Celebrating the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – 7 January 2026

Christmas Message to the Clergy and to the Entire God-Saved Flock of the Canadian Diocese.
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ!
For several years now, we have been meeting the grace-filled feast of the Nativity of Christ not in the familiar atmosphere of everyday peace and joyful hopes, to which many of us had grown accustomed over decades, but amid anxieties and fears connected with the “wars and rumors of wars” permitted because of our sins (Matthew 24:6). And yet the Lord commands us not to be terrified, and continues: “but the end is not yet.”
How, then, should we act? Let us turn to the words of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow, the Confessor, whose blessed repose we commemorated with the centenary anniversary this past year. On the Nativity of Christ, December 25, 1918 / January 7, 1919, the Hierarch reminded his flock that “God does not save man without man himself. The latter must personally appropriate the saving feat of the Redeemer. For this, he must portray Christ within himself, incarnate Him in his heart, in his deeds, and in his life, and not limit himself merely to the name of ‘Christian’ or to an outward belonging to the Church of Christ. Examine your heart – what is in it: love for your neighbor, or envy, quarrelsomeness, and hatred? Is it not with these latter feelings that you come even before the Face of the Lord, into the house of God, on the feast day?”
Let us remember, beloved brothers and sisters, that the times when the Patriarch-Confessor addressed our forebears with these words were among the most difficult for our historical homeland, when, as Metropolitan Anastasy (Gribanovsky) said, “all of life, all spiritual culture, had departed from the right path.” Yet the created world was in a similar state in the days of the Nativity of Christ, when the Angel who appeared to the shepherds of Bethlehem proclaimed: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people: for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. … Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill among men” (Luke 2:10–11, 14). But did everyone then hear and accept these angelic words?
Therefore, let us all wish to meet the Nativity of Christ in peace, and the forthcoming Theophany, to glorify Christ the Savior who is born, and to pray to Him with hope.
CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!