<\/p>\n
NATIVITY EPISTLE
\nTo the clergy and God-saved flock of the Diocese of Canada<\/p>\n
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ!<\/p>\n
\u201cGreat is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh\u201d (1 Tim. 3:16), as Apostle Paul already testified
\nnear the dawn of Christianity in a letter to his beloved disciple Timothy. The Holy Gospel, describing the way this
\ngreatest event in the history of mankind \u2013 God manifesting Himself in the flesh \u2013 has come about, says that the Angel,
\nannouncing the Nativity of Christ to the Bethlehem shepherds, spoke thus: \u201cI bring you good tidings of great joy
\nwhich will be to all people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord\u2026 Glory
\nto God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men\u201d (Lk. 2:10-11, 14). During solemn celebration of the
\nFeast of the Nativity of Christ, the Holy Church keeps reminding us of the compassion and love of Him, Who came
\ndown from the unapproachable and Awesome Throne of His divine Glory and appeared on our sinful earth \u201cfor us
\nmen and for our salvation\u201d.
\nThe joy of the Nativity of Christ, that joy, which the Angels announced to all mankind, is that the Almighty Maker of
\nall things appeared on earth, lived among men, freed us from sin, curse and death, and opened for us the gate to His
\nHeavenly Kingdom, giving us eternal joy of being in God and with God. God\u2019s peace is indeed His precious gift to
\neach of us, despite all that we see around us on earth now. The Feast is coming \u2013 let every soul rejoice in these days!
\nDear brothers and sisters! We are entering the historical one-hundredth year of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside
\nRussia. Its creation is related to a great historical tragedy, not only for Russia as a country, but for the entire Russian
\nOrthodox civilisation. Hundreds of thousands of Russians found themselves outside Russia in those sorrowful days.
\nOver 125 ships sailed from Crimea in late October 1919, and on 6\/19 November came to anchor at the Constantinople
\nharbour. The same day, aboard the ship Grand Duke Alexandr Mikhailovich, the Temporary Higher Church
\nAdministration in South-East Russia met for the first time since leaving the Motherland, and decided to extend its
\noperation as a Church entity in exile. That\u2019s how our Russian Church Abroad was born. Among participants was evermemorable Metropolitan Anastasy (Gribanovsky), our second First Hierarch, the successor of Metropolitan Antony
\n(Khrapovitsky). As Vladyka Anastasy said later, \u201cThe wider and further we are scattered by destiny in the immense
\nexpanses of the world, the stronger is our conviction that we are sent by Providence to the different and often the most
\ndistant ends of the earth not only in order to preserve the treasure of our Orthodox culture, but also to spread this seed
\neverywhere\u201d. By God\u2019s will this has indeed happened: the Russian Church Abroad carried the Orthodox Faith
\nthroughout the world. All our Dioceses are preparing for the commemoration of this historic anniversary.
\nWe hope that the Canadian Diocese, too, will find a fitting way to celebrate such an important event in the history of
\nthe Russian Church.
\nCHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!
\nGABRIEL
\nArchbishop of Montreal and Canada
\nNativity of Christ, 2019\/2020<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NATIVITY EPISTLE To the clergy and God-saved flock of the Diocese of Canada Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ! \u201cGreat is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh\u201d (1 Tim. 3:16), as Apostle Paul already testified near the dawn of Christianity in a letter to his beloved disciple Timothy. The Holy Gospel, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6216"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6216"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6219,"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6216\/revisions\/6219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}