Bartholomew
\nBy God\u2019s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch
\nTo the Plenitude of the Church
\nGrace, Mercy and Peace from the Savior Christ Born in Bethlehem
\n* * *<\/p>\n
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, dear children,<\/p>\n
By the grace of God, we are once again deemed worthy to reach the great feast of the birth of the divine Word in the flesh, who came into the world to grant us \u201cwell-being,\u201d1<\/sup>\u00a0remission of sin, of captivity to the works of the law and death, in order to grant us true life and great joy, which \u201cno one can take from us.\u201d2<\/sup><\/p>\n We welcome the \u201call-perfect God,\u201d3<\/sup>\u00a0who \u201cbrought love into the world,\u201d4<\/sup>\u00a0who becomes \u201ccloser to us than we to ourselves.\u201d5<\/sup>\u00a0Through kenosis, the divine Word condescends to the created beings in \u201ca condescension inexplicable and incomprehensible.\u201d6<\/sup>\u00a0He \u201cwhom nothing can contain\u201d is contained in the womb of the Virgin; the greatest exists in the least. This great chapter of our faith, of how the transcendent God \u201cbecame human for humankind,\u201d7<\/sup>\u00a0while remaining an \u201cinexpressible\u201d mystery. \u201cThe great mystery of divine Incarnation ever remains a mystery.\u201d8<\/sup><\/p>\n This strange and paradoxical event, \u201cwhich was hidden for ages and generations,\u201d9<\/sup>\u00a0is the foundation of the gift of human deification. \u201cThere is no salvation in anyone else; for there is no other human name beneath heaven through which we must be saved.\u201d10<\/sup><\/p>\n This is the supreme truth about salvation. That we belong to Christ. That everything is united in Christ. That our corruptible nature is refashioned in Christ, the image is restored and the road toward likeness is opened for all people. By assuming human nature, the divine Word establishes the unity of humanity through a common divine predestination and salvation. And it is not only humanity that is saved, but all of creation. Just as the fall of Adam and Eve impacts all of creation, so too the Incarnation of the Son and Word of God affects all of creation. \u201cCreation is recognized as free when those who were once in darkness become children of light.\u201d11<\/sup>\u00a0Basil the Great calls us to celebrate the holy Nativity of Christ as the \u201ccommon feast of all creation,\u201d as \u201cthe salvation of the world\u2014humanity\u2019s day of birth.\u201d12<\/sup><\/p>\n Once again, the words that \u201cChrist is born\u201d are unfortunately heard in a world filled with violence, perilous conflict, social inequality and contempt of foundational human rights. 2018 marks the completion of seventy years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which, after the terrible experience and destruction of World War II, manifested the common and noble ideals that all peoples and countries must unwaveringly respect. However, the disregard of this Declaration continues, while various abuses and intentional misinterpretations of human rights undermine their respect and realization. We continue either not to learn from history or not to want to learn. Neither the tragic experience of violence and reduction of the human person, nor the proclamation of noble ideals have prevented the continuation of aggression and war, the exaltation of power and the exploitation of one another. Nor again have the domination of technology, the extraordinary achievements of science, and economic progress brought social justice and the peace that we so desire. Instead, in our time, the indulgence of the affluent has increased and globalization is destroying the conditions of social cohesion and harmony.<\/p>\n The Church cannot ignore these threats against the human person. \u201cThere is nothing as sacred as a human being, whose nature God Himself has shared.\u201d13<\/sup>\u00a0We struggle for human dignity, for the protection of human freedom and justice, knowing full well that \u201ctrue peace comes from God,\u201d14<\/sup>\u00a0that the transcendent mystery of the Incarnation of divine Word and the gift of human deification reveals the truth about freedom and humanity\u2019s divine destiny.<\/p>\n In the Church, we experience freedom through Christ, in Christ and with Christ. And the very summit of this freedom is the place of love, which \u201cdoes not seek its own\u201d15<\/sup>\u00a0but \u201cderives from a pure heart.\u201d16<\/sup>\u00a0Whoever depends on himself, seeks his own will, and is self-sufficient\u2014whoever pursues deification by himself and congratulates himself\u2014only revolves around himself and his individual self-love and self-gratification; such a person only sees others as a suppression of individual freedom. Whereas freedom in Christ is always oriented to one\u2019s neighbor, always directed toward the other, always speaks the truth in love. The aim of the believer is not to assert his or her rights, but rather \u201cto follow and fulfill the rights of Christ\u201d17<\/sup>\u00a0in a spirit of humility and thanksgiving.<\/p>\n This truth about the life in Christ, about freedom as love and love as freedom, is the cornerstone and assurance for the future of humankind. When we build on this inspired ethos, we are able to confront the great challenges of our world, which threaten not only our well-being but our very survival.<\/p>\n The truth about the \u201cGod-man\u201d is the response to the contemporary \u201cman-god\u201d and proof of our eternal destination proclaimed by the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church (Crete, 2016): \u201cThe Orthodox Church sets against the \u2018man-god\u2019 of the contemporary world the \u2018God-man\u2019 as the ultimate measure of all things. \u201cWe do not speak of a man who has been deified, but of God who has become man.\u201d The Church reveals the saving truth of the God-man and His body, the Church, as the locus and mode of life in freedom, \u201cspeaking the truth in love,\u201d and as participation even now on earth in the life of the resurrected Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n The Incarnation of the divine Word is the affirmation and conviction that Christ personally guides history as a journey toward the heavenly kingdom. Of course, the journey of the Church toward the kingdom, which is not realized remotely or independently of historical reality\u2014or its contradictions and adventures\u2014has never been without difficulties. Nevertheless, it is in the midst of these difficulties that the Church witnesses to the truth and performs its sanctifying, pastoral and transfiguring mission. \u201cTruth is the pillar and ground of the Church … The pillar of the universe is the Church … and this is a great mystery, a mystery of godliness.\u201d18<\/sup><\/p>\n Brothers and sisters, children in the Lord,<\/p>\n Let us celebrate together\u2014with the grace of the divine Word, who dwelt in us, as well as with delight and fullness of joy\u2014the feasts of the Twelve Days of Christmas. From the Phanar we pray that our Lord and Savior\u2014who was incarnate out of condescension for all people\u2014may in this coming new year grant everyone physical and spiritual health, along with peace and love for one another. May He protect His holy Church and bless the works of its ministry for the glory of His most-holy and most-praised Name.<\/p>\n Christmas 2017<\/p>\n +Bartholomew of Constantinople ———————————————- In this year’s Proclamation of Christmas, His Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I warns that ‘in our time, the indulgence of the affluent has increased and globalization is destroying the conditions of social cohesion and harmony.’ Patriarchal Proclamation of Christmas 2017 Bartholomew By God\u2019s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch To the Plenitude of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":184897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13597,4761,13594,67,13595,13599,13596,2368,3842,13598,2371,13600],"class_list":["post-184925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-autocephalous-orthodox-churches","tag-christmas-2017","tag-christmas-message","tag-christmas-proclamation","tag-ecumenical-patriarch","tag-globalization","tag-harmony","tag-nativity-of-jesus-christ","tag-patriarhul-ecumenic-en","tag-peace","tag-social-cohesion","tag-ss-bartolomeu-en","tag-universal-declaration-of-human-rights"],"better_featured_image":{"id":184897,"alt_text":"","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":1024,"height":684,"file":"2017\/12\/Pastorala-PF-Bartolomeu.jpg","sizes":{"medium":{"file":"Pastorala-PF-Bartolomeu-890x594.jpg","width":890,"height":594,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Pastorala-PF-Bartolomeu-890x594.jpg"},"thumbnail":{"file":"Pastorala-PF-Bartolomeu-360x360.jpg","width":360,"height":360,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Pastorala-PF-Bartolomeu-360x360.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1","keywords":[]}},"post":184896,"source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Pastorala-PF-Bartolomeu.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184925\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=184925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184925\/revisions\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184897\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=184925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=184925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=184925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nYour fervent supplicant before God<\/p>\n
\n1<\/sup>\u00a0Gregory the Theologian, Oration XXXVIII, on Theophany, namely the Nativity of the Savior, iii, PG 36, 313.
\n2<\/sup>\u00a0John 10:18.
\n3<\/sup>\u00a0Doxastikon of the Aposticha from the Great Vespers of Christmas.
\n4<\/sup>\u00a0Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ, vi, PG 150, 657.
\n5<\/sup>\u00a0Ibid. vi PG 150, 660.
\n6<\/sup>\u00a0John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, iii, 1, PG 94, 984.
\n7<\/sup>\u00a0Maximus the Confessor, Various chapters on Theology and Economy concerning virtue and vice, First Century, 12, PG 90, 1184.
\n8<\/sup>\u00a0Ibid.
\n9<\/sup>\u00a0Col. 1:26.
\n10<\/sup>\u00a0Acts 4:12.
\n11<\/sup>\u00a0Iambic Katavasia on the Feast of Theophany, Ode VIII.
\n12<\/sup>\u00a0Basil the Great, Homily on the Nativity of Christ, PG 31, 1472-73.
\n13<\/sup>\u00a0Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ, vi, PG 150, 649.
\n14<\/sup>\u00a0John Chrysostom, On Corinthians 1, Homily I, 1, PG 61, 14.
\n15<\/sup>\u00a01 Cor. 13:5.
\n16<\/sup>\u00a01 Tim. 1:5.
\n17<\/sup>\u00a0Theotokion, Aposticha of the Ainoi, October 12.
\n18<\/sup>\u00a0John Chrysostom, On Timothy I, Homily XI, PG 62, 554.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"