DECEMBER OF 1999

TOU MANTEWS PALAI BARLAAM TWN LOGWN MUHTAS....
In Balaam’s ancient vision, the Wise Men had been skilled.
They marked the constellations, and joy their spirits filled.
For You, bright Star of Jacob, arising in Your might
Did call these Gentile first-fruits to worship in Your Light.
And they, in holy reverence bent, their welcome gifts did thus present.
ST. KOSMAS OF JERUSALEM (8^TH C.), CANON OF THE NATIVITY

 From the very dawn of human history, the truly wise have sought our Christ. Realizing their exile from the Paradise of Delight, our first Ancestors Adam and Eve longed for a Savior who would restore our human race. They sought one who would lift us from our fallen state and restore us as ‘an-thropoi’ - ‘ano’ or ‘upward’ looking beings. Instead of a fallen creation gazing only upon earthbound things, our truest humanity was to stand upright, to gaze heavenward.

Later, Abraham and Sarah wisely journeyed in faith, miraculously bearing Isaac – their only-begotten – who would become the father of Jacob, and the Ancestor of a people more numerous than the stars of heaven. Noah the just also looked to the skies for a sign of God’s healing and restoration after the great flood, and behold, a dove of the air brought him that sign. A rainbow in the sky became the icon of the everlasting covenant between the Creator and the creation.

Moses the God-seer climbed high atop Mt. Sinai to receive the divine Law, and led his people from bondage to freedom guided by a fiery pillar that radiantly lit the sky. So, too, the glorious Elias encountered God high atop Mt. Horeb, in a ‘still, small voice’ – one not unlike that of a newborn child. And finally there was the visionary Daniel, enduring exile with his people in Babylon, who saw the great sign of restoration in the sky above: ‘And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the heavens; they that turn many toward justice, shall be as the stars, unto the ages of ages’ (Dan. 12.3).

Not long after the days of Daniel, a great sign in the heavens was discerned by star-seekers in Persia. Miraculously, as the brilliant Nativity Apolytikion teaches, ‘They who worshipped the stars were taught by a star to worship [Christ], the Sun of Justice.’ Guided by that teaching star, they finally came to the humblest birthplace of the ‘Sun of Justice’, ‘and they, in holy reverence bent, their welcome gifts did thus present.’

The saving history of God’s people is filled with models of looking to the heavens for holy signs. But unlike those visionaries of old, far too many in our day look to this Millennium Christmas without seeing that divine sign, seeing rather material gain, or revelry, or doomsday. Instead of looking heavenward to Balaam’s ‘bright Star of Jacob’ (Numbers 24), there remain many who fix their gaze on earthbound things like sales figures, ‘parties of the century’, or fear-driven Y2K stockpiling. As a consequence, many in our world await this millennial holiday season largely without a joy-filled spirit.

And yet, as this ancient Canon reminds us, once again our Christ – the ‘bright Star of Jacob’ – is ‘arising in His might’, is once again born as a vulnerable infant, humbly born into the midst of human need and suffering. Not only is He born into our midst again, but He ‘calls’ us as well ‘to worship in His Light’. We need no longer sit in the darkness of greed and fear, for He shines even in these shortest of days of December with the radiant light of generosity and of hope. This, indeed was the light that the prophets beheld when the looked to the heavens for a sign.

Would that this world of ours would draw near to our Christ in the heavenward-looking, seeking, reverent spirit of those first Wise Men. Yet, we who call ourselves Christians can and must do so, no matter what those around us are doing. We Greek Orthodox Christians can and must come together with our gazes fixed on high on the holy night of His Nativity, and on the millennial New Year’s and St. Basil’s Eve ‘in holy reverence bent’.

As a model for our neighbors, we can present our newborn God with ‘welcome gifts’ fitting for this Millennium Christmas. As frankincense we can offer fervent prayers for peace and goodwill among the nations, the races and the religions of the world. As myrrh, we can offer the healing oil of compassion and of solidarity with the suffering, the outcast and the oppressed. As gold, we can join our fellow Christians and seek the just release of those overwhelming debts that keep the world’s poor in their poverty.

There is an old proverb that can still be found printed in a few – too few – holiday greeting cards. It quietly affirms the great truth that ‘Wise Men still seek Him’. This year, may we all choose to be wise men, wise women, wise children. May we too ‘still seek’ – in prayer and in action – the ‘Bright Star’ Who shines with a radiant hope into the new Millennium.

With Paternal Blessings
And Best Wishes for A Blessed Millennium Christmas,

+ Metropolitan Iakovos of Krinis