Christmas Message from His Grace Matthew, Bishop of Sourozh,
Temporary Administrator of the Patriarchal parishes in Canada
to the Pastors, Deacons, Monastics and All the Faithful
Children of Patriarchal Parishes in Canada and the USA

Dear fathers, brothers and sisters!

His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh

I heartily congratulate you all on a blessed holiday – the Birth of the Lord our God and Savior Jesus Christ!

In these holy days full of Christmas joy, all our hearts with trepidation and reverence rush to the “great mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” (1 Tim. 3:16).

This is one of the many mysteries of the spiritual world that are invisible to us – the mystery of the Incarnation, in which the unfathomable power and depth of the infinite love of God’s Son to the mankind as a whole, and to every and each one of us. He came into the world to bring hope to our hearts and open the way to salvation for us.

And today, in the days of difficulties and trials, we wholeheartedly trust in the Lord, because we believe that the Lord God is “the eternal Rock” and in Him “our strength and eternal salvation” (Isaiah 26:4).

Sharing with you the joy of the great holiday, with all my heart I wish you all spiritual and bodily health and pray with you that the feast of the Nativity of Christ becomes for all of us a day of our spiritual enlightenment and rebirth, and the New Year of 2023 was filled with peace and prosperity.

May the Christmas light of the Star of Bethlehem sanctify us with divine grace and fill our hearts with endless joy, the blessed spirit of peace, love and hope.

I call upon you all the blessings of God.

With love in Christ the Born,

+ MATTHEW

Bishop of Sourozh,Temporary
Administrator of the Patriarchal
parishes in the USA and Canada