In his annual Christmas Pastoral Letter, Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church emphasized the profound joy that the Nativity of Jesus Christ brings to believers, describing it as the “joy of salvation.”

The message, titled “The Nativity of Christ, Joy for All,” reflects on the biblical account where angels announce the birth of Christ to shepherds, portraying it as a moment of divine connection between heaven and earth. Patriarch Daniel describes this event as a historical occurrence and a continuous source of spiritual joy and elevation for the faithful.

The Romanian Patriarch’s letter goes beyond celebration to call for acts of love and charity, urging believers to share this joy with those in need, highlighting that “true faith is ‘faith working through love’ (Galatians 5:6).” He specifically mentions bringing joy to those experiencing sadness, loneliness, illness, poverty, or estrangement.

Looking ahead to 2025, Patriarch Daniel announced several significant milestones for the Romanian Orthodox Church, including the 140th anniversary of its autocephaly recognition and the centennial celebration of its elevation to a Patriarchate by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Additionally, 2025 will see the canonization of four Romanian Athonite saints and the proclamation of 16 confessors and martyrs from the communist era.

To mark these occasions, the Holy Synod has declared 2025 as the “Solemn Year of the Centennial of the Romanian Patriarchate” and the “Commemorative Year of Romanian Orthodox spiritual fathers and confessors of the 20th century.”

Patriarch Daniel concluded his message with warm wishes for peace, health, happiness, and divine assistance, extending the traditional greeting Many happy years!, invoking the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit upon all.

The full text of the pastoral letter will be read in churches across the Bucharest Archdiocese, reinforcing the message of joy, faith, and communal celebration as the Orthodox Christian community prepares for the Christmas festivities.

Patriarch Daniel’s 2024 Christmas Pastoral Letter

Christ’s Nativity – joy for all

“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.”

(Luke 2:10-11)

Very Reverend Fathers,

Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord,

The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ is proclaimed by the angels as a great joy for the salvation of humankind. The news of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem of Judea is brought to the people by heavenly angels because the One born in an earthly cave is He through whom and for whom heaven and earth were made (Colossians 1:16)—the eternal Son of the Heavenly Father.

Saint Luke the Evangelist tells us that the announcement of Christ’s birth, brought to the shepherds of Bethlehem by the angel of the Lord, was accompanied by the glory of the Lord, which surrounded the shepherds as the angel stood by them (Luke 2:9).

Thus, the message of the Lord’s Nativity comes simultaneously through heavenly words and visions, spoken letters and visible glory, for the unseen Word of God has become visible, audible, comprehensible, and tangible.

Why? To bestow His infinite and eternal glory upon us, finite and mortal human beings. To raise us to His holiness, we who have fallen into sin. To grant us eternal life, we who are mortal. To teach us humble obedience and gratitude to God, we who are disobedient and ungrateful.

The Almighty Lord of the world, glorified by angels, became a poor man and a humble servant to free us from the bondage of material greed and the tyranny of pride and vanity. The One born eternally of God the Father without a mother is born in time of a mother without a father, being simultaneously the only-begotten Son of the Heavenly Father and the only-begotten Son of the Virgin.

The eternal Son of the heavenly Father has taken the form of a Child, born from an earthly mother without an earthly father, to teach us, earthlings, to seek incessantly and love the eternal Father, the Maker of heaven and earth eternally. Christ descends from heaven to earth to elevate us earthlings to heaven. His humble love is the space of our freedom and elevation through love for God and fellow humans.

Christ the Lord has become the bearer of earthly flesh to make us bearers of the heavenly Holy Spirit. He became Man to deify us humans by grace. The glorified Son of God became the humble Son of Man to elevate us humans to the dignity and glory of being spiritual sons of God, as the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John says: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12-13). Christ came down from heaven and was born in a cave, in the bowels of the earth, to elevate us humans into the interior of the Kingdom of Heaven.

This is the profound meaning of the glory of the Lord shown to the shepherds of Bethlehem when the angel of the Lord announced the humble birth of Christ – the Savior. Why was He announced as the Savior? Because salvation means the union of the sinful and mortal man with the holy and eternally living God. Christ is born as a Savior to heal people from sin and death and to make them partakers of eternal life.

At the birth of Christ, heaven unites with earth. Angels rejoice together with the shepherds to show us the mystery of human salvation in the Church of Christ, where the Liturgy celebrated on earth by the spiritual shepherds of the flock unites with the heavenly Liturgy continually celebrated by angels in heaven, as stated even in the prayers of the Divine Liturgy (the prayer before the beginning of the Divine Liturgy and the prayer before the entrance with the Holy Gospel through the Royal Doors).

In this sense, Saint Luke the Evangelist tells us that, at the Nativity of the Lord, along with the announcing angel, a multitude of the heavenly host also appeared to the shepherds, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:13-14).

Why did the angel of the Lord announce the Nativity of the Lord Christ to the shepherds of Bethlehem during the night? Because the shepherds were in a state of watchfulness or vigil. In this context, the Gospel tells us that the shepherds “were keeping watch over their flocks at night” (Luke 2:8).

Since shepherds were accustomed to night watch to guard the sheep, they looked more than other people at the height and expanse of the sky and valued the mystery of light that dispels darkness. The shepherds in the field, not being bound by worldly cares and festivities in the city, understood better the connection between heaven and earth, between the gifts of heaven and earthly life. Therefore, when Christ – the Light of the world, “the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls” (1 Peter 2:25) – is born, the shepherds, with watchful eyes, with alert mind and heart, receive first the news of the Savior’s birth.

