On Friday the 6th and Saturday the 7th of January, the brethren and pilgrims of Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY, came together in the habitation’s main cathedral to celebrate the great feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Leading the divine services was monastery abbot Archimandrite Luke (Murianka), co-served by monastery clergy. Upon completion of the Divine Liturgy on Saturday morning, Fr. Luke addressed the gathered faithful with a sermon, in which he said:

"Christ is Born! Glorify Him! While contemplating the mystery in Bethlehem of our Lord’s Incarnation, we are struck by the great contrast between the extremely humble, simple surroundings where the birth took place, and the majesty of the Creator’s divinity. However, we must remember that nothing accidental happens in the scene we now look upon, where every detail has consciously been arranged by the divine Christ Child, Whom we come to worship today. All that we see demands our closest attention.

"We are obviously being taught a lesson in humility as we gaze upon the lowliness of the conditions surrounding the Child, the poverty of His parents, the feed trough where He lays, the rustic shepherds come to worship Him. This is clearly an illustration of our Savior’s own self-identification as being one Who is humble and meek in heart. Nonetheless, we can never fully approach the divine humility and meekness that characterizes the God-man, let alone understand it completely. Likewise, His suffering, which though similar to ours is in its essence hidden from us and unapproachable. We are called upon by the Gospel commandments to acquire these virtues, imperative for our salvation, through ascetic struggle. Ultimately, they are a grace-filled gift granted by God to those who please Him.

"However, our Lord Himself did not need these humble surroundings for His own sake. Had He been born in the most luxurious of palaces, nothing would change; He would remain meek and humble and no less divine. But this sharp contrast draws our attention to something very important for our edification. Such is the plan of the Lord for His own birth that nothing of this sinful world, no ornament made by sinful human hands, should embellish the cave and detract from our contemplation of His divinity.

"When we come to worship the Christ Child today, we remember that this infant is He, as we chant in the Creed, by Whom all things were made and Who will come to judge all the living and the dead. This is not the imagined ‘Baby Jesus’ of those who have fallen away from the Body of Christ and lost an understanding of the divinity of our Lord. A true understanding is only revealed in the hearts of those believers who worship the Divine Infant in the spirit and truth of Orthodoxy.

"Dear brothers and sisters. This church today has become the cave where our Savior is born. Let us not forget that, while He is present in His divine humility and meekness, He is also present in the majesty of His glory. Let us approach Him with hearts broken and contrite, but also with reverence and trembling! Amen."

After the service, a festal meal was offered in the monastery refectory, where monastics and laity alike broke the Nativity fast together.