“God is the Lord, and has appeared unto us (καὶ ἐπέφανεν ἡμῖν).” (Ps 117: 26b, Septuagint-translation)
In the upcoming feast of our Lord’s Nativity, we celebrate one of His “appearances“ or “epiphanies“ to us, specifically the one He makes in a manger in Bethlehem. Our Lord is not an absent one, no. Again and again, he reveals Himself to us; He comes into our lives, offering Himself up for encounter and communion with Him.
That’s why we call Him “true,“ because the Greek word for “truth,“ “a-leth-ia,“ composed of the alpha-privative (the prefix “a“ used to express negation or absence) plus the verb “letho/lanthano“ (meaning “unseen, concealed“), literally means “unconcealed“ or “not unseen.“ It means the opposite of that which is obscured, say, by various distortions or delusions, as are falsehood and dishonesty. So in the Creed, we profess our faith in Jesus Christ as “true“ God of “true“ God (Θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ),“ because He is “not unseen.“ Embracing His presence, embracing Truth, in my life entails clearing away various forms of delusion, dishonesty and falsehood within and outside of me, in His grace. And this gradual process, of clearing away falsehood by embracing Christ, brings me peace and unity with God, myself and others. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people of good will (ἐν ἀνθρώπεις εὐδοκίας).“ (Lk 2: 14)
