The Apocalypse of Christmas

Few people think of Christmas as the End of the World. We have one set of feelings and thoughts for the former and another set for the latter. Christmas, taken by itself, seems quite harmless and able to be adopted or adapted (in one way or another) by cultures at large. Indeed, some cultures adopt Christmas and forget about the Child in the Manger. A feast of good feelings, goodwill among men (etc.), a bit of family and seasonal food, and you have a feast that is free of offense allowing it, incidentally, to be monetized for the widest possible consumption.

The End of the World, on the other hand, suggests judgment, wars, and rumors of wars, and, of course, the very offensive reminder that this world will not last and neither will we. As such, apocalyptic ideas are useful only as fantasy entertainment, a bit of a scare that disappears when the theater’s lights come back up.

Popular culture has lost the meaning of the word “apocalypse” (and its derivatives). It has been drowned in a world of half-baked Christian misuse and Hollywood nightmares. Indeed, the word has been bastardized into “snow-pocalypse,” and other such faux events. It now seems to mean nothing more than “a big thing.”

The word has a much more important place in theology. “Apocalypse” means to reveal that which is hidden. St. Paul describes the whole of the Christian gospel in this manner:

“…the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:24–27)

In this proper sense, the whole of the gospel is “apocalyptic.” It is something which, though once hidden from the world, is now revealed and made known.

Christmas as an apocalyptic event. It happens in “hiding.” Word leaks out and the wicked king, Herod, goes on the warpath. Through the silent means of a star, wise men from Persia make their way to Bethlehem, inadvertently alerting the wicked king. The mystery, however, is so well hidden that St. Paul tells us that the “princes of this world” (demonic forces) did not really understand what they were doing when they crucified the Lord of Glory (1Cor. 2:8).

We take the Christmas story for granted, reducing this great mystery to a card with well wishes. What was taking place, however, was truly “apocalyptic.” In that moment (or in the moment of the Annunciation nine months earlier) the world was turned inside out. The Lord of Glory, the Logos of God, the very meaning of the universe itself, entered our history and became a “historical figure.” The Godhead was now “veiled in flesh.” Simple shepherds kept watch with the very angels of heaven. Bethlehem (the “house of bread”), became the place where the Bread of Life Himself was first seen. In Him, all of the world would be fed – our true hunger banished.

American horror movies (that deeply misunderstand the apocalypse) have made much of an impending doom – various schemes in which people try to prevent the anti-Christ from being born. They fail to understand the nature of the apocalypse (they’ve spent too much time reading popular Protestant fiction). What has been hidden from the ages and is made manifest in the birth of the Christ Child is the entry into our world of the Kingdom of God. It is the birth of our salvation. The true Apocalypse is good news.

Evil is not hidden, except to the extent that it uses lies, darkness, and deception to distract our attention. We can see its work of chaos, murder, and deceit all around us. The apocalypse prophesied in the Scriptures is not the revelation of evil, but the final manifestation of the Good, the triumph of the Kingdom of God.

“Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:24–26)

And,

“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”” (1 Corinthians 15:51–54)

But, just as Christ coming as a babe was hidden from those wicked powers, so His presence among us now, and His coming in the End, remains hidden. Frequently, Christians themselves fail to see more than a system of moral teaching and a promise of life after death. The Kingdom itself (which is “in you”) is unknown. Where, in truth, we are already resident aliens, we, instead, live as though this world is our home and “working the system” our only hope.

There is a purpose in the hiddenness of God’s work. The depth of that mystery is found in the reality of the human heart. Christ teaches:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7–8)

The mystery of the Kingdom of God is made known to a heart that asks, that seeks, that knocks. It is a heart that has returned to the desire that is given to us in the gift of our nature. It represents the re-awakening of the heart, the re-birth of the true self and the re-discovery of wonder.

Bound in a world of information that falsely imagines that knowledge, power, management, and expertise are the secrets to well-being, we fail to see that such an orientation is itself the seat of our sickness. The heart that asks, seeks, and knocks is a heart that reflects the heart of God. It is a mode of being that allows us to rightly love, to properly desire, and to see what is hidden from the grasping hands of a controlling mastery.

The apocalypse of Christmas, the revelation of God-made-man, is also the revelation of the image of God in man. It teases us and beckons our hearts to the hidden things. The apocalypse is revealed within us.

Ask to know Him. Seek to find Him. Knock on the closed door of the heart until a crack is found.

