« CHRISTMAS MESSAGE OF ARCHBISHOP ELISEY OF SOUROZH »

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
OF ARCHBISHOP ELISEY OF SOUROZH
TO THE PASTORS AND ALL FAITHFUL CHILDREN
 OF THE DIOCESE OF SOUROZH
OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

Dearly beloved in the Lord,

honourable pastors and God-loving laypeople,

dear brothers and sisters!

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”.

We find in the holy gospel the testimony of this wonderful, mystical angelic song that conveys the beauty of life with God. The heavenly world, the world on high lives not only by prayerful glorification of God, but finds a sanctuary in the sinful, earthly world. The good will of the Creator receives a response in the freely willed consent of the human being.

Listening attentively to the wonderful harmony of being that is hymned by the angels, we set out on the path that leads to the great mystery of the creation. We are accompanied on the laborious journey of our earthly life by a star of hope, like that which led the wise men in the gospel to Bethlehem, where the Saviour of the world was born.

The mystery of earthly existence is disclosed to us in the recognition of the unique value of our innermost desire – to live with God; to live, not that life which is limited by the unstable values of temporary worldly success, but the life which is given to us by God. To incarnate in one’s own life the inexhaustible, life-creating energy of the Creator is a dream, a hope, at once unattainable and made possible in the mystery of the birth into the world of the Son of God.

We are now drawing near to this mystery in which our hopes find their fulfilment. It is not so much we who ascend to God through our own feeble efforts, as He Who through the humble birth of His Son in the cave at Bethlehem becomes infinitely near to us. The divine infant is born in the human heart as once He was born in a mean cave; God dwells with Man, without confusion, without change, indivisibly and inseparably.

I offer my heartfelt congratulations to all the faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church who live in the British Isles and also to all people of good will who are now celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man. May the joy of the encounter with Jesus, the divine child, enable to draw near to the Truth,  which shines upon the world with the light of Wisdom and warms our hearts with divine love. May this joy draw us closer one to another, righteous and sinners, the strong and the weak, those wise through experience of life and the young. May the joy of the Nativity of Christ unite us in our striving to the happiness of living the life of God born in us.

+ ELISEY

ARCHISHOP OF SOUROZH

The Nativity of Christ 2010/11

London