Community
Humanity is filled with a new joy
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Nativity epistle of the Permanent Conference of Ukrainian Orthodox Bishops Beyond the Borders of Ukraine. To the beloved clergy and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
beyond the Borders of Ukraine and on her native soil:
Christ is Born! By the grace of God, again this year we can celebrate the great mystery of our faith – the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who “for us and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.” (the Nicene Creed). All creation was waiting for the arrival of the Savior to redeem the human race from sin and death, and to reconcile man with God. Today, humanity, which was in the dark and dwelled in the kingdom of sin, death and despair, is filled with a new joy “which had not existed until now.”
Today, the prophecies of the prophets of the Old Testament about the Savior and the Messiah are fulfilled: “Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14).