I congratulate you all on the New Year and the glorious Nativity Feast; praying to God that this year will be full of goodness, blessings and peace.
The Nativity came in fulfillment of God’s promise to humankind that “the Seed of the woman will bruise the serpent.” The human race waited until this promise was fulfilled, according to the words of St. Paul the Apostle, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,” (Galatians 4: 4). From that promise until its fulfillment, God had been preparing mankind for the wonderful Nativity.
Christmas as a Message of Peace
The angels’ chant to the shepherds: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14) has been considered an immortal message throughout the ages. It announced the peace that the “Child in the manger” came to offer to all humans, who had lost all hope of restoring the true life of their first parents, Adam and Eve. The Nativity is the message of peace; it is the restoration of the peace that was lost between God and man, due to man’s sin that led to the corruption of human nature.
God created man in His image and according to His likeness, and man was created to live happily. Saint Athanasius the Apostolic says about God’s creation of man, “He did not simply create men like all irrational animals on the earth, but made them in His own image and gave them a share also in the power of His own Word … and being made rational, they might be able to remain in felicity and live the true life of the saints in paradise.” Then God gave man the commandment, which he transgressed and was thus condemned to death. Saint Athanasius the Apostolic referred to the meaning of death, saying, “Ye shall surely die” –not just die only, but remain in the state of death and of corruption … Instead of remaining in the state in which God had created them, they [humans] were in process of becoming corrupted entirely, and death had them completely under its dominion.” This is how man came out of the presence of God, was expelled from the garden, and lost the immortality of the true life. Hence, human beings were deeply filled with fear, whose first seed was sowed in the lives of our first parents, Adam and Eve, through sin, after which they both lost the peace they previously enjoyed, and Paradise was closed to them: “therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3: 23-24). Fear and insecurity increased, especially after a person’s hand extended to kill his brother out of envy and hatred! Thus, feelings of fear and anxiety grew in mankind, and peace faded away from man’s life until the angels announced its restoration at the time of the Nativity.
At the time of the Nativity, the Savior was born. The angel of the Lord said to Saint Joseph the Carpenter about Him, “you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21). The shepherds were also told, “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). However, the Nativity has become a joyous message, proclaiming the nearness of the breaking of the barrier between God and man, which was fulfilled through the cross, death and resurrection; thus God and man were reconciled. Saint Athanasius the Apostolic says, “For the human race would have perished utterly had not the Lord and Savior of all, the Son of God, come among us to put an end to death.” Saint John Chrysostom also says, “Christ did not send by the hand of another, nor did He announce these tidings to us by means of any other, but Himself did it in His own person. He did not send an Angel or an Archangel on the mission … but it required His own coming.”
Merry Christmas!
General Bishop Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
