In his first Christmas encyclical in 1948, Romania’s third Patriarch Justinian Marina emphasized that the news of the Nativity did not resonate in marble palaces, but in the pure hearts of the poor, of those who worked without rest.
1. As we prepare to honour, according to tradition, the great feast of the Incarnation of our Saviour Jesus Christ, it is proper to approach the holy and unperishable teaching of His Church and partake of its true interpretation as a Christian lifestyle for the salvation of our souls.
2. It has been nearly two thousand years since the angel – the messenger of Heaven – proclaimed to the weak and humble the boundless love of God, Who, for our redemption, let His beloved Son take human form, speaking the words that will always resound in the hearts of Christians everywhere and at all times: Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. (Luke 2:10).
3. But the angelic news did not resound in the marble palaces, nor was it heard by those who spent their lives in delights; it revived the pure hearts of the poor, of those who lived in restless work.
4. Christ-God was not born in a rich and golden bed but was found by the shepherds wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger (Luke 2:12), thereby leaving the immortal command to Christians to honour every person according to their works and thought, not according to useless adornments.
5. In your work do not stop, my beloved, to visit the church and enter into the greatness of the teaching of Christ, Who for our peace and salvation came down from heaven.
Photography courtesy of the Romanian Patriarchate’s files
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