In 2020, and even into 2021, so many travel plans were cancelled or had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I vividly recall the hesitation I felt after a long period of isolation, especially the first time I opened my front door to venture out into the empty streets of London. Leading up to that day I prepared myself – I made sure to have a proper face mask, gloves on my hands, and a change of shoes at the door that I could slip into upon my return. Finally, when outdoors, if I was approaching someone on the street (and that was very rare), we both kept a wide distance between each other as we passed one another. I felt both the joy of being outside as well as great apprehension.
We are now on another journey, a journey of great anticipation with our families in these weeks of Advent as we prepare our homes, our churches and, hopefully, our hearts for the celebration of Christmas. This is the journey known as Advent, from the Latin adventus, which means “coming”. We undertake this journey better to prepare our souls to celebrate the coming of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, so that when we reach the place to which the Star of Bethlehem is leading us, we will have made a place ready in our hearts to receive the King of Kings.
What do we do to prepare ourselves for our Lord’s Nativity? Perhaps we do not prepare at all, and, like many people, stumble through the “Christmas season,” allowing the superficial glitter of decorations and consumerism to distract us from the profound spiritual experience that is being offered to us? In the Churches of the Byzantine tradition, we refer to the time of preparation for the Lord’s Nativity as “Philip’s Fast”, because it begins on 15 November, the day after St Philip the Apostle is commemorated in the liturgical calendar.
Although in the Byzantine tradition’s liturgy Advent has more of a private than a community character, it is worth noting a few things. The Sunday Gospel themes may focus on Christian charity (Lazarus and the Rich Man, for example, or the Good Samaritan). The Feast of St Nicholas, understood as a model of Christian charity, falls in this period on 6 December. And on the two Sundays before Christmas, the righteous of the Old Testament and the ancestors of Jesus are commemorated – reminding us how humanity was gradually but surely prepared by God for the coming salvation in Jesus Christ.
In the Byzantine East we see the time of pre-Christmas celebrations as a time of fasting and intensifying of prayer, accompanied by acts of charity. Fasting helps us to remove ourselves physically from the material so that we may begin to ready ourselves spiritually to be filled by divine grace. Intensifying our time of prayer – individually, as a family, or with our parish community – helps us prepare for the Lord’s coming by sanctifying the time that is given to us. Finally, as temperatures drop and the poor and needy experience their poverty more acutely (at least in our Northern hemisphere), Advent is an opportunity to share from our wealth with others, to see Christ in others and to recognize the gift that the poor represent for those of us who lack nothing. It is a way to provide the Lord with a stable and a manger, some food, clothing and warmth.
Can we joyfully celebrate Christmas this year, in a world of such strife and suffering? During the Soviet times, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s faithful forced into a clandestine existence continued to celebrate the Birth of Our Lord as best they could. We celebrate the Light that comes into a world of darkness and rejoice that our Saviour is at hand. During this Advent, then, season let us unite our prayers for the release of two Redemptorist priests, Fr Ivan Levytskyi and Fr Bohdan Heleta, who are being held in captivity by the Russian occupying forces in Ukraine.
According to His Beatitude the Patriarch of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, these two priests are being tortured without mercy. This year, because of Russia’s war in Ukraine – a war that is specifically targeting food and energy resources – we may be called to make sacrifices, either in our personal lives, or in assisting others. Let us do this with hope, faith, joy, and peace in our hearts.
Before we know it, Christmas will be upon us. Let us not be distracted by worldly and commercial trappings of the season; let us not be worried by global events that may or may not impact our lives, but let each one of us have an impact on the world around us through fasting, prayer and good works. By focusing on the reason for the season, we will ensure that this year Advent will truly be for us a spiritual journey of preparation to welcome the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The Rt Revd Kenneth Nowakowsi is Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchate of the Holy Family, in London
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