Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa expressed a cry of agony to the Mighty of the world for peace to prevail in his Christmas message this year.
“I raise my hands and kneel in the humble manger of the newborn Divine infant and with a cry of agony, I ask God to enlighten the Mighty of the earth, so that the peace of Christ may prevail again and the sun of justice may rise once and for all”, Patriarch Theodore emphasized in his message.
Find below the message of Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa:
My dear and blessed children,
Like every year, this year Christmas comes to assure us that the salvation of the world lies in the rebirth of our soul, the soul of each one of us.
Social life and happiness do not exist in the systems applied by the powerful of the earth, nor is it what justifies the wronged and marginalized man. Because it now proves that it is not logical for a man to serve the system, but the system to serve the man. That’s why Christmas comes to wake us up to see what we did for our poor fellow man, or what we should do, because, according to Schiller, “we were born for something better.”
But when was Christ born? When the time comes, the Scriptures answer us. When did He come? When hatred and evil were the main features of the human heart. When corruption, crime, and fratricide had taken over the world. When people lived far from the light of truth and walked in the darkness of sin. Christ came when the thirst for redemption reached the point of no return. And what did the coming of Christ bring us? He brought us the great gift, peace, and equality of people. Filled our hearts with love and hope!
God came down from heaven to earth, and transformed the earth into heaven! He preached the truth to us. He taught us to apologize. He showed us His infinite love and revealed to us our forgotten homeland, the upper Jerusalem.
And we, what do we do? Then we accepted His message and agreed, but now we disagree. We recognized him then, but we question him now.
The man of our time, intoxicated by his achievements and influenced by various slogans foreign to Orthodoxy, considers the presence of God to be unbearable. Love is exiled and forgiveness is rare. Everyone agrees to stop the hostilities and everyone deals with military equipment.
Peoples, countries, societies suffer from the selfishness of modern man, who aims to dominate at the expense of the weak and deprive him of freedom and the bread of the day. One of the most beautiful and blessed regions in the world, but at the same time, the most afflicted by hunger and poverty, Africa, for centuries now is trying to find its direction. But great geopolitical interests plague our African brother and keep him captive to his needs.
Our Patriarchate, with its Missionary work, from end to end in Africa, strives to alleviate the pain of thousands of people in practice and tries tirelessly night and day to see the “face of God” all our fellow human beings tormented by the problems of life. We do not stop, together with the bread and water, to carry to our poor brothers the message of peace.
I raise my hands and kneel in the humble manger of the newborn Divine infant and with a cry of agony, I ask God to enlighten the Mighty of the earth, so that the peace of Christ may prevail again and the sun of justice may rise once and for all”, Patriarch Theodore emphasized in his message.
Merry Christmas my children!
† THEODORE II
Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa
