The example of the Magi and the counter-example of Herod

This article is the French translation of a sermon by the Romanian monk and writer Nicolas Steinhardt, a major spiritual figure of twentieth-century Orthodox Christianity, who was imprisoned under the Romanian communist regime. The piece belongs to the homiletic genre and draws on the Gospel narrative of the Nativity to contrast two attitudes toward Christ: that of the Magi, marked by sincere seeking and adoration, and that of Herod, characterized by cunning and violence. The central idea is that denunciation constitutes a form of complicity with evil. The theological contribution of this text lies in the articulation between narrative exegesis and Christian ethics: drawing from a foundational biblical episode, Steinhardt develops a reflection on individual moral responsibility, informed by his personal experience of resistance against totalitarian systems.