SUNDAY MESSAGE (audio message) FROM HIS EMINENCE THE METROPOLITAN
KYTHIRA & ANTIKYTHIRA SERAPHIM
Sunday after the Nativity of Christ
(28-12-2025)
WRITTEN TH. KIRYGMA
Emmanuel: The Beloved
We refer to the difficult times in life without being able to distinguish which of these times are the worst. Illness, poverty, and hunger, as well as the human hatred that breeds war, are considered to be among the most debilitating aspects of our lives.
And we forget the greatest source of sorrow: death. We forget it psychologically. Either because we do not want to think about it, or because we feel that we are still «young» and the end of our life is far away, in the depths of time.
However. The main source of unhappiness, the root of all anxiety, despair, and hopelessness for many of our fellow human beings, stems from our only certainty on Earth: That we will eventually die! And that after that, the curtain of eternity will rise!
A multitude of logical and illogical mechanisms, strange philosophical plots, peculiar perceptions (e.g., «let us eat, let us drink, for tomorrow we die»), excessive confidence in the «progress of science» proved insufficient to cure the gloom of death.
And then came the Paropites—curious about common sense—who said the great words: «Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son... and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.’.
And yet, «Galilee of the nations; the people who sat in darkness and the shadow of death, light has dawned upon them.».
And when the time came, the angels of Heaven were present at the birth of the Savior. And they came to Bethlehem. And they did not address the wise men and officials. But, finding purer people, they appeared to the shepherds, dazzling them with their radiance and melody and enlightening them about the greatest event in history up to that point. The Birth of the God-Man.
He who, after 33 years, would erase every shadow of death with the Cross, the Burial, and His Resurrection. Because «No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.».
Our Lord was born as a perfect human being, suffered as a human being, died as a human being, and rose again as God and man, drawing His faithful followers into eternal life... All His work began with His love. He was, is, and will always be the lover.
And we, His humble imitators, let us imitate Him in the footsteps of love and life...
Rev. P. Mariatos
