"Are you for or against Christ?"
Literature, music, art, architecture, science, economics and even politics - everything was different. It's hard to even think of any field of human genius, which in any way would not have been affected by the Nativity of the Child of Bethlehem.
You cannot treat Him as if He hadn’t been. Even those who claimed that Christ had not come into this world tried by all available means to destroy the memory of Him. Christians were killed, their churches – destroyed, the faith – blasphemed ... But if He did not come, then why fight with Him and against Him?
We know that immediately after the Nativity there were the ones who wanted His death – Herod and "all Jerusalem with him." There were many who wanted Christ to die later – on the Cross. Today there are those who want him to just disappear. And all these people are not necessarily evil and bad. Moreover, some of them even consider themselves Christians ... So what's the matter?
Let us remember that Christ was followed by thousands of people, but only 12 became apostles. And now millions call themselves His disciples, but only a few live as Christians. The fact is that the initial existence of our civilization, as well as the life of each of us, it is an attempt to answer the question – are you for or against Christ? You cannot say that you are "for" him, but live as if "against." In general, I think that every word, every step of ours should start from this question – "for" or "against". "If I act like that, if I say so-and-so, I'll be with him or left alone?" - That's what we should ask ourselves.
And this concerns not only the individual, but the entire nation as a whole. If people forget God, if they live only with economic problems and turn religion into an adjunct of politics – this nation is without Christ. It has no future; it will disappear from the historical arena.
The Nativity of the Son of God changed the world. But most importantly, it changes people, changes their souls. That is what can be called the greatest miracle. It is important that He came not only to Bethlehem and revealed Himself not only to the shepherds, but that He will come to every home and reveal Himself in every heart. Only then we can say that we are "for Christ!" And we’ll say so by our entire life, not by word.
Christ is born! Give glory!
Read also
Escape from the mental prison of earthly vanity
We constantly struggle for earthly comfort, forgetting that the spirit breathes in the vertical dimension. The true Ascension will begin the moment our mind finally falls silent.
Righteous anger burns the heart to ashes
We have grown used to justifying malice as the defense of holy things. But an honest conversation with a righteous man strips away our illusions, leaving us alone with the scorched emptiness of our own heart.
A mirror over the icon: the trap of “proper” piety
We hide from anxiety in the church rule, pore over rubrics and akathists – and may fail to notice the moment we begin praying to our own reflection rather than to Christ.
Babylonian сonstruction on the Dnieper bank and the collapse of power unity
The state is trying to legitimize the seized churches. But the attempt to replace the living Church with an administrative standard exactly repeats the mistake of the builders in the land of Shinar.
Spiritual blindness and the cost of true freedom
The Gospel miracle of healing exposes the abyss between living faith and social fear. An immersion into mystical theology and the mysteries of true sobriety.
The feat of Boris and Gleb against the cult of war
The memory of the first saints of Rus’ exposes a terrifying distortion of meaning. Their refusal to shed a brother’s blood shatters modern propaganda of violence beneath church vaults.