NATIVITY is one of the major Holy feasts, and is considered one of the most important feasts that Christians celebrate as it is a memorial of the birth of Jesus Christ from St. Virgin Mary. NATIVITY is a unique superior miraculous event that didn’t and won’t be repeated throughout ages as St. Virgin Mary gave birth to a child without a man. When we study the prophecies we find out that some prophets referred to the birth of Jesus Christ; as said by Isaiah the prophet: “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”.
Also he mentioned His birth from a virgin: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel”. And when St. Virgin Mary wondered: “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”, the angel said to her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”
And also Micah the prophet located the place of Jesus Christ when he predicted and said: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
The Holy Quran also referred to that birth: “[And mention] when the angels said,“O Mary, indeed Allah gives you good tidings of a word from Him, whose name will be the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary – distinguished in this world and the Hereafter and among those brought near [to Allah ].”
As for the date of NATIVITY, it differs between the East and the West; its date in the West is on the 25th of December, whereas the Coptic Church in the East celebrates it on the 29th of Kiahk which is on the 7th of January. The date of celebrating NATIVITY was determined in 325 AD at the Ecumenical council (Worldwide) in Nicaea in which all bishops of the world gathered that day which was the 29th of Kiahk according to the Coptic calendar and the 7th of January according to the Gregorian calendar.
NATIVITY fulfilled the Promise
God created man on His image and placed him in Eden paradise to live happily with God who said: “And my delight was with the sons of men”; Then God gave the commandment to man, but man broke it and the death judgment was upon him, that was how man was expelled out from the presence of God and from paradise. Consequently, man lost the immortality of true life as both Adam and Eve lost the peace they had and paradise was shut down after their expulsion. Nevertheless God didn’t abandon man to his despair but on the contrary he presented him a promise: “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel”. Humanity kept waiting the fulfillment of that promise until it happened, St. Paul the Apostle said: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law…” Since that promise to its fulfillment, God was preparing humanity for the miraculous birth through prophets, symbols and signs, as NATIVITY was a fulfillment of God’s promise to humanity.
Messages of NATIVITY
NATIVITY presented messages throughout all ages and it was a message of peace, love, and modesty; but today I am talking about peace which is the dire need of the world nowadays.
Peace
When man was expelled from paradise, he lost peace as we mentioned previously. The burden of fear and its fierceness was increased and the sensation of insecurity kept growing especially after the man killed his brother due to envy and hatred!! And that was how the feelings of fear and weary spread into humanity while the image of peace was lost; until the angels declared that peace will be restored with NATIVITY.
As the carol of the angels to the shepherds: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men” was considered the immortal message throughout ages which represents peace that Christ came to provide to the humanity; NATIVITY is a restoration of peace that was lost between God and man. In NATIVITY a savior was born as the angels declared his name was “Jesus” which means “savior”; as it was said to the shepherds: “I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”; NATIVITY became the good tidings of approaching breaking the barriers between God and man and man could finally find peace with God, himself and others.
Peace is the requirement of all Humanity
The world suffers nowadays under the burden of turbulences, chaos, the loss of quietness, security and peace; the loss of peace in a person’s life is considered one of the most important problems that impeded that life path. You find that the man who lost his peace when takes a step forward towards future, he is suspicious and hesitated, in addition to that his ability to work is influenced greatly as he always feels that there is something in life drives him to feel fear, anxiety and retreat.
NATIVITY is an invitation to live in peace, whoever knows peace from deep within, will always seek to spread it among others. Christ came to present peace to man; and His message was filled with peace and love to everyone; as Christ (glory be to him) said in His sermon on the mountain: “Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God”. If God is the granter and the maker of peace on Earth; then all those who walk in that path, will follow the approach that God presented which will increase one’s responsibility of spreading that message to everyone else.
Peacemaking is a quality of the man whose heart is filled with love towards everyone as well as living his own life in goodness and gentleness; so those people’s lives would be filled with inner peace that will glow in their lives to light and fill the lives of others who pass by them in the journey of life; which will lead peace to prevail everywhere. On the contrary evil people do not have peace in their lives due to their evil deeds, so they live in continuous turbulences and spread moan and noise in the whole universe around them as what happened with Cain when he killed his brother; God said to him: “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground”. The murderer lived as a fugitive on the earth and lost his peace all the days of his life.
Peace is fulfilled when humans reject all malice that might be within and implant love instead in their hearts towards each other realizing that their message in life is to reconstruct, as hatred and envy bring nothing but death and loss of peace. Moreover, peace is fulfilled when each person seeks a true and honest attempt to understand others and realize that all humans are nothing but the members of one human family. While a person tries to make others happy, he himself feels the meaning of happiness and peace.
As to what is considered an obstacle in the path of peace; are the distances between people and seeking knowledge through others’ points of view in addition to their personal interpretations. Whereas it would be better and more accurate if each person knows the other through discussion, coexistence, and true communication through an open heart and mind which carries the in common humanity that we were born with.
We should remember that the peace between human beings comes as a result to his love to God who calls him to make peace with all humans and implant love. For sure, peace needs work and effort; as there are people who implant thorns to kill peace. We should cut off thorns and continue implanting love everywhere.
Through one of the bright pages of history specifically in winter 1914 AD, during the flames of the First World War, on the Eve of Nativity in Bulgaria; peace spread between British and German soldiers to cease war, for those souls who were under the burden of war to know the meaning of peace.
Let our message in this Nativity 2020 be a message of peace to everyone: “live peaceably with all men…”. Many happy peaceful returns.
General Bishop Ermia,
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
