2003 Pastoral Encyclical for Christmas (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

Pastoral Encyclical

Sacred Metropolis of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Christmas 2003

My beloved brethren,

And again, in the winter atmosphere of these days, we celebrate the love and mercy of God who became man, so that we might become sons by the grace of God. All the hymns of the Church, with which the feast of the Nativity of Christ is celebrated and which were written by holy men, who experienced in their personal lives the incarnation of the Son and Word of God, exude this fragrance of God's love, mercy and philanthropy.

In this climate of God’s love and mercy, the words of the Apostle Paul are also heard: “And without controversy great is the mystery of piety: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory” (1 Tim. 3:16).

The Apostle Paul mentions these words in a unity about what the life of the Bishop and more generally of the Clergy should be, what his work is, what his preaching should be and what the Church is. Ultimately, the work of the Clergyman is to continually preach the great mystery of salvation, which is that God was revealed in human flesh, justified by the Holy Spirit, appeared to angels, preached to the nations, believed in by the world, and ascended into glory. And this preaching was the central core of the teaching of the Holy Apostles and of the Church in general.

Indeed, God, by His Birth, showed that He is not an abstract idea, nor a mere man. In the person of the Son and Word of God, the union of human nature with divine nature took place, a thing that contributed to the salvation of man. The Son and Word of God became incarnate in the Holy Spirit and as God-man was revealed to the angels, who previously could not see God, was preached to the Gentiles, believed in by the world and was taken up in glory.

The incarnate God is our glory and our life. We can feel Him as Father, we can belong to His Body through Baptism and the whole of our ecclesial life, we can eat His Body and drink His sanctified Blood, we can feel His presence near us, we can hope to see Him more clearly after our death, especially after His Second Coming, through Him we can feel the love of the Heavenly Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit. We have no other sermon more convincing and more effective to preach to people. Everything else is small, human, poor, incapable of giving meaning and life.

However, in the passage we mentioned, the Apostle Paul also uses a phrase that is significant: “Great is the mystery of piety.”

First of all, the incarnation of Christ is indeed a mystery. According to Saint Maximus the Confessor, the great mystery of the incarnation “remains a mystery” to human reason, that is, how the union of divine and human natures came about. According to Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, the divine formation of Christ, which happened for us, that is, His Birth according to human nature, “is always ineffable, and always unknown,” even to the angels. This mystery is not understood by human reason, but is confirmed by the experience we acquire within the Church. It is not a matter of the intellect, but a certainty of the heart. Indeed, whoever lives with repentance and keeps the commandments of Christ feels in his heart the energies of God and in this way transcends all the sufferings of human life and even death itself.

Then, the Apostle Paul speaks of the “mystery of piety.” Orthodox piety is not some external forms and a compliance with some rules of good, even religious, behavior, but it is the transformation of our life by the fact of the incarnation of Christ. It is a piety that is based on the theology of the incarnation of Christ and the transformation of our existence by the entire mystery of the divine economy.

This is the preaching of the Church; this is the faith and work of the Clergy; this is the essence of Christian ecclesiastical life; this is our hope and our response; this is the meaning of our life; this is “the great mystery of piety.” The preaching of the Church is not religious words and religious feelings, it is not human reflections and good thoughts, it is not diverse fantasies and noble ways of behavior, it is not analyses of secular and historical events and participation in social and political processes, but it is a confession of the theology of the incarnation of the Word of God and pastoral care for the rebirth of man. This is the core of ecclesiastical life, the center of the pastoral ministry of every Clergyman and the content of ecclesiastical preaching.

When such a mystery is activated and proclaimed to people, then the Church accomplishes her work, which is the salvation of people and the renewal of the whole of creation.

Brethren, on this Christmas day, a day of theological love and ecclesial affection, the words of the Apostle Paul must be heard: “And without controversy great is the mystery of piety: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.” This is the preaching of true life.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and His infinite mercy be with you.

With festal blessings,

THE METROPOLITAN

+ HIEROTHEOS OF NAFPAKTOS AND AGIOU VLASIOU

 
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.