In this year’s Christmas pastoral letter, Metropolitan Serafim of Germany invites the faithful to move beyond the material comfort associated with the Nativity feast and to rediscover what he calls “the only new thing under the sun”: the humility of God who becomes Man.
In the pastoral message titled “The Christian Woman in the Family, the Church and Society,” Metropolitan Serafim stresses that the mystery of the Incarnation cannot be grasped through pure reason, but only through “the humility of the mind.” In an age marked by individualism, the Metropolitan urges believers to follow the counsel of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica: “think with the heart, speak with the heart, and work with the heart.”
Authentic faith, he explains, is not merely an intellectual assent but a total commitment of the human person, with the Mother of God as its supreme model. Through her words, “Let it be to me according to your word,” she showed that humility means complete trust in God and the renunciation of self-sufficiency.
“The Mother of God is the supreme model of faith, humility, and obedience—for mothers and virgins alike, and for all who seek the salvation of their souls,” the metropolitan said.
2026: The Year of the Family and of Holy Women
Metropolitan Serafim also recalled that 2026 has been declared the “Solemn Year of Pastoral Care for the Christian Family” and the “Commemorative Year of the Holy Women of the Calendar (myrrhbearers, martyrs, venerable women, wives, and mothers).”
“Throughout the coming year, we are called to reflect more deeply and to understand better the role of the family—especially that of Christian women—in the Church and in society. The family is God’s gift for the continuation of the human race: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it’ (Genesis 1:28), God commanded the first people,” he noted.
The metropolitan went on to emphasise the family as “the little Church.”
“The family is the first school of life, where children discover faith and its values, learn to pray, learn what is good and what is evil, and learn obedience and kindness. In raising children, mothers play a fundamental role. All of us can say that we received the faith from our mothers or grandmothers, who taught us to pray and brought us to church from an early age. Faith—not material possessions—is the greatest inheritance we can leave our children, so that they may grow up healthy and succeed in life,” Metropolitan Seraphim explained.
Women as the ‘engine’ of the community
The hierarch highlighted the role of women in both family and society, noting that God has endowed them with qualities distinct from those of men.
“If a man tends to judge more with the mind, a woman tends to judge more with the heart. Yet mind and heart complement one another… The heart is the centre of the human being, the dwelling place of God,” he noted.
Metropolitan Seraphim also emphasised that while sacramental priesthood is reserved for men, holiness knows no gender. Women are often the “engine” of parish communities, actively involved in liturgical singing, catechesis, and church administration. In the modern context, he added, Christian women are also called to bear witness to “the hidden person of the heart” through integrity and honest work in their professional lives.
He concluded by noting that the Holy Synod’s decision to canonise 16 women with a holy life demonstrates that models of sanctity have existed—and continue to exist—among the faithful today.
Photo: Doxologia.ro
