In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, Christ is Born.
Today, whilst the joy of our Lord’s Nativity still illumines our hearts, the Church in her wisdom presents us with two readings that reveal the profound mystery of divine providence. St Gregory the Theologian tells us that “every divine festival is a remembrance of our salvation,” and today’s readings show us how God works that salvation even through apparent tragedy and loss.
In the Epistle, we hear St Paul’s testimony that his Gospel came not through human wisdom but through divine revelation. St John Chrysostom observes that Paul’s words, “I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it,” point to a fundamental truth about spiritual knowledge. He writes, “The mysteries of God exceed human wisdom as far as heaven is above the earth.” This transformation of Paul from persecutor to apostle reveals what St Maximus the Confessor calls “the divine pedagogy” which is God’s method of teaching us through experience rather than mere instruction.
Let me share with you a story. There once was a skilled iconographer who lived in a small village. Each day, he would rise before dawn to pray the Jesus Prayer, then work in his workshop, creating icons that seemed to glow with inner light. Like St Luke the Evangelist, whom tradition tells us was the first iconographer of the Theotokos, this man approached his work as a form of prayer.
His greatest joy was painting icons of the Mother of God with the Christ Child. St Theodore the Studite teaches us that “when we honour the icon, we honour the person depicted,” and this iconographer understood deeply that his work was a window into heaven.
One day, fire destroyed his workshop. Everything was lost – his tools, his pigments, his unfinished works. As he stood before the ashes, he remembered the words of St Symeon the New Theologian: “God often permits such trials so that we might seek Him more earnestly.” The villagers, seeing his life’s work reduced to ashes, wondered if he would abandon his calling.
But something remarkable happened. In losing all his familiar methods, he began working with new materials, and gradually, his icons took on an even greater spiritual depth. As St Gregory Palamas teaches, “Divine light often shines most brightly through our brokenness.”
This mirrors perfectly what we hear in today’s Epistle. St Paul’s whole religious understanding had to be stripped away before he could receive Christ’s truth. St Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain writes that “God allows the destruction of our human wisdom so that divine wisdom might take its place.”
Consider also today’s Gospel, where we see the Holy Family becoming refugees in Egypt. St Ephrem the Syrian finds profound meaning here: “He who gives food to all went to Egypt to find bread; He who gives life to all fled to preserve His life.” St Romanos the Melodist, in his kontakion, shows us how the Theotokos might have pondered these events: “Why has this happened to us, O my Child? How do I understand this mystery? You who hold all creation in Your hand are now held in my arms as we flee.”
Our iconographer, working in his new, humbler workshop, began painting the Flight into Egypt. As he worked, he came to understand what St Gregory of Nyssa calls “the great paradox of divine love”, that God often accomplishes His greatest works through what appears to be defeat or loss. His icon showed something remarkable, the Christ Child blessing Egypt even as His family fled there, fulfilling the prophecy “Out of Egypt have I called my son.”
The face of the Theotokos in his icon reflected what St John of Damascus describes as “perfect submission to divine providence.” Though they were refugees, her expression showed the peace that St Seraphim of Sarov would later describe as “acquiring the Spirit of Peace.” The icon taught without words that our greatest spiritual victories often come through our apparent defeats.
Friends, many of us face our own journeys into uncertainty. we are taught that “without temptation, no one can be saved” as Saint Anthony put it. Perhaps illness has forced us to leave behind our normal life. St John Chrysostom reminds us that “sickness of the body often leads to health of the soul.” Perhaps we have lost work we thought defined us. St Basil the Great counsels, “Sometimes God takes away our earthly supports so that we might lean more fully on Him.”
Our beloved Metropolitan Hilarion, of blessed memory, showed us this very path of trust throughout his life and especially in his final years. Born into a humble family in Canada, he trusted God’s providence to lead him. Eventually Vladyka became a priest and then First Hierarch of our church. Even during his last illness, when he could no longer serve at the altar he loved so dearly, he demonstrated that same peaceful trust that we see in the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt. Like the Holy Family, Saint Joseph and Mary, trusting in God, left and walked into uncertainty, our beloved Vladyka too, left his home, his family and his beloved mother to a life of ascetism trusting only in God. He did not know how things would turn out, yet his faith stood strong. And God in his infinite kindness blessed him with graces we can only hope, and beg God for. His example teaches us that whether in health or in sickness, in peace or in exile, our lives rest in God’s hands.
Therefore, beloved friends, whatever uncertainty or loss you face, everything that happens has a divine purpose, even if that purpose is hidden from our eyes at present. Like the iconographer who found new depths through loss, like Paul who found Christ through the shattering of his former life, like the Holy Family who found God’s purpose even in exile, like Vladyka Hilarion, we too can trust in divine providence. More so, and as I perched 2 weeks ago, to trust in God completely.
Let us pray that, like the Most Holy Theotokos, we may achieve what St Maximus calls “perfect surrender to God’s will.” Like St Paul, may we be ready to let our human wisdom be overthrown to receive divine wisdom. And like the Christ Child Himself, may we rest secure in the Father’s love, knowing that God’s providence surrounds us every moment.
For to Him belong all glory, honour, and worship, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Christ is Born!
Copyright © 2025 The Rev. Adrian Augustus. The Russian Orthodox Church of the Archangel Michael, Blacktown, NSW.
