Christ is Born!

The main message of Christmas is in one single word. In one single name. The name of Jesus. Just as the main message of Pascha is in the other name of our Savior: Christ. Messiah.

And the main message itself is in the words of the angel to Joseph, that He will be called Jesus! Savior! Because He will save His people from their sins. Not to save the people from others. Not to save the people from anything from outside. Not just only to forgive sins. Not just only to save us from the consequences of and punishment for sins. But to save us from sin itself!

That is why God is born today in this world. Because this world is in a tragic situation because of our sin, and modern science confirms this, both in our own nature, and in the nature around us, and in the entire universe.

A tiny, invisible creature enters into the cells of people, and it is doomed to death. And it is linked with sin. Clearly.

Or the nuclear energy of the atom is released by our sins and devastates everything.

And we learn now from modern science that all stars, and the sun, and everything in the universe is under that threat, and constantly there are such explosions in the world.

That is the meaning of salvation through the star of Bethlehem, showing us the other world – the world created without sin. And the star of Bethlehem is not only a symbol, but something which still is from the lost Paradise.

Amen.

+Bishop Basil (Rodzianko)