<\/p>\n
The Most Reverend Archbishop Gabriel
\nof Montreal and Canada<\/p>\n
The Nativity Epistle<\/p>\n
To the clergy and all the faithful flock of the Canadian diocese<\/p>\n
Beloved in Christ brothers and sisters!<\/p>\n
The great and joyful feast of the birth of Christ in the flesh, the appearance in the world of the
\ninfant Christ, born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, is an historical event. It is not a
\ncoincidence that our forefathers felt that the events tied to the Nativity of Christ as related in the
\nGospels were events that were not far removed from what they had experienced in their own
\npast. Metropolitan Anthony, the Abba of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia,
\nremarked: \u201cAfter all, the Child born in Bethlehem soon became a refuge in a foreign land.\u201d In
\nthe preceding year of 2017 we remembered a mournful anniversary \u2013 the 100th anniversary of
\nthe Russia\u2019s historical tragedy, the lessons of which our people have not yet fully
\ncomprehended.
\nThe ever-memorable Metropolitan Anastasy said the following prophetic words 80 years ago:
\n\u201cThere is nothing more dangerous, than if Russia will wish to adopt something from its sad
\ninheritance, left to it by corrupt bolshevism: anything, which has been touched by its
\ndecomposing atheistic hand, is at risk of being once more infected by the old leprosy.\u201d
\nThe new year brings with it the 100-year anniversary of a new massacre of the infants: the death
\nof the Russian royal family, including the innocent children of the last Russian emperor. The
\nloss of the Russian emperor, who was anointed by God and had a special restraining
\ninterdiction before the throne of God, brought about innumerable woes not only for Russia, but
\nfor the whole world. Now, when we hope, the time has come for the Russian people to return
\nto the ideals of Holy Russia, we have faith that the prayers of the royal passion-bearers at the
\nthrone of God are heard and that the Lord will not and has not forgotten the Russian land.
\nThe joy of the birth of Christ in Bethlehem could not be darkened by the anger which boiled up
\nduring this greatest of events in the history of mankind: the appearance of the Saviour of the
\nworld. Brothers and sisters, when we remember the wisemen\u2019s gifts of gold, frankincense and
\nmyrrh brought to the manger in Bethlehem let us not forget about the gifts that we should bring
\nto our Lord throughout our earthly life: \u201cLet us earnestly open the treasure chest of our hearts
\nand bring Him good deeds \u2013 faith, hope and love\u201d (Stichira on \u2018Lord I have cried\u2019 for December
\n28).<\/p>\n
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
\nGABRIEL
\nArchbishop of Montreal and Canada<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nativity epistle of His Eminence, Archbishop Gabriel. 2018<\/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":"https:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3817"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3817"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3827,"href":"https:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3817\/revisions\/3827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}