Peace to you, dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
May we bring to your attention the words of greetings from our Bishop Vsevolod that were read in the parishes of Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church during the Christmas liturgy.
Brothers and sisters,
The shepherds hurried to Bethlehem [Luke 2:15] to see the Saviour born.
“Bethlehem” is translated as “House of Bread”, and on Christmas night it became the real House of Bread; the Bread with a capital letter, the Bread descended from heaven [John 6:33], the Bread, of which we receive eternal life [John. 6:51].
That is why in the heaven above Bethlehem, the angels sang about “peace on earth” [Lk. 2:14] – peace with God, Who so loved us, that He sent His only begotten Son to us so that we might live through Him [1John 4: 9].
Let us hurry and go where Christ the true Bread from heaven awaits us. And let us constantly come to church in the new year to worship Christ here, not in front of His manger, like shepherds, but in front of the altar, from where the salvific Eucharist is given to us.
My beloved parishioners, I congratulate you with Christmas and I wish you a good, happy and churchly New Year!
And we wish you all God’s blessings at this Christmas time and New Year!
Your Siberian friends from “Faith and Hope”