Metropolitan Nicolae’s Pastoral Letter for the Lord’s Nativity points to the fact that the Lord’s Nativity restores man by bringing the Light of Knowledge: the knowledge of God.
The hierarch quotes St. Athanasius the Great, who said that Adam’s sin consisted of turning away from the contemplation of God – of the One Who is, becoming oriented towards non-existence.
“St. Athanasius completes this explanation of the necessity of the Incarnation of the Word for the raising up of man from corruption with that of the regaining of the knowledge of the Creator,” writes the metropolitan, who subsequently quotes from St. Athanasius the Great’s writings.
“Of what use is existence to the creature if it cannot know its Maker? How could men be reasonable beings if they had no knowledge of the Word and Reason of the Father, through Whom they had received their being? They would be no better than the beasts, had they no knowledge save of earthly things; and why should God have made them at all, if He had not intended them to know Him?” writes the saint in On the Incarnation.
“But, in fact, the good God has given them a share in [the] Image [of] our Lord Jesus Christ, and has made even themselves after the same Image and Likeness… in order that through this gift… they may be able to perceive the Image Absolute, that is the Word Himself, and through Him to apprehend the Father; which knowledge of their Maker is for men the only really happy and blessed life”, the saint further explains.
“The Lord’s Nativity acquires deep meaning through the words of St. Athanasius, wonderfully revealing to us the love of God the Father, the Creator, who desires that we be restored to the knowledge of His divine mysteries through the Incarnation of the Son in Whose image we were created,” continues His Eminence Nicolae of the Americas.
“This restoration of man is demonstrated in the Light of knowledge in which man once again partakes through the Birth of Christ from the Virgin Mary. And this light is the gift with which the Creator once again adorns man, who before Christ was lacking understanding.”
„Observing attentively our world permeated with suffering, fear, and so much misunderstanding, we find it similar to that of 2000 years ago when the Savior was born,” transmitted the metropolitan.
“The Bethlehem miracle brought to that world the hope that man can regain the countenance illuminated by the glory of God, that he could find the understanding of the meaning of the world and find the path of salvation that leads to God.”
“More than ever we understand, in these times of trial, that we need this light of life. For if the world doesn’t seek it and doesn’t desire to find answers to the acute questions of our times in accordance with this seeking, Christians can still receive it and can become illuminated, that is, those who understand, who know about the way of the world, according to the example of the Magi from the East,” continues the hierarch.
“They learned from a star to worship You, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know You, the Orient from on high. The Lord’s Nativity, the Troparion tells us, has the profound meaning of the knowledge of God Who reveals Himself to His creation, and of the separation of the Christian from the world of the darkness of ignorance of God!”
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