Beloved brothers and sisters,
 
Once again this year, by the mercy of the Lord, as we share with you the joy of the Nativity, we proclaim anew and again the only true novelty under the sun: the meeting, the embrace, and the kiss of the temporal and the eternal, of heaven and earth, of God and man — the Birth of the Savior, Christ the Lord (Luke 2:10–11). Let us proclaim it with the shepherds, worship with the wise men, and sing with the angels: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill among men!” (Luke 2:14). This angelic hymn proclaims to us that peace is a gift of God; it calls us to receive this gift and to participate in it.
 
Such peace is not the result of human agreements nor the outcome of a balance of powers, but the inner state of a transfigured human being — one who believes, lives, and walks in the way of Christ, and who, having peace with God and with oneself, spreads peace among his or her brothers and sisters. Ever since Christ the God-Child bestowed upon her by His Nativity the “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18), the Church of God has ceaselessly healed the wounds of division, restored broken bonds, re-established communion that knows no human boundaries, and blessed both peace and peacemakers. This blessing of the Church obliges us to become bearers of peace. Therefore, we address all of you, our beloved spiritual children, and everyone who listens to our words with goodwill. Christmas is the feast of peace, and the angelic hymn of the Nativity is a prayer for peace, unity, and reconciliation, grounded in faith in God and in life lived in accordance with God.
 
Today, more than ever, humanity needs to return to this source of peace. This peace is not imposed by force but revealed in humility, in love that “does not seek its own” (1 Corinthians 13:5), and in relationships that build trust, communion, and reverence for every human person. For through the Nativity of Christ, the world receives the measure by which it can understand itself, and thus we sense even more keenly the gravity of the times in which we live. We live in an age of ever-deepening religious, ethnic, and cultural divisions, in a world of growing geopolitical tensions, where wars increasingly become instruments for resolving economic and political conflicts. The transformation of the global order and the struggle of great powers for dominance give rise to instability, security crises, and fear of an uncertain future.
 
To this are added economic insecurity, inflation, growing inequality, poverty, hunger, and the uncontrolled exhaustion of natural resources. Technological transformations bring new ethical dilemmas and produce digital isolation — a semblance of presence without genuine communion. All of this leads to a crisis of trust in institutions and media, to the relativization of truth, to rising anxiety and loneliness, and even to the loss of life’s meaning for many people today. And thus many of us greet this holy night and this sacred day with unrest in our hearts, anxious for our children and their future, for our daily bread, for our health, and for tomorrow.
 
The situation in Serbia, upon which the eyes of our entire people are fixed, is no less complex or challenging. Internal political tensions have led to deep divisions within society and to mutual distrust, while differences of opinion increasingly turn into irrational hatred. Particularly troubling is the loss of national and cultural identity, which calls into question the continuity of our people's historical and spiritual self-understanding and cannot be explained solely by external influences. Added to this are economic insecurity and demographic decline: Serbia faces a sharply negative natural population growth and, consequently, one of the fastest rates of depopulation in the world, together with an increasingly aging population.
 
Bearing all this in mind, with eyes open to the dark clouds gathering over us, without closing our eyes to the problems and dangers enumerated, and without fleeing from them, we today — as living witnesses of the angelic word spoken to the shepherds — once again proclaim to all of you, our spiritual children: “Do not be afraid!” (Luke 2:10). Why? Do not be afraid, because the world in which we live, with all its fractures, conflicts, and fears, is no longer self-sufficient or self-explanatory, nor is it abandoned to the blind forces of history. By His Nativity, God has entered the very heart of human history and has shown that evil, however aggressive and widespread, does not have the final word. Fear is born where a person believes he is alone — and the Nativity of our Savior Christ reveals to us that we are no longer alone and never will be again.
 
