Monday, December 23, 2013

the sign of the Son of God is powerlessness in the world

And to us who come, in the midst of the wicked world torn by malice, to venerate the Infant lying in the manger, what law and wisdom of life are given by this miraculous sign? To what do the angels now call those who come to venerate Christ? They call them to receive into their hearts His humiliation, His persecution, His crucifixion, as the sole sign of the Christian life, as its power and triumph.
For the best self-attestation of the Good is its defencelessness in the face of the of the power of evil. The best attestation of Truth is silence in the face of much-talkative falsehood. The supreme manifestation of Beauty consists in the unadornment by vain adornment. The power of God triumphs by means of itself, not by means of the power of this world. For the world, there is no power of God. The world does not see and does not know the power of God; it laughs at the power of God. But Christians know that the sign of the Son of God is powerlessness in the world - the Infant in the manger.

- from Sergei Bulgakov, 'The Sign of the Manger of Bethlehem' (1935)

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