Vicar’s 2025 Christmas Address to the Pastors, Deacons, Monastics, and All the Faithful Children of the Slavic Orthodox Vicariate of America

Dear and beloved in the Lord Fathers, brothers, and sisters,

In the Cannon of the Nativity of our Lord, that is sung during the festive all-night vigil, we hear the words, “Christ is born; glorify Him!” “Sing to the Lord, O earth! Be exalted and sing with hearty gladness, O ye people…” That moment had been waited for by our humanity for thousands of years because the incarnation of the Savior presents the greatest joy that people could imagine. Until that moment, humanity lived without hope for spiritual changes. The Incarnate Infant Christ brought us hope, hope for future salvation. This is the main goal of our Christian life, that all of us, following the Shepherds and the Magi, are trying to achieve going along our own path which is illuminated by the light of the Star of Bethlehem, lit up for us by the newborn Savior.

This year, the entire plenitude of the faithful of the Orthodox Church prayerfully celebrates a significant date, namely the 1700th Anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council. At that time, 318 Bishops from all over the world gathered in Nicaea, among them such great Saints as St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Archbishop of Myra in Lycia and St. Spyridon the Wonderworker and Bishop of Tremithus, who together testified to the unity of Christ’s Church. Celebrating this anniversary, we all not only recall the history of the Ecumenical Church but also thank God that we inherited the Creed adopted at the First Council of Nicaea, which is sung at every Divine Liturgy.

Alongside the great church jubilee of the year, the Slavic Vicariate also celebrates its first significant date.  It was created 5 years ago with the blessing of His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew and organized through the efforts of Archbishop Elpidophoros. By the grace of God, our Vicariate is growing and developing, as we are constantly opening new parishes, welcoming new parishioners, and accepting new clergymen to our Vicariate. I’d like to express my gratitude to the clergy of the Vicariate for their pastoral work in caring for the faithful and the wardens and parish activists for the improvement and beautification of churches. I am also thankful to our parishioners for their prayers and support of the parishes. In these joyful days, I call upon you to thank the Lord for His blessings shown to us and the opportunity to perform our service for the glory of God. Keep the love for God and thy neighbor dearly in your hearts.

Please accept my heartfelt congratulations on the holidays of the Nativity of Christ, the New Year and the Epiphany! I prayerfully wish everyone spiritual joy, health, strength and happiness. Peace and grace from the Incarnate Christ the Savior may be with us all.

Christ is born; glorify Him!

Bishop-Elect Alexander of Nicopolis, Vicar
Slavic Orthodox Vicariate of America