PASTORAL LETTER ON THE FEAST OF THE LORD’S NATIVITY 2019
† NICOLAE
by the mercies of God
Archbishop of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of the United States of America and
Metropolitan of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas

To our Beloved Clergy and Orthodox Christians,
peace and joy from Christ the Lord born in the manger of Bethlehem,
and from us Hierarchical Blessings.

„“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy
which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city
of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

Most Reverend Fathers, Beloved Faithful,

On this royal feast day, I greet you with the words of the angels who proclaimed the news of the miracle in the Bethlehem manger. I greet you and proclaim to you great joy, for Christ the Lord has been born Savior and has fulfilled the promise and the proclamation: the promise of God after Adam’s sin, and the proclamation of the prophets and the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin of Nazareth. It is fitting that we meditate during these days of celebration on the wondrous plan of God that was fulfilled “for us and for our salvation.”

Eve allowed herself to be deceived by the serpent in Paradise, and encouraged Adam to become disobedient to God. As a result, they were cast out of Paradise, but not before God made a promise: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). A great enmity is announced between the descendants of the woman and those of the tempter, an enmity that will come to a climax through the victory of Him. This is not speaking of the descendants of the woman in the plural, but is very precisely the proclamation of a Savior. He who is announced is Christ, the Son of God Incarnate, born of the Virgin Mary, “the new Eve.” This verse from Genesis is called the Protoevangelium, meaning the foretelling of the Gospel of salvation in Christ.

St. Paul the Apostle also refers to this proclamation when he speaks about the calling of Abraham and his blessing: “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16). The promise of Paradise was confirmed and strengthened through the one addressed to Abraham: He or your Seed is the One who will fulfill the work of the redemption of man and reconciliation with God.

This promise of a Savior would become proclamation. Through the Holy Spirit it would be kept alive in the consciousness of the Hebrew people, through the voice of the prophets, the hope of a Savior. Moses speaks clearly about the coming of the Messiah: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear” (Deuteronomy 18:15). The Old Testament prophets continued this proclamation, each one bringing a new detail: that He would be born of a Virgin (Isaiah 7:14), that the birth would take place in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), that He would travel into Egypt (Hosea 11:1), that the babies of Bethlehem would be murdered by those seeking to murder Him (Jeremiah 31:15). Isaiah offers us precise details about the sufferings, death, and Resurrection of the Savior (Isaiah 53).

The proclamation is coupled with the hope that God would fulfill His promise. With this hope the Righteous Simeon and the Prophetess Anna were awaiting the consolation of Israel (Luke 2:25); and in the same way all the people received St. John the Baptist’s appearance and preaching. “Now ... the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not” (Luke 3:15).

The promise of God, followed by the proclamation of the prophets in hope, resulted in fulfillment. God Who made the promise shows Himself faithful in what He promised and also orders the time of fulfillment: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). Could there possibly be a more exact proclamation of the fulfillment of the promise? He, the seed of the woman announced in the book of Genesis is now called “born of a woman.” The one prophesied by the prophets is called “born under the Law,” and His mission is very precisely clarified: redemption and adoption.

St. Leo the Great speaks about the necessity of a different kind of birth for the redemption of humanity from weakness, sin, and death: “... it behooved Him to be born by a new order, who brought to men's bodies the new gift of unsullied purity. For the uncorrupt nature of Him that was born had to guard the primal virginity of the Mother, and the infused power of the Divine Spirit had to preserve in spotlessness and holiness that sanctuary which He had chosen for Himself: that Spirit (I say) who had determined to raise the fallen, to restore the broken, and by overcoming the allurements of the flesh to bestow on us in abundant measure the power of chastity.”[1] Notice how the mysteries of salvation are revealed and explained in the words of the Fathers! For the Incarnation of the Son of God for the redemption of humanity had to respect the purity and holiness of her who bore Him in her womb. And notice how this revelation becomes for us a chance to understand and receive the divine mysteries!

And with regard to our adoption in Christ, our great theologian Fr. Dumitru Staniloae explains: “Through Jesus Christ man becomes a son of God and associate of Jesus Christ, God. This is the highest dignity and condition to which he is raised. But what does this mean if not being raised to the most intimate I-thou communion with God? And he who is in communion with God is eternal, for the one that God loves so much as to receive him in communion with Himself, God cannot allow to perish, just as we would not allow our loved ones to perish, if it were in our power.”[2] The Incarnation of the Son of God from the Virgin brings us to the stature of sons of God, intimates of God, having the opportunity to be eternal. From the Lord’s Nativity this calling and this opportunity is proclaimed to us. And these things represent the rebirth of man, Father Staniloae also tells us, “the re-establishing of man on the pathway of his destiny, raised up to its heights.”[3]

Most Reverend Fathers, Beloved Faithful,

The realization of these meanings of the Lord’s Nativity are for us an occasion for joy and spiritual delight, for the new day of salvation has dawned for us, in the words of St. Leo the Great.[4] That which God has promised, that which the prophets have proclaimed, that which the people awaited in hope was fulfilled in Bethlehem through the Birth of the Baby Jesus. This treasure needs to be discovered in the life of every Christian who through Baptism has received the promise fulfilled and the opportunity of intimacy with God and of eternal life. This fulfillment and this opportunity of Christians must be offered to the world, to our fellow man, those both near and far, believers and unbelievers. The proclamation of the Lord’s Nativity receives its content through the discovery of these meanings and brings joy to those who are vouchsafed to receive them.

We ask that Christ the Savior born in the Bethlehem manger will continue to make us partakers of these revelations, that we may be illumined to understand our mission on American soil. We ask that the Baby Jesus may protect our communities and may multiply His gifts in every parish and monastery of our Metropolia!

I share a brotherly embrace with you in Christ the Lord, with the wish that you celebrate the holy time of Christmas, the New Year, and Theophany in health, peace, and spiritual joys!

Many Years!

Your brother in prayer to God,
desirous of all heavenly benefits,
† Metropolitan NICOLAE
Chicago, the Feast of the Lord’s Nativity, 2019

[1] St. Leo the Great, Sermon 22, On the Feast of the Nativity, NewAdvent.org.

[2] Dumitru Stăniloae, Iisus Hristos sau restaurarea omului, Craiova, 1993, p. 90.

[3] Ibidem.

[4] St. Leo the Great, Sermon 22, On the Feast of the Nativity, NewAdvent.org.