The Metropolitan of Syros Mr. Dorotheos II issued the annual Christmas circular to the Christians of the islands of the Holy Metropolis….
By the mercy and grace of God
METROPOLITAN
Syros, Of Tinos, Andros, Keas, Μήλου, Mykonos, Kythnos, Sheriff, Sifnos, Kimolos, Folegandros, Delos & Sikinou
the celebratory Christians, giving them the blessed islands of our Metropolitan Region
My blessed and festive inhabitants and visitors of the islands of our Holy Metropolis, where the breezes of the sea blow and the roof of the Great Mother of God smells,
My spiritual children,
We are celebrating a great and unexplained mystery today!
Only silence, the frightened silence, she is worthy to comment on and honor this mystery.
That’ this and Saint Gregory the Theologian pronounces "You are born of God, I respect silence".
On the importance of the mystery of Christmas, Alexandros Papadiamantis wrote: "If Easter is Christianity's most glorious holiday, Christmas is of course the most emotional."
it hits
and it makes my soul flutter
and my heart opens and
scatters incense and prayer",
strongly experiences the meaning of Christmas:
and my body, manger humble,
I see it is changing, it becomes a temple.
Ω! a God is born in me!”
The poet Stefanos Boletsis explores the fairy-tale meaning and the hopeful message of Christmas:
τ’ star of magicians shines in souls.
Oh my god, the souls, let them become mangers humble,
may Christ bring us light and love.
Let the sun shine through the winters,
to drive away the clouds of the north.
And let April come in the heavy snows,
gardens to bloom where cyclones have passed."
The Cephalonian rhapsodist Gerasimos Markoras likened the faith of the people to the stars of Bethlehem and made a wish.
from cold icy breath
in the souls of men faith
K’ their joy is now blind.
In the darkness of the world one day
let her appear like a star again,
where he led the Magi beyond to worship the heavenly child."
A modern poet, Tolis Nikiforou, makes the bitter realization:
alone in the world.
A little christ painting dull
in glass trees for children,
dream ships,
a tale of love for the desperate.
Eve and the thousands of lights of the square
in his eyes shine like tears"
My beloved children!
“These holy days, wrote Fotis Kontoglou, "where people should come closer to each other, "to happen to each other", straight up these days they are more alienated from each other, they are divided into two completely foreign camps, almost hostile. On the one hand, there are the happy and the well-off, the lucky ones, and on the other side are the unhappy and the abandoned. Among them "mega gap supported" according to the other! everything to show off their riches and goods to the poor. And this is done in the name of Christ, who was born poor in the cradle! For the birth of the poor Christ, the poor do not celebrate like Keino, but the rich celebrate, who use his poverty as an occasion to display their riches.
But really?, among the unhappy no one can feel himself happy;”
Today, Nevertheless, we can say that the gap is bridged with love and solidarity, that we find growing in our society.
More and more people are responding to the needs of our wintering people and are cheerfully supporting the charitable work of the Church and other organizations, who are active in the field of social welfare.
So, we can say that in our difficult times the findings of the great contemporary poet Tasos Livaditis apply:
Rejoice, Well, my brothers!
Mercy was born tonight! God's mercy to man, which calls him to mercy towards his fellow man, the only hope, that we have left, the only certainty, that can keep us standing in the heat of the times!
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart, with health and with the myrrh of hope and the frankincense of faith and love the gold!
Because it is certain that with hope, faith and love we can distinguish that behind ap’ in darkness there is always light!