The Adoration of the Magi:

Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar

Commemorated December 25.

Prologue of Ohrid entry:

The Nativity of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ

"But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son"
(Galatians 4:4) to save the human race. And when nine months were
fulfilled from the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel had
appeared to the Most-holy Virgin in Nazareth, saying, "Rejoice, thou
that art highly favored … behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb,
and bring forth a Son" (Luke 1:28, 31), at that time there went forth a
decree from Caesar Augustus that all the people of the Roman Empire
should be taxed. In accordance with this decree, everyone had to go
to his own town and be registered. That is why the righteous Joseph
came with the Most-holy Virgin to Bethlehem, the city of David, for
they were both of the royal lineage of David. Since many people
descended on this small town for the census, Joseph and Mary were
unable to find lodging in any house, and they sought shelter in a cave
which shepherds used as a sheepfold. In this cave-on the night
between Saturday and Sunday, on the 25th of December-the Most-
holy Virgin gave birth to the Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Giving birth to Him without pain just as He was conceived without sin
by the Holy Spirit and not by man, she herself wrapped Him in
swaddling clothes, worshiped Him as God, and laid Him in a manger.
Then the righteous Joseph drew near and worshiped Him as the
Divine Fruit of the Virgin's womb. Then the shepherds came in from
the fields, directed by an angel of God, and worshiped Him as the
Messiah and Savior. The shepherds heard a multitude of God's
angels singing: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will toward men" (Luke 2:14). "At that time three wise men
arrived from the east, led by a wondrous star, bearing their gifts: gold,
frankincense and myrrh. They worshiped Him as the King of kings,
and offered Him their gifts" (Matthew 2). Thus entered the world He
Whose coming was foretold by the prophets, and Who was born in the
same manner in which it had been prophesied: of a Most-holy Virgin,
in the town of Bethlehem, of the lineage of David according to the
flesh, at the time when there was no king in Jerusalem of the lineage
of Judah, but rather when Herod, a foreigner, was reigning. After
many types and prefigurings, messengers and heralds, prophets and
righteous men, wise men and kings, finally He appeared, the Lord of
the world and King of kings, to perform the work of the salvation of
mankind, which could not be performed by His servants. To Him be
eternal glory and praise! Amen.

HYMN OF PRAISE:

The Nativity of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ

Out of burning love, Thou didst come down from heaven;

From eternal beauty, Thou didst descend into monstrous pain;

From eternal light, Thou didst descend into the thick darkness of evil.

Thou didst extend Thy holy hand to those choked in sin.

Heaven was amazed, the earth quaked.

Welcome, O Christ! O ye peoples, rejoice!

Out of burning love, by which Thou didst create the world,

As a slave Thou didst debase Thyself to loose the enslaved,

To restore the house that Adam destroyed,

To enlighten the darkened, to unloose sinners.

Love that knows not fear or humiliation-

Welcome, O Christ! The Master of Salvation!

Out of burning love, O King of all beauty,

Thou didst leave the radiance of the beautiful Cherubim,

Thou didst descend into the cave of human life,

To despairing men, with a torch and peace.

How to contain Thee?-The earth became frightened.

Welcome, O Christ! Heaven bears Thee up!

The most beautiful Virgin for a long time hoped in Thee.

The earth raises her to Thee, that through her Thou wilt descend

From the lofty throne, from the heavenly city,

To bring health, to release man from sin.

O Holy Virgin, Golden Censer-

To thee be glory and praise, O Mother full of grace!

REFLECTION

The Lord Jesus, born in Bethlehem, was first worshiped by shepherds

and wise men (astrologers) from the east - the simplest and the wisest
of this world. Even today, those who most sincerely worship the Lord
Jesus as God and Savior are the simplest and the wisest of this world.
Perverted simplicity and half-learned wisdom were always the
enemies of Christ's divinity and His Gospel. But who were these wise
men from the east? This question was especially studied by St. Dimitri
of Rostov. He claims that they were kings of certain smaller regions or
individual towns in Persia, Arabia and Egypt. At the same time, they
were erudite in the knowledge of astronomy. This wondrous star
appeared to them, which announced the birth of the New King.
According to St. Dimitri, this star appeared to them nine months before
the birth of the Lord Jesus, i.e., at the time of His conception by the
Most-holy Theotokos. They spent nine months in studying this star, in
preparing for the journey and in traveling. They arrived in Bethlehem
shortly after the birth of the Savior of the world. One of them was
called Melchior. He was old, with long white hair and beard. He
offered the Lord the gift of gold. The second was called Caspar, of
ruddy face, young and beardless. He offered the Lord the gift of
frankincense. The third was called Balthasar, of dark complexion and
a very heavy beard. He offered the Lord the gift of myrrh. After their
deaths, their bodies were taken to Constantinople, from
Constantinople to Milan, and from Milan to Cologne. It can be added
that these three wise men were representatives of the three main
races of men that descended from Noah's three sons: Shem, Ham
and Japheth. The Persian represented the Japhethites, the Arabian
represented the Semites, and the Egyptian represented the Hamites.
Thus it can be said that, through these three, the whole human race
worshiped the Incarnate Lord and God.

CONTEMPLATION

Contemplate the beauty of the soul of the Most-holy Theotokos:

1. How her soul was radiant and immaculate;
2. How her soul was filled with peace from faith and hope in God;
3. How her soul was filled with the sweet-smelling fragrance of
prayer.
HOMILY: On the Birth of the Lord, the Son of God

"I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world" (John
16:28).

The only-begotten Son of God, brethren, begotten in eternity of the

Father without a mother, was born in time of a mother without a father.
That first begetting is an unfathomable mystery of the Holy Trinity in
eternity, and the second is the unfathomable mystery of God's power
and love for mankind in time. The greatest mystery in time
corresponds to the greatest mystery in eternity. Without entering into
this greatest mystery with the small taper of our understanding, let us
be content, brethren, with the knowledge that our salvation had its
origin not from man or from earth, but from the greatest heights of the
divine invisible world. So great is God's mercy, and so great is the
dignity of man, that the Son of God Himself came down from eternity
into time, from heaven to earth, from the throne of glory to the
shepherd's cave, solely to save mankind, to cleanse men from sin and
to return them to Paradise. I came forth from the Father, where I had
everything, and came into the world, which cannot give Me anything.
The Lord was born in a cave to show that the whole world is one dark
cave, which He alone can illumine. The Lord was born in Bethlehem -
and Bethlehem means "the House of Bread" - to show that He is the
only Bread of Life worthy of true men.

O Lord Jesus, the Pre-eternal Son of the Living God and the Son of
the Virgin Mary, enlighten us and nourish us with Thyself.

To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.

 Troparion in the Fourth Tone
Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath shined the light of knowledge upon the world;

for thereby they that worshiped the stars

were instructed by a star to worship Thee,

the Sun of Righteousness,

and to know Thee, the Dayspring from on high.

O Lord, glory be to Thee.

Kontakion in the Third Tone

On this day the Virgin beareth the Transcendent in essence;

To the Unapproachable, the earth doth offer a small cave;

Angels join in choir with the shepherds in giving glory;

With a star the Magi travel upon their journey;

 For our sakes is born a young Child, He that existed before the ages as God.

The Oikos
Bethlehem has opened Eden, come, let us see;

We have found delight in secret, come let us receive

The joys of Paradise within the cave;

There the unwatered root has appeared whose blossom is forgiveness,

There has been found the undug well

From which David once wished to drink;

There a Virgin has borne a babe

And has at once quenched Adam’s and David’s thirst.

For this let us hasten to this place where there has been born

A little Child: God before the ages.

Nativity Homily by St. Isaac the Syrian

This Christmas night bestowed peace on the whole world;
So let no one threaten;
This is the night of the Most Gentle One -
 Let no one be cruel;
This is the night of the Humble One -
Let no one be proud.
Now is the day of joy –
Let us not seek revenge;
Now is the day of Goodwill -
Let us not be mean.
In this Day of Peace -
Let us not be conquered by anger.

Today the Bountiful impoverished Himself for our sake;

So, rich one, invite the poor to your table.
Today we receive a Gift for which we did not ask;
So let us give alms to those who implore and beg us.
This present Day cast open the heavenly doors to our prayers;
Let us open our door to those who ask our forgiveness.
Today the DIVINE BEING took upon Himself the seal of our humanity,
In order for humanity to be decorated by the Seal of DIVINITY.

