The Vesper of Christmas in the Holy Metropolis of Corfu
On the afternoon of Friday, December 24, 2021, at the Holy Church of Saint Spyridon, the Vesper of Christmas was celebrated, in which His Eminence the Bishop of Corfu, Paxos and the Diapontian Islands, Mr. Nektarios was present and wished to all the people there, to hope in the light which went from the god-dwelling cave of Bethlehem and was scattered throughout the world. We need to transcend ourselves in order to taste the goods that the incarnation of the Son and the Word of God brought, to overcome the alienation from God our Father, to leave the horse that oppresses the world with the help of the born Christ. Let the light of Bethlehem occupy our lives, enlighten our thoughts, overcome the sin that afflicts humanity.
The official speech was delivered by Archimandrite Cherubheim Veletzas, preacher of the Holy Metropolis and Director of Services of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece. In his speech he referred to the gift of salvation that Christ offered us: “Praise be to God, peace on earth, good reason to men; this is the triptych of salvation; and Christ the Lord, the incarnate Son and the Word of God, the savior of the world, the way, the truth and the life” He did not come to succeed the kings of Israel, as the scribes and Pharisees thought, as the disciples once asked Christ, to establish an earthly kingdom. He did not come to eradicate poverty, or to suppress wars, or to impose justice, equality and social order. He did not come to free us from the tyranny of wealth, nor to eliminate debts, nor to abolish the slavery of man from man. When he came again to offer us an abundance of good things, earthly pleasures, or to free us from physical troubles, pains, illness, or death. But Christ the Lord, who is born today in the manger of the horses, came to reign in our hearts, to teach us the righteousness of God, and to offer us the heavenly, the eternal and the immortal, the immortal; it is also possible to be led to the elimination of all forms of injustice on earth “.
