BARTHOLOMEW
By the Mercy of GodArchbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch

To the Plenitude of the Church

Grace, peace and mercy from the Savior Christ, born in Bethlehem

Beloved brethren and children in the Lord,

The great and sacred day of Christmas has dawned, the metropolis and mother of all feasts, inviting each of us to spiritual uplifting and encounter with the Ancient of Days, who became an infant for us.

As St. John of Damascus underlines: “By the grace of God the Father, the only begotten Son and divine Word of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the pre-eternal and perfect God, who is without beginning, condescends to us as His servants, becoming fully human and achieves that which is newer than new, the only new thing under the sun.” (On the Orthodox Faith) This incarnation of the Son of God is not merely symbolical, like the other incarnations of the numerous gods in mythology; it is reality, a truly new reality, the only new thing under the sun, which occurred at a specific historical moment in the reign of the Emperor Octavian Augustus some 746 years (according to new astronomical data) since the establishment of Rome, in the midst of a specific people, from the house and line of David (Luke 2.4), in a specific place, namely Bethlehem of Judaea, with a very specific purpose: “He became human in order that we might become divine,” in accordance with the succinct expression of Athanasius the Great. (On the Divine Incarnation 54)

The event of incarnation of God’s Word grants us the opportunity to reach the extreme limits of our nature, which are identified neither with the “good and beautiful” of the ancient Greeks and the “justice” of the philosophers, nor with the tranquility of Buddhist “nirvana” and the transcendental “fate” or so-called “karma” by means of the reputedly continuous changes in the form of life, nor again with any “harmony” of supposedly contradictory elements of some imaginary “living force” and anything else like these. Rather, it is the ontological transcendence of corruption and death through Christ, our integration into His divine life and glory, and our union by grace through Him with the Father in the Holy Spirit. These are our ultimate limits: personal union with the Trinitarian God! And Christ’s nativity does not promise any vague blessedness or abstract eternity; it places “in our hands” the potential of personal participation in God’s sacred life and love in an endless progression. It grants us the possibility not only “of receiving adoption” (Gal. 4.5) but also of becoming “partakers of divine nature.” (2 Peter 1.4).

Of course, amid the global confusion and crisis of our time, these truths have a strange echo. Most people’s hope, resting on worldly “deities,” is falsified on a daily basis in the most terrible ways. The human person is humiliated and crushed by numbers, machines, computers, stock markets, and diverse flags of vain ideological opportunism. Nature is blasphemed; the environment groans; young people despair and protest against the injustice of the present and the uncertainty of the future. “Darkness, clouds, storms and noise” (Deut. 4.11) prevail in our world, giving the impression that even the light of hope that dawns in Bethlehem is threatened with extinction and the angelic hymn of universal joy — “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will to all people” (Luke 2.14) — is in danger of being overcome. Nevertheless, the Church calls everyone to sober attention, re-evaluation of priorities in life, and pursuit of divine traces and value in every other person of respect toward the image of God. Indeed, the Church will not cease to proclaim — with all the strength acquired by its two millennia of experience — that the child that lies in the manger of Bethlehem is “the hope of all ends of the earth,” the Word and purpose of life, redemption sent by God to His people, namely to the whole world.

We share this good news with much love from the martyric Throne of the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople, proclaiming it to all children of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and to every person that thirsts for Christ, invoking upon all of you the mercy, peace and grace of God, together with the saving gift of the only-begotten Son of God, who came down from the heavens — for us and for our salvation — and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, becoming human. To Him belong the glory, power, honor and worship, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, to the ages.

At the Phanar, Christmas 2008
Fervent supplicant to God for all

+ BARTHOLOMEWArchbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch

Baltimore, MD — International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) is responding to the rapidly deteriorating public health crisis in Zimbabwe which threatens to become a catastrophe unless urgently needed medicines and supplies are rushed to the growing numbers of victims. Over 16,000 people have already been stricken and over 1,000 have died since last August. Health experts are warning that half of the country’s population of 12 million is at risk.

