Nativiti sermon 2018

Thou hast come, O Lord, into the world and all creation was shaken, the angels gave glory and men worshipped Thy coming and understood the sign of Thine humility, yet mine wretched heart remains hardened and unmoved before Thine ineffable goodness.

Thou hast come as a great light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and I remain an abomination standing in Thy holy place.

Thou hast forewarned that Thou hast come into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief, yet I did not comprehend the judgment of Thy justice, O Thou Who art good.

Vouchsafe also unto me the wretched one to glorify Thy Name, O Saviour of the world, and to love Thine appearing in the flesh together with all Thy Saints. Z.

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.

And the Word was made Flesh

Cyril of Alexandria

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

The Only-Begotten became and is called son of man; for this and nought else does St John’s saying that the Word was made Flesh signify.

For it is as though he said more nakedly The Word was made Man.

[…] Man then is a creature rational, but composite: of soul, that is, and of this perishable and earthly flesh.

When man’s hope had broken down, hope was increased by Thy Birth

Ephrem the Syrian

When man’s hope had broken down, hope was increased by Thy Birth.

—Good tidings of hope they bore, the Heavenly Ones to men.

—Satan who cut off our hope, his own hope by his own hands had cut off.

—when he saw that hope was increased: Thy Birth became to the hopeless,

—a fountain teaming with hope.

Blessed be He Who bore the tidings of hope!

[…] Thy day has given us a gift, to which the Father has none other like;

He crosses over into human life, not by boat or by chariot, but through the incorruption of a Virgin

Gregory of Nyssa

“Sound the trumpet at the new moon,” says David, “even in the notable day of your feast” (Psalm 80:3).

The commandments of Divinely-inspired teaching are assuredly a law for those who hear them.

Therefore, since the notable day of our feast is at hand, let us, too, fulfill the law and become heralds of the solemnity.

The trumpet of the law, as the Apostle bids us understand, is the word.

[…] So let us produce a clear and audible sound, brethren, one that is no less noble than that of the trumpet.

Homily on the Holy Nativity

St Gregory Palamas

On the Saving Nativity According to the Flesh of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ

This is the Festival of the virgin birth! Our address must be exalted 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 illuminated by a holy star. For today I see equality of honour 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 marvellous or honourable 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 NATIVITY SERMON OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

Icon of the Nativity of Christ.

 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.

"The Word became flesh"

A Sermon by St John of Kronstadt 

on the Nativity of Christ

The Word became flesh; that is, the Son of God, co-eternal with God the Father and with the Holy Spirit, became human – having become incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. O, wondrous, awesome and salvific mystery! The One Who had no beginning took on a beginning according to humanity; the One without flesh assumed flesh. God became man – without ceasing to be God. The Unapproachable One became approachable to all, in the aspect of an humble servant. Why, and for what reason, was there such condescension [shown] on the part of the Creator toward His transgressing creatures – toward humanity which, through an act of its own will had fallen away from God, its Creator?

A Homily on the Nativity

As a Christmas gift to our listeners, the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (IOCS) presents a reading of "A Homily on the Nativity" from the book Harp of the Spirit: Poems of St. Ephrem the Syrian, translated by Sebastian Brock and published by IOCS.

Direct link

Georges Florovsky: The Incarnation is the Quickening of Man, the Resurrection of Human Nature

“The Word became flesh:” in this is the ultimate joy of the Christian faith. In this is the fullness of Revelation. The Same Incarnate Lord is both perfect God and perfect man.

The full significance and the ultimate purpose of human existence is revealed and realized in and through the Incarnation.

He came down from Heaven to redeem the earth, to unite man with God for ever. “And became man.” The new age has been initiated. We count now the “anni Domini!”

Leo the Great: The Wise Men Saw and Adored the Child of the Tribe of Judah

Led then, dearly beloved, into Bethlehem by obeying the guidance of the star, the wise men “rejoiced with very great joy,” as the evangelist has told us:

“And entering the house, they found the child with Mary, His mother; and falling down they worshipped Him; and opening their treasures they presented to Him gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh” (Matt. 2:10, 11).

What wondrous faith of perfect knowledge, which was taught them not by earthly wisdom, but by the instruction of the Holy Spirit!

Whence came it that these men, who had quitted their country without having seen Jesus, and had not noticed anything in His looks to enforce such systematic adoration, observed this method in offering their gifts?

Patriarchal Encyclical for Christmas 2013

+ BARTHOLOMEW

By God’s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome

and Ecumenical Patriarch

To the Plenitude of the Church:

Grace, mercy, and peace from the Savior Christ, born in Bethlehem

Beloved brothers and sisters, children in the Lord,

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.”

(Isaiah 9.5)

Message of His Holiest Beatitude, Theophilos III, Patriarch of Jerusalem

Behold the Virgin, begetting God in flesh,

in the city of Bethlehem, inside the Cavern,

the entire universe has been enriched,

rejoice and dance,

associate with servants

- for the Lord has come near everyone.

(Matins Oikos 20, December)

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS PATRIARCH KIRILL OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA

God-loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters!

Today our churches are filled with people who have come to glorify the newly-born Divine Infant Jesus Christ and his Most Pure Mother the Virgin Mary.

The Nativity of Christ is the central event in all human history. The human person has always sought out God, yet God has revealed himself to humanity in his fullness only in the incarnation of his Only-begotten Son. With the coming of the Son of God and the Son of Man the world has discovered that God is Love and not merely a Higher Power, that God is Mercy and not merely the Dispenser of justice, that God is the source of life and joy and not only a dread Judge, that God is the Holy Trinity, the inner law of which is also love, and far from the solitary Master of the world.

The Third Birth of Christ

 † Stergios Sakkos

1. Rebirth

The third birth of Christ is in the life of people who believe in Him and accept Him as their own, personal God. Because even though Christ became incarnate in order to save everyone, not everyone will be saved.

Of course, the Lord “wants all people to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth”, (I Tim. 2, 4), and is certainly all-powerful. Nevertheless, He respects people’s freedom as well and has no desire to save us against our will.

The Very Word of God from God Emptied Himself in an Indescribable Way

St. Gregory Palamas

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 (Genesis 3.5), bestowed upon them Himself…

…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 (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.

The Days of Christmas

St. Ephrem the Syrian

The first year of our Redeemer’s birth

is the source of blessings and foundation of life.

For by it are borne a multitude of victories

and the sum of helps.

As the first day “in the beginning”

the great pillar of the creation

bears the building of the creation,

so the first-born day bears the help for humanity.

Blessed is Your birth that makes all Creation glad!

: Mary, Theotokos, We Salute You

St. Cyril of Alexandria

I see here a joyful company of Christian men met together in ready response to the call of Mary, the holy and ever-virgin Mother of God.

The great grief that weighed upon me is changed into joy by your presence, venerable Fathers.

Now the beautiful saying of David the psalmist:How good and pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity (Psalm 133) has come true for us.

Therefore, holy and incomprehensible Trinity, we salute you at whose summons we have come together to this church of Mary, the Theotokos [Mother of God].

Eternity Came into Contact with Time, Heaven with Earth, the Spiritual with the Physical

Nikolai Velimirovich

Just as a mother bends down and leans over a tearstained baby in a crib, so does the descent of the Creator of men into this temporal and visible world correspond to His miraculous existence in eternity.

[...] “When Mary asked, “How can this be, since I have no husband?” the archangel of God answered: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”