent Basilica which was built by the Byzantine Emperors Constantine and Justine. Exclaiming in joy “an infant was born unto us, a son was given to us”, it prays for the peace of the Middle East, the prosperity of its flock here and all over the world, and for the coming again of the pious pilgrims, so that they may co-celebrate the Metropolis of the feasts with the Mother of Churches, at the place where the Master of peace was born.

In the Holy City Bethlehem,

CHRISTMAS 2020

Fervent supplicant for all before God,

THEOPHILOS III

Patriarch of Jerusalem

 

ΜΗΝΥΜΑ ΤΗΣ Α.Θ.Μ. ΤΟΥ ΠΑΤΡΙΑΡΧΟΥ ΙΕΡΟΣΟΛΥΜΩΝ Κ.Κ. ΘΕΟΦΙΛΟΥ ΕΠΙ ΤΟΙΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥΓΕΝΝΟΙΣ 2020

 

 Ὁ Πατήρ εὐδόκησεν. Ὁ Λόγος σάρξ ἐγένετο.

Καί ἡ Παρθένος ἔτεκε Θεόν ἐνανθρωπήσαντα.

 Ἀστήρ μηνύει. Μάγοι προσκυνοῦσι.

Ποιμένες θαυμάζουσι καί ἡ κτίσις ἀγάλλεται.

 (Τροπάριον Αἴνων ἑορτῆς τῶν Χριστουγέννων)

 

            Σήμερον ἡ Ἐκκλησία ἑορτάζει πανηγυρικῶς, δοξολογικῶς καί εὐχαριστιακῶς Θεοῦ συγκατάβασιν πρός τόν ἄνθρωπον. Σήμερον ἡ Ἐκκλησία κηρύττει εἰς τά μέλη της καί διαλαλεῖ εἰς τήν οἰκουμένην καί σύμπασαν τήν κτίσιν τόν σύνδεσμον καί τήν ἕνωσιν οὐρανοῦ καί γῆς καί τήν συνάντησιν Θεοῦ καί ἀνθρώπου. Σήμερον ἐπληρώθη ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ, «ἐνοικήσω ἐν αὐτοῖς καί ἐμπεριπατήσω» (Λευιτ. 26, 11- Β΄ Κορ. 6, 16). Σήμερον ἡ εὐσπλαγχνία τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπερέβη τήν δικαιοσύνην Αὐτοῦ. Σήμερον ὁ Θεός ἐπλήρωσε τήν κτίσιν συγγνώμης καί ἀφέσεως. Σήμερον ὁ Θεός ἐξαπέστειλε λύτρωσιν τῷ λαῷ Αὐτοῦ (Λουκ. 1, 68). Σήμερον ὁ Θεός «καταλλάσσσει τόν κόσμον Ἑαυτῷ ἐν Χριστῷ» (Β΄Κορ. 5, 19). Σήμερον ὁ Θεός «ὑπερεῖδε τούς χρόνους τῆς ἀγνοίας»  (Πράξ. 17, 30) καί τῆς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καί ἐπεσκέφθη αὐτόν ἐν τῷ Μονογενεῖ Υἱῷ καί Λόγῳ Αὐτοῦ.

