From the Head of the UGCC on the 315th day of the war: “The main intent of Christ’s arrival is our salvation”
The Lord comes to the heart of the earth. Just as He will descend into hell, the place of darkness, the waiting place of the dead, and bring all people to the light. The Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, said in his daily address on the 315th day of the war.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav noted that many people associate Christmas with home warmness and coziness. However, one should not forget about the coming of the Son of God. It is God’s gesture of humbleness to show solidarity with man. “He (here Christ) being in very nature God, did not consider equality with god something to be used to his own advantage, but humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on the cross”, His Beatitude Sviatoslav quoted the apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians. For the holy fathers, this humbling of God begins on the day of the Nativity.
“God comes down to man. He becomes so poor that he is born in a manger, in a cave, enriching us with his divinity. And we, who were impoverished due to sin and falling away from God, have now become rich by His gift,” said the Patriarch.
Therefore, he reflected over the meaning of the word “nativity scene”. For most of us, it means the theatrical action associated with the birth of Christ. But literally the word “manger” is a shelter, a cave, a stable, where Christ was born. If we look at the icon of the Nativity of Christ, we will see a black spot in the middle, a dark cave where God’s light comes. If you look closely at that cave, you can see parallels with the abyss depicted on the icon Descent into Hell.
Christ’s second humiliation is to submit to Caesar’s order to sign in his city. Finally, as noted by the bishop, the third lowering is wrapping in swaddling clothes in the manger. This is a sign that Christ has come to break the sin we are entangled with and set us free.
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