MIDNIGHT MASS IN MOSCOW RADIATING BEAUTY CHARITY. CHARISMA AND UNDERSTANDING

 

Year after year, thanks to the Internet, that wonderful invention, via satellite I can attend the Nativity mass in the Cathedral of the Savior.

I fill myself with beauty, I soak myself in beauty, forgiveness and hope: the magical halo of the moon shining outside my window, the silence of the Epiphany night, the lights that go out. This is what the Greeks called “phylocaly” (worship of beauty)

  The magicians who leave after the great parade.

But a light continues to shine in the East. Light of souls. The shine of the priests' pluvial capes, the long beards of the archimandrites, the serene and clear voice of the patriarch. The protodeacon Constantine, a Moldovan who pierces the depths of Avernus by making the low octave while another priest makes the counterpoint and attacks the litanies, with the solemn cry: God is born.

Message of peace for a convulsed humanity, at war, disoriented and drunk. Behind a mixed choir of magical voices sings Christmas carols. There is nothing more beautiful than the human voice. Let's forget about the guitars, the triumphant oboe, the JOYFUL AND PAINTING ocarina, the sobbing violins, the transverse flute trilling in the forest. The rebec that cries and sings.

Almost three hours on foot. The clergy and parishioners endured the solemn rite of this long midnight mass with dry feet.

The television cameras showed us the beauty of these Russian faces while the angels of heaven walked up and down from the domes to the triforium, perfuming the iconostasis with the beating of their wings to repeat the message they announced in the Palestinian village of Bethlehem Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to men of good will.

After the ceremony was over, very early in the morning, I kissed the icons and went to bed.

 

Sunday, January 7, 2024