
† Macarie,
By the mercy and providence of the Almerciful God, Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Northern Europe
To the beloved brethren priests and deacons, to the toilers of the holy monasteries and to the chosen people of the Orthodox Church, grace, peace, tranquility, and joy from Christ, born in the manger of Bethlehem and within our hearts, and my fatherly blessing and brotherly embrace!
Honored servants of the Holy Altars,
Dear brothers and sisters in joint prayer
At the time God chose for the incarnation of His Son, Who came into the world for us and for our salvation, the world was in great turmoil and upheaval. In particular, the kingdom of Israel, under the yoke of foreign occupation, had fallen into a state of decay, with a Pharisaic elite alienated from the common people, with tax collectors who used the power of the empire to plunder their people, and with brutal representatives of the Roman rulers who crushed any trace of patriotism from the very beginning. It seemed as if God had forgotten His people. No one to comfort them, to bind up their wounds, to restore them. The voice of the prophets seemed to have been silenced forever, and the Law of Moses, the guide and beacon for the people of Israel, had been reduced to mindless, unproductive drudgery by the legalistic interpretations of the religious elite. But the Lord never forgot His people.
The Lord has worked and is still working for the salvation of mankind. And the Lord sent a prophet for the people and a Saviour for all mankind. He sent John the Baptist, the gift received by the righteous fathers Zacharias and Elizabeth, and through them by all of us, and His own Son through the Virgin Mary, protected by the righteous and God-fearing Joseph the Elder.
” But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Gal. 4:4) a Child has been given to us, as it was foretold by the prophets of old: ” and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace(Isaiah 9, 5).” At His birth the angels appeared to the shepherds and greeted the Child with this song of hope and holy joy: ” Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”(Luke 2:14).
Jesus Christ came to overthrow the injustice of Lucifer’s pride and all the poisoned fruits of sin, among which the most oppressive are tyranny, the murder of a brother and slavery. For the heart, wounded by so much human wickedness, longs for peace and good will, for reconciliation, communion, good understanding. Man was not created for war but for harmony, not for tyranny but for the freedom of love.
But the incarnation of the Lord was beyond human thought and expectation. Both the simple and zealous Israelites, who expected a deliverer, and the learned men of Jerusalem, who expected a king of this world, had very different images of the coming Messiah. The birth of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem, to a poor family, to a virgin anonymous to the great and glorious of the world, was a stumbling block and a cause of scandal, as it remains for many today.
The coming of the Messiah was foretold by the prophets, announced by the star, intuited by the three Magi and revealed to the shepherds, but it was not accompanied by “spectacular miracles” or a “magical” atmosphere. Everything was open, but also hidden. Open, because the prophecies, the star, the coming of the Magi, the angels’ song of glory were fulfilled before everyone’s eyes. Hidden, because although they were shown to all, most did not understand them, as the prophets had warned beforehand: ” Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.” (Isaiah 6:10). The mystery of the Incarnation was perceived only by those with pure hearts and eyes wide open.
For although “he came in his own, his own did not receive him”. (John 1:11). Nevertheless, our Lord Jesus Christ came to give us his everlasting peace and boundless love. He came to reconcile, heal and comfort the wounded hearts of all. And yet to this day the earth and the whole world remain mired in war, conflict and turmoil.
We look around us and see that the heavenly gift of charity is almost entirely absent among us. This plague of un-love spares no one. We lack patience, gentleness and availability for our neighbour. Too often we carelessly pass by the poor and those crushed by the “burdens of life”. Their cries go unheard, drowned out by the noise of our selfish concerns and the trappings of a digital world that distances us from true communion. Brothers and sisters, let us not forget that every gesture of love, every word of consolation and every moment of attention to suffering are rays of light that dispel the darkness of this world. Let us remember that the peace of Christ begins in our hearts and through us can bear fruit in the whole world.
All too often what happened in Jerusalem two thousand years ago happens to us: we do not see and we do not hear, that is, we do not have eyes and souls for our neighbour, for those in our own country, in our own community, in our own family, let alone for the stranger. And if we do not have eyes and souls for our neighbour, then we do not see Christ, Who shows himself, silently, discreetly, humbly, in His smaller and needier brothers and sisters.
My dearly beloved,
We bow our knees and ask the Lord to protect us from “the invasion of other nations” and from “the war between us”. We entrust ourselves to His protection, praying that the angelic powers and all the saints who intercede for us may be at our side, and that the Blessed Mother of God herself, the defender of all who trust in her, may be at our side. But, behold, we see how in our days nations come against nations, and peace is taken from us. Men are filled with fear and trembling. Some feel powerless in the face of evil, others live under the burden of fear that our present is heading for a collapse that may affect their country or even the whole of mankind. But in the midst of these trials, let us not lose faith! Let us turn with all our hearts to God, who is the source of true peace. Let our prayers be fervent, our love for our neighbour more alive and our hope unshakable. For Christ has promised us: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
It is not in the power of any worldly ruler to decide such matters. Neither the Irodes nor the Pillars of this world can absolutely change the course of human history. For the true destiny of the world is not written in the palaces of power, but in the hearts of men. In the depths of each man’s heart lies the balance which tips either towards evil or towards good, according to whether we listen to the voice of the tempter or to the gentle but firm voice of conscience.
