†Anastasios
Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania
Christmas 2023
The Endurance of Hope
“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…” (Heb. 12:1)
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
Christmas, the great Christian feast, is not just an occasion to exchange well wishes and gifts, to experience familial warmth and seasonal amusement, or even the offering of spiritual euphoria in our social lives. Above all, it is an inexhaustible source of multidimensional hope – for the value of each human being, for the path of humanity, for the meaning of life. The Nativity of Christ solemnly proclaims that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). As such, we are not alone in the journey of this life. By His Incarnation, the Son and Word of God took on the entire human nature in its spiritual and material substance and refashioned it. It is an Instance that constitutes the core of the Christian revelation; “God is revealed in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16). This manifestation of God’s love “in the flesh” constitutes the uniqueness of the Christian faith. Let us accentuate “again and again:” God, the Creator and Lord of the universe, is not an impersonal energy, wisdom, power. He is a personal God Who reveals Himself to the human being, who is in continuous communion with Him. It is a relationship which is experienced by the entire human existence; “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). God has not abandoned the world, which is assaulted by self-centeredness, hatred, injustice, despair. The feast of the Nativity invites us to reflect that the hope of His presence in our lives is the source of our endurance.
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The various adversities and impasses that appear in the Redeemer’s earthly path are always faced with the endurance of hope. Already from His Nativity, as depicted in Orthodox iconography, a brilliant peaceful endurance radiates from the gaze of the Holy Mother, Joseph, as well as the shepherds and wise men. Even the gaze of the animals in the humble cave, and of the pack animal which participated in the adventure in foreign lands of the child Jesus, manifest a calm endurance. The endurance of hope radiated by Christmas is not a weakness, on the contrary, it indicates a mystical power. It transforms even the greatest sorrows and weaknesses of the present life by strengthening fortitude, resilience, our struggle for virtues, our efforts for truth and justice. From his personal experience, the Apostle Paul affirms: “tribulation produces endurance; and endurance, character; and character, hope, and hope does not disappoint” (Rom. 5:3-5). With endurance, spiritual persons avail their intellectual and emotional powers. Endurance united with peaceful persistence offers recourse in many impasses of human relationships, health crises, poverty, social upheavals. It leads human life to its fullness: “let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4).
Hope sustains endurance and endurance strengthens hope, both draw strength from faith. The references in the Holy Scriptures to endurance are multifaceted and insightful; they help us to move forward “rejoicing in hope, enduring in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer” (Rom. 12:12). Reflecting on the example of our Lord and the saints who followed Him: “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:1-2). With our gaze fixed on Him, we may face all the trials that lie ahead with peace and vigor.
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Each era has its own upheavals, wars, conflicts, disasters, tragedies, poverty, anguish, despair. Our era is also shaken by protracted and unimaginably cruel wars in numerous corners of the earth and in the nearby Ukraine and Palestine. Disagreements and ruptures afflict even the ecclesiastical environment. Each nation has its own multifaceted problems. Every community, every person, experiences times of melancholy and pain. In all instances, the endurance of hope remains an indispensable guide.
Let us intensify our supplications for the cessation of the lethal conflicts and the various social crises so that peace may prevail on earth. Let us try “through endurance and through the teachings of the Holy Scriptures” to strengthen concord and intensify harmonious cooperation, increasing the hope that is within us. “Now may the God of hope fill [us] with all joy and peace in believing, that [we] may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13).
Christ is Born! Glorify Him! May the endurance of hope, by the grace of the Triune God, inundate our hearts with brilliant joy and peace, especially during this festal period and throughout the entire coming New Year of 2024.
