CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!GOD

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn of the Holy Feast of the Nativity

Thy nativity, O Christ our God, has caused the
light of knowledge to rise upon the world. For
Therein the worshippers of the stars were by a star
instructed to worship Thee, the Sun of Righteousness,
and to know Thee as Orient from on high. Glory to
Thee, O Lord.

Kontakion Hymn. Mode 3.

On this day the Virgin gives birth to the Super-essential.
To the Unapproachable, earth is providing the grotto.
Angels sing and with the shepherds offer up glory.
Following a star the Magi are still proceeding. He was
born for our salvation, a newborn Child, the Pre-Eternal
God.

The Great and Divine Feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ in its kontakion hymn, composed by Saint Romanos the Melodist, through the blessing and aid of the Ever-virgin herself: "Today the Virgin giveth birth to Him Who is Supra-essential; and the earth presenteth a cave to Him Who is unapproachable. Angels with shepherds give glory; with a star, the Magi journey; for our sake a young Child is born, Who is Pre-eternal God." "What mysteries beyond mind and speech! God, in His compassion, is born on earth, putting on the form of a servant that He may snatch from servitude to the enemy those who with fervent love cry out ‘Blessed art Thou, O Savior, Who loves mankind."

Saint John of Damascus chants of our renewal saying that, though Christ did not depart from His own nature, He nonetheless shared in our substance. "A most glorious mystery is accomplished today: nature is renewed, and God becomes Man. What He was, He has remained; and who He was not, He has taken on Himself without suffering commingling or division."

The Only-begotten of the Father, even after His NATIVITY IN THE FLESH, has REMAINED ONE IN ESSENCE WITH THE FATHER AND THE SPIRIT. From the Canon of the Forefeast, we chant: "In the strength of Thy Divinity Thou hast been joined with mortal men, through a union without confusion, O Savior, in the likeness of the flesh of Adam, and in thus assuming human nature Thou dost bestow upon it immortality and salvation."

Journey to Bethlehem

Christ comes to be born of a maiden who knew not wedlock. Saint Ephraim chants of the humble Maiden and cit of Christ’s birth: "Blessed art thou, Bethlehem, that the towns envy thee–and the fortified cities! As they envy thee, so the women and the virginal daughters of princes envy Mary. Blessed be the Maiden in whom He deigned to abide, and the city wherein He deigned to sojourn. A poor maiden and a small city are where He chose to humble Himself.

Saint Joseph the Hymnographer marvels at how the Great God will enter a small cave as a small child. "How shall a small cave receive Thee, for Whom the world cannot find room, O Thou Whom none can comprehend, O Thou Who with the Father art without beginning, how shalt Thou appear as a small child?" And, "The Great King comes in haste to enter a small cave, that He may make me great who had grown small. And, so that by His POVERTY WITHOUT MEASURE, HE, THE TRANSCENDENT GOD, MAY ENRICH ME WHO HAD GROWN POOR [2 Corinthians 8:9].

Saint Justin Martyr, born in Sichem (Nablus) spoke of the "cave" near Bethlehem. He provides us with one of the earliest testimonies on the subject. "When Joseph could find no lodging in the village, he went to a cave nearby, and there Mary gave birth to the Child and laid Him in a manger." In holy icons, the dark background in the cave can be explained by a homily attributed to Saint Gregory of Nyssa, WHERE HE COMPARES THE BIRTH OF CHRIST IN A CAVE AND THE SPIRITUAL LIGHT SHINING FORTH IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH THAT ENCOMPASSES MANKIND. THUS, THE BLACK MOUTH OF THE CAVE SYMBOLICALLY MEANS THE WORLD, STRICKEN WITH SIN THROUGH MAN’S FAITH, IN WHICH THE "SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS" SHONE FORTH.

The place where Mary brought forth VIRGINALLY and PAINLESSLY was an empty and uninhabited place. It could be compared to the wilderness, as depicted in the nativity icon. The world did NOT accept Him, but the wilderness offered refuge. This, too, is a fulfillment of the Old Testament PREFIGURATION when the Hebrew nation departed Egypt for the wilderness of Sinai. It was there, in Bethlehem, the "House of Bread," that the symbol of the Eucharist was given–MANNA. Now He Who rained manna upon His people Israel would Himself become the Bread of the Eucharist. The wilderness will also offer the manger where He chose to lie, thereby symbolizing the Lamb upon the Altar. The CAVE, THE MANGER, THE SWADDLING CLOTHES ARE INDICATIONS OF THE EMPTYING OR KENOSIS OF THE GODHEAD (DIVINITY), HIS UTTER ABASEMENT AND HUMILITY. ALSO, WE SEE FORESHADOWED HERE HIS FUTURE DEATH, BURIAL, SEPULCHRE, AND BURIAL CLOTHES.