            Ἐνεργῶν ἐξ ἄκρας φιλανθρωπίας ὁ Θεός, ηὐδόκησε, ἐπ’ ἐσχάτων τῶν χρόνων, νά ἐμφανισθῇ εἰς τόν κόσμον σωματικῶς καί ὁρατῶς ὁ ὁμοούσιος καί συμπάρεδρος τῷ Θρόνῳ Αὐτοῦ ὁ Λόγος καί ὁ Υἱός Αὐτοῦ ὁ Μονογενής καί ἀγαπητός. Κατά τόν Εὐαγγελιστήν τῆς ἀγάπης «ὁ Λόγος σἀρξ ἐγένετο καί ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν». ( Ἰωάν. 1,14).  Συνευδοκῶν τῷ Πατρί ὁ Υἱός προσέλαβε σάρκα έκ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου καί Μαρίας τῆς Παρθένου. Προσέλαβε σάρκα λογικήν καί ἔμψυχον καί ἐτέχθη σαρκί ἐκ τῆς Παρθένου. Οὕτως ἐπληρώθη ἡ  τοῦ Ἡσαϊου πρόρρησις , «ἰδού ἡ Παρθένος ἐν γαστρί ἕξῃ καί τέξεται Υἱόν καί καλέσουσι τό ὄνομα Αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ, ὅ ἐστι μεθερμηνευόμενον μεθ’ ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός». ( Ἡσαΐου 7, 14 / Ματθ. 1, 23).  Ὡς λέγει ὁ ὑμνῳδός, «ὁ Θεός ἄνθρωπος γίνεται, ἵνα Θεόν τόν ἄνθρωπον ἀπεργάσηται».  Ὡς λέγει ὁ  ἔγκριτος Πατήρ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἅγιος Ἀθανάσιος , «ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος ἐνηνθρώπησεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς θεοποιηθῶμεν καί αὐτός ἐφανέρωσεν ἑαυτόν διά σώματος, ἵνα ἡμεῖς τοῦ ἀοράτου Πατρός ἔννοιαν λάβωμεν» (Περί Ἐνανθρωπήσεως, 54 ). Πῶς ἐγένετο τοῦτο; Πῶς ἔλαβε χώραν σύλληψις καί τόκος ἄνευ σπορᾶς;  Ἐγένετο, καθότι ὡς εὐηγγελίσθη ὁ ἄγγελος τῇ Παρθένῳ, τό «γεννώμενον ἅγιον κληθήσσεται Υἱός Θεοῦ» ( Λουκ. 1, 35) καί καθ’ ὅτι, ὡς γέγραπται,  «Ὅπου βούλεται Θεός, νικᾶται φύσεως τάξις». Ἡ Παρθένος ἔτεκε Θεόν Ἐναθρωπήσαντα, οὐχί θεοποιηθέντα ἄνθρωπον, διό καί ὡς Θεοτόκος μεγαλύνεται. Τοῦτο ἐγένετο οὕτω διά τήν ἀναγέννησιν, ἀνάπλασιν καί μεταμόρφωσιν ὅλου τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου γένους.  Ὁ ἄνθρωπος προσελήφθη ἀπό τόν Θεόν ἐν Χριστῷ, ἵνα οὕτω τῆς Θεότητος μετάσχῃ, ὅπως «γένηται κοινωνός θείας φύσεως» κατά τόν ἀπόστολον Πέτρον (Πέτρ. Β΄, 1,4) καί «καινή κτίσις» κατά τόν ἀπόστολον τῶν Ἐθνῶν, (Κορ. Β΄,  5, 17- Γαλ. 6, 15). Ἡ εὐπρεπεστάτη αὕτη ἀλλοίωσις τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἡ ἀλλαγή δηλαδή αὐτοῦ ἀπό γηϊνου εἰς οὐράνιον ἄνθρωπον, συντελεῖται μυστικῶς καί ἀληθῶς τῇ συνεργίᾳ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἐπειδή ὁ Ἐνανθρωπήσας Χριστός προσέλαβε ὅλον τόν ἄνθρωπον –ὅλον με ἀνείληφας ὅλος συναφείᾳ ἀσυγχύτῳ- ψάλλει ἡ Ἐκκλησία.  

            Τό οὐρανοκίνητον καί θεοκίνητον τοῦτο μυστήριον μαρτυρεῖται κατερχόμενον καί τελεσιουργούμενον εἰς τόν ροῦν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἱστορίας.  Ἀποκαλύπτεται εἰς τούς χρόνους τῆς ἀπογραφῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπί Ρωμαίου αὐτοκράτορος Ὀκταβιανοῦ Αὐγούστου εἰς πᾶσαν τήν οἰκουμένην καί εἰς τούς τόπους τῆς οὐδαμῶς ἐλαχίστης οὔσης Βηθλεέμ τῆς ἁγίας. Εἰς αὐτό καλεῖται νά μετάσχῃ ἡ κτίσις ὅλη. Οἱ οὐρανοί δι’ ἀστέρος λαμπροῦ ὁδηγοῦν μακρόθεν μάγους σοφούς Περσῶν βασιλεῖς ἐρευνητάς τοῦ στερεώματος ὡς ἀπαρχήν τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίας. Οἱ ἄγγελοι ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, ψάλλοντες τό «Δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις Θεῷ καί ἐπί γῆς εἰρήνη», καλοῦν ποιμένας ἀγραυλοῦντας καί καλλιεργητάς τῆς γῆς ἐκ τῆς πλησιοχώρου κώμης τῶν ποιμένων. Μάγοι καί ποιμένες ὁμοῦ προσέρχονται καί κύπτοντες εὐλαβικῶς προσκυνοῦν, προσφέροντες τά δῶρα αὐτῶν, καθότι «ἀναγνωρίζουν ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ ὡς βρέφος κείμενον τόν ἄχρονον».     

