We have arrived again, by the mercy of the all-Provident God, at the sacred time of year in which we celebrate the Coming in the Flesh of His Only-Begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever difficulties, sorrows, and limitations cloud our earthly lives, all of these things give way to the overwhelming joy we receive when we realize, once again, that God became a man for us.
What could be greater than this? What evil or sorrow can stand up against this? Can the pride of Satan overcome the humility of God? Impossible. Can man’s sin overwhelm us, if we have entrusted ourselves to the sinless God-man? In no way. Can our own limitations prevent our salvation if we unite ourselves to the Limitless One Who voluntarily limited Himself for us, in order that we might partake of His Limitless Divinity? Unthinkable.
Let us, then, give thanks continually to God Who became a man for our sake. In dark and lonely days, when all the world seems to be full of obstacles and sorrows, let us force ourselves to practice gratitude to God, enumerating aloud all that He has done for us. If only we will persevere in this salutary practice, we will inevitably feel God’s light shine upon us, as His Daystar, Christ, arises in our hearts, and we will know, not from books but from experience, that “the Lord is gracious.”
What kind of thanks, however, does the Lord desire most from us? Paradoxically and wondrously, He desires that we receive even more from Him, for He needs nothing and gives everything. He desires that we receive that which He came to give, which is Himself. The thanksgiving, eucharistia, which is most fitting for God, is precisely that Eucharist, eucharistia, which He established for man’s salvation unto the end of the world, which is the Divine Liturgy and partaking of His Precious Body and Blood, “unto the remission of sins and life eternal.”
Why did Christ consent to lie in a manger, that is, a rack that animals eat hay from? It was to show that He became flesh, so that our animal nature, our bodies, could actually partake of His Divinity by consuming His Flesh. Why was the city of David providentially called Bethlehem, that is, in the Hebrew tongue, “House of Bread”? It was to show that the true and living Bread which came down from Heaven was, in that city, to be brought forth from the oven of the Virgin’s womb, so that, partaking of Him, man might die no more forever, for His death would become our life.
Let us then cleanse our bodies by fasting and our souls by confession and prayer, so that we might partake of Him who became flesh in order to sanctify our fallen flesh and make it capable of receiving His Divinity. To Him be the glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
A Merry Christmas and Blessed AD 2007!
Christ the Champion over Sin and Death
So, the God who all human beings expected throughout all the ages was Christ. In His person, God and man were united. He was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. His conception and birth are miraculous. The Son of God became son of man in order to save men. If we study His words and His work, we will appreciate that he is clearly superior to the leaders of all other religions. While they are men, He is the God-Man. He spoke about love, about purity of heart and of intentions. He overcame sin, the devil, and death. He was raised from the dead. No other leader of a religion has risen again from the dead. Christ was resurrected and so overcame death and the devil. This is why He is the unique God-Man.
We are called Christians because we believe that He is the true God and because we keep His commandments in our personal life. We attempt to conform our lives to His own life.
Christ is not a perfect philosopher and a good lawgiver. He is not a moralizer and the leader of a religion, even the most perfect one. Rather, He is the champion over death, the devil, and sin. He did not come simply to change the external conditions of man’s life; He came to make man holy, to transfigure him, to deify him, to make him a son of God by grace. He is the Son of God by nature (natural child); we must become children of God by grace (adopted children).
- from Entering the Orthodox Church, by Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos)