Mariam the "Batoul"- Holy Mother of God.Archimandrite Touma Bitar.

Sermon of the Holy Fathers’ Sunday.
24 December 2017.

           In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We are now in the period of the feast of Nativity, and according to the liturgical calendar, the celebration started on Friday, and will be completed tomorrow, God’s willing.

Therefore today, which is the Sunday before Christ’s Nativity, is included in the period of the Nativity feast, where the holy fathers of the Lord Jesus in the flesh are mentioned.

Today, I would like to reflect upon the subject of the Holy Theotokos.

What is the one thing that the Most Holy Theotokos offered, that no one had ever offered before?... And nevertheless everyone is called to offer?.

"Your birth Theotokos proclaimed joy throughout the ecumene...."Homily on the Nativity of the Theotokos (Saint Luke of Simferopol).

     The vast majority of people, millions and billions of people, are common people, whom Holy Scripture calls "people of the earth" (2 Chron. 15:5). Why are they called this? Because they resemble gray grass or undergrowth. They don't have higher goals and aspirations in their lives, their minds are very superficial and only deal with living concerns, earthly goods and daily problems. But just as hills and mountains, which are covered with grass and shrubs, occasionally grow large cedars and huge oaks, so also among the people of the earth the Lord God reveals some very great people,