My dear and blessed brethren,
Overflowing with festive joy and rejoicing in the great and glorious day of the birth of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, we exclaim after the heavenly powers of the Incarnate One: "Glory to the Most High God and come in peace" ( Luke . 2 : 14 ) And peace on earth ! _ A shocking statement by the holy angels who, on the night of the birth of the Most High God, appeared over the Theodemon Cave of Bethlehem, praising and glorifying God as liturgical beings.
A universal, heartfelt, timeless request, after so many centuries, remains unsatisfied! But what an irony! Christmas wishes for peace and happiness, when fear, anxiety and terror after the recent tragic events in the Middle East have spread across the globe; when countless people have been driven from their homelands and are walking the bitter path of refugees, unaware of the consequences. and the result. We are unimaginably pained by this "peace on earth" in terror!
For twenty-one centuries, separating us in time from the unique day of the Divine Incarnation, millions of people have sacrificed themselves in military actions, tons of blood have been spilled on the battlefields and in the rear, the bloody pages of History are incalculable. This is a world in which "men shame the beasts".
Have we ever wondered why? Because people wanted to build a world without God, without the peace He gives us. Some have not hesitated to declare His death. Most of us have banished him from our lives to erect in his place our personality, our selfishness and our passions, our "happiness" as we define it. Or most tragically, because some people in the name of God think they have the right to wreak havoc, to exterminate the innocent in horrific ways, to destroy in the blink of an eye the labors and destinies of a lifetime, to submerge defenseless women. and children and entire societies mourn fear and insecurity.
Peace according to the eternal and infallible word of our Lord goes hand in hand with justice. As long as people harm others, oppress them, exploit them, humiliate them, peace cannot flourish.
The venerable Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa, which has under its pastoral and canonical jurisdiction the entire African continent, has direct and bitter experience of the peoples it has served over the centuries, of the unjust and cruel exploitation of themselves, the bloodletting of their sources of wealth, the emergence of conflict among them by the powerful, and their displacement from their places of birth.
My blessed children,
According to Christian teaching, peace is first and foremost a gift of God, a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We are at peace when Christ dwells in our hearts, when His eternal and inviolable gospel law guides our steps and inspires our behavior. Peoples and nations coexist peacefully and harmoniously when we see in our fellow human beings living images of God, when we respect in practice the dignity and rights of others, human beings and peoples. The Apostle Paul's words about our Christ " A ὐ τος γαρ ἐ στιν ἡ ε ἰ ρην ἡ μ ῶ ν " (Eph. 2, 14) assure us that the whole Gospel of Christ is essentially the only existing Science of Peace in the world.
With these fatherly thoughts we fervently bless you and fatherly exhort each one of you individually: Open the doors of your hearts, that they may be filled with the peace of our Christ " in all our hearts " ( Phlp . 4 7: By your presence, your words and your actions everywhere, in your family, in your work environment, in your friendships and social interactions, become peaceful people, " as children of light around you " ( Eph.5,7) .
" Peace " , as commanded by the great apostle of the nations, Paul, " and the God of peace be with you " ( 2 Cor . 13,11 ) . And this peace is a consequence of the nativity and gift of the Incarnate Christ. But it is __.) 12,14.Heb. ( "The Lord is wherever, the Lord is wherever, the Lord is the peacemaker": to him who is moved, to him who prays, to him who is given _
. Merry and peaceful Christmas!
Have a happy, blessed and peaceful 2024!
The Pope and the Patriarch Alexandrian and of all Africa
T H E O D O R O S II
Overflowing with festive joy and rejoicing in the great and glorious day of the birth of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, we exclaim after the heavenly powers of the Incarnate One: "Glory to the Most High God and come in peace" ( Luke . 2 : 14 ) And peace on earth ! _ A shocking statement by the holy angels who, on the night of the birth of the Most High God, appeared over the Theodemon Cave of Bethlehem, praising and glorifying God as liturgical beings.
A universal, heartfelt, timeless request, after so many centuries, remains unsatisfied! But what an irony! Christmas wishes for peace and happiness, when fear, anxiety and terror after the recent tragic events in the Middle East have spread across the globe; when countless people have been driven from their homelands and are walking the bitter path of refugees, unaware of the consequences. and the result. We are unimaginably pained by this "peace on earth" in terror!
For twenty-one centuries, separating us in time from the unique day of the Divine Incarnation, millions of people have sacrificed themselves in military actions, tons of blood have been spilled on the battlefields and in the rear, the bloody pages of History are incalculable. This is a world in which "men shame the beasts".
Have we ever wondered why? Because people wanted to build a world without God, without the peace He gives us. Some have not hesitated to declare His death. Most of us have banished him from our lives to erect in his place our personality, our selfishness and our passions, our "happiness" as we define it. Or most tragically, because some people in the name of God think they have the right to wreak havoc, to exterminate the innocent in horrific ways, to destroy in the blink of an eye the labors and destinies of a lifetime, to submerge defenseless women. and children and entire societies mourn fear and insecurity.
Peace according to the eternal and infallible word of our Lord goes hand in hand with justice. As long as people harm others, oppress them, exploit them, humiliate them, peace cannot flourish.
The venerable Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa, which has under its pastoral and canonical jurisdiction the entire African continent, has direct and bitter experience of the peoples it has served over the centuries, of the unjust and cruel exploitation of themselves, the bloodletting of their sources of wealth, the emergence of conflict among them by the powerful, and their displacement from their places of birth.
My blessed children,
According to Christian teaching, peace is first and foremost a gift of God, a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We are at peace when Christ dwells in our hearts, when His eternal and inviolable gospel law guides our steps and inspires our behavior. Peoples and nations coexist peacefully and harmoniously when we see in our fellow human beings living images of God, when we respect in practice the dignity and rights of others, human beings and peoples. The Apostle Paul's words about our Christ " A ὐ τος γαρ ἐ στιν ἡ ε ἰ ρην ἡ μ ῶ ν " (Eph. 2, 14) assure us that the whole Gospel of Christ is essentially the only existing Science of Peace in the world.
With these fatherly thoughts we fervently bless you and fatherly exhort each one of you individually: Open the doors of your hearts, that they may be filled with the peace of our Christ " in all our hearts " ( Phlp . 4 7: By your presence, your words and your actions everywhere, in your family, in your work environment, in your friendships and social interactions, become peaceful people, " as children of light around you " ( Eph.5,7) .
" Peace " , as commanded by the great apostle of the nations, Paul, " and the God of peace be with you " ( 2 Cor . 13,11 ) . And this peace is a consequence of the nativity and gift of the Incarnate Christ. But it is __.) 12,14.Heb. ( "The Lord is wherever, the Lord is wherever, the Lord is the peacemaker": to him who is moved, to him who prays, to him who is given _
. Merry and peaceful Christmas!
Have a happy, blessed and peaceful 2024!
The Pope and the Patriarch Alexandrian and of all Africa
T H E O D O R O S II
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