Patriarch's message deals with Kosovo, Montenegro, diaspora

Ahead of the holiday, Patriarch Irinej issued his Christmas message, published below in its integral version.

The Serbian Orthodox Church to her spiritual children at Christmas, 2018

+IRINEJ

By the Grace of God

Orthodox Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch, with all the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, to all the clergy, monastics, and all the sons and daughters of our Holy Church: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, with the joyous Christmas greeting:

Peace from God! Christ is Born!

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth!"
(St. John 1:14)

John, the Holy Apostle, Evangelist, and the beloved disciple of Christ, expresses with his words The Word became flesh the great mystery of our Christian faith. He Who was "at the beginning", that is from eternity, through Whom everything came to be, and without Whom nothing that exists came into existence, He Who is Life (cf. St. John 1:1-3), the Logos—the Word of God—became flesh when the fullness of time was fulfilled (Gal. 4:4), in order to bring to all people the gift of adoption to sonship, and to bring and to elevate them all to His and our Heavenly Father for their salvation and eternal life. (2 Cor. 6:18)

The Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is an event which divides our human history into two parts: that which happened prior to His Birth, which we understand as the preparation of people for the arrival of the Messiah, and the period after His Birth, the period in which we now live. Even those who, for various...