Christ is born!

About Fr. Stephen Freeman

Fr. Stephen is a retired Archpriest of the Orthodox Church in America, Pastor Emeritus of St. Anne Orthodox Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He is also author of Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe, and Face to Face: Knowing God Beyond Our Shame, as well as the Glory to God podcast series on Ancient Faith Radio.



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153 responses to “The Apocalypse of Christmas”

  1. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Nice Michael … 🙂

  2. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    Matthew,
    I apologize for a mistake. The book I intended to refer to is titled “The Way of the Pilgrim”. Also I should mention that the path to becoming a Christian was long one for me, even though I describe that I believed that there had to be “a Christ”, I was still a long way from believing in Christ, living in Him as I began after my baptism. When I first started saying the Jesus Prayer, it wasn’t that I thought to myself, “now that I’m a Christian, I’ll do such and such”. Rather, I said the prayer hoping that Christ was real and that He might help me out regarding my disbelief.

  3. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Dee,
    I liked this statement: I said the prayer hoping that Christ was real and that He might help me out regarding my disbelief.

    It is a prayer that makes its appeal to the mercy of God. We offer to God our emptiness. Humility is a “magnet for grace.” “He gives more grace to the humble” (James 4:6)

  4. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    Beautifully said, Michael!

  5. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    Dear Father,
    Thank you for your words. Tears come. Sometimes, it’s hard to hold on to Christ. Only by His grace, Amen!

  6. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Thank you so much Dee.

  7. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Mark 9:24 – Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

    I don´t proof-text very much anymore, but I thought this one might be appropriate to our discussion.

    Peace.

  8. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    On another note:

    If you all could keep me and my wife in prayer such would be greatly appreciated. As we head into the new year, we have decided to attend (once again) the Greek Orthodox Divine Liturgy nearby. As I have said previously — it´s complicated. The bishop/priest seems uninterested in us and our seeking, but they do offer Divine Liturgy one Saturday morning per month. Hopefully if we can be consistent in our attendance he will be more open to our seeking. This is about all we can handle right now given our relationship with and responsibilities at our Protestant church (Baptist).

    If becoming Orthodox is what God desires, then my co-laboring must be met with a huge divine window being opened up! Thank you all. Peace.

  9. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    Indeed, Matthew, I believe and trust the Lord is with you and your wife. He will open the right doors and at the right time.
    May God bless your and your wife’s journey.

  10. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    Dee,

    When did you begin your study of the Higgs field? I understand it is something like a quasi-grand unifying force. Is that right?

  11. Eliza Avatar
    Eliza

    I just want to say Dee’s story is too inspiring and intriguing for words and I appreciate it very much.

    Also, prayers for you and your wife in your church endeavor, Matthew.

  12. Lynne Avatar
    Lynne

    Dee,
    Thank you for your comments. I’m sorry for the painful experiences you’ve had about Christianity. I’m trying to understand more of your discovery, partly because a beloved uncle was a physicist. I’ve been trying to learn how the Higgs Field could lead someone to see that there “had to be a Christ,” and how you could see a Christ-like figure in the pattern. Christ the Creator? Christ the slain and risen One? Or maybe I should rest in the knowledge that this is how Christ spoke to you? (In other words, the physical chemistry is above my pay grade.) Thank you for all you share on this site.

  13. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    Hi Lynne,
    The study of the Higgs Field led me to consider an end and Resurrection on a universal scale. Not rebirth in the Asian philosophy sense. It was a Resurrection indicative of and, more importantly, initiated by “a Christ”.

    I believe it’s best not to say more than this because the scriptures say it better than I can in a discoursive description.

  14. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    I believe it may be important to mention that I was not looking for proof of God. I already believed in God but not in Christ at the time. My outlook was heavily influenced by Judaism and Seminole spirituality. A Rabbi friend once suggested that my mother’s family may have been intermarried with Marranos brought to Florida by the Spanish.

  15. Lynne Avatar
    Lynne

    Dee,

    Thank you for your responses.
    I read in your comments the wisdom of “A word fitly spoken…”
    And that includes “unspoken.”

  16. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    “The Art of the Icon” – A Theology of Beauty by Paul Evdokimov

    A beautiful quote:

    “The beautiful is not only whatever pleases, but even more than being a feast for the eyes, the beautiful must nourish and enlighten man´s spirit.”