There is a Lord of Peace! That is the Saviour Jesus Christ! And His peace is a peace of the heart, a spiritual peace. His peace is not a treaty or an agreement between warring parties. His peace is not a compromise with the powers of darkness. His peace is His victory! And in this world, Christ’s victory is the victory of the cross. It is the victory of the martyrs, of those who live the pious life, of those who choose the narrow way of need and repentance, of the piercing of the heart. The victory of Jesus does not mean submission to others, nor domination. It means liberation from the tyranny of injustice, from the cage of social and economic arrangements in which we are imprisoned, from the world, from the passions, from the devil.
The peace brought by Jesus Christ is a peace that transcends the wars, both seen and unseen, in which the world is engaged. It is a peace that dwells in the heart of the believer, even when that person is amid difficulties and trials. We experience the goodness of the Saviour in spite of the wickedness and injustice that seem to suffocate human relationships. It is a goodness that calls us to love even where we encounter hostility, to pray for the oppressed, to bless those who would do us harm.
We live the freedom that Christ brings despite the constraints and injustices that this fallen world imposes on people. It is the inner freedom to follow the truth and to stand firm in faith, regardless of outward trials. The peace of the Christian, therefore, may appear to one who rejects the Gospel as defiance or even a declaration of war. But it is the peace that comes from an unshakeable trust in God and a refusal to bow our souls to evil. This peace is not capitulation, but a living witness that the ultimate victory belongs to goodness and truth.
We pray for peace and goodwill, for forgiveness and reconciliation, but we know from Christ Himself that all these things must come to pass. “You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but do not be alarmed; for all these things must come to pass, and the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6). Therefore, if we follow his admonition, we will not be dismayed, but will prepare ourselves even more in spirit.
My beloved,
As long as we keep holiness, as long as we care for our souls, and especially for the souls of our children, we can be confident that the Lord will fulfil His prone-giving work. But if we neglect the holiness that Christ gave us in Baptism, if we do not cultivate it, if we allow ourselves to be carried away by the spirit of the world, if salvation becomes for us something theoretical and abstract rather than the only thing that is necessary, then the Lord will allow the hour of those who work the mystery of iniquity to come. For if the salt becomes corrupt, the earth will also become corrupt. “You are the salt of the earth. If the salt be spoiled, how shall it be salted? It is good for nothing but to be cast out and trampled underfoot by men”. (Matthew 5:13)
The reason why the world remains mired in wars and injustices is, of course, because the Good News of the Nativity of the Lord has not been and is not being received by those who do not desire the light, peace and love brought by the One who became man for our salvation. But even more important than this bitter denial of God’s outstretched hand to man is the spiritual state of us who are Christians and disciples of Christ. It should not be among us as it is in the world.
We should be the ones who change the face of the world through the work of the Holy Spirit, not the world who disfigures us in its image, through the devastating spirit of secularisation, that is, being moulded in the image of this world. We should live the Gospel in such a way that its fruits are seen. For the only real and lasting transformation of the world is wrought by the Holy Spirit, and any other way is just an illusion. Moreover, it is a form of spiritual delusion, a subtle strategy of deception that leads us to expect salvation where it will never come: from false messiahs who can only offer empty and soul-destroying promises.
My spiritual sons and daughters,
So I urge you to look to those who are working for our salvation, those who are bringing the fruit of the Spirit into our souls, into our families, into our churches.
Parents, keep your children close and protect them from the influence of the digital world! Watch over their innocence with care and sacrifice and do not abandon them to the screens! Children, enjoy the sky, the sun, the stars, the snow, the forests, the church bells, the flowers, the butterflies and play! Young people, use your youth to elevate your soul, to cultivate nobility of heart, generosity, altruism and solidarity! Older people, enjoy the gift of wisdom and patience, and remember that no one is ever a burden or useless before God!
Brothers and sisters, let us not forget that “we are all members of one another” (Romans 12:5), that the Church is the Body of Christ (cf. Colossians 1:24), that we all complement each other, that each one of us has his place and his role in this invisible network held together by the Holy Spirit. No one is forgotten, no one is extra. We are all called to be part of this network – and only of this spiritual network.
With this in mind, let us gather together and let us respond to slander, hatred, strife and challenge with blessing, love and peace. But also with the truth. We have a Saviour! This is the only Lord of Peace, Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate on this day, together with the shepherds, the angels and the Magi.
Yes, we feel that world peace has increased. Indeed, there is less and less goodwill between people. But Christ is here, in our midst, and He gives us peace and good will if we open the eyes of our hearts and see Him and listen to Him and follow Him!
So let us enlarge our hearts! Let us open the eyes of our hearts and have compassion on our neighbour! Let us be a support to him who is weary and collapses under the hardship and burden of the cross of life! Let us look at him or her as he or she is: our brother, our sister, the one for whom Christ has commanded us to lay down our souls in trouble, in need, in want, in disgust and in anguish, but also in joy!
Only in this way will we abide in the peace and love of Christ, here and in eternity!
Your servant, brother and friend,
of all good will and warm praying, and now with you carol singer,
† Bishop Macarie
Issued at the Bishop’s Residence in Stockholm, the Kingdom of Sweden, on the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord, in the year of salvation 2024
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