After the angels left, the shepherds from the field went to Bethlehem and, after they saw with their own eyes the Child born in the manger (Luke 2:16), just as the angel of the Lord had previously told them (Luke 2:12), they, in turn, became heralds of the joy of the Nativity of the Lord Christ.

The Gospel says: “So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. (…)  The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” (Luke 2:16-18, 20).

Just as once the angels and the shepherds of the sheep flocks in Bethlehem announced the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ “with great joy” as a wonderful heavenly work accomplished for the salvation of men, so today, in the Orthodox Church, children and youth, like angels, and priests, the shepherds of Christian communities, like the shepherds of Bethlehem, announce on Christmas Eve the Nativity of the Lord, chanting the festal troparion and showing the icon of the glory of the Lord’s Nativity from house to house, and then return to the House of the Lord, in the church, to glorify and praise together, with great joy, the mystery of the Lord’s Nativity, the merciful and wonderful love of Christ for mankind.

Dear right-believing Christians,

The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ was announced by angels as great joy for all people, because it is the joy of salvation. And because this news of salvation brought by angels to people was received with faith, it then bore great joy in the souls of believers and continues to bear joy year after year. This is why the Feast of the Lord’s Nativity is a feast of joy given to us by God the Father in His Son, Christ – the Savior, through the work of the Holy Spirit, in the Church and in the souls of believers.

Since Christ the Lord is the source of complete and unfading joy (John 17:13), the living connection with Him, through strong faith, fervent prayer, and good deeds, brings joy into the life of the Church and into the souls of believers. This joy of faith in Christ and of steadfast love for Him is called by Saint Paul “a joy in the Lord” (Philippians 4:4). It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the soul of the faithful and loving Christian toward Christ and fellow humans (Galatians 5:22) and an earnest of the eternal joy in the Kingdom of God (Romans 14:17).

This joy, as the presence of Christ’s grace in the soul of the man struggling with sin and life’s hardships, does not perish even in times of trial (see 2 Corinthians 6:10; 7:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 2:19), but rather grows when the faithful suffer for Christ and for the Church (see Colossians 1:24; Hebrews 10:34; 12:2; James 1:2; 1 Peter 4:13).

The joy of faith intensifies and solidifies through fervent prayer, repentance, and forgiveness of sins, through liberation from passions, through good words and deeds, through a pure life and holy love. It becomes the complete joy of those advancing on the path of holiness.

When the Holy Church of Christ calls all people to salvation, she calls them to this complete joy in Christ – the Source of eternal joy. When Christ the Lord comes into the world as a child born in great humility, angels announce to the shepherds great joy.

When Christ the Lord, crucified, rises from the dead, He himself meets the myrrh-bearing women on the way with the greeting: Rejoice! When Christ, risen from the dead, ascends with glory into heaven, He promises to be with those who believe in Him, in all days until the end of the ages (Matthew 28:20), and the disciples live with “great joy” (Luke 24:52) the truth of Christ’s promise and His presence in them through the work of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter (John 15:26; 16:13-14)

The joy of faith or the joy of Christians in Christ the Lord is proclaimed by Saint Peter as the joy of salvation, full of grace and light: “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8-9).

The joy of faith as the joy of people’s salvation and as the joy of eternal life in Christ was foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament, especially by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 9:2; 35:1; 44:23; 49:13; 61:7, 10; 65:14; 66:10). It is lived as holy joy of Christian life by the Holy Apostles and by the Church of Christ through the ages and is fully bestowed upon the saved, the righteous, and the saints in the Kingdom of God, as stated in the book of Revelation (18:20; 19:7).

The joy of faith, as the joy of the presence of Christ the Lord in the souls of people who believe in Him and love Him, grows according to the strength of our faith, prayer, desire for holiness, and the good deeds we perform.

The joy of faith has become fruitful throughout the ages in the preaching of the Holy Apostles, in the sacrificial confession of the holy martyrs, in the struggle to defend the true faith by the Holy Fathers of the Church, in the pastoral zeal of parish priests, and in the incessant prayer of monks and nuns in monasteries, in the upbringing of children and youth in the true faith, in the multitude of churches and cathedrals, in the multitude of charitable institutions established by Christians, in the multitude of Christian works of art, but especially in the beauty of the Orthodox Church’s feasts and chants, as well as in the beauty of Romanian Christmas carols and folk customs, inspired by Christian faith.

Beloved faithful,

In our daily life, but especially during these festive days, let’s offer those around us gifts and signs of joy. Let’s bring joy to the homes and souls where there is sadness and loneliness, illness and poverty, suffering and alienation. Let’s respond to Christ’s boundless love for the salvation of mankind with acts of our brotherly love, knowing that true faith is “faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6). Let’s not forget in our prayers and in the signs of our brotherly love at Christmas and New Year those of our Romanian brothers who are far from home and country.

On the night from December 31, 2024, to January 1, 2025, and on New Year’s Day, let us raise prayers of thanksgiving to God (Te Deum) for the blessings we have received from Him in the past year and ask for His help in all the good and beneficial work we will undertake in the new year.

In the following year, 2025, we will celebrate 140 years since the recognition of the autocephaly of the Romanian Orthodox Church and 100 years since our Church was elevated to the rank of Patriarchate by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Also, there will be the canonization of four Romanian Athonite saints by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the proclamation of the canonization by the Romanian Patriarchate of 16 confessors and martyrs during the communist period.

In this perspective, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church has proclaimed the year 2025 as the Solemn Year of the Centennial of the Romanian Patriarchate and the Commemorative Year of Romanian Orthodox spiritual fathers and confessors of the 20th century.

“ May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all!” (2 Corinthians 13:14).

Photo: Basilica.ro