Χριστούγεννα...οπως ξέρειησιάζουμε ξανά στην ημερομηνία των γενεθλίων μου...

Όπως θα ξέρεις, πλησιάζουμε ξανά στην ημερομηνία των γενεθλίων μου. Κάθε χρόνο γίνεται γιορτή προς τιμή μου, έτσι και φέτος. 

Αυτές τις μέρες ο κόσμος κάνει πολλά ψώνια, γίνονται διαφημίσεις μέχρι και στο ράδιο, την τηλεόραση και παντού κανείς δεν μιλά για κάτι άλλο εκτός από το τι λείπει μέχρι να έρθει εκείνη η μέρα... 

Είναι ευχάριστο να ξέρω ότι τουλάχιστον μία μέρα τον χρόνο κάποιοι με σκέφτονται.

Όπως θα γνωρίζεις πριν από πολλά χρόνια ξεκίνησαν να γιορτάζουν τα γενέθλιά μου. Στην αρχή φαινόντουσαν να καταλαβαίνουν και με ευχαριστούσαν γι' αυτό που έκανα για εκείνους. Όμως σήμερα κανείς δεν γνωρίζει τι γιορτάζουν.

Οι άνθρωποι συναντώνται και περνούν πολύ καλά όμως κανείς δεν ξέρει περί τίνος πρόκειται....

Θυμάμαι πέρυσι, την ημέρα των γενεθλίων που έκαναν μια μεγάλη γιορτή προς τιμή μου. Στο τραπέζι υπήρχαν τα πάντα, όλα ήταν διακοσμημένα όμορφα και υπήρχαν πολλά δώρα, αλλά ...;  Ξέρεις τι;...                                           

Ούτε που με κάλεσαν, ενώ ήμουν ο επίτιμος καλεσμένος κανείς δεν θυμήθηκε να με καλέσει.  Και η γιορτή γινόταν για μένα...

Και όταν έφτασε η μεγάλη μέρα... με άφησαν απ' έξω, μου έκλεισαν την πόρτα... εγώ ήθελα να βρεθώ στο τραπέζι μαζί τους...

Η αλήθεια είναι ότι δεν εξεπλάγην γιατί τα τελευταία χρόνια όλοι μου κλείνουν την πόρτα.     Μιας και δεν με κάλεσαν, σκέφτηκα να παραβρεθώ χωρίς να κάνω θόρυβο κι έτσι μπήκα και στάθηκα σε μια γωνίτσα.

Διασκέδαζαν όλοι, κάποιοι έλεγαν ιστορίες, γελούσαν, πέρναγαν πολύ καλά, μέχρι που έφτασε ένας....

Γέρος χοντρός, ντυμένος στα κόκκινα με άσπρα γένια...     Και φώναζε...  χο, χο, χο!,  λες και είχε πιει λίγο παραπάνω...κάθισε βαριά βαριά σε μια πολυθρόνα και... Όλοι έτρεξαν καταπάνω του λέγοντας...Άγιε Βασίλη! ...λες και η γιορτή ήταν γι' αυτόν...

Ήρθαν τα μεσάνυχτα και όλοι άρχισαν να αγκαλιάζονται, άπλωσα κι εγώ τα χέρια μου ελπίζοντας πως κάποιος θα με αγκαλιάσει... Και ξέρεις; Κανείς δεν με αγκάλιασε.

Ξαφνικά άρχισαν όλοι να ανταλλάσσουν δώρα, ένας ένας τα άνοιγαν μέχρι που τελείωσαν όλα...    Πλησίασα να δω μήπως παρ' ελπίδα υπήρχε κάποιο για μένα, αλλά δεν υπήρχε τίποτα... 

Πώς θα αισθανόσουν αν την ημέρα των γενεθλίων σου αντάλλασσαν δώρα όλοι μεταξύ τους κι εσένα δεν σου δώριζαν τίποτα;

Τότε κατάλαβα ότι εγώ περίσσευα σε εκείνη τη γιορτή, βγήκα χωρίς να κάνω θόρυβο, έκλεισα την πόρτα κι αποσύρθηκα...

Κάθε χρόνος που περνάει είναι χειρότερα, ο κόσμος θυμάται μόνο το δείπνο, τα δώρα και τις γιορτές. Κανείς δεν θυμάται εμένα... 

Θα ήθελα αυτά τα Χριστούγεννα να μου επιτρέψεις να έρθω στη ζωή σου, να αναγνωρίσεις ότι πριν από δύο χιλιάδες χρόνια ήρθα σε αυτόν τον κόσμο για να δώσω τη ζωή μου για σένα, στον σταυρό, και να σε σώσω.   

 Το μόνο που θέλω σήμερα είναι να το πιστέψεις με όλη σου την καρδιά ...

Θα σου πω κάτι: σκέφτηκα, μιας και πολλοί δεν με προσκαλούν στη γιορτή που κάνουν, θα κάνω τη δική μου γιορτή και θα είναι σπουδαία, όπως κανένας δεν την έχει φανταστεί, μια γιορτή πολύ μεγάλη.        Ακόμη κάνω τις τελευταίες προετοιμασίες, στέλνω πολλές προσκλήσεις και σήμερα υπάρχει μία ειδικά για εσένα. 

Θέλω μόνο να μου πεις αν θέλεις να βοηθήσεις, θα σου κρατήσω μια θέση και θα γράψω το όνομά σου, στη μεγάλη λίστα μου με τους καλεσμένους με κράτηση και...       Θα πρέπει να μείνουν απ' έξω εκείνοι που δεν θα απαντήσουν στην πρόσκλησή μου... Ετοιμάσου γιατί όταν όλα θα είναι έτοιμα, μια μέρα που δεν θα το περιμένει κανείς, θα κάνω μια μεγάλη γιορτή...