            Οὗτος, ὁ σάρκα φορέσας δι’ ἡμᾶς, σαρκί νηπιάσας, ἐν σπηλαίῳ γεννηθείς, ἐν φάτνῃ ἀνακλιθείς καί σπαργάνοις εἱλιχθείς, εἶναι ὁ «ἀρχόμενος ὡσεί ἐτῶν τριάκοντα» (Λουκ.3, 23), γνωρισθείς καί πιστευθείς ὡς  Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Υἱός τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ὁ ἀπό Ναζαρέτ, ὁ Θεάνθρωπος, ἐν τῇ μιᾷ ὑποστάσει Αὐτοῦ, ἐν δύο φύσεσι, θελήσεσι καί ἐνεργείαις. Εἶναι «ὁ χρισθείς ὑπό τοῦ Θεοῦ Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ καί δυνάμει καί διελθών εὐεργετῶν καί ἰώμενος τούς ἀνθρώπους» (Πράξ. 10, 38) καί διά τοῦ Σταυροῦ, τῆς ἐκ νεκρῶν Ἀναστάσεως καί τῆς Ἀναλήψεως Αὐτοῦ ἀναβιβάσας τό τῆς Ἐνανθρωπήσεως πρόσλημμα καί καθίσας αὐτό ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ Πατρός καί θεώσας αὐτό.  

            Καθίσας ὁ Χριστός ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ Πατρός, ἀπέστειλε παρ’ Αὐτοῦ Πνεῦμα Παράκλητον, Πνεῦμα παραμυθίας, Πνεῦμα φωτισμοῦ τῆς διανοίας καί δυνάμεως φρονήματος εἰς τούς μαθητάς Αὐτοῦ. Τό ἔργον Αὐτοῦ τῆς συνδιαλλαγῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ καί ἀνθρώπου, τῆς εἰρήνης, τῆς ἀγάπης ἔτι καί πρός τούς ἐχθρούς, τοῦ ἁγιασμοῦ καί τῆς ἀφέσεως τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, ἀνέθεσε δι’ ἐπιτέλεσιν μέχρι συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος εἰς τό σῶμα Αὐτοῦ τήν Ἐκκλησίαν, «τήν ὁποίαν ἠγάπησε καί Ἑαυτόν παρέδωκεν ὑπέρ αὐτῆς», (Ἐφεσ. 5, 25) καί τῆς ὁποίας Οὗτος εἶναι ἡ κεφαλή.  Ἡ Ἐκκλησία εἶναι ὄχι μόνον ἡ μαρτυρία τῆς ἐπί γῆς εὐεργετικῆς ἐνσάρκου παρουσίας Αὐτοῦ, ἀλλά καί ὁ συνεχιστής τοῦ ἔργου Αὐτοῦ. Προσλαμβάνει τόν ἄνθρωπον ἀπ΄ἀρχῆς ἄχρι τέλους τῆς ζωῆς του. Τόν καθιστᾷ διά τοῦ Βαπτίσματος μέλος αὐτῆς, ἐξημερώνει καί κατακοσμεῖ τά ἤθη του. Ἀρνεῖται οἱανδήτινα βίαν. Τρέφει πεινῶντας, ἀποφυλακίζει φυλακισμένους. Εἶναι ὄασις πηγῆς ὕδατος ζῶντος εἰς τήν ἔρημον καί μοναξιάν τοῦ κόσμου, τόπος προσευχῆς διά θεραπείαν τῶν προσβληθέντων ἐκ τῆς λοιμώδους νόσου τοῦ Covid -19 καί προμηθεύς ποικίλης βοηθείας εἰς τούς πληγέντας ἐκ τῶν μέτρων προστασίας ἐξ αὐτῆς.

            Τό ἔργον τοῦτο ἡ Ἐκκλησία Ἱεροσολύμων καί ἡ μετ’ αὐτῆς Ἁγιοταφιτική Ἀδελφότης, φύλαξ τῶν Παναγίων Προσκυνημάτων, ἐπιτελεῖ εἰς τούς τόπους τῆς κατά σάρκα ἱστορικῆς ἐμφανείας τοῦ Χριστοῦ, σήμερον δέ εἰς τόν τόπον τῆς κατά σάρκα γεννήσεως Αὐτοῦ, εἰς τό ταπεινόν θεοδέγμον Σπήλαιον καί τήν πτωχήν φάτνην καί τήν μεγαλοπρεπῆ Κωνσταντίνειον καί Ἰουστινιάνειον Βασιλικήν. Ἐν ᾧ ἀναφωνεῖ ἐν χαρᾷ, «παιδίον ἐγεννήθη ἡμῖν, υἱός καί ἐδόθη ἡμῖν», προσεύχεται ὑπέρ εἰρήνης  τῆς Μέσης Ἀνατολῆς, εὐημερίας τοῦ ποιμνίου αὐτῆς ἐπιτοπίως καί ὅπου γῆς καί ἐλεύσεως καί πάλιν εὐσεβῶν προσκυνητῶν, ἵνα συνεορτάσωσι μετά τῆς Μητρός τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν τήν Μητρόπολιν τῶν ἑορτῶν εἰς τόν τόπον, ἐν ᾧ ἐτέχθη ὁ Ἄρχων τῆς εἰρήνης.

Ἐν τῇ Ἁγίᾳ Πόλει Βηθλεέμ,  ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥΓΕΝΝΑ  2020

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