    Evdokimov argues that artistic forms without any intelligible content (like much abstract art) indeed come together in unlimited combinations, but paradoxically they are also limited since what is considered “unlimited” in a closed world does not really transcend anything at all. I think what he is saying is that for any piece of art to be truly beautiful it must be transcendant. It must nourish the soul. It must enlighten a man´s spirit. It musn´t simply be beauty for beauty´s sake.

    I once asked my wife “Who gets to decide what is art?” I think what I was really asking was “Who gets to determine if something is beautiful?” There is a book written by an author from Hungary in which this very subject is broached. I think he concludes that beauty is determined by the experts; the artistic elite.

    I couldn´t disagree more. I think those who are closest to the absolute source of beauty, truth, and goodness are the ones who get to help us understand what real beauty is. I think a lot of modern art is an attempt to be provocative rather than to be beautiful, but then again I am not really an artist.

    I thank the Lord today for his beauty.

  17. Owen Kelly Avatar
    Owen Kelly

    Yes, Matthew, I think you’re right. Human art, to be truly beautiful, must have a sacramental character to it. Most importantly, I think, is that we must in some sense see ourselves as present in it. Literature works this way too. I just finished reading John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. At a climactic point in the narrative, he has one character say, “No story has power, nor will it last, unless we feel in ourselves that it is true and true of us.” Reality truly does consist of communion. When we perceive this communion depicted in art, Deep calls to Deep, and it resonates powerfully.

  18. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Owen: 🙂

  19. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    Owen and Matthew, great observation on the nature of art…and by extension life. The question I have is how do we fallen folk achieve that outside specific Sacramental services?

  20. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Now that´s a great question Michael. Owen?

  21. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Has anyone heard of Paul Kingsworth?

  22. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Yes. I have a few mutual friends with him. I think is writing is quite good. He is valued by many priests. Certainly worth the time and effort to read him.

  23. Owen Kelly Avatar
    Owen Kelly

    Michael and Matthew,
    I tend to follow the thought of soon-to-be-canonized Fr Dumitru Staniloae. This quote may help show how human art can act in a sacramental way outside the divine services:

    “The Orthodox Church makes no separation between natural and supernatural revelation…. Supernatural revelation unfolds and brings forth its fruit within the framework of natural revelation, like a kind of casting of the work of God into bolder relief, a guiding of the physical and historical world toward that goal for which it was created in accordance with a plan laid down from all ages. Supernatural revelation merely restores direction to and provides a more determined support for that inner movement maintained within the world by God through natural revelation.”

    My own view is that only God can reveal God. The world just is God manifesting Himself in the mystery of creative activity. That is, the whole world is Eucharist, as Fr Alexander Schmemenn said. In as much as human workmanship (art) represents this Eucharistic quality of the world, it has power to portray the beauty of Communion.

    The scriptures, the holy images, and the divine services bring this quality of the world into sharper focus – “casting of the work of God into bolder relief” – because the hearts of men are darkened. The so-called sacred/secular divide is merely a result of our sinful ignorance. If our eyes were truly opened, if we were fully free, we would see the world as sacrament and ourselves as priests of creation.

  24. Eliza Avatar
    Eliza

    Matthew,

    Yes and I’ve even done one of his writing courses.

    I relate too well to his writing and have to pull away for a long while to process. I do not want to fall into being a “follower.” It is without hope, seemingly. Maybe he is more positive now that he converted to Orthodoxy.

  25. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Eliza,
    I had never read any of his pre-Orthodox stuff.

  26. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    Matthew,
    Thank you for mentioning Paul Kingsnorth’s name. I hadn’t heard of him before, so I read his essay “The Cross and The Machine.” It recounted his journey into Orthodox Christianity, and I enjoyed it.

  27. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    Hi Simon,
    I just now saw your comment, and I apologize for the delay. I see it as a unifying field, of sorts, providing mass to particles, not so much a force. If you’ve read otherwise, please let me know.

    I began studying it at the end of 2012 and kept at it until around 2014. I sporadically kept up with the science until 2018 and then stopped altogether because of my workload and need to read and keep up with other materials. I was never a particle physicist, only a physical chemist. I read the research and other material on the Higgs Field, never conducted any experimental applications or worked in labs conducting such research.

  28. Eliza Avatar
    Eliza

    Fr Stephen,

    Hope I didn’t sound critical. He is a fantastic writer. Very deep. I agree with him about modernity and the destruction caused by the machine., as he calls it.

    I can easily fall into deep depression on these matters which is one reason I have to read him in smaller doses.

