+ The peace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all. From the depths of my heart, I would like to congratulate you on the Feast of the Nativity and the beginning of the third millennium since the Incarnation of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. I also wish to thank you for all your generous contributions, which have greatly aided your brothers and sisters in need: "the Brethren of the Lord."

+ How joyful we are when we contemplate on the great mystery of our Lord's Incarnation. As St. Paul says: "Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh" (1Tim 3:16). St. Athanasius the Apostolic summarizes the purpose of Incarnation in 3 main points:

1. Salvation
   As Zacharias the priest chanted in his prophecy saying: "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us" (Luke 1: 68-71).

2. Light and guidance to the Kingdom
   Through His birth, our Lord opened the heavens and shined on us who were sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. He came to teach us through His life and sermons the way of peace and eternal life. As Zacharias the priest says in his prophecy: "Through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Luke 1:78-79).

3. Unity with God
   The Word became flesh and united with our humanity to give us the ability to be united with Him. As our Lord says: "I am the Vine and you are the branches (John 15:5)... you [are] in Me, and I in you (John 14: 20)". Through these verses our Lord says to us: "In Me, you are branches abiding in the true Vine, and I am the Life who lives in every branch" (cf. John 15: 1-5).

+ Truly my beloved brethren we greatly rejoice when we contemplate on the mystery of Incarnation. When we realize and understand its aim, we are able to say with Zacharias the priest: "We... serve Him... in holiness and righteousness... all the days of our life" (Luke 1:74-75).

+ Once again, I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations on the blessed occasion of Christmas, praying that our Lord return these days with all goodness and blessings. May our Lord compensate you with the incorruptible instead of the corruptible, the heavenly instead of the earthly and the eternal instead of the temporal.

Bishop Youannes
General Bishop and Secretary of H.H. Pope Shenouda III