“Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth” is being heard again in a world full of violence, social injustice and the collapse of human dignity”, states, among other things, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in his message for Christmas, in which this year he makes a special reference to the advancement of science and technology at the basis of man’s relationship with God and divine creation.

“The amazing progress of science and technology does not reach the depth of the human soul,” the Ecumenical Patriarch says in his message, “since man is always more than what science can articulate and what its progress aims at technology”.

“The gap between heaven and earth in the human being is not scientifically bridged,” he points out.

He also emphasizes that the Church is not technophobic, but approaches scientific knowledge as a “God-given gift to man”, but without ignoring or silencing the dangers of scientism.

In detail, the entire message of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for Christmas is as follows:

“Venerable brothers Hierarchs and children blessed in the Lord,

This year we also arrived at the feast day of the Incarnation of God the Word, who came to earth and fellowshipped with us “for unspeakable charity”. We honor in psalms and hymns and joyfully proclaim the great mystery of the Incarnation, the “newest of all things, the only new under the sun”[1]through which the way of deification by grace is opened for man and the harmonious creation is renewed. Christmas is not an experience of sentimentality, which “comes quickly and goes even faster”. It is an existential participation in the whole event of the Divine Economy. As the Evangelist Matthew testifies[2]the leadership of the world wanted from the beginning to destroy the Divine Infant. For the faithful, together with the “Christ is born” of the feast of the Incarnation of the Son and Word of God the Father and the mournful bells of the Passion, “Christ is Risen”, the evangelical message of victory over death and the expectation of common resurrection.

“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace” is heard again in a world full of violence, social injustice and the collapse of human dignity. The amazing progress of science and technology does not reach the depth of the human soul, since man is always more than what science can articulate and what the progress of technology aims at. The gap between heaven and earth in the being of man is not scientifically bridged.

“Today there is talk of “metahuman” and artificial intelligence is being praised. Of course, the dream of a “superman” is not new. The idea of ​​the “metaman” is based on technological progress and on equipping him with means unprecedented in human experience and history, through which he will be able to exceed the human measure in force until now. The Church is not technophobic. He approaches scientific knowledge as a “God-given gift to man”, but without ignoring or silencing the dangers of scientism. “In the Encyclical of the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church (Crete, 2016), the contribution of Christianity and “to the healthy development of the ancient civilization” is emphasized, since God “placed man as steward of the divine creation and his partner in the world”. Subsequently, it is noted with emphasis: “The Orthodox Church, compared to the contemporary “anthropotheu”, projects the “God-man” as the ultimate measure of everything: “We say no man deified, but God made human” (Ioannou Damascenenos, Exact Edition of the Orthodox Faith, III, 2 PG 94, 988)”[3].

“The answer to the crucial question, how until the final “eighth day”, with the titanism and prometheusism of technological civilization, its evolutions and transitions, in the midst of anthropotheistic transhumanisms or transhumanisms, will the “culture of the face” be saved, the respect of his sanctity and the highlighting of his beauty, was given once and for all in the mystery of God’s humanity. God the Word became flesh, the “truth came” and “the shadow passed away. In eternity the truth for man will be connected with his relationship with God, as a response to God’s descent to him and as his waiting and response of the coming Lord of glory. This life supports man’s struggle to respond to contradictions and the challenges of his earthly life, in the “on bread” life[4]in survival and social and cultural development. But nothing in our lives thrives without reference to God, with the horizon of “fullness of life, fullness of joy and fullness of knowledge” of His Kingdom[5].

“Christmas is an opportunity to realize the mystery of God’s freedom and the great miracle of man’s freedom. Christ knocks on the door of the human heart, but only the freedom-loving man himself can open it. “Certainly, without Him, without Christ”, writes the blessed Fr. George Florovsky, “man can do nothing. And yet, there is something that only man can do – to respond to God’s call and accept Christ”[6].

“Through the “Yes” to the call from above, Christ reveals himself as “the true light”[7]as “the way, the truth, and the life”[8]as the answer to the ultimate questions and searches of the mind, to the heart’s desires and hopes of man, but also to the where and to what of creation. We belong to Christ, in Him all things are united. Christ is “the A and the Z, the first and the last, the beginning and the end”[9]. In His will, He became flesh “for us men and for our salvation”, the Word of God “he made one for men, but for the nature of man he made himself subsist”.[10]thus establishing the common eternal destiny and unity of humanity. It does not liberate a people, but the entire human race, it does not save history only, but innovates the entire creation. Just as after history, “before Christ” and “after Christ” apply definitively and decisively to the universes. Throughout its journey in the world, in history and through it towards the End, towards the coming day of the heavenly Kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the “out of the world” Church bears witness to the truth , I performed her sanctifying and spiritual work “for the life of the world”.

“Brothers and children in the Lord,

“Reverently bowing the womb before the infant Mother Theotokos and prostrating in humiliation, taking on the mother’s form “in the beginning Logon”, we wish you all a blessed Holy Twelve days, and a happy, healthy, peaceful, fruitful in good works, full of spiritual of cheerfulness and divine gifts to the new one of the goodness of the Lord, during which the Christian world celebrates and honors the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea.

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fire to God wisher of all of you”

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1. Ioannou Damaskinou, Exact Edition of the Orthodox Faith, PG 94, 984.

2. Math. a’, 18 – b’, 1-23.

3. Circular, § 10.

4. See Math. D’, 4.

5. Alexandrou Smeman, I believe, ed. Akrita, Athens 1991, p. 129.

6. Georgiou Florovsky, Creation and Redemption, ed. Pournara, Thessaloniki 1983, p. 17.

7. John. A’, 9.

8. John. Id’, 6.

9. Rev. Kv’, 13.

10. Nikolaou Kavasilas, Seven anecdotal reasons, Thessaloniki 1976, p. 108.