We offer our apostolic benediction and benevolent prayers to our brethren, his beatitude Mor Baselius Thomas 1, Catholicos of India, and their eminences the Metropolitans, our spiritual children the Patriarchal Vicars, monks, priests, nuns, deacons and virtuous deaconesses, and our blessed Syriac Orthodox people worldwide. May the divine providence embrace them through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and St. Peter the head of the Apostles, and the rest of the saints and martyrs. Amen.

After inquiring about your well-being, we say:

Amid the contemplations of the Psalmist, "I await the Lord, to strengthen your heart, and I await the Lord." (Psalm 27:4)

Dearly beloved, during these dark times which we are in, we do not find better than the words of the holy bible to give us comfort and strength and increase our faith and trust in our Savior Jesus Christ, the incarnate God whom we always await specially in these days in which we celebrate with spirit and truth His nativity in flesh. We look fervently to the Babe of Bethlehem who left behind His throne in heaven and came down to our world to save us and lift us to heaven, the real abode for the children of God.

It is not the first time that human looks up to heaven awaiting the second coming of the Lord. Since the beginning of creation till today human looks forward to his Creator awaiting His salvation, justice, and mercy. And since we do not know the time of His coming, so we have to keep looking up to heaven and what is in heaven awaiting the coming of Jesus, our Savior.

So are we all looking forward to the nativity of Christ? Which of these three types are we? Are we among the negligent unbelievers in His coming or mocking this truth, or are we among the longing faithful to His presence among us so we hurry as did the shepherds towards the manger according to the angels' announcement. There we will find Jesus waiting for us. It is not us waiting for Him but rather Him waiting for us now and at all times not to be born only in our hearts and minds but to save us and lift us up to heaven.

To whoever asks us : Shall we find the Lord there ? We say: Yes indeed. No wonder we find the Virgin Mary and Joseph when they couldn't find a place in an inn they found a cattle's barn to be born there where His mother clothed Him in the manger.

Yes indeed, the manger was the suitable place for the birth of Jesus Christ the Savior who descended from heaven to teach us humility which will become a healing for human against pride. He obeyed till death on the cross in order to abolish the human rebellion against his Lord's commandments in paradise.

The spiritual message of Christ lays in between the manger and the cross. From the manger and the cross we learn meekness and humility and how to get rid of arrogance and pride. Thus we obtain peace with God, ourselves, and among all people.

Dearly beloved : the message of Christmas is a message of love and giving. The Baby Jesus who was born in a manger is being seen through millions of homeless children. They are starving with their mothers while we enjoy many goods. Every needy or poor, every orphan or widow are Jesus' little brethren. In fact they represent the poor baby Jesus who couldn't find a place in an inn.

Did we prepare a place for Him in our hearts? Or our hearts are busy with loving somebody else . . . like the hearts of the Scribes, Pharisees, and Jewish head of priests who ignored prophesies and were busy with worldly matters?

Do we, while we celebrate our religious happy occasions feel that Christ is with us and among us sharing the joy of the feast? Or we are strangers and He is far away from us ?

Let us prepare a place for Him in our homes, our hearts and souls, to live, not us but He lives within us (Galatians 2:20)

Dearly beloved: While we welcome the birth of Jesus in our hearts and minds, we still have several worries:

1st Our beloved Syria:

Syria, the Syrian eternal homeland which is very dear to our hearts, with the killings, destructions, and expulsions happening everyday, greatly pains us. Since the crisis broke out we called for peaceful dialogue away from weaponry and butchery. But soon after violence turned into terrorism, the worst kind of terrorism under the name of religion and God's law. We all know that God is innocent of all these barbaric acts which aim only to terrorize the citizens who love their homeland, Christians and Moslems alike. We cannot describe what is happening in Syria as a sectarian plot but rather a direct criminal actions against humanity.

We totally reject what some proclaim that what our children and brethren are exposed to in Syria aims to hurt specially the Christians and cause them to leave the country. We declare openly that we are staying. As we have a shared history with our brethren the Moslems in Syria and as the Christian and Moslem blood was mixed in the past in defending our dear soil, so we will share together also in the united destiny and future.

We look forward with hopeful eyes to the 02nd Geneva convention. We do not say that this will decide the future of Syria, because the great Syria's future is not decided in a European country but in Damascus the oldest city in history. But in seeking peace we call upon all countries present in Geneva 02nd to leave Syria for the Syrians. They know their future better. If you love Syria to this degree then stop your help and support to the terrorists because you yourselves will be their victims of these terrorists in your own countries.

To our Syriac children in Syria, we say: You walked in the footsteps of your fathers and forefathers. You proved to the world that your are good and loyal citizens of your Syria and your Syriac heritage. You showed the people how to defend your land and churches with your blood. I am very proud of you. Stay steadfast with your honest Syrian brothers because the future is yours and your children only in Syria and not in another country. We raise our prayers to the Almighty to have mercy on the Syrian martyrs and heal the hearts of their family members with His heavenly blessings.

2nd Worry regarding our two brothers, the kidnapped archbishops:

This is the second feast passed by since the abduction of our two brothers, their eminences, Mor Gregorius Youhanna Ibrahim and Paulos Yazigi who were victims to terrorism. Now our sisters the nuns of St. Takla monastery in Maaloula joined them. We did not spare any effort to get them released. We appreciate the great efforts of well intentioned people to free the two Archbishops and all kidnapped. We repeat our call to the kidnappers to release them all. They are the servants of God and humanity like all other religious figures. They were always calling for love and unity and we will exert all efforts for their release and safe return to their churches which is longing for them.

We are waiting you, O our two revered and abducted Archbishops, fathers priests, and sisters' nuns. Our prayers to the Lord God to be safe and healthy, and we comfort you as we began our message :" Await the Lord, strengthen your hearts, and await the Lord."

3rd Worry: Expulsion of the Christians from the Middle East :

Yes we say it : expulsion and not immigration. Every info and data in our hands indicate a programmed and well studied operation to push out the Christians of the East. We all know this : No Christianity without the East, and no East without Christianity. The Holy See of Antioch will never be in Stockholm or Frankfurt or Los Angeles. Over and above, the Christian presence in the East is a Moslem necessity more that a Christian need. Our brethren the Moslem leaders know that very well. They offer us all kinds of support, facilities, and assurances with great love in order to stay with them in this Eastern partnership. They realize that Christians are the origin of the East. It is impossible for a true nationalist, or true Moslem, or true Arabian to work on expelling Christians from the Middle East. Their mere presence is a national, religious, and civilization necessity. It is a legitimate presence on all scales. It is a message which God wanted us to be witness to.

The Situation in the Middle East is becoming more and more difficult as times passes. It is natural to have an unstable condition which worries everybody specially the Christians. They fall prey to imaginary seductions of immigration starting in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and the wounded Iraq. So we ask all political leaders in the East and all over the world to put an end to this chaos and intensify their efforts to find a solution acceptable to all parties which will end violence and stop sending weapons illegally and to bring back peace and tranquility to people's hearts, and to bring back the misplaced and refugees to their countries. What they suffered is more than enough.

Amid these worries my beloved, we shouldn't be Christians in name only. But to have the power of our Christ shown within us in all our behaviors: In our thoughts, words, and deeds. We will never obtain this power unless we take the Lord Jesus as our example in life. Be courageous and await the Lord. Let not your hearts be troubled because Christ is with us and will never forsake us, but will protect us till the end of ages.