In his Christmas Pastoral Letter (No. 252/2025), His Eminence, the Metropolitan of Kythira and Antikythira, addresses the holy clergy and the Christian people of the local Church, conveying the timeless message of the Incarnation.
CHRISTMAS PASTORAL LETTER (No. 252/2025)
To
The Holy Clergy and Christonymos Laon of our Holy Metropolis Kythira and Antikythira
«God on earth, God among men, not through fire and trumpets and smoke-filled mountains... but through a body, daily and pleasantly conversing with his fellow men. God in the flesh...».
(Meg. Vasilios, Homily on the Holy Birth of Christ)
My dear brothers and fellow ministers,
My Christian brothers, my beloved children in the Lord,
CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY EXPOSED!
Blessed, holy, peaceful, and fruitful with the divine gifts of the Holy Spirit and God-given Christmas! «Christmas in our hearts!»
The divine Uranophanos the Great Basil, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, joyfully proclaims His Heavenly Message, which we have presented, and which we render into simple language: «God came to earth, God (associated) with people. He did not come with the power of light and with a trumpet and from a mountain, which was smoking... but with a human body, gentle and conversing with His fellow men. God came in the flesh...».
«God on earth, God in men, God in the flesh», Behold the Heavenly Proclamation of the ages! The unchanging, ever-timely, world-rejoicing, and world-saving Proclamation of Heaven.
The mellifluous river of wisdom, Saint John Chrysostom, asks rhetorically: «Where did the omnipresent one come from? Or how did he come?». «Where did He come from, He who fills the universe with His presence? Or how did He come forth? His coming was not local, but in relation to us and according to economy. Out of great love for us, He came closer by taking on human flesh. We could not enter into Him, since our sins forbade us entry. He comes to us.’ (E.P.E. 10, 768).
«The Apostle Paul,« continues St. Chrysostom, »called »epiphany' that economy of God through which God the Word came into the virgin womb of the Virgin Mary and became man and lived among men." (E.P.E. 6, 604).
«He who is the image of the Father's being, He who created the world, He who sits at the right hand of the Father, He wanted to become our brother in everything. And for this reason He left the Angels and the Heavenly Powers, and came down to us, and took upon Himself all our affairs.’ (E.P.E. 24, 324).
«Understand,» says St. John Chrysostom, "that God is indescribable, imperishable, unlimited, the invisible, the incomprehensible, He who holds in His hands all the ends of the earth, He who transcends every mind and surpasses every reasoning, He who surpassed the Angels, the Archangels, all the spiritual Powers, and accepted to become human. He took flesh, formed from earth and clay, and dwelt in a virgin womb, willing to undergo all that is human.» (E.P.E. 26, 104-106).
My dear brothers,
«Mystery, I see, and paradox! The cave is heaven; the throne of Cherubim, the Virgin; the manger is the village; in which the inaccessible, Christ the God, reclined; whom we magnify with hymns.», The Holy Hymnographer Saint Cosmas the Melodist exclaims.
Truly great, incomprehensible, and inconceivable to the human mind, and most sublime is the Mystery of the Divine Incarnation, the Mystery of Mysteries.
«God created it, and the Virgin Mother. What greater novelty has creation ever seen?», according to the verses of the Holy Synaxarion of the Great Feast of Christmas.
During the Holy Proskomide of the Precious Gifts, which precedes the Divine Liturgy, the priest, cutting Christ's portion, the «Lamb,» as it is called, in the shape of a cross, recites the solemn hymn: «When You were crucified, Christ, tyranny was overthrown, the power of the enemy was defeated; for it was not an angel, nor a man, but the Lord Himself who saved us, glory to You.’.
Both the Christmas hymn and the crucifixion hymn, which we have just quoted, speak of the extreme divine condescension and the Incarnation of the Divine Word; «For this reason, the Most High God appeared to us as a man, desiring to draw us up to His height. Shouting, »Alleluia," we sing in the Holy Service of the Salutations, the Akathist Hymn. Our all-good Lord and God did not send an angel from heaven to save us, nor did He send a human being, but His only-begotten Son and God, «He who us humans and for our salvation, who came down from heaven and was incarnated by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became human.’.
Jesus Christ came in person into the world. «seek and save the lost», our fellow human beings who are far from God and Divine Grace. «He passed away (life) benefactors and benefactors» For three whole years, our Divine Redeemer. «Repent and believe in the Gospel», proclaimed the Savior of the world and all humanity. «The sinless one accepted scourging, whipping, and beatings, the cross and death, and on the third day, the almighty Anastas met Adam.». «He lifted up the fallen nature upon his shoulders and brought it to God and the Father.». On the Holy and Great Feast of Pentecost, the birthday of our Holy Orthodox Catholic Church, «who revealed the fishermen» Holy Teacher, send the Holy Spirit to Your holy disciples and apostles, and through them enlighten the world.
