† 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,
grace, peace and joy from Christ the Lord, and from us a hierarchical blessing.

“Christ is born! Glorify Him! Christ is come from heaven! Go and meet Him!
Christ is on earth! Arise to Him! Sing to the Lord, all you inhabitants of earth,
and all you peoples, praise Him, and with merriment extol Him who is glorified!”
(The Katavasias of the Lord’s Nativity)

Very Reverend Fathers, Beloved Faithful,

Together with all humankind and the heavenly hosts, we again bring praise to God this year, for He has blessed us to celebrate together the Lord’s Nativity, the feast of hope and of joy, the feast of the family and of monastics, the feast of the descent of God to earth. This descent is a source of unspeakable joy, for God is with us.

St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite tells us that this song from the Katavasias of the Lord’s Nativity, the author of which is St. Cosmas the Melodist, is taken from the great celebrant and panegyrist of feasts, St. Gregory the Theologian. Just as those without bread must seek bread from the one who sells it, so those who wish to celebrate the feasts of Christ must seek words of praise from their celebrator, in other words from Gregory the great theologizer.[1]

So then what does St. Gregory the Theologian reveal to us? First he says: “Christ is born” and “Christ on earth” and interprets that Christ refers to the God-Man because the God-Man was born of the Virgin and because the God-Man appeared on earth. But when he says “Christ from heaven,” then Christ refers only to God, not also to man, because the Lord did not descend from heaven clothed in human nature, as the Apollinarians erroneously teach. For only with His divinity He descended and thus took on human nature from the pure blood of the ever-Virgin Mary, which He united with His hypostasis, becoming perfectly man.

“Then he says that Christ is born today. Therefore you angels, who bring praise to God at the Lord’s Nativity with the words Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will to men are now bringing doxology to God. You who live an angelic life in a human and material body, praise Him as well. And you, righteous ones, greet Him imitating the Righteous Simeon who met the Lord when He was brought to the temple.”[2] Through these words St. Nicodemus thus exhorts angels and men to penetrate into the mystery of the descent of God to earth, the mystery of the humility of God, who “being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.”[3] Christ is born “for us and for our salvation,” the Son of God becomes incarnate that He might make humans sons of God, in the language of the Holy Fathers. Christ is born in the soul of each of us, granting us that which is of the highest price on earth, faith and hope in the power of His redemption. Endeavoring to receive this revelation, it is right that we bring glory to God.

St. Nicodemus continues the explanation of the Katavasia—Christ is on earth, arise to Him: you men of earth, rise from earthly things pondering the heavenly things and arising with the wings of action and of contemplation, because for this God descended to earth, that those on earth might rise to the heavens. For the union of God with men could not otherwise have taken place, had not God descended for a short time from His exaltation and had not man been raised above his humility.”[4] Here St. Nicodemus quotes St. Maximus the Confessor: “the soul could never reach for the knowledge of God unless God would touch him, lowering Himself, and raise him toward Himself. For the human mind cannot traverse the long distance to arrive at the perception of any divine illumination, if God Himself does not draw it... and illumine it with the divine rays.”[5] Through these words these two holy fathers reveal to us “the mystery hidden from eternity,” the plan of God for the salvation of man: only the Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, according to Whose image man was created, could bring back man, estranged from God and with the image darkened through sin, to the filial closeness to God and to the illumination of his image. This is why at the Lord’s Nativity the whole earth should sing, and the peoples should joyously praise Him, “for He is glorified.”

St. Nicodemus concludes his commentary on the first Katavasia of the Lord’s Nativity with a challenge addressed to all Christians: “neither must you, brother, cease to praise Christ who is born, and not only with words but much more with deeds. When He descends from heaven, go out and meet Him, contemplating Him. Raise yourself up from the earth and from earthly things out of love for the One Who descended for you to earth. Sing to Him a new song, as David urges you. But sing many and numberless songs, without wearying of singing. For if you will sing thus, the Lord, the One to whom you sing, will remember you and will have mercy on you, as Isaiah teaches us: Sing many songs, that you may be remembered (Isaiah 23:16 LXX)!”[6]

My challenge at this glorious feast is that we sing to the Lord with our deeds. In this past year the world has not changed. There are the same rumors of crises, turmoils, and war. The Christian must put his entire hope in the care and help of God. He must desire to partake of the illumination of the Son of God who is born in the manger of Bethlehem. And to share that light to all those close to him as well as to strangers, and especially to those found in the darkness of the absence of the knowledge of God! In this year dedicated to the Centennial of the Romanian Patriarchate and to the Romanian Spiritual Fathers and Confessors of the 20th Century, when the Romanian Orthodox Church has been adorned with 20 new saints (16 canonized by the Romanian Patriarchate and 4 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate), we should follow their example and learn from their lives how to be light for others. Some of them were theologians, others spiritual fathers known by the people; many of them witnessed in prison, some at the price of their lives, their faith in Christ the Savior Who brings light, peace, and joy.

I pray that Christ the Lord will strengthen us and illumine us, that He will bless every priest and believer, every parish and monastery of our Archdiocese. I give you a brotherly embrace in Christ the Lord and I wish you to enjoy the holy feasts of Christmas, the New Year, and Theophany with health, peace, and spiritual joys!

Your brother in prayer unto God,
† Metropolitan NICOLAE

Chicago, the Feast of the Lord’s Nativity, 2025

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[1] Sfântul Nicodim Aghioritul, Eortodromion sau tâlcuire la Canoanele Sărbătorilor împărătești, Editura Sfântul Nectarie, 2024, vol. 1, p. 132.

[2] Ibidem.

[3] Filipeni 2, 6-7.

[4] Sfântul Nicodim Aghioritul, op. cit, p. 134.

[5] Ibidem.

[6] Ibidem, p. 135.