Many of you have been kind enough to send the personal Christmas greetings through e-mail. I simply don’t have enough time or energy to respond to each of those greetings in the way I would like. But, be assured that they are appreciated and reciprocated.
Christmas has always been very important to me; but as a religious holy day, rather than a civil holiday. For those of you who find talk of religion uncomfortable, boring, or otherwise distasteful; I suggest that you simply accept my Best Wishes, and stop reading this entry now.
For those of you who are left, I’d like to sell you the story of Santa Claus the way I explained to my nephew many years ago. (This is particularly poignant for me as this is the first Christmas after my brother’s death, and my nephew and sister-in-law are spending it with me.)
Nicholas asked me if there really was a Santa Claus. I told them, “yes, and his real name is St. Nicholas”. I went on to explain that St. Nicholas had been a bishop in olden times who especially love children, and was particularly noted for saving poor children from being sold into slavery. I further explained that because of the power of St. Nicholas’s love both for God and for children, that by a special grace from God Saint Nicholas brought gifts to children of the world on Christmas to remind them that on that day God gave his Son to the world.
That story was not a lie. I would say the same thing today. I indeed believe that in heaven St. Nicholas is the motivating spirit behind all of the best things that Christmas represents. There is something indeed special about this jolly and holy saint: more countries, peoples, organizations, professions and churches have chosen him as their patron than any other saint.
If the war against Christmas continues in the United States, the United Kingdom and Western Europe, I wonder if they will outlaw Santa Claus too when they find out that he is a Christian?
May I leave you with this short hymn from the Orthodox Christmas liturgy:
Your birth O Christ our God has shed upon the world the light of knowledge, for through it those who worshipped the stars have learned from a star to worship You as the Sun of justice, and to recognize you as the Orient from on high, glory be to You!
Christ is born! Glorify Him!