IOCC is sending eight complete medical kits, valued at over $380,000 and approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), for the treatment of approximately 5,600 patients. While the bulk of these supplies will be targeted to the outlying areas where the need is greatest, IOCC will also supply its partner in Harare that can treat victims in the capital.

IOCC’s shipment is made possible through a partnership with the Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society, Medical Teams International (MTI), Dorcas Aid International and IMRES.

Zimbabwe’s complete breakdown in water and sanitation systems has exacerbated this public health crisis. The country’s spiraling economic crisis has also contributed to the emergency situation. With salaries rendered useless by the nation’s hyperinflation, doctors and nurses have stopped going to work in Harare’s two leading hospitals. A medical professional is quoted as saying, “We are in Zimbabwe’s darkest hour and our need is now!”

IOCC has provided more than $5.5 million in medicines and medical supplies to Zimbabwe’s beleaguered hospitals and clinics since 2006 and is working in cooperation with the Orthodox Church in Zimbabwe and other local partners.

Help us speed relief to families in Zimbabwe suffering from disease and hunger. Visit http://m1e.net/c?82842541-Ahn8j6JPDxPEk%403848819-U8Gh5y42a48VM, call IOCC toll free at 1-877-803-4622, or mail a check or money order payable to “IOCC” and write “Zimbabwe Appeal” in the memo line to: IOCC, P.O. Box 630225, Baltimore, Md. 21263-0225.

IOCC, founded in 1992 as the official humanitarian aid agency of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), has implemented over $275 million in relief and development programs in 33 countries around the world

The Pew study, called “Faith on the Hill” among members of the incoming 111th Congress, found that Catholics, Jews, and Mormons are among religious groups better represented in Congress than in the nation as a whole. The most glaring difference between the makeup of the new Congress, which will be sworn in Jan. 6, and the population is among those who are not affiliated with any religious tradition.

Read the entire story here

Last night during an adult religious education program that I run here at the church, we were discussing evangelism and what the church can do for people. One of the topics discussed was children and the how we keep children in the church and the influence on them that the church might have. Now I am not naive enough to say that if children stay in the church all will be well but I submit that maybe, just maybe if kids stay in church we would not have headlines like this one.

This incident took place as part of a robbery of $10,000 in alleged drug money. The body of the 16 year old was found in the woods shot, stabbed and burned and the 13 year old brother is accused of supplying a weapon to an adult who allegedly committed the murder. The dead brother was described as a “significant drug dealer” who was robbed of the $10,000 in cash. The money was later used by one of the adults accused in the case to buy a BMW the next day.

Okay so now comes the question time. Question 1, where did a 13 year old get a weapon? How was this child able to buy, or some how come into the possession of the hand gun? Question 2, where does a 16 year old get $10,000 in cash? Part 2 of that question would be why was he walking around with all of that cash? Question 3, and this is the big one, where were the parents? What is going on in this family, or these families, that these kids have the ability to do all of this stuff unnoticed by an adult? The boy was killed in the home of one of the accused and rolled up in a carpet and dumped in the woods behind the house. Did the parents not notice the missing carpet?

We seem to be loosing control of this generation! I know that some who read this will write that I should not blame the parents of these kids, after all they work hard and there are a lot of things that need to be kept track of. Well you over looked something parents, you over looked your children. I do not have children and I will be the first to admit that being a parent today is one of the hardest jobs out there, but you have a responsibility to raise and supervise your children and if you cannot do the job then do not have children. If you cannot do the job and need help, ask for it help exists and all you need to do is to ask for it.

Be involved in your children’s lives, know who their friends are, monitor their activity on the internet and above all talk to them! This generation is known as the wired generation and they have all the gadgets and gizmos out there. Ask yourself this question, where is the computer in the house? Is it in a place that can be monitored, do you check the sites that your children are visiting, do you even know how to do that?

All I ask is that you participate in the raising of your children because if you don’t them someone else will and you might not have a choice of who that person is.