Archpastoral Message on the Feast of Nativity from Archbishop Irénée
December 25, 2017
“I behold a strange and most glorious mystery: heaven, a cave, the Virgin the throne of the cherubim; the manger a room, in which Christ, the God whom nothing can contain is laid. Him do we praise and magnify.” (Irmos of the 9th Ode of the Nativity Canon).
By the Nativity of Christ, when the Creator, from his love for us, became a small child, all that was once unthinkable became reality. To save His creation, he accepted to take on our nature to restore the real reason for its existence: the communion of love lost by the ancestral disobedience. May this Christmas feast bring you the joy and comfort of His grace all the days of your life.
+Archbishop Irénée
Archdiocese of Canada (Orthodox Church in America)