In this way, the second person of the Holy, Consubstantial, and Indivisible Trinity, The incarnate Son and Word of God, worked and carried out the divine plan of salvation for humanity in Christ. By divine will, the Holy Institution of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church was established, whose head is the Leader of our Faith and Salvation, Jesus Christ. The Most High constructed the Ark of our salvation, the Spiritual Hospital and Healing Center, His Holy Church, the intellectual ship, the unshakable harbor of souls.
According to the Holy Rudder of the Divine and Sacred Canons of Orthodoxy, The Orthodox Catholic Church is symbolized by the imaginary ship (the imaginary vessel). The keel of this ship is the Orthodox Faith in the Holy Trinity. The beams and planks are the dogmas of the Faith and the Traditions. The mast, the middle yardarm, is the Cross. The sails are Hope and Love. The captain is our Lord Jesus Christ. The sailors and rowers are the Apostles and the successors of the Apostles and all the Clergy. The scribes and notaries are the teachers of the times. Passengers, all Orthodox Christians. Sea, this present life. Calm and gentle wind, the breath and grace of the Holy Spirit. Winds, temptations. The rudder (of the imaginary ship of the Church), by which it sails toward the heavenly port, is the Holy Bible of the Divine and Sacred Canons.
My brothers,
The most solemn feast of the incarnate birth of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, the Metropolis of all the Feasts of our Orthodox Church, signified the coming into the world and humanity, by divine will and grace, of the Only Begotten Son and Word of God, as perfect God and perfect man, without sin.
The Despotic Feast of Holy Pentecost, the birthday of the Holy Church of Christ, has given to the faithful and Orthodox Christians the Divine Ark of our salvation, the spiritual and free-of-charge Infirmary and Healing Center, the intelligible holiness, in accordance with what we have said above.
The comparison of our Holy Orthodox Catholic Church with an imaginary ship and the symbolic interpretation of the constituent organs of the ship andits crew with the Church of Christ and its Fullness clearly and emphatically demonstrate that those who abandoned this imaginary vessel of our Holy Church and strayed from it (heretics, schismatics, excommunicated, heretics, and heterodox), have become shipwrecked and apostates. Their healing and spiritual restoration and rehabilitation within the saving ship of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church can only be achievedonly through radical and sincere repentance and the renunciation and repudiation of their heretical, heterodox, and misguided doctrines and beliefs. Any other solutions will be superficial, insincere, and ineffective, and will not produce any positive and desirable results.
We sincerely and wholeheartedly pray, dear Fathers and Brothers, our Lord and God, who became flesh, may deem us all and all our fellow human beings worthy to «Let us be innocent in evil, but perfect in wisdom.» (cf. 1 Cor. 14:20). Let us love from the depths of our souls «Through extreme goodness and philanthropy’ »Bending the heavens and descending« »For our salvation and redemption.«. And responding to Divine Love, let us «Let us live in the present age wisely, righteously, and piously,» «rejecting, by God's grace, impiety and worldly desires.» (Title 2:12).
Blessed, peaceful, and joyful CHRISTMAS!
«CHRISTMAS in our hearts.».
After Patrick's prayers and blessings
The Metropolitan
—
Season's Greetings BY HIS EMINENCE THE METROPOLITAN OF KYTHIRA AND ANTIKYTHIRA Mr. SERAFEIM
The Holy, the world-saving and world-rejoicing celebrations of CHRISTMAS and the other feasts of the HOLY TWELVE DAYS give me the opportunity toextend my warmest and most heartfelt wishes to all my beloved and dear Kythirians and Antikythirians, the permanent residents of our two islands, those living in the Attica basin, our expatriate brothers and sisters who have emigrated to America and Australia, and wherever else they may be., A happy and blessed year, creative and fruitful, peaceful and joyful, With abundant blessings and presence in our hearts, in our families, in society, and in our Greek Orthodox Nation, our Savior, the Redeemer and Benefactor of humanity, our Lord Jesus Christ, who, being God, became a humble man to redeem and save humanity.
May the universal and joyful celebration of the Birth of our Lord and God, the God-man, dispel and avert fear, anxiety, and worry caused by any threat of war and global conflict, and strengthen our faith and trust in our incarnate Savior, JesusChrist, our divine Redeemer.
Many years, peaceful, fruitful, and blessed
With paternal love and endless wishes The Metropolitan
† Seraphim of Kythira and Antikythira
