On this second weekend before the feast of Christmas, our Church and all Eastern Churches on the Gregorian calendar, commemorate the Holy Forefathers – the earthly ancestors of Jesus Christ – beginning with the first man, Adam, and on through Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David, and others. These ancient people, separated from us by millennia, nevertheless have a direct and close bearing upon us contemporary Eastern Christians.

What connection is there between them and us? Our Church brings them to our attention now because of their faith. We are asked to recall and to imitate their strong and enduring belief in a promise given by God to mankind through the person of Adam. That promise, according to the Book of Genesis, was that God would eventually send a Messiah, that is a person who would show us how to live. All the forefathers – who lived on earth long before the birth of Christ – lived and burned with this faith, never allowing it to be extinguished.

The Church sees these Forefathers as a shining example given to us, who are living on earth after the incarnation of God in the Person of Jesus, so that we might likewise believe that God’s promise has been fulfilled. Just like those ancient people we, too, have never actually seen Christ! They only knew that He would come into the world, while we know that He did come into the world. But they firmly   believed in His coming and their faith was justified. We are called to firmly believe that He has come and that He has revealed to us how to live.

We are expected to have an even greater faith. We are called to believe that the Lord was, and is, and will be! That He lived on earth as a man and taught us how to live and that He now lives through His Church, remaining with us. We are also called to believe that He will return to earth at the end of time. We are encouraged by our Church to have the same strong faith as the Forefathers.

The winter feasts that we are preparing to celebrate, recall God’s promise to Adam and calls us to believe at this very moment that this promise has been and is being fulfilled. If we open our hearts, we know that God IS being born in our world (Christmas) and IS proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand (Theophany). Do you believe that God has fulfilled His promise