On the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, Primate of the OCA, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon calls us to look to the example of all the righteous forebears in the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, culminating in the person of His Mother, the ever Virgin Mary. His Beatitude encourages the faithful to act as gardeners and “contribute to the upkeep of paradise… by making ourselves receptive to God, and this receptivity is exemplified by the practice of humility.”