Protoevangelium of James (ch. 17-25)

17. And there was an order from the Emperor Augustus, that all in Bethlehem of Judæa
should be enrolled. (Luke 2:1) And Joseph said: I shall enroll my sons, but what shall I
do with this maiden? How shall I enroll her? As my wife? I am ashamed. As my
daughter then? But all the sons of Israel know that she is not my daughter. The day of
the Lord shall itself bring it to pass as the Lord will. And he saddled the ass, and set her
upon it; and his son led it, and Joseph followed. And when they had come within three
miles, Joseph turned and saw her sorrowful; and he said to himself: Likely that which is
in her distresses her. And again Joseph turned and saw her laughing. And he said to
her: Mary, how is it that I see in your face at one time laughter, at another sorrow? And
Mary said to Joseph: Because I see two peoples with my eyes; the one weeping and
lamenting, and the other rejoicing and exulting. And they came into the middle of the
road, and Mary said to him: Take me down from off the ass, for that which is in me
presses to come forth. And he took her down from off the ass, and said to her: Whither
shall I lead you, and cover your disgrace? For the place is desert.

18. And he found a cave there, and led her into it; and leaving his two sons beside her,
he went out to seek a midwife in the district of Bethlehem.
And I Joseph was walking, and was not walking; and I looked up into the sky, and saw
the sky astonished; and I looked up to the pole of the heavens, and saw it standing, and
the birds of the air keeping still. And I looked down upon the earth, and saw a trough
lying, and work-people reclining: and their hands were in the trough. And those that
were eating did not eat, and those that were rising did not carry it up, and those that
were conveying anything to their mouths did not convey it; but the faces of all were
looking upwards. And I saw the sheep walking, and the sheep stood still; and the
shepherd raised his hand to strike them, and his hand remained up. And I looked upon
the current of the river, and I saw the mouths of the kids resting on the water and not
drinking, and all things in a moment were driven from their course.

19. And I saw a woman coming down from the hill-country, and she said to me: O man,
whither are you going? And I said: I am seeking an Hebrew midwife. And she answered
and said to me: Are you of Israel? And I said to her: Yes. And she said: And who is it
that is bringing forth in the cave? And I said: A woman betrothed to me. And she said to
me: Is she not your wife? And I said to her: It is Mary that was reared in the temple of
the Lord, and I obtained her by lot as my wife. And yet she is not my wife, but has
conceived of the Holy Spirit.
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And the midwife said to him: Is this true? And Joseph said to her: Come and see. And
the midwife went away with him. And they stood in the place of the cave, and behold a
luminous cloud overshadowed the cave. And the midwife said: My soul has been
magnified this day, because my eyes have seen strange things — because salvation
has been brought forth to Israel. And immediately the cloud disappeared out of the
cave, and a great light shone in the cave, so that the eyes could not bear it. And in a
little that light gradually decreased, until the infant appeared, and went and took the
breast from His mother Mary. And the midwife cried out, and said: This is a great day to
me, because I have seen this strange sight. And the midwife went forth out of the cave,
and Salome met her. And she said to her: Salome, Salome, I have a strange sight to
relate to you: a virgin has brought forth — a thing which her nature admits not of. Then
said Salome: As the Lord my God lives, unless I thrust in my finger, and search the
parts, I will not believe that a virgin has brought forth.

20. And the midwife went in, and said to Mary: Show yourself; for no small controversy
has arisen about you. And Salome put in her finger, and cried out, and said: Woe is me
for mine iniquity and mine unbelief, because I have tempted the living God; and, behold,
my hand is dropping off as if burned with fire. And she bent her knees before the Lord,
saying: O God of my fathers, remember that I am the seed of Abraham, and Isaac, and
Jacob; do not make a show of me to the sons of Israel, but restore me to the poor; for
You know, O Lord, that in Your name I have performed my services, and that I have
received my reward at Your hand. And, behold, an angel of the Lord stood by her,
saying to her: Salome, Salome, the Lord has heard you. Put your hand to the infant, and
carry it, and you will have safety and joy. And Salome went and carried it, saying: I will
worship Him, because a great King has been born to Israel. And, behold, Salome was
immediately cured, and she went forth out of the cave justified. And behold a voice
saying: Salome, Salome, tell not the strange things you have seen, until the child has
come into Jerusalem.

21. And, behold, Joseph was ready to go into Judæa. And there was a great commotion
in Bethlehem of Judæa, for Magi came, saying: Where is he that is born king of the
Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship him. And when
Herod heard, he was much disturbed, and sent officers to the Magi. And he sent for the
priests, and examined them, saying: How is it written about the Christ? Where is He to
be born? And they said: In Bethlehem of Judæa, for so it is written. And he sent them
away. And he examined the Magi, saying to them: What sign have you seen in
reference to the king that has been born? And the Magi said: We have seen a star of
great size shining among these stars, and obscuring their light, so that the stars did not
appear; and we thus knew that a king has been born to Israel, and we have come to
worship him. And Herod said: Go and seek him; and if you find him, let me know, in
order that I also may go and worship him. And the Magi went out. And, behold, the star
which they had seen in the east went before them until they came to the cave, and it
stood over the top of the cave. And the Magi saw the infant with His mother Mary; and
they brought forth from their bag gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And having been
warned by the angel not to go into Judæa, they went into their own country by another
road.
22. And when Herod knew that he had been mocked by the Magi, in a rage he sent
murderers, saying to them: Slay the children from two years old and under. And Mary,
having heard that the children were being killed, was afraid, and took the infant and
swaddled Him, and put Him into an ox-stall. And Elizabeth, having heard that they were
searching for John, took him and went up into the hill-country, and kept looking where to
conceal him. And there was no place of concealment. And Elizabeth, groaning with a
loud voice, says: O mountain of God, receive mother and child. And immediately the
mountain was cleft, and received her. And a light shone about them, for an angel of the
Lord was with them, watching over them.

23. And Herod searched for John, and sent officers to Zacharias, saying: Where have
you hid your son? And he, answering, said to them: I am the servant of God in holy
things, and I sit constantly in the temple of the Lord: I do not know where my son is. And
the officers went away, and reported all these things to Herod. And Herod was enraged,
and said: His son is destined to be king over Israel. And he sent to him again, saying:
Tell the truth; where is your son? For you know that your life is in my hand. And
Zacharias said: I am God's martyr, if you shed my blood; for the Lord will receive my
spirit, because you shed innocent blood at the vestibule of the temple of the Lord. And
Zacharias was murdered about daybreak. And the sons of Israel did not know that he
had been murdered.

24. But at the hour of the salutation the priests went away, and Zacharias did not come
forth to meet them with a blessing, according to his custom. And the priests stood
waiting for Zacharias to salute him at the prayer, and to glorify the Most High. And he
still delaying, they were all afraid. But one of them ventured to go in, and he saw clotted
blood beside the altar; and he heard a voice saying: Zacharias has been murdered, and
his blood shall not be wiped up until his avenger come. And hearing this saying, he was
afraid, and went out and told it to the priests. And they ventured in, and saw what had
happened; and the fretwork of the temple made a wailing noise, and they rent their
clothes from the top even to the bottom. And they found not his body, but they found his
blood turned into stone. And they were afraid, and went out and reported to the people
that Zacharias had been murdered. And all the tribes of the people heard, and mourned,
and lamented for him three days and three nights. And after the three days, the priests
consulted as to whom they should put in his place; and the lot fell upon Simeon. For it
was he who had been warned by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death until he
should see the Christ in the flesh.
And I James that wrote this history in Jerusalem, a commotion having arisen when
Herod died, withdrew myself to the wilderness until the commotion in Jerusalem
ceased, glorifying the Lord God, who had given me the gift and the wisdom to write this
history. And grace shall be with them that fear our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory
to ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY ON THE BIRTH OF CHRIST
St. Philaret of Moscow

Great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh (I Tim. 3:16)

The New Adam comes forth from virgin earth. Woman, the source of the
curse, bears the dew of blessing. The true Noah has appeared, Who shall
comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground
which the Lord hath cursed (Gen. 5:29). Melchizedek, without father, without
mother, without descent (Heb. 7:3), comes to inherit the eternal Kingdom and
Priesthood. The long night of fear and universal expectation finally passes,
and the morning light penetrates the darkness of the Old Testament
Sanctuary, opened not daily, but eternally to the East. The Heavenly Manna is
poured forth from the vessel which contained it. The rod of Jesse blossoms
forth in place of the fading rod of Aaron. Christ is born.

Come, meek shepherds, and kiss the Lamb and Shepherd—the Lamb, tended
by the shepherd, and the Shepherd, Who is able to gather into one peaceful
fold the lambs with the wolves, and the calves with the lions. Come, wise men,
and bow down before the mystery of the ancient Child; learn from the
unspeaking Word, taste of the angelic bread at the table of the speechless
animals and see that the Lord is good. Choirs of heavenly hosts who have
praised the Lord since the creation of the stars, double and triple your
doxology before your Sun, Who has risen for us. Christ is born.

Christ is born in Bethlehem: is this the reason for all the present joy and all
the glory to God in the highest? Glory to God: He is also born for us, unto us a
child is born, unto us a son is given (Is. 9:6). Amid the celebration of His
birth, the Church suffers pains of birth, until Christ be formed in us (cf. Gal.
4:19). Let us not disdain the joyful sorrow of our Mother: let us take at least a
few traits from the image of the birth of Jesus and let us place them in our
hearts.

Bethlehem was the ancestral home of the forefathers of Jesus: however,

Joseph and Mary did not have even a poor hut, a piece of inherited land or a
permanent residence. Providence, by the hand of Caesar, led them to this
place from which, it was determined, would come a ruler of Israel (cf., Matt.
2:6). The foreigners in the land of the forefathers, the newcomers to their own
homeland gave a homeland to the Son, of Whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named (Eph. 3:15)—Christians! As long as we live in the world as
satiated citizens and enjoy it as its masters, Christ cannot be formed in us. The
world continually tries to stamp on our souls its passing images; satiated
desires give birth to other desires which imperceptibly grow into giants and
build Babylon. Blessed shall he be who shall seize and dash the infants of this
Babylon against the rock of faith and alienate himself from the city which
exists here in order to see the one that is coming! If Abraham, at the command
of God, had not departed from his land and his people, he would not have
received the glorious testament, the promise, and the inheritance. If suffering
Israel had not decided to endure the difficulties of a dangerous and unknown
journey, Jehovah would not have strengthened it and prepared in it a
dwelling-place for Himself. If the intuitive mother had not sent the innocent
Jacob away from the vengeful Esau, he would not have come to the fearful
place, the heavenly gates. Only the homeless strangers find Bethel and
Bethlehem—the house of God and the house of the living Bread. Only the
voluntary exiles of earth will be received as citizens of heaven. Whoever
desires to be a dwelling place of the Son of God, must have his homeland only
in God, and with all his ties to his earthly homeland, however natural and
proper they may be, he must not compare it to the heavenly.

By taking nothing from this world for his birth, Jesus evidently wished to show
that He had no personal possessions. The Carpenter received His name from
His father; His mother, having carried Him in Her womb, could offer no other
virtue for this service other than, by Her own admission, the sense of Her own
unworthiness: For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden (Luke
1:48). He concealed His immeasurable eternity until the day of His birth. A
manger became the throne for the King of kings, His robes—swaddling
clothes, the first servants of the Kingdom—the shepherds of the flock. The
power and wisdom of God were concealed in the infirmities of an infant. But
who can measure the distance from the height of His Divine Essence to the
depth of His belittlement? The finite mind is not able to comprehend His
operations, neither His ascent higher than the heavens, nor His descent to the
lowliness of fallen nature. Seeing such humility, what must a heart feel which
desires to be formed after the image of Christ? Strength of mind, greatness of
spirit, celebrity of deeds, privilege of rank! I am not deceived by you and do
not envy those who are proud of you. There is no greater wisdom than to reject
wisdom for the sake of Christ; there is no greater glory than to share dishonor
with Jesus; there is no greater wealth than the poverty of Jesus. There is no
other entrance to perfection and blessedness than through the infancy of
Christ; there is no better adornment for the soul, in which He must dwell, than
to see itself deprived of all adornment, like His manger. The current of Grace,
like the flow of a river, steams into the vales; the cedars on the mountains
observe the thunder and lightning. God creates out of nothing: as long as we
want and think about being something, God does not begin His work in us.
Humility and self-denial are the foundation of His dwelling in us: whoever
delves into this more deeply is established higher and more secure.

One of the essential features of the birth of Jesus was the purity of His Mother,
not violated either by sight or by thought. She had to have a betrothed, but
merely in order to have someone who would be a protector and witness of Her
virtue, and so that Her holy virginity would not seem to be disgraced by
marriage. At the same time She was, as the Church confesses with one mind, a
Virgin before birth, during birth, and after birth. Look at Her example, a soul
striving for union with God, and see in the mirror of Her perfection your duty.
The Lord is a jealous God. When He says to man with a voice of fatherly
kindness: Son, give Me thy heart, His righteous jealousy is commanding, in a
spiritual as well as a moral sense: Do not commit adultery. He Who gave us a
heart is not satisfied with a larger or smaller portion of it: it must all belong to
the Master of everything. He does not consider any kind of love to be worthy
of Himself which is not based on love of Him. Every enjoyment which we
passionately seek for ourselves, every thought directed toward creation, every
distraction, is a departure from Him. Only strict vigilance over oneself can
lead to blessed union with Him and maintain it: Keep your heart with all
vigilance; for from it flow the springs of life (Prov. 4:23). The heavenly
Bridegroom is betrothed only to wise and chaste virgins, not those sleeping
near His bridal chamber. The virgin soul directed only towards God conceives
the spiritual life and gives birth to the blessedness of pure contemplation.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God; and where?—in their
very heart. A pure soul, just like pure water, receives the living images of the
sun and sky.

We will not keep our gaze fixed on those characteristics of the image of the
birth of Jesus which might frighten those who wish to imprint them on their
own souls, due to their difficulty in imitating. But let us take one more glance
at those characteristics in which His Divine glory shone through His
humiliation and through which Grace is revealed in our spiritual birth.

At the birth of Christ the Angels proclaim glory to God and peace on earth: at
our birth they proclaim the glory of Grace and the peace of man with God. Joy
shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth (Luke 15:7). Shepherds and
wise men come to Christ with piety, in spite of the poverty and obscurity
which seemingly separate Him from the whole world. So also he who is united
with Christ is united, in Him, with all those who believe in Him, by an
indissoluble as well as incomprehensible union. That Spirit which forms from
them one community, or rather one body, sometimes unexpectedly, but
always in a timely manner, brings them closer to each other, in order for them
to mutually edify and learn, comfort and receive comfort, and confess the
mercy and glory of God. They offer gifts to Christ: gold, as to a King; incense,
as to God; myrrh, as to a deceased of mortals. But did He not promise us that
for those who seek the Kingdom of God, all things shall be added (Matt.
6:33)? Does He not want to make us kings and priests unto God and His
Father (Rev. 1:6)? Is not our spiritual birth linked with that life-giving death,
after which our life will be hidden with Him in God (cf. Col 3:3)?

O God, Who has given us Thy Son! What does Thou not give us thereby? Grant
us only that we may give birth to the Spirit of Christ within ourselves and that
we may live His life. Then let Herod and all Jerusalem be troubled with us as
they were with Him. Let the prince of this age rage and let all the world take
up arms: Thou shalt nourish us and with an Angel of Thy counsel Thou shalt
lead us to Thy holy mountain. Amen.
 The Nativity Sermon of St. John
Chrysostom
Behold a new and wondrous mystery.

My ears resound to the Shepherd’s song, piping no soft melody, but chanting full forth a
heavenly hymn. The Angels sing. The Archangels blend their voice in harmony. The
Cherubim hymn their joyful praise. The Seraphim exalt His glory. All join to praise this
holy feast, beholding the Godhead here on earth, and man in heaven. He Who is above,
now for our redemption dwells here below; and he that was lowly is by divine mercy
raised.

Bethlehem this day resembles heaven; hearing from the stars the singing of angelic
voices; and in place of the sun, enfolds within itself on every side, the Sun of justice. And
ask not how: for where God wills, the order of nature yields. For He willed; He had the
power; He descended; He redeemed; all things yielded in obedience to God. This day He
Who is, is Born; and He Who is, becomes what He was not. For when He was God, He
became man; yet not departing from the Godhead that is His. Nor yet by any loss of
divinity became He man, nor through increase became He God from man; but being the
Word He became flesh, His nature, because of impassability, remaining unchanged.

And so the kings have come, and they have seen the heavenly King that has come upon
the earth, not bringing with Him Angels, nor Archangels, nor Thrones, nor
Dominations, nor Powers, nor Principalities, but, treading a new and solitary path, He
has come forth from a spotless womb.

Since this heavenly birth cannot be described, neither does His coming amongst us in
these days permit of too curious scrutiny. Though I know that a Virgin this day gave
birth, and I believe that God was begotten before all time, yet the manner of this
generation I have learned to venerate in silence and I accept that this is not to be probed
too curiously with wordy speech.
For with God we look not for the order of nature, but rest our faith in the power of Him
who works.

What shall I say to you; what shall I tell you? I behold a Mother who has brought forth; I
see a Child come to this light by birth. The manner of His conception I cannot
comprehend.

Nature here rested, while the Will of God labored. O ineffable grace! The Only Begotten,
Who is before all ages, Who cannot be touched or be perceived, Who is simple, without
body, has now put on my body, that is visible and liable to corruption. For what reason?
That coming amongst us he may teach us, and teaching, lead us by the hand to the
things that men cannot see. For since men believe that the eyes are more trustworthy
than the ears, they doubt of that which they do not see, and so He has deigned to show
Himself in bodily presence, that He may remove all doubt.

Christ, finding the holy body and soul of the Virgin, builds for Himself a living temple,
and as He had willed, formed there a man from the Virgin; and, putting Him on, this
day came forth; unashamed of the lowliness of our nature.

For it was to Him no lowering to put on what He Himself had made. Let that handiwork
be forever glorified, which became the cloak of its own Creator. For as in the first
creation of flesh, man could not be made before the clay had come into His hand, so
neither could this corruptible body be glorified, until it had first become the garment of
its Maker.

What shall I say! And how shall I describe this Birth to you? For this wonder fills me
with astonishment. The Ancient of days has become an infant. He Who sits upon the
sublime and heavenly Throne, now lies in a manger. And He Who cannot be touched,
Who is simple, without complexity, and incorporeal, now lies subject to the hands of
men. He Who has broken the bonds of sinners, is now bound by an infants bands. But
He has decreed that ignominy shall become honor, infamy be clothed with glory, and
total humiliation the measure of His Goodness.

For this He assumed my body, that I may become capable of His Word; taking my flesh,
He gives me His spirit; and so He bestowing and I receiving, He prepares for me the
treasure of Life. He takes my flesh, to sanctify me; He gives me His Spirit that He may
save me.
Come, then, let us observe the Feast. Truly wondrous is the whole chronicle of the
Nativity. For this day the ancient slavery is ended, the devil confounded, the demons
take to flight, the power of death is broken, paradise is unlocked, the curse is taken
away, sin is removed from us, error driven out, truth has been brought back, the speech
of kindliness diffused, and spreads on every side, a heavenly way of life has been ¡in
planted on the earth, angels communicate with men without fear, and men now hold
speech with angels.

Why is this? Because God is now on earth, and man in heaven; on every side all things
commingle. He became Flesh. He did not become God. He was God. Wherefore He
became flesh, so that He Whom heaven did not contain, a manger would this day
receive. He was placed in a manger, so that He, by whom all things are nourished, may
receive an infants food from His Virgin Mother. So, the Father of all ages, as an infant at
the breast, nestles in the virginal arms, that the Magi may more easily see Him. Since
this day the Magi too have come, and made a beginning of withstanding tyranny; and
the heavens give glory, as the Lord is revealed by a star.

To Him, then, Who out of confusion has wrought a clear path, to Christ, to the Father,
and to the Holy Spirit, we offer all praise, now and forever. Amen.

Homily on the Nativity of Christ (St. Gregory

Palamas)
On the Saving Birth According the Flesh of Our Lord and God and
Savior Jesus Christ

By Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki

This is the festival of the virgin birth! Our address must be exulted therefore
in accordance with the greatness of the feast, and enter into the mystery, as
far as this is accessible and permissible, and time allows, that something of its
inner power might be revealed even to us. Please strive, brethren, to lift up
your minds as well, that they may better perceive the light of divine
knowledge, as though brightly illumined by a holy star. For today I see
equality of honor between heaven and earth, and a way up for all those below
to things above, matching the condescension of those on high. However great
the heaven of heavens may be, or the upper waters which form a roof over
the celestial regions, or any heavenly place, state or order, they are no more
marvelous or honorable than the cave, the manger, the water sprinkled on the
infant and His swaddling clothes. For nothing done by God from the
beginning of time was more beneficial to all or more divine than Christ's
nativity, which we celebrate today.

The pre-eternal and uncircumscribed and Almighty Word is now born

according to the flesh, without home, without shelter, without dwelling, and
placed as a babe in the manger, seen by men's eyes, touched by their hands,
and wrapped in layers of swaddling bands. He is not a spiritual creature
coming into being after previously not existing; nor flesh which is brought to
birth but will soon perish; nor flesh and mind united to form a rational
creature, but God and flesh mingled unconfusedly by the divine Mind to form
the existence of one theandric hypostasis, who entered the Virgin's womb for
a time. By the good pleasure of the Father and the co-operation of the Spirit,
the Logos/Word Who transcends being came into being in this womb and by
means of it, and now He is delivered from it and born as an infant, not
loosing but preserving the signs of virginity. He is born without suffering, as
He was conceived without passion, for as His mother was shown to be above
the pleasure of passion when she conceived, so she is above grievous pains
when she gives birth. "Before the pain of travail came upon her, she escaped
it", as Isaiah says (cf. Isaiah 66:7), and she brought forth in the flesh the pre-
eternal Word. Not only is His Divinity inscrutable, but the manner in which
He was united with flesh is past understanding. His condescension
unsurpassable, and the human nature He assumed divinely, ineffably sublime,
and so far above all thought and speech, that it does not admit of any
comparison with creation. Even though you see in the flesh the child born to
the Maid who knew no husband, He is still beyond compare. It says, "He is
fair in beauty beside the sons of men" (cf. Psalm 45:2). It does not say
"fairer" but simply "fair", so as not to compare incomparable things: the
nature of God Himself to than of mere men.

"God, thy God", it says, "hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above
thy fellows" (Psalm 45:7). The same one is both perfectly God and perfectly
man; the same God is both the one who anoints and is anointed. For it says,
"God, thy God hath anointed thee". It is as man that the Logos/Word from
God the Father

For He Who produced all earthly and heavenly things out of non-being, when
He saw that His rational creatures were brought to nothing because of their
desire for something greater (cf. Genesis3:5) bestowed upon them Himself,
than nothing is greater, and to whom nothing is equal or comes near to being
equal, and offered Himself to be partaken of by those who so wished, in order
that from that time forward we might exercise our desire for something better
without risk, although in the beginning we fell into the ultimate danger on
that account (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:26), and in order that each of us, in desiring
to become God, might not only be blameless, but also attain to our longing.
In a mysterious way, He abolished the pretext for the original fall, which was
the superiority and inferiority observable in beings and the resulting envy and
treachery, as also the disputes, both open and concealed, which this caused.
Because the author of evil did not want to be lower than any of the Angels,
but to be equal in excellence to the Creator Himself, he was the first to suffer
the terrible fall before anyone else. Smitten by envy, he deceitfully attacked
Adam and dragged him down to the abyss of Hades by means of the same
desire. By so doing, he made Adam's fall difficult to reverse, and it required
God's extraordinary presence, which has now been accomplished, to restore
him. His own fall, however, he rendered incurable once and for all, because
himself the principle of evil and the fullness of evil, and made himself
available to anyone wishing to participate in evil.
Now since it was God's good pleasure to annul the pretext for that pride
which brought down His rational creatures, He makes everything like
Himself; and because by nature He is equal to Himself and equal in honor,
He makes the creation equal to itself by grace and equal in honor. And how
was this done? The very Logos/Word of God from God emptied Himself in
an indescribable way, came down from on high to the lowest state of man's
nature, and indissolubly linked it with Himself, and in humbling Himself and
becoming poor like us, He raised on high the things below, or rather, He
gathered both things into one, mingling humanity with divinity, and by so
doing He taught everyone that humility is the road which leads upwards,
setting forth today Himself as an example before men and holy Angels alike.

Because of this, the Angels now possess steadfastness, having learnt in a

practical way from the Master that the way to be exalted and resemble Him is
not arrogance but humility. Because of this men are easily set right, as they
recognize humility as the road by which they are recalled. Because of this,
the prince of evil, who is conceit itself, has been put to shame and
overthrown, whereas previously he imagined that he could somehow stand
and was something, inasmuch as he had enslaved some, and pulled them
down with himself, through their desire for something greater, while also
hoping to do the same to others through their extreme folly. Now he is seen
as a plaything, having been well and truly found out by those he had evilly
deceived before. Now that Christ has been born, the devil is trampled down
by those who were previously under his feet, who are no longer
presumptuous, as the destroyer advised, but identify with lowly (cf. Romans
12:16), as the Savior taught through His deeds, and win heavenly exaltation
through humility.

That is why God Who sits upon the Cherubim (Psalm 99:1) is set before us as
a babe on earth. He upon whom the six-winged Seraphim cannot look, being
unable to gaze intently not only at His Nature but even at the radiance of His
glory, and therefore covering their eyes with their wings (Isaiah 6:2), having
become flesh, appears to our senses and can be seen by bodily eyes. He Who
defines all things and is limited by no one is contained in a small, makeshift
manger. He Who holds the universe and grasps it in the hollow of His hand,
is wrapped in narrow swaddling bands and fastened into ordinary clothes. He
Who possesses the riches of inexhaustible treasures submits Himself
voluntarily to such great poverty that He does not even have a place at the
inn; and so He enters into a cave at the time of His birth, Who was brought
forth by God timelessly and impassibly and without beginning. And--how
great a wonder!--not only does He Who shares the Nature of the Father on
high put on our fallen nature through His birth, nor is He subject merely to
the utter poverty of being born in a wretched cave, but right from the very
start, while still in the womb, He accepts the final condemnation of our
nature. He Who is by Nature Lord of all is now ranked with the servants and
enrolled with them (St. Luke 2:1-6), clearly making humble service to others
no less honorable than the exercise of lordship, or rather, showing the
servants as having greater honor than the earthly ruler at that time, provided
of course they understood and obeyed the magnificence of grace. For the man
who then seemed to rule the world was not counted with the King of Heaven,
though all his subjects were, nor was this earthly ruler reckoned then as one
of them, but the heavenly Lord was.

David, who is a forefather of God on account of Him Who has now been
born of his line, hymns God somewhere, "Thy hands have made me and
fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments"
(Psalm 119:73). What does this mean? That only the Creator can grant true
understanding. Anyone who has been vouchsafed understanding and grasped
the honor which our nature received from God through being formed by His
hands in His own image, will run towards Him, having come to a realization
of His love for mankind, and will obey Him and learn His commandments.
But how much more so if he comprehends, as far as possible, this great
mystery of our re-creation and restoration. God formed human nature out of
the earth with His own hand and breathed His own life into man (Genesis 2:7,
cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:23), whereas everything else He brought into being by
His word alone. He then allowed man to be governed by his own thoughts
and follow his own initiative, because he was a rational creature with a
sovereign will. Left alone, deceived by the evil one's counsel and unable to
withstand his assault, man did not keep to what was in accordance with his
nature, but slid towards what was unnatural to it. So now God not only forms
human nature anew by His own hand in a mysterious way, but also keeps it
near Him. Not only does He assume this nature and raise it up from the fall,
but He inexpressibly clothes Himself in it and unites Himself inseparably
with it and was born as both God and man: from a woman, in the first
instance, that He might take upon Himself the same nature which He formed
in our forefathers; and from a woman who was a virgin, in the second, so that
He might make man new.

If He has been born from seed, He would not have been a new man and,
being part of the old stock, and inheriting that fall, He would not have been
able to receive the fullness of the incorruptible Godhead in Himself and
become inexhaustible source of hallowing. And so, not only would He not
have been able to cleanse, with abundance of power, our forefathers'
defilement caused by sin, but neither would He have been sufficient to
sanctify those who came later. Just as water stored in a tank would not be
sufficient to provide a large city with enough to drink continuously, but
would require its own spring, so that it is never surrendered to the enemy
(Satan) on account of thirst; in the same way, neither a man not Holy Angel
who, by sharing in grace, had the ability to make things holy, would suffice
to sanctify everyone at all times. But creation needed a well containing its
own spring, that those who drew near it and drank their fill might remain
undefeated by the attacks of weaknesses and deprivation inherent in the
created world. So neither an Angel nor a man, but the Lord Himself came and
saved us, being made a man like us for our sake, and continuing unchanged
as God. Building now the New Jerusalem, raising up a temple for Himself
with living stones (Ephesians 2:20-21, cf. 1 Peter 2:5), and gathering us into a
holy and worldwide Church, He sets in its foundation, which is Christ (cf. 1
Corinthians 3:11), the ever-flowing fount of grace. For the Lord's eternal
fullness of life, the All-Wise and Omnipotent Divine Nature, is made one
with human nature, which was led astray through lack of counsel, enslaved to
the evil one out of weakness, and laid in the deepest caverns of Hades for
want of Divine Life, that the Lord might instill into it wisdom and power and
freedom and unfailing life.

And look forthwith at the symbols of this ineffable union and the resulting
benefit poured out even upon those far away. A star accompanies the Magi
(St. Matthew 2:2-10): coming to a halt when they do, and traveling with them
when they move on, or rather, drawing them and inviting them to the road, as
their leader escorting them on their journey. It offers itself as their guide
when they are on the move, and when they rest awhile it permits them to do
so, and itself stays in its place, lest deserting them it should grieve them by its
absence, seeing to abandon its role as guide before journey's end. For it
caused them considerable distress by concealing itself from them when they
approached Jerusalem.

Why did it hide from them while they were there? To make them, through
their inquiries, unsuspecting heralds of Christ Who was born at that time
according to the flesh. Because they presumed they would learn from the
Jews where Christ was to be born according to the sacred prophecies, the
divine star left them, teaching us that we should no longer seek to find out
about the law and the prophets from the Jews, but rather to seek after the
teaching that comes from above. When they left Jerusalem, the star appeared
again to their delight, and went before them to lead the way, "till it came and
stood over where the young Child was" (St. Matthew 2:9), obviously
worshiping with them this earthly and heavenly Infant. This star first brings
the Magi as a birthday gift to God, born upon earth, and through them to the
whole Assyrian nation, according to the saying of Isaiah: "In those days the
Assyrians shall be the first nation for God, and after them the Egyptians, and
Israel shall be the third" (cfr. Isaiah 19:23-24), as is now seen coming to pass.
For the veneration by the Magi was immediately followed by the flight into
Egypt (St. Matthew 2:13), during which He delivered the Egyptians from
idols (cf. Isaiah 19:1), and after His return from there, a nation worthy of
God's possession was chosen from among Israel.

And while Prophet Isaiah openly foretold these events, the Magi worshiped
Him in person, bringing gold and frankincense and myrrh (St. Matthew 2:11,
cf. Isaiah 60:6) to Him Who, through death, symbolized by myrrh, grants us
divinely inspired life, of which frankincense is a image, and His divine
radiance and Kingdom, represented by the gold offered to the Giver of
Eternal Glory. On account of Him Who is born today, shepherds stand in the
same choir as Angels, sing the same hymn, and strike up a melody together.
The Angels do not take the shepherd's pipes into their hands, but the
shepherds, surrounded by the radiance of the Angel's Light, find themselves
in the midst of the Heavenly Host and are taught a heavenly song of praise by
the Angels, or rather a hymn both heavenly and earthly, saying, "Glory to
God in the Highest, and on earth pace" (St. Luke 2:14). Now He Who dwells
on High and Reigns over the celestial heights has the earth as His Throne,
and is glorified on earth as much as there (cf. Isaiah 66:1, Acts 7:49), by His
Saints and His Angels alike.

But what is the cause of this praise from men and Angels together and this
much-extolled good news which so gladdens the shepherds and all men?
"Behold", it says, "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
people" (St. Luke 2:10). What does this mean, and what is this universal joy?
Listen to the Gospel song to the end and you will understand. "Peace", it
says, "good will toward men" (St. Luke 2:14). For God, Who was angry with
the human race and subjected it to terrible curses, has come in the flesh,
granting His peace and reconciling them to the heavenly Father. Behold, says
the hymn, He has not been born for us Angels, though now that we see Him
on earth we extol Him as we do in heaven, but for you men, that is to say, for
your sake and in accordance with your nature as Savior is born, Christ the
Lord, in the city of David.

