Merry Christmas from All Merciful Savior Monastery on Vashon Island. I have to tell you that this season, everywhere I go I hear “Happy Holidays”. And sometimes I’m just so tempted to scream out “It’s not holidays! It’s Christmas! It’s the season that we rejoice in the birth of the Savior!” And so all I really want to say is Merry Christmas, or as an Orthodox Christian “A blessing Holy Nativity to you.” But in this woke culture of ours, that is simply not correct. People would look at you like, Are you out of your mind? … (continued in video)
About the author
Fr. Tryphon is the Abbot of the Monastery of the All-Merciful Saviour, which was established in 1986 by Archimandrite Dimitry (Egoroff) of blessed memory. The Monastery is under the omophore of His Eminence Kyrill, Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America, of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
4 thoughts on “Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?”
Merry Christmas from Borisoglebsky!
Merry Christmas. Christ is born! Glorify Him! ☦
God bless you all. The Lord Jesus Christ save you, and us all.
Reverend Father Tryphon - along these same lines, I would love to hear your thoughts on the calendar break in Orthodoxy (ie. my God family is OCA - new calendar and I am ROCOR - old calendar). I'd love to hear your perspective on how this affects the church as a whole and how we should navigate these differences inside of Orthodoxy.
Blessed Holy Nativity!
I am so confused about how political correctness interferes with people living their lives in accord with their values. If the spirit in your heart is to celebrate Christmas, specifically, isn't it cowardly to shy away from using that phrase? Why would you let "people" who might look at you as if you're crazy -- why do you allow them to govern your behavior?
Eleanor Roosevelt said, "no one can offend you without your permission." If you are cowed by the possible reactions of other people (strangers, probably, whose thoughts you imagine), no one but you is choosing to say something anodyne when you want to say something specific, energized by your faith. I heard a lot of merry Christmas greetings in December. I didn't see anyone react (the aversion to the greeting is more imagined than real). Don't fail to say what you mean and blame some progressive bogeyman for scaring you. Stand up for yourself and your faith, if it's as important as you claim. I assure you, no one will respond with anything other than a cheery greeting of their own in return.