“Today we hear the word of comfort: The Lord God Himself will save the Ukrainian people!” — Head of the UGCC on the Sunday after Christmas
We enter the new year, a new era, as a people consecrated to God! Moreover, we sense the incarnation of our Savior within the hearts of our Ukrainian community. It is He who experiences the death anew in the killed sons and daughters of Ukraine. He is the one who is wounded once again by the attacks on our peaceful cities and villages. But it is in Him that we have our strength because we enter the new year together with Him. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC, said this in a sermon at the Church of St. Basil the Great of the Basilian Fathers in Kyiv on the Sunday after Christmas, December 31, 2023.
“Celebrating the feast of the Nativity of Christ, we fascinatingly discover our living God. Listening to the word of God about the childhood of Jesus (Matthew 2:13–23), we realize that the Nativity of Christ is not some New Year’s fairy tale about something ideal and inconceivable. No! Christmas is discovering the meaning of reality, the reality of human life, of which we are a part. The Nativity of Christ is a divine story about each of us individually, about our fully human life,” the Head of the UGCC said at the beginning of the sermon.
The preacher noted that as we delve into the books of Scripture, we feel that the Holy Scriptures are a scroll of books that are written about us, about a human historical person.
The word of the divine Gospel, says the Head of the UGCC, recounts three moments when God’s people rejected their Savior: we hear how Herod, having heard from the wise men about the birth of the new king of Israel, seeks to kill him; today we hear the lament Rachel mourning the loss of innocent children; we also learn about the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt. We hear how, later, upon their return from Egypt, they were looking for a place to settle in the land of Israel. They do not find a place in Bethlehem, in Judea. But they hurried north to Galilee, to the city of Nazareth, so that the word of Scripture might be fulfilled: “Nazareth shall be called” (Matthew 2:23).
His Beatitude Sviatoslav called on the faithful to reflect on what it means to be called a Nazarene.
“Clearly, Matthew, using this Greek word, refers primarily to the inhabitants of the city of Nazareth… The Greek word ‘Nazarene’ touches three very deep strings in the history of Israel. It seems to summarize three different meanings, three Hebrew words. One of them is nasher, which means sprout. The second is nasur, meaning remnant. The last one is nazir — consecrated to God,” explained the Patriarch.
Interestingly, the Head of the Church continued, on this Sunday after Christmas we celebrate the memory of three people: King David, Joseph the Betrothed, and James, the brother of our Savior, the first bishop of the Jerusalem Church.
“These three words reveal the meaning of each of these three people. David is the one who founded the dynasty of the kings of Israel, which was once eradicated completely. That’s why Rachel is lamenting, because everything has been destroyed, but here, in Jesus Christ, the roots, the old stump that everyone forgot about, give a sprout, and hope is born. St. Joseph the Betrothed, who was the guardian, according to God’s Law, of the Holy Family of the newborn Savior, shows us this remnant, the remnant of Israel. That is, God’s people will always be preserved by God, no matter what wars, migrations, or destruction occur. James, the brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the fulfillment of the word ‘nazir,’ which means consecrated. This salvation, this nucleus of God’s people, will not be limited to one ethnic group of people, to a single nation. Those new people, the new Israel, will be the Church of Christ, and you and I will belong to the new messianic people, which the apostle Paul calls the ‘mystical body of Jesus Christ,’” the Patriarch said.
“Listening to the words about the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies in the person of Jesus Christ, in His birth, the discovery of the meaning of His modern historical moment, and thus the birth of hope for the future, we reflect on the meaning of our moment of life and history,” said the Father and Head of the UGCC.
The Primate remarked that it is no coincidence that the largest attack from the sky on our cities and villages took place on December 29, the day when the Church honors the memory of the children innocently killed by Herod in Bethlehem. It is no coincidence! “Today, Ukraine, like Rachel, is lamenting over its children, whom the modern Herod took away from her,” he emphasized.
“Today we ask: Lord, what will this year be like?” the Patriarch called for reflection.
“We hear the word about Jesus as the ancestor, about this germ of Christ’s Church, mighty in the power of the incarnation of God’s Word. In Him, we learn that our sickly people are a remnant of God, whom the Lord Himself accompanies into a new era. We hear the word of comfort: no matter what happens, the Lord God Himself will save the Ukrainian people! We receive a word of reassurance: no matter what unfolds, the Lord God Himself will be the savior of the Ukrainian people. Furthermore, He will appoint them as a beacon of hope and guidance for the entire world. In our present era, where humanity is losing its values and uncertainty about the future, we find ourselves living on the verge of pivotal times. It is a moment when the world needs direction and those capable of paving the way. We find ourselves on the edge—not just between life and death in war, but also at the threshold of a new year. Holding the hand of our Savior, we step together into a new era for humanity,” the Head of the UGCC is convinced.
He also noted that the faithful and clergy gathered that day at St. Basil the Great Church in Kyiv to begin celebrating the parish holiday. Tomorrow, January 1, the Church will honor St. Basil the Great, one of the paragons of the consecrated person, the “Nazarene” of the New Testament.
“Together, we ask for God’s blessings for the upcoming year. Today, we aim to rediscover that our future isn’t daunting or frightening. Why? Because our hope, our history, our future—everything—is intertwined with our Lord God, Jesus Christ Himself. We confidently embark on the journey into the new year and a new chapter in time with Him and in Him.”
“Lord, with You by our side, fear finds no place in our hearts. Your presence assures us of a future filled with joy and brightness. As we dedicate our entire lives to You, the eternal and omnipotent God, we find our consecration in You, and our hope resides in Your embrace. You unfold a new chapter of time before our eyes like a sacred scroll. Today, Lord Jesus Christ, we echo Your words: ‘Father, I come to do Your will!’” the spiritual leader added.
The UGCC Department for Information