ΧΡΙΣΤΕ,

Σ' ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΟΥΜΕ ΠΟΥ ΓΕΝΝΗΘΗΚΕΣ

How to Celebrate the Nativity ( St Gregory the Theologian )

It is easy to forget the magnitude of the event of the Nativity of Jesus Christ. This was an act of God akin to Creation itself. 


Here is how Saint Gregory the Theologian views it:

Again the darkness is past; again Light is made; again Egypt is punished with darkness; again Israel is enlightened by a pillar. The people that sat in the darkness of ignorance, let it see the Great Light of full knowledge. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. The letter gives way, the Spirit comes to the front. The shadows flee away, the Truth comes in upon them. The laws of nature are upset; the world above must be filled.

It was an event to give rebirth to all of mankind. It was God's gift so we could  return to the union with Him we enjoyed at the time of our creation.


Saint Gregory says,

This is our present Festival; it is this which we are celebrating, the Coming of God to Man, that we might go forth, or rather (for this is the more proper expression) that we might go back to God -that putting off the old man, we might put on the New; and that as we died in Adam, so we might live in Christ, being born with Christ and crucified with Him and buried with Him and rising with Him.  

As we prepare for this mystical event we need to be sober, to prepare with prayer and fasting, so we can be appreciative of this gift God has given us and give thanks out of our unrestrained love for God.  We need this so we are not distracted from all the noise that surrounds this season.


Saint Gregory says,

Let us not adorn our porches; nor arrange dances, nor decorate the streets; let us not feast the eye, not enchant the ear with music, nor enervate the nostrils with perfume, not prostitute the taste, nor indulge the touch, those roads that are so prone to evil and entrances for sin; let us not be effeminate in clothing soft and flowing, whose beauty consists in its uselessness, nor with the glittering of gems or the sheen of gold or the tricks of colour, belying the beauty of nature, and invented to do despite unto the image of God. Not in rioting and drunkenness, with which are mingled, I know well, chambering and wantonness, since the lessons which evil teachers give are evil. Let us not appraise the bouquet of wines, the kickshaws of cooks, the great expense of unguents; and let us not strive to outdo each other in temperance, and this while others are hungry and in want, who are made of the same clay and in the same manner. 

Finally he asks us to leap with joy as did John the Baptist in his mother's womb.

Now then I pray you accept His Conception, and leap before Him; if not like John from the womb, yet like David, because of the resting of the Ark. Revere the enrolment of account of which you were written in heaven, and adore the Birth by which you were loosed from the chains of your birth, and honour little Bethlehem, which has led you back to Paradise; and worship the manger through which you, being without sense, was fed by the Word . . . If you are one of those who are as yet unclean and uneatable and unfit for sacrifice, and of the gentile portion, run with the Star, and bear your Gifts with the Magi, gold and frankincense and myrrh, as to a King, and to God, and to One Who is dead for you. With Shepherds glorify Him; with Angels join in chorus; with Archangels sing hymns. Let this Festival be common to the powers in heaven and to the powers upon earth. For I am persuaded that the Heavenly Hosts join in our exultation and keep high Festival with us today . . . because they love men, and they love God ... just like those whom David introduces after the Passion ascending with Christ and coming to meet Him, and bidding one another to lift up the gates. 

This is the time to focus all our actions on the glorification of God and avoid the degrading commercialization of this most important event for the salvation of mankind. All we do during this time preceding the feast of the Nativity should be to heighten our appreciation of the great gift and glorify Him. 

St Gregory the Theologian

The Nativity of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ ( St. Nikolai Velimirovic )

'And when the fullness of time was come, God sent His only-begotten Son' (Gal. 4:4), to save the human race. And when the ninth month had come after the archangel Gabriel appeared to the most holy Virgin in Nazareth, saying: 'Hail) thou that art highly favoured... thou shalt conceive and bear a son' - at that time a decree went forth from Caesar Augustus that all the inhabitants of the Roman Empire be taxed. In accordance with this decree, everyone had to go to his own town and there be inscribed. Therefore righteous Joseph came with the most holy Virgin to Bethlehem, the city of David, for they were both of the royal House of David. But, there being a great many people in that small city for the census, Joseph and Mary could not find a lodging in any house, and found shelter in a cave which the shepherds used as a sheepfold. In this cave the most holy Virgin gave birth to the Saviour of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. Bearing Him without pain, as He was conceived without sin of the Holy Spirit and not of man, she herself wrapped Him in swaddling bands, worshipped Him as God and laid Him in a manger. Then righteous Joseph drew near and worshipped Him as the divine Fruit of a virgin womb. Then the shepherds came in from the fields, directed by an angel of God, and worshipped Him as Messiah and Saviour. The shepherds had heard a multitude of angels singing: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill among men' (Luke 2:14). At that time there also came wise men from the East, led by a wonderful star, bearing their gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh, and worshipped Him as King of kings, offering Him their gifts (Matt. 2:11). Thus He came into the world Whose coming had been foretold by the prophets and Who was born in the way that they had prophesied: of the most holy Virgin, in the city of Bethlehem, of the lineage of David according to the flesh, at the time when there was no longer in Jerusalem a king of the tribe of Judah, but Herod the stranger was on the throne. After many types and prefigurings, messengers and heralds, prophets and righteous men, wise men and kings, finally He appeared, the Lord of the world and King of kings, to perform the work of the salvation of mankind that could not be performed by His servants. May His be eternal glory and praise! Amen.

 St. Nikolai Velimirovic