CHRISTMAS: THE HUGE GAP BETWEEN EASTERN AND WESTERN

CHRISTIANITY
31-12-05
Dear David,
You are absolutely right about the origin of the winter solstice and the relevant
celebrations and festivals. Yet, the orthodox holy fathers and mothers never kept
it secret from the people that December was the month of paganistic festivals,
the birth of sun-king etc. They informed the Christian people that the reason
why the celebration OF of Jesus Christs birth was arranged on December 25
was not the date of His birth itself (possibly that happened in Spring), but the
REPLACEMENT of a paganistic festival with a Christian celebration. In this
way, the same celebration took a very different meaning. Instead of the sun,
people adopted the birth of a NEW Sun of Justice and Love. The new sun is
Jesus Christ, and nothing should remind the paganistic God. Thus, the date
became symbolic and the paganistic celebration was replaced by the new,
Christian celebration and its new meaning. Not any creature (as the natural sun
or any other creature) but the Creator, God Himself who sent His Son to the
Earth, to become one of us, in order to deificate the human nature. If He did not
take the human nature, he wouldnt have been able to cure it and restore it in its
primordial, appropriate condition. In short, god became a man to help mankind
become God.
On the contrary, the New Age movement declares the self-deification of man
(human being, to be exact). The human being becomes God ( maximum or
supernatural powers and abilities) through the use of certain techniques, such
as yoga, ninjutsu, meditation and others.
It is basic to emphasize on the huge gap between the Eastern and the Western
Christian world. The Orthodox world (which is based on the evangelic tradition
of the Holy Apostles and Holy Men and Women who continued that tradition
and LIVED and EXPERIENCED the Holy Grace, tasted the bliss of the Holy
Spirit and served as beacons for the rest of the Christians) is based mainly on
the New Testament and the Holy tradition since the times of the Apostles.
Voluntary poverty is among the prerequisites of the true orthodox ideals.
(Unfortunately many orthodox people and a big part of the clergy do not
fulfill those prerequisites! They have been alienated since they adopted other,
irrelevant concepts).
The western way of thinking is mainly based on rationalism and
scholasticism. The result has been a total destruction: the restoration of
paganism and idolatry. The new idols is money, the satisfaction of carnal desires
(sex, luxurious and tasty food, material conveniences), fame and so on. The

desires of soul and spirit have been neglected. (The orthodox position is that a
person is both body and soul and nothing is to be rejected, nothing is bad or
dirty, but the body is sacred as well as the soul and it should become a home, a
dwel of the Holy Spirit). On the contrary, in the western religion we had the
phenomena of Puritanism and Pietism, in which the body and its functions is
dirty or inferior. This fact caused a strong reaction of sex-maniac nature.
People celebrate Christmas in a pagan way: gambling, eating, drinking,
satisfying all their carnal desires spending whole nights on parties etc. THIS IS
NOT CHRISTMAS, YOURE RIGHT. This is not a way to meet Jesus Christ.
This is opposed to the Christian concept of repenting, living peacefully, taking
the Holy Communion (Uniting with Christ), free oneself from passions and sins
and preparing oneself to accept the Holy Grace which is interpreted to graces
and virtues, joy and bliss given by the Holy Spirit and the Heritage of God (to
become true children of God).
You are right in criticizing the modern way of celebrating Christmas, for this
Christmas is a Christ-less Christmas!
The Roman Catholic Church lost the true meaning of Christianity.
Protestantism, on the other hand went even farther from the holy tradition,
instead of coming back to the orthodox tradition and that was supposed to
correct the papal exaggerations! Indeed, the Protestants swept away everything,
the truths together with the false, contrived beliefs and practices.
Who was behind Protestantism anyway?
What are the common points of Judaism with Protestantism, apart from:
1) The support of capitalism,
2) The absence of icons, the abolishment of the orthodox Mysteries, rites,
the simplicity in the way of living, the honoring of the saints as members
of the Church etc
3) The use of Jewish names (common in America) such as: Sarah, Abraham,
David, Aaron, Adam, Rachel, Leah, Ruth, Elizabeth, Zachary, Jeremy,
Jonathan, Samuel etc.
4) The fact that America was considered as the Promised land by the first
American Colonists and that the whole story of colonization was
paralleled with the story of Jews lead by Moses.
5) The religious beliefs of president Bush in relation with his support to
Zionism.
Last but not least: There is no Christian saint like Santa Clauss. The old fat
man with the white beard and the red clothes was introduced by the CocaCola company for marketing reasons. The Greeks celebrate the memory of
Aghios Vassilis, which means Saint Vassilios, (in fact Megas Vassilios
which means Vassilios the Great) because that Holy Father who lived in
the 4th century in the empire of Romanity (Byzantium according to the
Western European historians) had been a great philanthropist, doctor,

astronomer (not astrologist!), researcher, writer etc. and saved he people

from the enemies.He offered hiw whole property to build hospitals in which
he worked as a doctor. He lived in voluntary poverty and was very thin.
The Histrory saves an event which is celebrated on the New years Day, the
day of his memory, and has to do with the golden medal put in the New
years cake. Indeed, the saint, in order to make the king of the enemies more
placable, gathered every precious thing from the people and went alone to
meet him. When the savage king met the saint, he changed his mind and left.
The saint, not knowing how to hand the precious jewels and golden coins
back to where they belonged, he ordered cakes, each one containing with
something precious. Then he handed a cake to every person, just after the
Divine Liturgy, which is indeed a usual traditional practice happening after
the orthodox Mass: the priest hands in every member of the congregation a
piece of bread from the prosfora, which is bread from the quantity not
used for oblation in the Holy communion. (Saint Vassilios was a bishop).
The saint, who is a Father of the Orthodox church, died at the age of 43.The
name Claus possibly comes from Saint Nikolaos (Klaus in German) who
was another Orthodox Father, also a great philanthropist.
Above all, God for the Orthodox Christianity is not a judge, who counts the
good and bad deeds of the people and either sends them to heaven or to hell,
but a father who loves all his children and wants them to be with Him, in
order to survive the splintering of the personality (saved). The concept of
hell is nothing but the rejected love of God, by those who would not accept
it. That same Love and Light gives eternal joy and bliss to those who accept
it, and great pain for those who dont.
Enthusiastically recommended: search and study the orthodox tradition: you
will discover another, different and completely unknown and internationally
neglected world.
Yours, Hera.