" Rejoice heaven, and earth be glad;

for God is with us in flesh,

he is being brought to birth from a Virgin girl

and wrapped in swaddling clothes; 

while he looses the bonds of our offences

as he is compassionate"

(Canon of the Forefeast, Ode 1. December 21st)

Our beloved brethren in Christ Born,

The heaven rejoices and the earth is glad; God comes, is incarnated and revealed as a babe, in a humble manger from a Virgin girl.

Oh depth of wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! We remain ecstatic before the highest event of human history, in that of the inconceivable mystery of Incarnation, of the kenosis (of the self-emptying) of God the Word, which transcends us to the Land of the Uncontainable as much it rouses us into angelic hymns, doxologies, thanksgivings and entreaties.

All who believe truly and rightly (in an Orthodox way), are able to touch the Revealed God, our Holy God, the ever-unknown but now known, our loving Father, the all-merciful, who destroys the series of our offenses, the sweet Jesus, who takes on Himself not only the payout of our sins, but also perfects us, in order to deify us through grace and make us partakers of His heavenly Kingdom.

Christ-Infant is there, my brethren, in the humble manger and awaits for us to lay down the repugnance of our passions; He is there and awaits, to cleanse our distorted, due to our sins, consciousness; He is there and awaits us, to deposit our secular attitude, the blasphemous and irreverent rationalism, our avarice, our selfishness, our vainglory, our hatred, our inhospitability, our eudemonism, our monolithic self-efficiency, our detachment from the Church, our innovation and modernism. He is there for 2000 years the same, solid and unalterable and He awaits even today our all-fiery and wholehearted repentance.

Every year on the feast of the Nativity, as it is every day, hour and moment, the mercies and compassions of our Infant Christ are renewed. Let us also renew the shed of our tears. Let us pour out our hearts before Him, as the water flows on earth and let us implore for the forgiveness of our iniquities and of the entire world.

“The time is near.” Christ, who became the Babe, holds all the gifts of His Sacred Manger, love, joy, peace…ready to disperse generously to all that with the fear, faith and love worship Him. 

May the redemptive grace of our Born Savior, restore our souls, especially yours personally and that of your beloved families.

Christ is Born!

The smallest Abbess Pavlina

and the sisters