What is meant by linking God's good will with peace? "Peace", it says, "good
will toward men". There were times before when He gave signs of peace to
men. To Moses "the Lord spake, as a man speaketh unto his friend" (Exodus
33:11); and He found David a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts
13:22); and He granted tokens of peace to the whole Jewish nation when He
came down upon the mountain for their sake and spoke to them through fire
and the thick dark cloud (Exodus 19:9, 16-18; Deut. 4:10-11), but not
according to His good pleasure. For good will refers to that which is in and of
itself well-pleasing, the original and perfect will of God. It was not the
original and perfect will of God that He granted benefits, and not even perfect
ones, to certain men or to one nation only. That is why, just as God called
many people His sons, but there is only one in whom He was well-pleased
(cf. St. Matthew 3:17; 17:5), so He gave His peace on many occasions, but
only once accompanied by His good pleasure, which He grants, perfect and
unchanging, through the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ to every race
and to as many as desire it.

Brethren, let us preserve this peace in ourselves as far as we can, for we have
received it as an inheritance from our Savior who has now been born, who
gives us the Spirit of adoption, through which we have become heirs of God,
and joint heirs with Christ (cf. Romans 8:15, 17). Let us be at peace with
God, and doing those things which are well-pleasing to Him, living chastely,
telling the truth, behaving righteously, "continuing in prayer and
supplication" (cf. Acts 1:14), "signing and making peace with ourselves, by
subjecting our flesh to our spirit, choosing to conduct ourselves according to
our conscience, and having the inner world of our thoughts motivated by
good order and purity. Thus we shall put an end to the civil conflict in our
own midst. Let us be at peace with one another, "forbearing one another, and
forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ
forgave you" (Col. 3:13), and showing mercy to each other out of mutual
love, just as Christ, solely for love of us, had mercy on us and for our sake
came down to us. Then, recalled from the sinful fall through His help and
grace, and lifted high above this world by virtues, we may have our
citizenship in heavenly places (cf. Phil. 3:20), whence also we wait for our
hope (cf. Romans 8:23), redemption from corruption and enjoyment of
celestial and eternal blessings as children of the Heavenly Father.

May we all attain to this, at the future glorious advent and epiphany of our
Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, to Whom belongs glory unto the ages.
Amen.

From Homily 58, Saint Gregory Palamas: The Homilies (Mount Thabor
Publishing, 2009).
 The Nativity of Christ. The Gospel of the
Firstborn
Whoever approaches the Lord Jesus Christ with obedience and humility
will never want to be separated from Him.

The beginning exercises of the newly-recruited army of Christ are the

exercises of obedience and humility.

With obedience begins a new world, a new creature, a new mankind. The
old world trampled upon obedience to God and humility before God, and thus
destroyed the bridge between earth and heaven. The spiritual building
materials for restoring this bridge are first of all, obedience and humility.

As long as Adam was rich in obedience and humility, he could hardly

introduce a difference between his own spirit and the Spirit of God,
between his own will and the will of God, between his own thoughts and
the thoughts of God. He could not feel, want, and think anything that could
not have been in God and from God. Like the angels of God, so too did
Adam stand in direct proximity to God, and because of this direct proximity
he contemplated the Primary Source of light, wisdom, and love. Living
within the sun itself, he had no need to light any candle of his own. His
candle would not have burned or given off light within the sun.

But when Adam violated obedience and lost humility—and these are
always lost or acquired at the same time—then his direct communion
with God was broken, the bridge destroyed, and he fell into terrible
darkness and rotten dankness, which he was forced to light up with his
own candle given to him nevertheless by God’s mercy when God’s
righteousness cast him out of Paradise. Then he not only began to feel the
difference between himself and God, between his own will and God’s
will, his own feeling and God’s feelings, his own thoughts and God’s
thoughts—he not only began to be aware of the difference, but only in
rare hours of enlightenment was just barely able to notice his own divine
likeness.
Alas, into such an abyss was he cast down by his disobedience and pride who
had been first created in the image and likeness of the Most Holy and Divine
Trinity! (“In man, the incorrupt image of God was the source of blessedness,
while in fallen man it was [only] the hope of blessedness” St. Philaret of
Moscow. Homily on the Entrance.) Alas, all of us, descendants of Adam, all
are low outgrowths from the stump of the felled cedar that once majestically
towered and rose over all God’s creation in Paradise—low sprouts,
smothered by the tall thistles of crude nature, which have come down like a
veil between us and the First Source of immortal love.

Just look at how, as if at the wave of a magic wand, the disobedience and
pride of mankind’s forefathers immediately changed all creation around
him, and he was immediately surrounded by a whole army of the
disobedient and proud!

As long as Adam was obedient to his Creator and humble before Him,
everything around him breathed obedience and humility. But what a
momentary change of decoration! In the moment of Adam’s fall, Adam was
surrounded by nothing but disobedience. Next to him was the disobedient
Eve. And there, the main bearer of disobedience and pride—the spirit of
disobedience, satan. And there was all of nature, disobedient, rebellious, and
mad. The fruits that were up to then sweet and melted in man’s mouth begin
to torment him with bitterness. The grass that spread like a silken carpet
under his feet begins to scratch him with prickles. The flowers that gladdened
their king when he breathed in their fragrance begin to arm themselves with
thorns in order to push him away from them. The beasts that nuzzled him
affectionately like lambs begin to attack him with sharp claws and eyes
blazing with anger. Everything takes a position toward Adam that is
rebellious and threatening. Thus the richest of all created nature now felt
himself to be the poorest. Dressed earlier in garments of archangelic
glory, now he felt humiliated, lonely, and naked—so naked that he was
forced to borrow clothing from nature for his nakedness both bodily and
spiritual. For his body he began to borrow skins from the animals and
leaves from the trees, and for his spirit he began to borrow from all
things—from things!—knowledge and abilities. He who before drank from
the abundant source of life now had to walk after the animals, bend down to
the dirt and drink from the animal tracks in both his physical and spiritual
thirst.

Take a look now at our Lord Jesus Christ and His those around Him.
They are all obedience and humility themselves! Archangel Gabriel, a
representative of angelic obedience and humility; the Virgin Mary—
obedience and humility; Joseph—obedience and humility; the shepherds—
obedience and humility; the Oriental Magi—obedience and humility; the
stars of heaven—obedience and humility. Obedient storms, obedient winds,
obedient earth and sun, obedient people, obedient animals, and even the tomb
itself is obedient. All is obedient to the Son of God, the New Adam, and all
humble themselves before Him, for He Himself is infinitely obedient to
His Father and humble before Him.

We know that along with many earthly seeds that man sows and cultivates,
certain other grasses and plants eagerly grow up that were not sown or
cultivated. It is the same with the virtues: If you try hard to sow and
cultivate obedience and humility in your soul, you will soon see that next
to them grow up a whole bouquet of other virtues. One of the first is
simplicity both inward and outward. The obedient and humble Virgin
Mary is at the same time adorned with chaste simplicity. It is the same with
righteous Joseph, the apostles and Evangelists. Only see with what inimitable
simplicity the Evangelists describe the greatest events in the history of man’s
salvation, in universal history! Can you imagine how broadly and theatrically
a worldly author of literature would have described, for example, the
resurrection of Lazarus should he have been the accidental witness to that
event? Or what a high-sounding and pompous drama he would have written
about all that happened in the soul of Joseph, an obedient, humble, and
simple man, in the moment he found out that his ward and betrothed was
pregnant? But the Evangelist in today’s [Nativity] Gospel reading describes
all of this in but a few simple sentences:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary
was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child
of the Holy Ghost (Mt. 1:18). Before this the Evangelist described the
genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ, or more precisely, the genealogy of
Righteous Joseph of the tribe of Judah, the seed of David. In this genealogy
the Evangelist enumerates people born of people in the natural way and
manner, as all mortals are born in the world. Then suddenly he begins to
describe the Nativity of the Lord and says, Του δε Ιησου Χριστου η γεννησις
ουτως ην…, wanting by this δε (“now,” “however”) to show the unusualness
and supernaturalness of His Birth, which is completely different from the
manner of birth of all the enumerated ancestors of Joseph. His mother, Mary,
was betrothed to Joseph. In the eyes of people this betrothal could have been
considered a certain preface to married life, but in the eyes of Maria and
Joseph it could not have been considered as such. The Virgin Mary was the
answer to her parents’ fervent, tearful prayer, and they had promised to
dedicate her forever to God. She too had voluntarily accepted her parents’
vow, which can be seen by her many years of service in the Jerusalem
temple. Had it been a matter of her own will, she would have undoubtedly
remained in the temple to her very death, like Anna the daughter of Phanuel
(Lk. 2:36–37). But the law prescribed something else, and something else had
to be fulfilled. She was betrothed to Joseph not in order to live in
marriage, but in order to avoid marriage. All the details of this betrothal
and its significance are kept in Church Tradition. And if people were to value
the Tradition connected with the Mother of God, with Righteous Joseph, and
with all the personalities mentioned in the Gospel as much as they value
traditions that are often very silly, connected with worldly kings, generals,
and pundits, then the meaning of Mary and Joseph’s betrothal would be clear
to anyone. (Holy Hieromartyr Ignatius says that the Virgin was betrothed “so
that His Birth would be hidden from the devil and so that the devil would
think of Him as born from a lawful wife, and not from a virgin.” Blessed
Jerome in his Explanation of the Gospel of Matthew, and St. Gregory of
Neoceasaria in his Two Homilies on the Annunciation say the same.)

