Photo: pravoslavie.ru
Once again, the Eternal Infant is being born in the consciousness and feelings of people; He is being born in a manger—that is, in a cave where Syrian shepherds would drive their flocks at night, protecting them from predators. Again, first the shepherds of the surrounding flocks are coming to bow down before the Infant and God; and then the “Magi from the East” will bring Him gifts—gold and incense—that signify both the priestly and royal ministry of the Newborn Infant. Thus in these features, both simple and folk, saying something “their own” and “dear” to every poor hut—and together in the Heavenly and religious features, foretelling the future ringing of bells of Christian churches—our Christ was born, Who taught people and the nations a new truth—the One Who would proclaim to everyone that a new law of grace-filled existence was born.
The Nativity of Christ conveys what is “native” and “dear” to every hut. No kingdoms and no authorities, no extensive and new laws that require man to obey and speak to him in the language of command, would ever have brought that inner content and heartfelt speech, which the Newborn Infant gave to people. Here is the difference and separation of religion from kingdoms. And here is the reason why all kingdoms and authorities bow down before religion, because even for them, for these kingdoms, religion gives more royal and legislative than they themselves contain. Religion gives an inner conviction, your own desire to follow the best, the noblest, and the most humane. Towards the law, stern and external, with its tone—and before it knew how to command—religion arouses impulses in man that not only coincide with the law, but also give a “grace-filled addition”. No law or any kind of its severity could bring about the radiance of ascetic labors and good works that can often fill the life of an active and impetuous Christian, not to mention in the early centuries of Christianity. “For Christ’s sake…” This phrase does not apply only to beggars. “For Christ’s sake” hospitals are built. “For Christ’s sake”, through penny-by-penny collections, all our churches were erected. “For Christ’s sake”, good flows and pours from generous hands to the poor, and this flow is still so great, abundant and energetic 1,900 years after the Birth of the Divine Infant, that only sick tongues covered with scabs, and only a sick and worn-out conscience, suffocating in its own selfishness, can talk about the “fading away of Christianity”. And many people are talking, and talking with joy, about the “fall of religion in general”; and in particular, about the “obsolescence and fading of Christianity”, rejoicing that “prejudices and superstitions are disappearing”. But people will not compromise “their own” and “dear” before them, as we said above. The majority of people know perfectly well that secular, non-religious philanthropy will leave them naked in the snow, that it will feed only one out of a thousand. If there were no popular movement “for Christ’s sake”, if there were no impulse in the majority of people to share what they have with their neighbor and feed the poor—not for themselves and not for their humaneness, not for the sake of their education and scholarship, but “for the sake of Christ,” Who taught everyone to sacrifice for humanity.
And for these 1,900 years, this stream has not dried up. Kingdoms and powers have died out, how many republics have fallen and monarchies have collapsed! But the flow of Christian feelings and the power of its charity have not declined; and no one asks: “Tell me, where is the manifestation of Christian goodness?” It is everywhere, good reader, just know how to look for it—it is in you, even if you deny Christianity, because you already look at others, at the poor or the sick, with an absolutely new eye. And this new sight, or rather, this new eye, was born in you by Christ and Christianity, cultivated in you by the Church and prayer in your parents’ home: for algebra and geometry, the study of language and literature, and medicine don’t tell you anything about it; neither did your schoolteachers tell you, hurrying and busy with completely different subjects and other topics. But just as a vessel with precious myrrh retains the fragrance of myrrh for a long time after the myrrh has been exhausted or splashed onto the ground, and even shards of a broken vessel smell the same for a long time, so an atheist who has turned away from the Church and Christianity remains a Christian for a long time; even his children will remain Christians, no matter what their tongues may say. And the real chill of godlessness will not appear until the third generation, when “everything will have passed away”… But the Infant Whose Birth we are celebrating today will never allow the nations to sink into such a horrible state.
Christianity is warmth, universal warmth. The cradle is also warmth. Both the manger and the Infant in it are warmth. In contrast to cold and soulless Buddhism, in contrast to the formal Mosaic Law with its vindictive “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” and with the Pharisaic division of people and even objects into “clean” and “unclean”, Christ brought to earth a grace-filled Kingdom where vengeance is extinguished and where all that was “unclean” is sanctified by grace and is made clean. Christ says: Your Father which is in Heaven… maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good (Mt. 5:45): the reserve of goodness and the power of goodness that the Divine Infant brought to earth were so great and abundant that the One Who uttered these words about the sun even washed away the wound of division of things and people into “good” and “evil”, “clean” and “unclean”. Oh, not in order to allow evil and uncleanness to arise, but to turn these to God, truth and purification. Christ defeated the crooked and guileful without being in accord with it in the least and without yielding to it in anything. He healed, corrected, and did not close His eyes to the essential difference between good and evil. But He left the fire that never shall be quenched (Mk. 9:45) of the end times for everything that, even after His teaching and His image, will remain obstinate, stagnant and cold.
Christianity is the protection of people, and Christ is the Protector of people. Never, never will people give up on this protection of theirs, and never turn their back on their Protector. A shallow and unwise school and certain distraught families cut down the root, neglecting the religious education of their children, and the clergy also dry up this root by the formal and external fulfillment of their blessed duty both in school and in the family. But the root has been around for 1,900 years and is still fresh. An enormous period of time! And it strengthens our hopes. These crazy days will pass, everyone will come to their senses and realize that there is no upbringing without the Law of God, there is no grace-filled growth of children without prayer, without a candle placed in the church, without a whole range of cares and thoughts, the thread of which begins in the Church and ends in the distant orbit of our civil, official, and any other activities.
But, forgetting about the negative and crooked phenomena of spiritual and social life, let us conclude by turning to the good ones. Let us say a word to those who are faithful to Christ, Christianity, and to the Church. Let them stand boldly and firmly on this rock. Civilization and science will not wash it away, because this rock itself affirms them and everything is held by it. You, the righteous and best people of Russia, stand on the right rock. Just do not forget: be sure to bring your children to church on this day, introduce them to the sea of people and the sea of the people’s faith. Childhood experiences last a lifetime. This also refers to the potential neglect that is so common in Russia. Be cheerful and attentive these days, for nothing educates children like the meaning of a feast that has entered their souls properly. But then, leaving prudence aside, commend yourselves to this festival with a free spirit; and remembering that throughout the year the Nativity of Christ and Christmastide associated with it are the main and only family festivities of all Russia, do not waste your precious days on empty visits and social pleasures, do not rush to theaters and external entertainment in general, but rather try to spend them at home, sharing your heart and thoughts with your families, to whom you in fact belong so little on account of your duties of service and work. Christmastide is the annual moment of the “resurrection” of your families, or their reinvigoration—the happy days when everyone is “together” and “at home”. This “together” should be taken advantage of, this “at home” should be arranged and “decorated” with a “pattern” of games and amusements—pure, cheerful and naive. Let me remind you that we have (i.e., it is sold everywhere) an excellent great work by Evfimy Shvidchenko, Christmastide Anthology, where parents and teenage children will find everything they need for the feast, in the sense of intelligent entertainment. There are all kinds of folk songs, games, and a small play for a home performance. The book was compiled from the popular beliefs of all peoples and written precisely in order to give the Russian family an innocent and at the same time well educated entertainment for Christmastide!
May God be with you! Greetings to everyone, remember the poor and give them something for the feast! And don’t forget God and ingenuous Russian gaiety.
