2025 Nativity Message from His Grace, Bishop Vasily

To the Clergy, Monastics, and the Faithful of the Diocese of the West, brothers and sisters in Christ:

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

“Make glad, O righteous! Greatly rejoice, O heavens! You mountains, dance for joy! Christ is born, and like the cherubim the Virgin makes a throne, carrying in her bosom God the Word made flesh. Shepherds glorify the new-born Child, Magi offer gifts to the Master. Angels sing praises, saying: O Lord beyond understanding, glory to Thee!” (Nativity of Christ, Matins, Sticheron at Praises, Tone 4)

Today the Church of Christ rejoices and celebrates the great mystery – our Lord Jesus Christ, “God in the flesh”, is born from the Virgin Mary. The Creator of all that exists, the Maker of all things, the pre-eternal God, comes to be born as a little child, for our sake and for our salvation. “God comes to live with human beings, that we may journey toward God” (St Gregory the Theologian, Or. 38.4) – Christ, the Son of God and our true God, accepts our human nature so that we may come to know the true God, so that we, humans, may recover the purpose of our being – “to receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:5), the children of God, the members of his household, the partakers of his divine glory. “The heavenly one is now earthly,” as St Gregory says again, and the womb of the Virgin contains him who cannot be contained – the Author of all creation, Christ, by whom all things were made. Therefore, the holy Church – and indeed, all of creation – makes glad and rejoices, as the festal hymns clearly proclaim, full of thanksgiving and praise for the mystery beyond understanding that unfolded two thousand years ago in a humble Jewish city of Bethlehem.

As we contemplate the incarnation of the Son of God, we clearly see, however, that we were not deemed worthy to receive this mystery on account of our good deeds or special achievements as a human race. As it sadly is today, so also two thousand years ago humanity was afflicted by sin, corruption, darkness and deceit. We were defeated, we were lost, “having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). Humanity transgressed and abandoned God, but God did not deprive his beloved children of his loving care: in the incarnation, “the Creator and Lord himself takes up the struggle for his own creation and becomes its Teacher” (St John of Damascus, Exact Exposition 45). Christ our true God comes to us to lead us himself to the path of salvation, to teach us the truth about himself, about the world, and about us “Now in Christ Jesus you who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13). God comes to be near us, so that he may bring us as close as possible to himself, the source of our being, the meaning of our life.

Now, as at the time when Christ was born in Bethlehem, we also see the shadow of sin and death enveloping the humanity that God created. We see the unjust wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and throughout the world that continue to bring grief, suffering, and death, that attempt to destroy mankind created in the image of God. We see violence, deceit, and corruption that afflict human society and set the people against one another. In this world, overshadowed by sin, Christians must proclaim the truth, the good news of the love and mercy of God revealed through the little Child born of Mary. We must behold our Lord Jesus, our newborn King, who is the truth incarnate, who is our peace, who comes to this world to share our burden and to speak to us the word of peace and the new life, if we are ready to hear it. When “we were dead through our sins,” God “made us live in Christ” (Eph. 2:5), and it is in Christ alone who came to us to save us that we can attain the true peace and the fulfillment of our hope.

Brothers and sisters, it is my great honor to address you for the first time as your archpastor, the Bishop of San Francisco and the West. I am deeply grateful to God for the privilege of serving this Diocese and its people, and I thank you for your incessant prayers and support. May you all celebrate the great and luminous feast of the Nativity of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ with profound thanksgiving and joy. May Christ who comes to be born in the cave in Bethlehem, take his dwelling in our hearts and souls to make us into his vessels, those who hear his words and do his will.

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

In the new-born Child,