VOL. 64 NO. 1168 DECEMBER 1999 http://www.goarch.org/goa/observer E-mail:
[email protected] ARCHBISHOP DEMETRIOS PRESIDENT CLINTON CHRISTMAS ENCYCLICAL VISITS ECUMENICAL Christmas 1999 PATRIARCHATE Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel which means God with us. (Matthew 1:23) To the Most Reverend Hierarchs, the Reverend Priests and Deacons, the Monks and Nuns, the Presi- dents and Members of the Parish Councils of the Greek Orthodox Communities, the Day and Afternoon Schools, the Philoptochos Sisterhoods, the Youth, the Hellenic Organizations, and the entire Greek Ortho- dox Family in America Brothers and Sisters in Christ, On the bright and joyous Feast of the Nativity ac- cording to the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, we wor- ship and praise and glorify the God who hears and answers prayer. In the fullness of time, the Scrip- tures say (Gal. 4:4), the Creator of the world responded in love to the prayers of all people: the people of an- cient Israel longed for a deliverer; the Magi of the East sought a king; the poor of the earth cried out for a benefactor; the ill and infirm prayed for a healer; the entire human race longed for a Saviour-God. And on N. Manginas this night of the Nativity some two thousand years ago, ARCHBISHOP DEMETRIOS welcomes the God answered their prayers and their intense longing Clinton family to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. by giving them His Son, a Son whose name according to the prophecy of Isaiah would be Emmanuel, which by Nicholas Manginas means God with us.