WHERE GOD WILLS, THE ORDER OF NATURE IS OVERRULED

"And it came to pass, while they were there, the days were fulfilled for her to bring forth" (Luke 2:6). Concerning His birth, the Prophet Isaiah spoke thus: "Before she that travailed brought forth, before the travail-pain came on, she escaped it and brought forth a male [Isaiah 66:7]. Saint John of Damascus adds to this saying that "after the normal nine-month gestational period, Christ was born at the beginning of the tenth, according with the law of gestation. It was a birth that SURPASSED THE ESTABLISHED ORDER OF BIRTH GIVING, AS IT WAS WITHOUT PAIN; FOR, WHERE PLEASURE HADNOT PRECEDED, PAIN DID NOT FOLLOW. AND JUST AS AT HIS CONCEPTION HE HAD KEPT HER WHO CONCEIVED HIM VIRGIN, SO ALSO AT HIS BIRTH DID HE MAINTAIN HER VIRGINITY INTACT, BECAUSE HE ALONE PASSED THROUGH HER AND KEPT HER SHUT."

GOD Made Man

We chant: "He Who is equal in honor with the Father and the Spirit,
out of compassion, has clothed Himself in our substance…and He Who
before the Morning Star was begotten without mother of the Father, is
today without father made flesh upon earth of thee>"

Saint Paul confirms His manhood, saying, "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent for His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order that He might REDEEM THOSE UNDER THE LAW, THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE WHAT IS OUR DUE, THE ADOPTION AS SONS" [Galatians 4:4].

In his sermon on the Feast of the Nativity, Saint Leo the Great (461 A.D.) writes: "The bodily nativity therefore of the Son of God took nothing from and added nothing to His Majesty, because His unchangeable substance could be neither diminished nor increased. For that ‘the Logos/Word became flesh’ does not signify that the nature of God was changed into flesh, but that the Logos/Word took the flesh into the unity of His Person (hypostasis); and therein undoubtedly the whole man was received, with which within the Virgin’s womb was made fruitful by the Holy Spirit; her virginity was FOREORDAINED NEVER TO BE LOST. Thus, the Son of God…Who was born without time of the Father’s essence was Himself in time born of the Virgin’s womb. We could not otherwise be released from the chains of everlasting death but by Him becoming humble in our nature. Thus, our Lord Jesus Christ, BEING AT BIRTH TRUE MAN, THOUGH HE NEVER CEASED TO BE TRUE GOD, MADE IN HIMSELF THE BEGINNING OF A NEW CREATION, AND IN THE ‘FORM’ OF HIS BIRTH STARTED THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF MANKIND AFRESH."

THE NEW ADAM

The false theory that our ancestors’ transgression was the source of an "original sin," by which the human race became guilty of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, IS NOT WHAT THE ORTHODOX CHURCH TEACHES. The Church teaches that the human race inherited death, becoming enslated to the devil through THE PASSIONS. Concurrently, nature, which was subject to our first parents’ rule, was now also subject to the same curse: "THE BONDAGE OF CORRUPTION" [Romans 8:21]. We SIN ON ACCOUNT OF OUR MORALITY. All men, on account of our inheriting death–the "INFECTIONS" –have "SINNED AND ARE COMING SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD" [Romans 3:23].

Our Lord Jesus Christ in His conversation with Nicodemus indicated THE ABSOLUTE NECESSITY OF BAPTISM FOR SALVATION: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be BORN AGAIN, HE CANNOT SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD. " When Nicodemus expressed his perplexity, "How can a man be born when he is old?" our Savior replied that THE NEW BIRTH WOULD BE ACCOMPLISHED BY WATER AND THE SPIRIT: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, EXCEPT A MAN BE BORN OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT, HE CANNOT ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. THAT WHICH IS BORN OF THE FLESH, AND THAT WHICH IS BORN OF THE Spirit is spirit" (John 3:3-6).

While we celebrate His Birth, we pause to think of our REBIRTH through water and the Spirit. The Mystical, Grace-given aspect of Baptism which according to the Holy Scripture is a "NEW BIRTH," and it is performed FOR THE SALVATION OF MEN (Mark 16:16). Moreover, setting for the Grace-given significance of Baptism, the Holy Apostles in their Epistle indicates that in it we are "SANCTIFIED," "CLEANSED," "JUSTIFIED"; that in Baptism we "DIE TO SIN" so as to walk IN RENEWED LIFE; WE ARE "BURIED WITH CHRIST," AND WE ARISE WITH HIM." [Resources: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology]

(To be continued)

__________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George