BISHOP ANDREI’S NATIVITY EPISTLE

“Our Saviour has visited us from on high, and we, who were in darkness and shadow, have found the truth” (Exapostilarion of the Nativity).

Dear Fathers, brothers and concelebrants, mothers and sisters,

Christ came into the world to reveal to us the truth, which consists in knowing Him, the Son of God, Who became incarnate for our sake, and so that through this knowledge we might be saved. “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth,” said our Lord Jesus Christ at the trial of Pilate (John 18:37). The truth is Christ Himself.

A very characteristic feature of our time, which is important to note, is the loss of the very concept of the truth. In today’s society, it is not customary to even use this word. It’s not politically correct, inappropriate, tactless. What is the reason for this? 

Man is placed at the centre of the universe, with his desires, opinions, and concepts. And since people have different views, it makes no sense to talk about the absolute truth.

The truth, absolute, unchanging, eternal, independent of human interpretation, the truth about God, our Creator and Saviour, is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures. The divinely revealed truth, brought into the world by the Nativity of Christ, is preserved in the Church, which is “the house of God, the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15). In order to partake of the truth, one must live in the Church, be filled with its spirit, live its life.

We come into this world for a short time at the command of God, and we leave it at the appointed time. Our time on earth has been given to us so that we may come to know God’s truth, according to the words of the liturgical prayer:  “Grant us in this present age the knowledge of Thy truth, and in that to come, life everlasting.”

This year, on February 4, the day of the Holy New Martyrs of Russia, the glorification of Brother Joseph Muñoz, the guardian of the myrrh-streaming Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, will take place.

The murder of Brother Joseph in Athens in 1997 was not an attack on him personally. By himself, the humble servant of God Joseph could not interfere with anyone. His murder was an attack on our Church. The miracle of myrrh-streaming, which lasted for 15 years, the incomprehensible miracle of the Mother of God, testifying to Her real, visible presence with us, testifying to Her favour towards the Church Abroad, did not allow the prince of darkness, through his servants, to make a final assault on our Church and crush her. The myrrh-streaming icon and its humble guardian stood in their way. Brother Joseph stood in the way of those who wanted to subjugate the Church Abroad, he stood like a rock, not succumbing to threats, intimidation, flattery, or persuasion. It is important to understand that Brother Joseph did not die as a private individual; he was martyred for his loyalty to the Church Abroad, for her purity.

However, it was not enough to just physically eliminate Brother Joseph and put an end to the miracle of myrrh-streaming. It was necessary to defame his name, to slander and denigrate his memory, to compromise his ministry, and thereby cast a shadow of doubt on the authenticity of the miracle of the Mother of God itself. It was necessary to humiliate and spiritually crush our Church. 

Alas, this satanic plan was a complete success. The Church Abroad believed the slander and renounced both Br. Joseph and the favour of the Mother of God, shown in the Myrrh-streaming Icon, she renounced what she had previously revered and what she had previously taken pride in. It is difficult to explain the gullibility, spiritual blindness, insensibility, and ingratitude that gripped so many people at that time.

It is impossible to exaggerate the force of this blow inflicted on the Church Abroad. This was a blow to the most sensitive spot, because the Myrrh-streaming Icon was the glory and honour of the Church Abroad. When the object of glory and praise turned into shame and humiliation, it spiritually broke the Church Abroad; she became ready for a change of milestones, for a revision of values. After the murder of Brother Joseph, the process of spiritual erosion began to gain momentum, and only a few years later the ROCA easily renounced everything that she had previously cherished, which constituted her identity: she renounced her ideology, her saintly hierarchs, her standing in truth.

On the eve of Brother Joseph’s burial, the coffin was opened, and we saw his hands with signs of torture, hands that constantly touched the holy Icon, and were always sanctified by the miraculous myrrh. The devil, unable to do anything to the Mother of God Herself, poured out all his wrath on the guardian of Her Icon.

Then, 26 years ago, those standing in front of Brother Joseph’s coffin, in front of his body, untouched by decay, had a clear feeling that this murder was only the beginning of something terrible coming to our Church and the whole world. “The jaws of satan have opened” – this is how Fr. Valery Lukianov expressed this feeling in his sermon at Br. Joseph’s funeral.

The upcoming local glorification of Brother Joseph, although outwardly a modest church event, due to our small numbers and resources, is nevertheless of great spiritual significance. Earthly glorification will not increase the glory of the Holy Martyr, but it will free our Church from blame. The stain of sin can only be cleansed by repentance. The glorification of Brother Joseph is an act of repentance, belated repentance for our injustice, for that blemish that has been upon us ever since.

Through the glorification of Brother Joseph, the justice of the Holy Martyr and our injustice are revealed. His justice is his 15 years of humble, self-sacrificial ministry, harmful to his health, his ascetic life, his constant reverent, day and night, prayerful presence before the Holy Shrine, his obedience to the church hierarchy and personally to Vl. Vitaly even to death.

Our injustice is that at first, we were vain about this miracle, as if we deserved it (which Brother Joseph himself repeatedly warned against), and then we got used to it, began to treat the Miracle as an everyday occurrence, and finally, our denial of Brother Joseph, our gullible acceptance of slander, an unimaginable filth, which, endlessly passing from mouth to mouth, has defiled an ever-increasing number of people.

Such an important church act as the glorification of a new saint cannot avoid being tested by temptations. Therefore, we need to intensify our prayers so that God’s help will be sent down to us through the prayers of the Mother of God and the Holy Martyr.

I congratulate all of you on the great Feast of the Nativity of Christ! Amen

Bishop Andrei

Nativity 2023 / 2024