The Nativity of the Lord arch-pastoral message of His Eminence Vladimir, Metropolitan of Chisinau and All Moldova

Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ 2017

Archpastoral message of His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir of Chisinau and All Moldova

Your Graces Archpastors, Honourable clergy, Venerable monastics, Pious Faithful of the Orthodox Church of Moldova!

Celebrating every day the glorious Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Church calls us to think once again about God’s love shown to us through the embodiment of His Son. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3, 16). God sent His Son to the world, “that the world through him might be saved” (John 3, 17).

The world was lying under the load of Adam’s sin of disobedience that had put the human being and the entire humanity under the reign of death. It had burdened the humankind like slaves, and led them in chains to the valley of sorrow. While the Gate of Eden was locked and guarded by the Cherubim with the flaming sword (Genesis 3, 24), the man had only one road, towards the “land of the shadow and death” (Isaiah 9, 2).

However, God intervenes. “When the fullness of the time was come” (Galatians 4, 4), the Son of the Father “came down from heaven and was incarnate
of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man” (the Creed). God comes among the humankind and takes over Him the entire tragedy of the human history, cutting it down in two, and giving to the man the pathway towards the eternal Life in the Kingdom of God.

In the days of this great and most beautiful Feast, let us ponder intensively about what God did for us and for our salvation, although we had an opportunity to do this during the Nativity fast. Let us not be idle from now on, and seek to have in our homes the Holy Scripture, and read the Word of God, so that we find out the cost at which He redeemed us.

When we say “cost”, we don’t mean that it cost God to overcome Own will in order to become embodied, live, and die as a man, but we talk about they way His love for the people comes in full harmony with His will to take up the human body, so that man becomes god. His embodiment was done at the cost of God’s taking over Himself the wounds of our sins and of our death.

The bright Feast of the Nativity of the Baby-Messiah comes to remind us that the Son of God was born in the family of a carpenter. We could say that through this, the purpose of coming on earth of God the Word is shown to us again. From early childhood, He shows that He is ready to take up death, for the liberation of the humankind from its dominion, because the wood, the hammer, the nails – to toys that He was used to, had to become the arms of His torture.

Christ accepted all these for us, and He gave Himself to us. Let us accept Him and preach Him, so that His Light shines before all men!

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ – the Baby and the Lord,

The year 2016 brought holy accomplishment for our Orthodox Church of Moldova. Metropolitan Gavriil (Banulescu-Bodoni) and Blessed Agafia of Cuselauca Monastery were beatified. The clergy and lay faithful continue to fulfil their Christian mission through love and support provided to the neighbour, expressing thus our love to God the Creator.

Having a blessed occasion of celebrating in peace and holy joy the winter holidays, I address to all our faithful from the country and abroad, heartily congratulations, archpastoral wishes of spiritual well-being and prosperity, in order to find the True Light that shines to before all men that come to the world.

Long and blessed live!

Enjoy the holidays in the light and in the peace of the born Christ!

 VLADIMIR

METROPOLITAN OF CHISINAU AND ALL MOLDOVA

 Nativity of the Lord

Year of salvation 2016/2017,

Chisinau