    Probably everyone should read him, especially if they haven’t thought about these matters.

  29. Owen Kelly Avatar
    Owen Kelly

    Guys, I just read my last comment and want to say I’m sorry for the density of my writing. I’m so used to reading/writing academic papers that it’s become my main mode of discourse. What a bore! This can be a problem for classic type 5’s on the Enneagram (if you know what I mean). Anyway, thanks for the continued conversation. A blessed Sunday after Nativity to everyone.

  30. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    “The Machine” Franz Kafka where are you now?

  31. Marianne Avatar
    Marianne

    Eliza,
    Kingsnorth has a more hopeful piece up on his Substack site that he’s provided for free as “a little seasonal gift” — “Atheists in Space: Or: why the future is religious” https://paulkingsnorth.substack.com/p/religion-is-the-future

  32. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    Owen,
    I enjoyed what you wrote, especially: “In as much as human workmanship (art) represents this Eucharistic quality of the world, it has power to portray the beauty of Communion.”

  33. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    Simon,
    I don’t know if it really matters when I started but if it does, then I need correct myself and say I started to study the Higgs Field research at the end of 2011, not at the end of 2012.

  34. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Hello everyone.

    I typed “Kingsworth” rather than “Kingsnorth”. Oh my!

    What I have read so far is really very good. He puts into words what I have thought about the green movement for a long time but couldn´t articulate myself.

  35. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    His essay “The Cross and the Machine” is by far the best narrative I have read about someone becoming an eastern Christian in a western context.

  36. Owen Kelly Avatar
    Owen Kelly

    Thanks, Dee. I am following your faith-and-science story with great interest. Have you read Barbara Brown Taylor’s, The Luminous Web? She paints a picture of science and faith which aims to eliminate the sacred/secular divide.

  37. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Where does this notion of the sacred/secular divide come from anyway?

  38. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Matthew,
    It was a very important narrative put forward by various Enlightenment thinkers – at its heart it was anti-Catholic/anti-Christian. Even in its most Christian-friendly form, “spiritual” things were relegated to an “upper storey” – while “material” reality was accessible to reason. In a sense, the only things considered to be of value were those things that we could exercise control over (or imagine ourselves to have control over).

  39. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Thanks so much for the explanation Fr. Stephen.

    I once said to my mother-in-law that the Enlightenment in Germany made big problems for the Church. She is a Christian, but from an American perspective a “liberal” one, and she nodded her head in agreement without saying anything else.

    As the Church, how are we supposed to deal with the Enlightenment? It´s legacy is all over western society and it is quickly penetrating the rest of the world. So many say (in the west at least) that without the Enlightenment we all would still be in darkness under the wicked spell of religious superstition and patriarchial authority.

    Personally, I have an “it´s complicated” relationship with the Enlightenment. On the one hand, even as a Christian, I embrace many of its values. On the other hand I see it as the enemy of my faith. Not easy.

  40. Owen Kelly Avatar
    Owen Kelly

    Matthew,
    Some see the seeds of the split in the philosophical nominalism of the medieval West. The belief itself – it’s actually more of a practice and an implicit belief – says that there’s one realm of nature set apart as holy to God (sacred) and another realm of pure nature, ungraced, profane and worldly (secular).

  41. Owen Kelly Avatar
    Owen Kelly

    Father Stephen,
    I wrote my response to Matthew before I saw yours. Didn’t mean to contradict! Is your first book mainly about this topic?

  42. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Owen,
    No problem. It’s certainly possible to make an intellectual connection between the Enlightenment and Medieval Nominalism (which was called the “Via Moderna”). But it’s a more direct route to point to anti-Church Enlightenment thinkers. “Liberty” – as a “heart’s cry” of the Enlightenment, often meant little more than “freedom from traditional morality.” Often, it still does.

    My first book, Everywhere Present, looks at the split, but doesn’t spend much time looking at the causes. It’s the present-tense hold on our minds that concerns me more.

  43. Dee of St Herman Avatar
    Dee of St Herman

    Father,
    I want to mention how delightful the picture is that you posted with this article.

  44. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Dee,
    Thank you! This is my youngest grandson, Aiden, enjoying a lovely view of our tree. He’s a constant source of joy and amusement.

  45. Eliza Avatar
    Eliza

    Marianne, thanks. That is a very excellent article from Mr. Kingsnorth. I will have to give it a second read. So many rabbit trails and so little time. That is a complement to him lest anyone think it’s a slap. Great writers often send me down endless trails.