Therefore, neither the crises of our time, nor wars, nor the loss of trust can be the ultimate measure of human life or the final word about man. Fear still exists, but it no longer binds life; it has been stripped of ultimate power over humanity. This transformation has its foundation and source in Christ Himself, who reconciled humanity with God and thus laid the foundation of a peace that fear cannot abolish (2 Corinthians 5:18). By destroying the wall of hostility, He breaks down the divisions that separate peoples and nations (Ephesians 2:14). This reconciliation is manifested in the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church as a reality in which ethnic, social, and even natural differences among people (Galatians 3:28) no longer have decisive significance. From this truth of reconciliation flows our attitude toward the times and the world in which we live. Ninety-five years ago, the hermit and poet of Ohrid, Saint Bishop Nikolai, wrote: “When did the Lord appear to the world? He appeared in a troubled time, when God was not glorified, when there was no peace on earth, and when ill will reigned among men instead of goodwill.” So it is today, in many respects.
 
Our own time bears profound similarities to the time of Christ’s Nativity. Then there existed a single dominant global power — an empire that shaped the world order of its day. Today, there are several such powers. They govern the world and direct the destinies of smaller nations, whose authorities — like that of Herod at the time of Christ’s birth — possess formal autonomy but are in reality dependent on the economic, energy, political, and military interests of the great powers. Let us recall that the census at the time of Christ’s Nativity was itself a political and economic instrument of control: whoever was registered acknowledged the governmental authorities and paid taxes. Very similar is our own time, when personal data is used ostensibly for good purposes, but is increasingly used to control and restrict individual freedom.
 
The very manner, place, and time of Christ’s Nativity become a ministry of unity: in Him, history ceases to be a sequence of accidents and becomes a space of salvation. The symbolism of the place and time of Christ’s birth speaks powerfully: the God-Child is not born at an ideal moment; He enters wounded history to open, from within, the possibility of its healing and fulfillment. He was born in a cave and lay in a manger — not to emphasize human poverty, but to reveal the condition of a world in which there is room for everything and everyone, except for God. Therefore, Christ could not be born in the warmth and security of prosperity. By the very nature of the event, He is born in a cold and desolate place — a place hungry for God. Every human heart is such a cave until Christ is born within it. Christ’s birth in poverty reveals that before Him and in Him, the divisions by which the world measures human worth cease to exist. The family is the first place where a person learns what peace means — or what its loss means. A home becomes the actual manger of Christ’s Nativity when there is room within it for forgiveness, patience, and common prayer.
The Lord is born in the silence of the Bethlehem night, far from the noise and self-sufficiency of the world. In that silence, through prayer, a person once again hears the voice of God, which calms the heart and drives away fear. In that silence and prayer, a person becomes human again, and a family becomes a family. Thus, in the cave of Bethlehem, shepherds and wise men meet — not for some to be exalted and others humbled, but so that in Christ both may become brothers. He comes to both those who have nothing and those who have too much, for both lack God. Ultimately, Christ dwells neither in a palace nor a cave, but in every person who receives Him into their heart. And this reconciliation, which God the Father grants the world through Christ, extends not only to humanity but embraces all creation — “both that which is on earth and that which is in heaven” (Colossians 1:20).
 
Therefore, beloved brothers and sisters, let us remember: the feast of the Nativity of Christ bears two essential messages, two truths. The first is that God became man for our salvation. The second, which flows from the first, is that every human being, for that very reason, can and must become our brother. For only in Christ, the Firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29), do we once again receive the other as neighbor and brother. Thus, before the mystery of Christ’s Nativity, God’s question is posed anew to each of us — a question as old as humanity itself: “Where is your brother?” (Genesis 4:9). Not where is your interest, nor where is your side, nor where is your party, nor — ultimately — where are you yourself, isolated and turned inward, but where is the person given to you so that, by loving him, you may pass from death to life (1 John 3:14). This, and only this, is our fundamental question and our central task, on this and every Christmas. Love is from God (1 John 4:7, 21). Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us love one another, “not in words or speech, but in deeds and in truth” (1 John 3:18), for whoever hates his brother is in darkness, but whoever loves his brother abides in the light (1 John 2:9–11).
 
Into that light, and into a life of peace and concord, inspired by the ineffable joy of Christmas and by the peace of Christ, we call all people: to overcome divisions, to embrace one another, to extend a hand to one another, to understand that — in a word — we are indispensable to one another. For the Christian faith does not teach us, in times of crisis, to wait passively for better days, but to become living signs of the coming Kingdom of God — people who already live differently, who do not heal fear with fear, nor hatred with hatred.
Finally, beloved brothers and sisters, children of Saint Sava and of all our venerable ancestors, of all our holy Serbian Fathers and Mothers, wherever we may be across the face of the earth — in the Homeland or in the diaspora, and especially in crucified Kosovo and Metohija — let us, with one voice, one mouth, and one heart, together with the angels, sing the Christmas hymn, the song of peace:
 
"Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will among men!”
 
