Serbian
True Orthodox Church
Nativity
Encyclical 2024
Hierarchical
Council of the STOC
Under
the Chairmanship of His Grace Akakije
Bishop
of Uteshiteljevo
To
the Faithful Children of St. Sava’s Church
We congratulate the great and joyful feastday of the Nativity of Christ:
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
It is to our generation, to the children who are just beginning life, to the youth that are starting out on life’s journey, to the middle aged who have already passed a good part of their life, and to the elderly who are nearing the end of their life, that the providence of God has destined to witness and participate in the final act of establishing the rule of darkness (Lk. 22:53).
However, although the reign of darkness has never seemed stronger and more invincible due to modern events, it is, we remind you, forever scattered by the appearance of that miraculous celestial phenomenon, the Star of Bethlehem.
This Nativity Star shone in the sky brighter than all of the other stars (Matt 2:2-9). Its light, as St. Ignatius the God-Bearer says in his epistle to the Ephesians, was ineffable. Its appearance sparked universal amazement. All the other stars, sun, and moon, became the chorus of this Star, which outshone them all. Its appearance shook the foundations of the empire of darkness and was a pledge of its destruction. Piercing the thick darkness (Rom 13:12), the Star showed mankind the true light (1 John 2:8), the saving dawn of the Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God (Mal. 4:2)
As it once lead the wise men from the East, today this heavenly guide leads us to Bethlehem, to the newborn babe, the dayspring from on high (Lk 1:78), to the Light itself (“I am the Light” – John 8:12), to Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the final conqueror of evil at the end of time. It is Him for Whom our souls constantly strive.
We need the Star of Bethlehem more than ever, because it drives away the darkness of discouragement. In our sorrowful wanderings, it gives us hope, shows us the way to life, and makes us children of the light (Eph. 5:8). It brings us to the very cave of Bethlehem, to the mystery of Christ’s birth. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). It brings us to the unshakable conviction that the Light, which has been awaited since the time of Adam, has finally come into the world (John 3:19). The Lord’s unfathomable divine light emanating from the cave of Bethlehem comforts and fortifies us again and again. This light mysteriously shines upon us, dispelling the darkness of the prince of this world (John 12:31). In the light of the Star that announces the birth of the Sun of Righteousness, we see more clearly the light – the incarnate Son of God (“in Thy light we see light” Ps 36:10). Standing in contemplation before the cave, radiant with unshakable faith in the Son of God Who came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), we can feel that light of the God-child born of the Virgin caressing us joyfully, as the light of a lampada caresses an icon.
The feast of the Nativity is the feast of the victory of light over darkness, the light which enlightens the darkened (Lk. 2:32), the light shining in the dark wilderness of this world, which darkness cannot conquer (John 1:15). In the early Church, the feasts of the Nativity and the Baptism of Christ were celebrated together as a single feast on January 6th under the name “Theophany” – Epiphany – or “I mera ton photon” – Gr. “The Days of Light” or abbreviated “Ta phota” - “lights.”
As we celebrate the Nativity of Christ, the most fateful and saving event in the history of mankind, the day when the true Light appeared to the world (John 1:9), we, your archpastors, warn you that the light with which we have been enlightened can become darkness through carelessness (Lk. 11:35). If we misunderstand and improperly apply the truth of the Gospel, our soul can lose clear spiritual vision, with terrible consequences. We can accept lie as truth, and vice as virtue, because we are not guided by the Gospel, but by our desires and passions.
We must be aware of the danger that Satan himself can appear as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14-15). The Holy Fathers, the interpreters of the gospels, say that the false angels of light are in fact false apostles. They wear the mask of the apostles, but do not have apostolic power. Being very knowledgeable, they can replace truth with lies, pretending, creating illusions, without really doing anything. These are the most diabolical traits: pretense, illusion, and acting. This is why we must be very wary of accepting darkness which appears as light. Be not deceived (Matt. 24:5). The Lord Himself has warned us that in the end times many will depart from the faith by listening to the spirits of deception and the doctrine of demons (Tim. 4:1).
Let us, therefore, be very cautious and prudent. Let us examine what kind of light guides us through life: is it Christs’ or someone else’s? Whatever that light is, if it is not of Christ, it still affects our salvation. Even if it appears to be light, this can be even worse than darkness, because a man who is caught in the dark at least stops, walks more cautiously, groping around, and tries to come into the light. A man in false light, however, is relaxed, walks without stopping, allowing himself all kinds of free movements. He boldly takes wrong paths, strays, exposes himself to imminent dangers. Or even worse, convinced of the correctness of his intentions, he goes beyond the point of no return.
Is this not the same thing that happens to many wise men who, trusting fervently in their own worldly wisdom, neglect the light of Christ? These are those of whom the Scriptures say that they loved darkness more than light. Why is this? For their works are evil (John 3:19); the Scriptures call them “those who are perishing.” They did not receive the love of truth to be saved, and therefore God sent them the power of deception for believing lies (2 Thess 2:10-11). The latter is the most pronounced peculiarity of our time: the God-sent (permitted) “power of deception” and “belief in lies.”
