Know what season means

Christ is Born!

Glorify him!

This is the traditional greeting an Orthodox Christian gives as we celebrate this wonderful feast of our Lord.

I want to first wish you a most blessed Christmas and a joyous New Year.

Christmas is a great holiday.

It is a time we spend with our families and friends.

It is a time of good cheer.

Many of us exchange gifts expressing our love and thankfulness to each other.

It is a time when we experience the joy and love God has for us, his children, as he becomes incarnate on earth.

St. Athanasios, an early Christian fourth-century saint and one of the most highly respected Orthodox theologians, stated that God became man so that we can become God-like.

Just stop and think about that.

We, mankind, were created to be God’s hands on earth.

We were created with the ability to be perfect.

We had the ability to live forever in paradise and in constant and open communication with God.

God also gave us a free will.

We were given a will to choose ultimately whether or not to follow God.

Unfortunately, when man fell, that perfect and constant bond was broken.

We were expelled from paradise.

God, however, in his great and unselfish love for his creation had another plan for us.

He became man.

Today, we celebrate his birth.

We are overjoyed that God’s love for us is so great, that he will never leave us under any circumstances.

This does not mean we will not have any struggles in life.

We do have, however, someone to turn to in times of need.

This is almost forgotten today.

It seems that today, we go through the motions of activity and no longer comprehend the purpose of all our celebrations.

The other day, like thousands of others, I was in a department store buying some gifts for Christmas. The store was packed. Frenzied salespeople rushed to and fro. People impatiently waited in lines to be served.

As I looked around, it was hard to notice why we were there.

Although the stores were festively decorated, I wondered if the people were festive in their hearts.

I did not see the joy and the well-wishing that goes with the season.

People rudely bumped into others without saying excuse me or lending a helping hand when something was dropped.

Have we forgotten the reason?

Yes, these are stressful times, but, I find it helpful to stop and refocus and try to re-establish the true meaning of Christmas.

In the Orthodox tradition, we have icons which are very helpful in our faith.

A great iconographer (one who paints icons) explained that icons are windows into heaven. They are the Scriptures put to paint.

If we look at the icon, we can see some deep spiritual meanings.

In the icon we see that the birth of Christ took place in a cave.

In Jerusalem, caves are used as mangers because there are so many and wood is a premium.

Our attention is drawn to the center of the icon — the infant Jesus, the Light coming out of the darkness of the cave.

He brings illumination to us and to the world.

Every person and thing involved were carefully chosen and not merely coincidental.

For instance, the shepherds were the first to worship the child, after the Virgin Mary and Joseph.

According to the Holy Fathers, there were several reasons for this.

First, because of their many hours of solitude, there were pure in heart.

Second, they also followed the way of life and virtues of the Patriarchs of the Old Testament.

Third, they came to worship the True Shepherd of the Israelite and the gentile people.

Fourth, Christ chose the most simple-hearted and the most capable of receiving this revelation.

All these things show the method that one can use to experience this great mystery.

In addition to the shepherds, the magi or wise men from the east were granted to worship the newborn child.

These men were not Jews.

They were gentiles — outsiders.

They were not subject to all the talk and gossip of the area.

They were astronomers who observed the stars in the sky and their movements.

These magi recognized the Christ and worshipped him because of their inner knowledge.

With their eyes they saw an infant, yet with their pure nous or inner being, they saw that God had become man.

These magi were also led by a star.

According to the fourth-century theologian St. John Chrysostom, this was not just any star.

It was really an angel guiding the wise men.

It was lower than the other stars and would move with them.

When the magi stopped, the star stopped.

It led them East to Jerusalem, then South to Bethlehem.

When it reached its final destination, it lowered itself to the house where the young child was.

You see all of creation was brought to see this amazing and wonderful birth of our Savior.

Although on earth this was a humble reception for the Savior of the world, Heaven on high celebrated majestically his world-saving coming.

Everything connected with this feast had meaning.

From the Virgin birth in a humble cave, to the simple but God-fearing shepherds, to the highly educated wise men, God reveals himself to everyone.

No one is forgotten on this day.

For us, we need to take time today to dwell on this magnificent feast.

Let us dwell on what our loving God did for us.

His coming on earth was an opportunity for us to redeem ourselves and reconnect with our redeemer.

On this Christmas Day, take time to read in the Bible the accounts of Christmas.

Allow the love of God overflow in your heart.

As God always reached out to those around him, let us also share that Godly love with each other.

If you know someone in need, give a helping hand, pray for him and allow the love of God fill all of us.

May we all have a most blessed and joyous Christmas.

Christ is Born!

Glorify him!

The Rev. Thomas M. Constantine is pastor at St. John the Forerunner Greek Orthodox Church in Boardman.