Nativity Encyclical of the Serbian True Orthodox Church
Serbian True Orthodox Church
Nativity Encyclical 2022
From the Hierarchichal Council of the STOC
Under the chairmanship of His Grace Bishop
Akakije of Uteshiteljevo
To all clergy. monastics, and spiritual children of our holy Church: We wish you grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, in our joyful Christmas greeting:
God’s Peace be with you - Christ is Born!
“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, and good will among men.” (Luke 2:14)
Dear brothers and sisters,
Behold, God comes in the body of a man! This is the greatest mystery of our holy Christian faith - “God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim 3:16). This mystery is above all human understanding, which is why we place faith above reason. We cannot perceive the fullness of the mystery of the bodily birth of the Son of God without understanding His pre-eternal birth from God the Father. To better understand the pre-eternal birth, as much as our limited intellect can, the Gospel wisely calls the Son of God “Logos” (the Word) so that we, hearing about the Son, would not think of a passionate, bodily birth. The Gospel calls Him “Logos” (the Word) to tell us He was Born dispassionately from the Father, as a word is dispassionately born from the mind. Thus, God the Word who was pre-eternally born from the Father without a mother and without passion, is born dispassionately today without a father from His mother, the immaculate Virgin Mary.