PEACE FROM GOD - CHRIST IS BORN!
 
Given at the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade on Christmas 2025.
 
Your intercessors before the cradle of the divine Christ-Child:
 
Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci, and Serbian Patriarch PORFIRIJE

Archbishop of Sarajevo and Metropolitan of Dabro-Bosna CHRYSOSTOM
Archbishop of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Coastlands JOANIKIJE
Archbishop of Sirmija and Metropolitan of Srem VASILIJE
Archbishop and Metropolitan of Banja Luka JEFREM
Archbishop and Metropolitan of Budim LUKIJAN
Archbishop of Vrsac and Metropolitan of Banat NIKANOR
Archbishop of New Gracanica and Chicago and Metropolitan of Midwestern America LONGIN
Archbishop of Toronto and Metropolitan of Canada MITROPHAN
Archbishop of Novi Sad and Metropolitan of Backa IRINEJ
Archbishop of Stockholm and Metropolitan of Scandinavia DOSITEJ
Archbishop and Metropolitan of Zicha JUSTIN
Archbishop and Metropolitan of Vranje PAHOMIJE
Archbishop of Kragujevac and Metropolitan of Sumadija JOVAN
Archbishop of Pozarevac and Metropolitan of Branicevo IGNATIJE
Archbishop and Metropolitan of Zvornik-Tuzla FOTIJE
Archbishop and Metropolitan of Mileseva ATANASIJE
Archbishop of Düsseldorf-Berlin and Metropolitan of Germany GRIGORIJE
Archbishop and Metropolitan of Ras and Prizren TEODOSIJE
Archbishop and Metropolitan of Krusevac DAVID
Archbishop of Romul-Zajecar and Metropolitan of Timok ILARION
Archbishop and Metropolitan of Nis ARSENIJE
Archbishop of Sydney-Wellington and Metropolitan of Australia-New Zealand SILUAN
Archbishop Zadar-Sibenik and Metropolitan of Dalmatia NIKODIM
Archbishop and Metropolitan of Budimlje and Niksic METODIJE
Archbishop of Mostar-Trebinje and Metropolitan of Zahum-Herzegovina and Ston-Coastland DIMITRIJE
Archbishop of Los Angeles and Western America MAXIM
Archbishop of Gornji Karlovac GERASIM

Bishop of Washington-New York and Eastern America IRINEJ
Bishop of Pakrac and Slavonia JOVAN
Bishop of Switzerland ANDREJ
Bishop of Bihac-Petrovac SERGIJE
Bishop of Buenos Aires and South-Central America KIRILO
Bishop of Osek-Polje and Baranja HERUVIM
Bishop of Valjevo ISIHIJE
Bishop of Sabac JEROTEJ
Bishop or Paris and Western Europe JUSTIN
Bishop of London and Great Britain-Ireland NEKTARIJE
Retired Bishop of Zvornik-Tuzla VASILIJE
Retired Bishop of Canada GEORGIJE
Retired Bishop of Central Europe KONSTANTIN
Retired Bishop of Slavonija SAVA
Retired Bishop of Mileseva FILARET
Retired Bishop of Nis JOVAN


Vicar Bishop of Remezijan STEFAN
Vicar Bishop of Mohac DAMASKIN
Vicar Bishop of Marca SAVA
Vicar Bishop of Hum JOVAN
Vicar Bishop of Hvostan ALEKSEJ
Vicar Bishop of Novo Brdo ILARION
Vicar Bishop of Lipljane DOSITEJ
Vicar Bishop of Toplica PETAR
Vicar Bishop of Jenopolje NIKON
Vicar Bishop of Moravica TIHON
Vicar Bishop of Dioklia PAJSIJE
Vicar Bishop of Kostajnica SERAFIM
 
[The Path of Orthodoxy Translation]
 

• La Iglesia Ortodoxa Serbia a sus hijos espirituales en la Navidad, año 2025 (pdf)