Metropolitan Cleopas of Sweden and All Scandinavia has issued the festive Christmas pastoral encyclical for 2025, calling on the faithful to embrace the message of Christ’s Nativity as an invitation to transformation and spiritual renewal.
In the encyclical, the Metropolitan reminds that the incarnation of Christ calls us to see in the face of every person, especially the poor, the refugee, and the sick, the image of God, emphasizing that the peace of the heart is the fruit of the union of humanity with the will of God.
Clergy and laity are called to become bearers of light within the family, the workplace, and society, while the Metropolitan wishes that the Born Lord may grant peace to the world, strength to the suffering, repentance, and light to the hearts of us all.
The encyclical encourages prayer for peace, reconciliation, and solidarity, underlining that love and hope are the most powerful weapons against injustice and violence.
Read below the Encyclical:
Dearly Beloved Brothers & Sisters in the Incarnate Lord,
As we approach the radiant Feast of the Nativity of our Lord, the Church once again invites us to contemplate the great and ineffable mystery of the Incarnation.
The eternal Word of God, through Whom all things were made, humbles Himself, assumes our human nature, and is born in a cave, laid in a manger, and welcomed by the poor and the lowly. Heaven and earth are united. God becomes man, so that humanity may be restored and healed.
Yet we celebrate this saving event in a world marked by deep wounds and profound suffering. Our generation bears witness to wars that devastate entire nations, violence that uproots families, and conflicts that claim innocent lives.
We see the scandal of human trafficking, where men, women, and children are reduced to commodities. We encounter crushing poverty, economic injustice, forced migration, loneliness, and despair.
Creation itself groans under the weight of exploitation and neglect. These realities confront our conscience and challenge our faith.
The Nativity of Christ is God’s decisive intervention in the brokenness of human history. The Son of God enters precisely into a world of fear, injustice, and pain. He does not come with worldly power, but in humility, revealing that true strength is found in sacrificial love.
Saint Athanasios the Great teaches us that the Word became flesh “that we might become by grace what He is by nature.” In Christ’s birth, humanity is offered transformation.
In the face of wars and violence, the newborn Christ reveals Himself as the Prince of Peace. His peace is not the absence of conflict alone, but the restoration of right relationship between God and humanity, and among human beings themselves.
In the face of exploitation and human trafficking, Christ affirms the infinite dignity of every human person, created in the image and likeness of God.
In the face of poverty and exclusion, He identifies Himself with the poor, having no place to lay His head even from His birth.
Saint John Chrysostom exhorts us that we cannot honor Christ in the altar while neglecting Him in the suffering neighbor.
We are called to be witnesses of hope in a world tempted by despair, to be peacemakers where hatred prevails, to protect the vulnerable, to speak for those who have no voice, and to practice mercy, generosity, and solidarity. The love revealed in the cave of Bethlehem must be made visible through our concrete acts of faith and love.
For the faithful of the Holy Metropolis of Sweden and All Scandinavia, living in societies marked by both prosperity and spiritual challenges, this calling is especially urgent. The Incarnate Christ invites us to resist indifference, to cultivate compassion, and to bear living witness to the Gospel in a pluralistic and often secular environment.
Saint Maximus the Confessor teaches us that love for God is inseparable from love for neighbor. Our fidelity to Christ is measured by how we reflect His self-emptying love in the world.
May the Child born in the cave grant peace to the world, comfort to those who suffer, justice to the oppressed, and salvation to our souls.
With paternal love and heartfelt wishes in the Incarnate Lord for a blessed, peaceful, and grace-filled Christmas and a healthy New Year,
† Metropolitan Cleopas of Sweden and All Scandinavia