These wicked men will go from evil to evil, deceiving themselves and others (Tim 3:13). Their way of thinking, their understanding, and self-deception are also demonic delusion. Where does this sort of pride lead them and their followers? Such pride can only lead to such an abyss of insanity and depravity that it fills the heart with fear and trembling.
Beware, brethren, of false light, which, as we said in the beginning, spreads especially unhindered in our time, blinding many. Remember that Christ alone is our true Light, Who shines upon every man that comes into the world (John 1:9). Christ is the only and infallible measure of distinction between good and evil (Hebrews 5:14). We must adhere unswervingly to this attitude without the slightest compromise with the Truth, for it has been said: no one can serve two masters, for they will hate the one and love the other (Matt. 6:24).
If at the time of Christian states, the katechons (Gr. “he who restrains” – those who delay the coming of Antichrist), the period from the reign of the Holy Emperor Constantine the Great (337) to the reign of the Holy Emperor Nicholas Romanov (1917), there was good in the world that Christians could adhere to, today that good no longer exists in society. That period should be seen not just as a period of organization of the state and society on Christian principles, but also in the ecclesiastical context, since the Apostolic Church of the Holy Seven Ecumenical Councils managed to preserve the faith and canonical order in the Ecumenical Church. After the Bolshevik Revolution, this godly order of church and state was destroyed. Instead of Christian monarchies, we have godless republics. Instead of the Ecumenical Church being the guardian of the true Orthodox profession of faith, we have Sergianist-ecumenical hierarchies steeped in the apostasy of the spirit of this time, which pretend to be pious, but have renounced their true power (2 Tim 3:5).
Thus, the words of Scripture that the world lies in evil (1 John 5:19) are in full force today. The world no longer has the slightest traces of the light of Christ: it offers us only pitch darkness or false light. The world no longer offers us options between good vs evil, where we can choose one or the other. No, it lies entirely in evil (1 John 5:19). Contemporary rivals are only such in appearance, because the same forces control all of them behind the scenes, whether they be capitalism vs socialism, globalism vs nationalism, West vs East, the US vs the USSR/RF, democracy vs authoritarianism, liberalism vs traditionalism, NATO and BRICS, the Ukraine and the Russian Federation, government vs opposition, et cetera.
We see an identical situation in World Orthodoxy, where, under one roof of the apostasy of Sergianism and the antichrist heresy of ecumenism, they are all in eucharistic communion, an organic whole with just the appearance of opposition within: ecumenists with the anti-ecumenists (“fighters from within”), new rite (“open doors”) vs old rite (“closed doors”), papophiles (pro-Papist) vs papophobes, the Patriarchate of Constantinople vs the Patriarchate of Moscow, etc. These false oppositions again give the impression that, contrary to the teaching of the Gospel to which these institutions should be measured, there is still light there with the darkness. This, however is not possible, for “What has righteousness to do with lawlessness? Or what communion does light have with darkness?” (2 Cor 6:14).
Both of these institutions have only the semblance of opposition, while in reality they are only pitch darkness or false light – two sides of the same coin of the “mystery of iniquity” ( 2 Thess 2:7) governed by world Jewry, which is largely accomplishing its satan-given mission of ensuring the Jewish Moschiach Antichrist.
Only the True Orthodox Church, which has separated itself (Rev 12:14) from the influence of ecumenism and Sergianism, the main tools for setting up the rule of the Antichrist, will be able to spiritually survive these apocalyptic times. Blessed Averky of Jordanville compares the situation of the true church of the last times with the church of Philadelphia in Revelation, which, though it “has little strength” because of its small size and illegality, still holds fast to Christ’s truth and has not renounced His name (Rev. 3:8).
Therefore, before you place your trust in any ecclesiastical or worldly authorities, you should examine whether they are the children of light (Eph 5:8) or the children of darkness (1 Thess 5:5), the children of God or the children of the devil (1 John 3:10). As the Lord’s friend, St. John the Evangelist, says, “Do no believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1). If he is not Christ’s, whoever he may be, shut your ears, shut your heart to him, and stay away (Rom 16:17). For just as in the corporeal world there is one sun, and there is no other light but it, so in the spiritual world there is only one true and life-giving light, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, from now and ever and unto the ages of ages, Amen.
In this divine joy, we wish all the faithful children of St. Sava’s Serbian Church, all of the clergy, monastics, and faithful under our episcopal omophorion a happy upcoming year of 2025, with faith and hope that it will be blessed, and that it will bring spiritual rebirth to every human soul. This spiritual revival is only possible through true repentance and communion in the mystery of the Body of Christ, through Whom the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth and Love, acts. The saving grace of the Comforter is only possible through the True Orthodox Church. May the Lord, born of the Virgin bless our spiritual struggle for the revival and progress of our fatherland’s True Church, which, like the God-Child of Bethlehem, finds itself in a little calm manger of catacomb service to God and the Serbian people.
May the Lord grant our Christ-named and suffering Serbian people the wisdom and strength to fight with Him and for victory over the servants of the Antichrist.
With such prayerful wishes, invoking God’s blessing on all of you, we greet you once again with the Nativity salutation:
Christ is Born!
Uteshiteljevo, Nativity 2024
Your prayerful intercessors before the Divine Child of Bethlehem
Bishop Akakije of Uteshiteljevo
Bishop Nektarije of Shumadia
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