December 25, 2025: Christmas Day 2025 - Archbishop Benjamin

So overjoyed to greet each of you with this festal

greeting and deeply honored that I am able and

given the privilege to read the Christmas sermon

of His Eminence Archbishop Bennett. This is what

he wrote. In the name of the Father, and of the

Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We're here

this morning to commemorate one of the most important

pillars of the Christian faith, Christ. The pre

-eternal word of the Father is born today in

Bethlehem, the city of David. He upon whom the

angels dare not gaze enters the womb of the Virgin.

that means for a moment. Think about what this

is. Her womb becomes more spacious than the heavens

because he whom the heavens could not contain

is contained within her womb. God, who brought

the world into being out of non -existence, who

created time, enters today on this feast day

into the world. Into history. Into human history.

We're surrounded in this beautiful temple. With

images which give evidence of this mystery. For

he who cannot be described the creator. Accepts

to be described by taking on the flesh of his

creatures. He who created Adam. Becomes a son

of Adam. The king of kings is born. Not in a

glittering palace, but in a cave. He rests not

in a bed, but in a manger. But why? Why has he

come? Why has God emptied himself into the form

of one of his creatures? He has taken on the

flesh of Adam for no other reason but to die

Adam's death, our death. To descend into Sheol,

into death itself, into the grave, and reach

out and give Adam and his descendants life. See

this beautiful fresco of the resurrection of

the descent into Hades. That's exactly what we're

seeing, what he says here. Christ reaching to

change the very nature of death from, if you

will pardon the pun, from a dead end into a pathway

of life. This is the second pillar of our Christian

faith, Pascha. These two events are firmly connected

and are reflected in the gifts of the Magi. They

brought him gold because he is a king, frankincense

because he is God, and myrrh because he has come

to die. Christ the giver has become the gift.

The giver becomes the gift to give life. The

gift of life to the whole creation, to everyone

and all things. Through Adam, death entered into

the world. But through the second Adam, Christ,

life is restored. And we give gifts. So we give

gifts at this time of the year in remembrance

of this great gift of God to us. Let's all as

Christians be mindful of this reason. Our culture

has forgotten the reason for the season by creating

an alternate mythology. In the ancient world,

in the ancient pagan world into which Christianity

emerged, there was a celebration called the winter

solstice, the time of year when the days became

longer with the sun, if you will, conquered the

darkness of winter. It was a great celebration

in many pagan cultures, a bacchanalia, an orgy,

and all of those things. And in the Roman celebration,

there was a custom of exchanging gifts. The Christians

baptized this pagan celebration, choosing December

25th to recall the birth of Christ. You will

hear in the Tiberian of Christmas that we sang

a reflection of this. O Christ our God, has shown

to the world the light of wisdom. For by it those

who worship the stars, the magi, were taught

by a star to adore thee, the sun, S -U -N, that

which keeps coming in and out today, of righteousness,

and to know thee, the day spring, the orient,

the east, the place where the sun rises, to know

thee, the orient from on high. O Lord, glory

to thee. And the fathers of the church were not

afraid to baptize this pagan celebration of nature,

to give it a Christian context, the Feast of

Lights, because they saw in nature itself witness

to the nativity of Christ. As I said last night,

quoting the prophet, the world is covered with

the knowledge of God, as much as the sea. There

are those who reject this baptism of a pagan

celebration. For example, the Jehovah Witnesses.

But they also reject the fundamental doctrine

that Christ is both divine and human, God and

man, the theanthropos, that he became a human.

Unfortunately, our culture is dechristianizing

Christmas. Doing the reverse of what the early

church fathers did by taking the symbols of this

major Christian feast and emptying them now of

all its meaning. We see this in the commercialization

of Christmas. So it's very possible to celebrate

Christmas without any reference to Christ. We've

slowly and subtly perhaps accepted this mythology.

The church prepares us in a different way. than

the world. Mythology of Santa Claus. The mythology

of Rudolph the Red -Nosed Reindeer. To replace

the virgin, the magi, and the manger. An orgy

of gift -giving has pushed aside any reflection

of God's great gift of salvation and the gifts

of the magi. I heard a TV commercial where they

started singing, God rest ye merry gentlemen,

let nothing you dismay. But when they got to

the part, remember Christ our Savior was born

on Christmas Day, they cut out the words that

mentioned Christ and just had instrumental music.

Let us all be mindful of God's incredible gift

to this season, to us. His gift. We may be swimming

against the current of our secular culture. Dead

fish float downstream. But to swim upstream is

not only possible, but it is necessary. Christ

is born. And Adam rejoices. Christ is born. And

death is put on notice. Christ is born. And the

angels are amazed and sing, Christ is born. And

the earth offers a cave. Christ is born. And

the animals offer a manger for his bed. Christ

is born. And the magi offer him gifts of gold,

frankincense, and myrrh. Christ is born. And

the shepherds offer him worship. Christ is born.

And all mankind offers the Virgin Mary. Christ

is born. Amen.