Before they came together—these words do not mean that they later united as
husband and wife; the Evangelist does not even think about this. The
Evangelist is interested in this case in the Nativity itself of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and nothing else. And he writes the words cited above in order to
show that His Nativity happened without the unification of husband and wife.
Therefore, you should understand the words of the Evangelist exactly as if he
had written: and without their uniting it happened that She was with child in
her womb from the Holy Spirit. Only from the Holy Spirit could be born
He Who was to restore the Kingdom of the Spirit of light and love amidst
the kingdom of darkness and wickedness. How could he have fulfilled His
divine mission in the world if he had come into the world through earthly
channels, enclosed in sin and the reeking rottenness of death? In that case the
new wine would have smelled of old wineskins, and He Who came to save
the world would Himself be in need of salvation. The world could only be
saved by a miracle—a miracle of God; the whole race of man on earth
believed in this. And when God’s miracle happened, it behooves us not to
doubt it but to bow our heads before it and find medicine and salvation
for ourselves in this miracle. What does Joseph do when he learns that
Mary is with child?

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a
public example, was minded to put her away privily (Mt. 1:19). He wants to
do this in accordance with the law of God. He is obedient to God’s will in the
form and extent that God’s will had been proclaimed to the people of Israel
up to that time. He acts also out of humility before God. Be righteous
overmuch warns the wise Solomon (Eccl. 7:16). That is, do not be too severe
towards those who have sinned, but remember your own infirmities and
sins, and strive to dissolve severity with mercy in relation to sinners.
Nurtured by this spirit, Joseph did not even think to commit the Virgin Mary
to judgment for a suspected sin: and not willing to make her a public
example, was minded to put her away privily. Joseph shows us this plan as
an exemplary man, exemplary in both righteousness and mercy—the
highest that the spirit of the Old Testament law could raise. Everything with
him is simple and clear, as could only be in the heart of a man who fears
God.

But no sooner did Joseph come up with a convenient way out of this
uncomfortable situation, than heaven suddenly intervenes in his plans, giving
him an unexpected command:

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto
thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost
(Mt. 1:20). The angel of God, who before had announced to the Most Pure
Virgin the coming into the world of the God-Man, now goes to prepare the
way for Him and make His paths straight. Joseph’s doubts are one of the
obstacles on His path, and a very powerful and dangerous one at that. These
obstacles must be removed. In order to show how easy it is for the powers
of heaven to do what is very hard for people, the angel appears to Joseph
not openly but in a dream. Calling Joseph the son of David, the angel wants
at the same time to both show him honor and to bring him to reason. As the
descendant of King David, you should rejoice at this divine mystery more
than other people, and you should also understand it better than others. But
how then does the angel call the Virgin his wife? Fear not to take unto thee
Mary thy wife. In the same way that the Lord on the Cross said to His
Mother: Woman! Behold thy son, and then to His disciple: behold, thy
Mother (Jn. 19:26–27)! Truly, heaven is thrifty with words and says
nothing superfluous. If it weren’t appropriate for the angel to say it, would
he have said it? Although this naming of Mary as Joseph’s wife is a
stumbling block for some unbelieving people, it is a shield of purity against
unclean spirits. For not only people hear the word of God, but all the
worlds both good and evil. Whoever would wish to penetrate all the
mysteries of God should have divine vision for everything created, visible
and invisible.

For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. This is God’s
business, and not man’s. Do not look at nature and do not fear the law. Here a
Greater nature is at work, and a Stronger law, without Whom neither would
nature have life, nor the law have force.

From the angel’s message to Joseph it is clear that the Virgin Mary never told
the latter about the appearance of the great archangel to her earlier; it is
likewise clear that now, when Joseph intended to put her away, she did not
justify herself in the least. The archangel’s tidings, like all the heavenly
mysteries that were gradually revealed to her, she kept all these things, and
pondered them in her heart (Lk. 2:19; 2:51). In her faith in God and
obedience to God, she didn’t fear any kind of humiliation before people.
“If my sufferings are pleasing to God, then why shouldn’t I endure them?”
certain martyrs of Christ would say later. Living in ceaseless prayer and
divine contemplation, the Most Pure One could have said, “If my humiliation
is pleasing to God, then why shouldn’t I endure it? If only I’m right before
the Lord Who knows the hearts—but let people do with me as they please.”
She also knew that the whole world cannot do anything with her if God
does not allow it. What good-natured humility before the Living Lord,
and what marvelous faithfulness to His will! And besides that—what
heroism of spirit in a tender Virgin! The Lord is the strength to them that
fear Him, and His covenant shall be manifested unto them (Ps. 24:14). If
sinners now, as throughout all times, even seek false witnesses for
themselves, the Virgin Mary, having as witness not a man but the Most High
God, does not justify herself, is not disturbed but remains silent—she is silent
and waits, that God Himself might justify her in His own time. And God soon
hastened to justify His chosen one. The same angel who revealed to her the
great mystery of her Conception now rushes to speak, instead of the silent
Virgin. Thus, explaining to Joseph what has already happened, the angel of
God now goes further and explains to him what things must come to pass:

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he
shall save his people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). “He did not say, ‘She will
bring you forth Son,’ but said simply, ‘bring forth”. For she will bring (Him)
forth not to Joseph but to the whole world” (St. John Chrysostom). The angel
instructs Joseph to treat the Newborn as would a real father, and therefore he
says, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, which means, “Savior”. That is why
the second sentence begins with for; which means: And you shall call Him
Savior, for he shall save his people from their sins.

The Archangel is God’s messenger of truth. He speaks what he learns from

God; he sees the truth in God. For him, nature with its laws literally don’t
exist. He knows only about the omnipotence of the living God, as once Adam
knew. Having said, he shall save his people from their sins, the archangel
foretold Christ’s main work. Christ had to come in order to save people
not from some secondary evil, but from the main evil, from sin, which is
the source of all evil in the world. He must save the tree of mankind not
from one swarm of caterpillars, which attacked it during a certain year with
the desire to eat it bare, but from the worm at its root, from which the tree is
withering. He comes not to save a man from another man, or a nation
from another nation, but in order to save all people and all nations from
satan—the sower and ruler of sin. He comes not like the Maccabees, or
Barabbas, or Bar Kokhba to start a rebellion against the Romans, who just
like a swarm of caterpillars had attacked the Israelite people, desiring to
destroy it; but as the immortal and all-healing doctor, before Whom the
Israelites, the Romans, the Greeks, the Egyptians, and all nations on the
earth are sick, mortally sick, withering from the same germ, from sin.
Christ later fulfilled the archangel’s prophecy completely. Thy sins are
forgiven thee, were his victorious words throughout the course of His whole
service on earth amidst people. In these words, there are both the
diagnosis and the medicine. Sin is the diagnosis of the illness, and
forgiveness of sins is the medicine. And Joseph was found worthy to be the
first of mortals in the New Creation to learn of the true goal of the coming of
the Messiah and the true nature of His service.

