Sunday, January 06, 2019

Happy Christmas, Orthodox

It's Christmas Eve (Julian calendar).  Merry Christmas.  This is a somewhat special Orthodox Christmas, because it is the first for the Ukrainian Orthodox free of Moscow's rule.  It's unclear to any of "us" at Unforeseen Contingencies why Ukrainians should be subservient to Russia in any way, as  Russia is an enemy of Ukraine and the Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy is beholden to the Kremlin.  This independence is welcome.

But let's keep this on a more Christmas-y note.  There are various ways of looking at Christmas -- "hope," "good cheer," "kindness" ... all of these are supposed to be Christmas sentiments.  But it really seems more appropriate to think of Christmas as a celebration of having been rescued, or of doom averted and happiness assured.  The story of Christmas is of God coming to save humans from doom; it's a very positive story, and whether one believes it or not, this should be a time of being grateful that we're here.  We belong in the universe.  And I think it a great time to re-dedicate ourselves to building a happier, freer world.

Merry Christmas! Христос Рождається!

Coptic Orthodox Christmas, Ethiopia

Orthodox Christmas, Wayne WV USA, courtesy of National Radio Television of Afghanistan!

Orthodox Christmas, Lviv Ukraine

// posted by Charles N. Steele @ 19:24
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