    Matthew, how funny, I didn’t even notice you had misspelled his name.

  46. Shawn Avatar
    Shawn

    Father Stephen,

    I didn’t realize that I had a two-story universe construction until I read your book. It’s so very ingrained in me, but I don’t like it and realize it’s not true. I think I’m beginning to deconstruct that slowly. How does an enlightened modern two-story universian start to see clearly?

  47. Dana Ames Avatar
    Dana Ames

    Matthew,

    the “flip-side” of the two-storey Enlightenment model is something I’ve experienced among non-sacramental Christians: only the “spiritual” things are of any value, and material reality is denigrated because it is viewed as “not spiritual”. This causes some theological problems, especially with Christ being fully human, as you can imagine; also contributes to some behavioral quandaries, and condemnation of ritual, etc. Some very sincere folks who love Jesus can’t get past this.

    Dana

  48. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Shawn,
    I think that it’s important to live in a sacramental universe. The Eucharist is a key, I think. In the Divine Liturgy, we give thanks with Bread and Wine, during which it is also made known to us that they are the Body and Blood of God. In the same manner – we give thanks everywhere, always, and for all things. The world is not a secular place in which we live – it is a manifestation to us of God Himself. We begin to know this as we give thanks for all things. Then be patient.

    St. Maximus the Confessor speaks of three incarnations:

    1. As the Word of God incarnate
    2. As Creation itself
    3. As Holy Scripture

    The Word is concentrated and takes bodily form.

    That can be first understood in this sense…that by coming in the flesh he deigned to concentrate himself in order to assume a body and teach us in our human tongue, and by means of parables, the knowledge of holy and hidden things, which surpasses all language…

    It can also be understood to mean that for love of us he hides himself mysteriously in the spiritual essences of created beings, as if in so many individual letters [of the alphabet], present totally in each one in all his fullness…In all the variety is hidden the one who is eternally the same, in composite things the one who is simple and without parts, in those things which had to begin on a certain day the one who has no beginning, in the visible the one who is invisible, in the tangible the one who cannot be touched…

    It can finally be understood to mean that for love of us who are slow to comprehend, he has deigned to use these letters to express the syllables and sounds of Scripture, in order to draw us after him and unite us in his spirit. (from the Ambigua)

  49. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    Father, wow. In reading the words of St. Maximus, I could not help but realize the the Incarnations he describes are still living around us and in us.

    They did not just occur in a distant place long ago but are still with us even closer than hands and feet sometimes.

    Only my doubt, revealed in passions and fears, screens Him from me…

    Lord God, Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world, have mercy on me, a sinner.

  50. Owen Kelly Avatar
    Owen Kelly

    What a tremendous word on Eucharist and thanksgiving, Father. Another Orthodox thinker who gives a clear vision of the sacramental cosmos is Philip Sherrard. He writes,

    “All that is in the natural world, from its minutest particle to the constellations, the whole and each particular of the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, is nothing but a kind of representational theater of the spiritual world, where each thing exists in its true beauty and reality. Each natural form is the center of an influx coming from its divine archetype or theophanic Divine Name. Thus each natural form is the image – the icon or the epiphany – of its archetype, and by virtue of being such an icon each possesses an affinity with its archetype, it corresponds to it, symbolizes with it. And when I say it symbolizes with it I do not mean that there is any gap or disjunction between it and the archetype it symbolizes with. The one is the other, the archetype is the icon, the icon is the archetype, there is an indissoluble interpenentration of the one by the other. The numinous presence, of which the outward form of things is the image, is also present within it. Though there is a distinction, there is no dualism between the natural and the supernatural world. The spiritual world is not another world set apart from the natural world. It intermingles and co-exists with, and constitutes the invisible dimension of, the natural world. It is another world incorporated within the natural world.”

  51. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Owen,
    I do not want to go into this, but I generally do not recommend Sherrard. He was an Orthodox Christian, but also was strongly associated with perennialism, which can be problematic on a number of levels. So, it’s a can of worms that I prefer to leave closed.

    Just a head’s up.

  52. Shawn Avatar
    Shawn

    Thank you Father Stephen. I appreciate the reminder to be patient with the process. Happy Nee Year to everyone!

  53. Owen Kelly Avatar
    Owen Kelly

    Understood, Father. 👍 A very happy New Year’s to you and everyone.

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