What the archangel spoke to Joseph was enough so that in obedience to the
new and direct law of God, he would reject his own thoughts, as he did the
plan to put Mary away. Heaven commands, and Joseph submits. But the
usual method of heaven is to not give people a command without an
appeal toward human understanding and self-determination. It was
important for God from the beginning that man act as a free being.
Without freedom, man would be no more than an artificial, mechanical
tool of God, which God would maintain and set in motion exclusively
according to His own will. God has enough of such mechanisms in nature
—but He vouchsafed to man an exclusive position, giving him freedom to
make his own decision to be before God or against God, for life, or for
death. This position is of high honor, but at the same time very
dangerous. Therefore, God does not simply command Adam. The Lord God
commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it,
and he immediately adds, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die (Gen 2:16–17). By this last sentence God gives man an argument
for his mind and a motivation for his will, so that he won’t eat of the
forbidden tree. For the day that you taste of it, you will surely die. The
archangel does the same now with Joseph. Having given him the command to
accept Mary and not put her away, and explaining that the Fruit of her Virgin
womb is from the Holy Spirit, the archangel reminds Joseph also about the
clear prophecy of the great prophet: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear
a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, which means, God is with us (Is.
7:14).
What was said earlier, and ye shall call his name Jesus, does not contradict
what is said now, namely, and shall call his name Immanuel, which means,
God is with us. In the first case, Joseph is commanded to call His name Jesus,
which means Savior; but in the second case it is confirmed that the Child will
be called by the people and nations, Immanuel, which means, God is with us.
Both names, each in their own way, express the most important meaning
of Christ’s coming to the world and His service in the world. Namely, He
will come in order to forgive sins, in order to have mercy and save people
from sin—and therefore He will be called the Savior—Jesus. But, Who
can forgive sins, but God only? (Mk. 2:7)? No one in the world; no one in
heaven, nor on earth has the authority or the power to forgive sins and save
from sins—only God can do that. For sin is the main worm of the whole
world’s sickness. And no one knows the bottomless horror of sin like
God. And because Jesus forgave sins and through this made people healthy,
then He is God amongst people. If we wanted to present the names in a
cause-and-effect connection, then the name Immanuel should come before
the name Jesus. For in order for the Newly Born to do the work of the Savior,
he should be Immanuel—that is, He should come as God amongst us. But in
this order the meaning also remains the same. It is all the same one way or
another how we say it—the meaning doesn’t change if we say, “Immanuel
and therefore Savior,” or “Savior, and therefore Immanuel”. (“But who shall
call His name Immanuel? Here it is a matter of indifference. No one called
Him Immanuel. In name, no one, but in essence, everyone. Those who
believed agreed that God is with us, although He lives amongst us as a
Man”—Monk Euthymios Zigabenos, Explanation of the Gospel of
Matthew.). In any case, there is one thing that is clearer than anything in
the world: That there is no salvation for this world if God does not come
into it; and there is no medicine for us people if God is not with us. If
God is not with us, and at that not as an idea or a beautiful dream but with us,
like us: with a soul, like us; in the flesh, like us; in sorrows and suffering, like
us; and finally, in what makes us most different of all from God—in death—
like us. Because every faith is false that teaches that God did not come in
the flesh and cannot come in the flesh, for it imagines God as powerless
and unmerciful; it imagines Him as a stepmother and not a mother. It
imagines Him as powerless, for it ever guards Him from the greatest field of
battle—the field of battle with satan, sin, and death. Satan must be bound, the
growths of sin must be torn up from the root of the human soul, the sting of
death must be destroyed—ah, the greatest and hardest work must be done,
as if the whole world needed to be held on His shoulders. Our God was
able to endure this battle, and victoriously at that. People of other faiths
are afraid even in their thoughts to allow their gods such a battle in which
their opponents could win. And what sort of a mother would she be who
wouldn’t lean down to the earth out of love for her child to comfort him, sing
him lullabies, and coo at him? Especially if the child were in the flames or
amongst wild animals! O Lord, forgive us for asking such questions! What
sort of merciful Creator would You be if You wouldn’t come down to us in
Your mercy, if You had only looked at our unhappiness from a misty and
sorrowless distance, and never stretched out a single cold finger to our flame,
or stepped a foot into the pit where the wild animals are tearing us? Truly,
You came down to us, and even lower than earthly love would require. You
were born in the flesh in order to live with the fleshly and save the fleshly.
You partook of the suffering of Your whole creation. You did not share this
cup of bitter communion with anyone, but drank it all Yourself to the dregs.
Therefore, You are our Savior, for You were God amidst us; You were God
amidst us, and therefore could You be our Savior. Glory to Thee, Jesus
Immanuel!

As for Joseph, he with fear and trembling saw ever more clearly that next to
him was being woven a cloth that is longer than the light of the sun and wider
than the air; a cloth for which the Most High Himself is the warp, and the
angels and all creation are the weft. The lot had not fallen to him of serving
as the instrument of God in the very center of the cloth of the New Creation.
Until man feels that God is doing His work through him, he will feel
weak and infirm, undetermined, and have contempt for himself. But
when a man feels that God has taken him in His hands like a smithy
takes iron for smithing, he will feel at once both strong and humble, clear
in his actions, glorifying his God.

And Joseph rising up from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had
commanded him, and took unto him his wife. And he knew her not till she
brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS. When we
read the Holy Gospel, we should bring the mind of the Gospel into
ourselves, and not our minds into the Gospel. Himself marveling, the
Evangelist tells about the miracle of the Nativity of the Savior. For him the
most important thing is to show that this Nativity came about it a miraculous
way. Here is now the fourth proof of this brought by the Evangelist Matthew
in today’s Gospel reading. First, he said that the Virgin Mary is only
betrothed to Joseph: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph...
Second, he says: she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost. Third, Matthew
informs us that the angel in the dream announces her pregnancy as
miraculous and supernatural. And now, fourthly, the Evangelist repeats the
same thought with the help of the words: And he knew her not till she
brought forth her firstborn son. Thus it is clear as day that Matthew doesn’t
even think of saying that after this Birth, Joseph joins with Mary. What did
not happen till she brought forth her firstborn sondid not happen later either,
when she had given birth to her Son. If we say of a certain person that as long
as services are going on in the church, he does not pay any attention to the
priest’s words, then we don’t even think of saying that the man paid attention
to the priest’s words at the end of the service. Or, if we say of a shepherd that
he sings as long as the sheep are grazing, we don’t mean that the shepherd
doesn’t sing when the sheep stop grazing. (“As it is said of the time of the
Flood, that the crow did not return to the ark while the earth was not yet dry
—it would mean that it didn’t return afterwards either. (Or) as Christ says,
and lo, I am with you always, even till the end of the word—won’t He be with
us afterwards also?”—Blessed Theophylact.) The words firstborn son relates
exclusively to the Lord Jesus Christ (Ps. 88:28; compare 2 Kings 7:12–16;
Heb. 1:5–6; Rom. 8:29), Who is the firstborn of all kings and the firstborn
amongst many brethren (Rom. 8:29); that is, amongst the saved and adopted
people. If the word firstborn were written with a capital F, like a personal
name, there would be no ambiguity. Or if before the word firstborn were a
comma, there would likewise be no ambiguity and no perplexity. Meanwhile,
the word firstborn should be read as if it were a personal name and with a
comma before it: She brought forth her Son, Firstborn. Our Lord Jesus Christ
is the Firstborn as the Creator of a new Kingdom, as the New Adam.

It is told of St. Ammon (Lives of the Saints, October 4) that he was lawfully
married for eighteen years without having any physical union with his wife.
Holy Great Martyr Anastasia (December 22) also lived several years in
marriage with Publeus, the Roman senator, without having any physical
contact with him. We give only two examples out of thousands. In her most
pure virginity, before Childbirth, in Childbirth, and after Childbirth, the
Virgin Mary throughout the history of the Church provided inspiration for
virginal life to thousands and thousands of maidens and youths. Beholding
her virginity, many lawful wives tore up their marriages and dedicated
themselves to virginal purity. Beholding her, many inveterate harlots rejected
their depraved lives, cleansing their defiled souls with tears and prayer. So
then how could anyone think that the Most Pure Virgin, the pillar and
inspiration of Christian purity and virginity over so many centuries, could be
lower in virginity than Anastasia, Thecla, Barbara, Catherine, Parasceva, and
numberless others? Or how could anyone think that she who bore in her body
the passionless Lord could at any time have had even the shadow of bodily
passion? She, who bore God and gave birth to God, “was a Virgin not only in
body but also in spirit,” says Holy Hierarch Ambrose. St. Chrysostom,
comparing the Holy Spirit with a bee, says, “As a bee will not fly into a foul-
smelling vessel, do also the Spirit will not enter an impure soul.”

But let us interrupt our conversation on what should be given less talk
and more admiration. Where there is obedience to the living God and
humility before Him, there is also purity. God heals His obedient and
humble servants from all earthly passions and lusts. Therefore, let us
dedicate ourselves to cleansing our consciences, our souls, our hearts,
and our minds, that we also might be counted worthy of the grace-filled
power of the Holy Spirit; that the earth would finally cease to sow its seed
in our inner man—and the Holy Spirit would conceive a new life and a new
man within us, like unto our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be honor
and glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit—the Trinity One in Essence
and Undivided, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.