CHRIST IS BORN ! - GLORIFY HIM !

THE NATIVITY ICON

The Gospel In Color

The Nativity of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ

Icons are not works of art. They all tell a story.

Notice that Joseph the Betrothed is off to the bottom left. This is his proper position in the Nativity icon. Think of the written account - Joseph the Betrothed is righteous and protects the Theotokos and the Christ Child, but he is not involved in the miracle of the incarnation of the Son of God. The old man speaking to him represents the devil bringing new doubts to Joseph. Some angels are looking on pondering the mystery of the incarnation. Puzzled, by the Divine economy, they reach out to their God with outstretched arms and hands in order to aid their creator but covering their hands with their garments because they better than we understand that "Our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29). How can they touch Him Who made space and time and now has in some way, foreign to them, He has entered into His Creation.

An angel looks down, in making the proclamation to the shepherds in their fields. The two women on the right are the midwives which our pious Tradition says Joseph summoned. This is shown here to indicate that Jesus was born in the normal way and would have needed washing, as a non-divine human baby would. The real miracle is that the Theotokos suffered no birth pains and remained a virgin both before and after giving birth.

Notice that the manger is like a casket, and his swaddling clothes are very much like the grave clothes shown in the icon of the myrrh-bearing women. Notice that over the Christ Child is IC and XC - the first two letters in Greek for Jesus and the first two letters in Greek for Christ. Also notice that the letters within the halo of the Christ Child are formed in a Cross shape and stand for the Divine statement: I AM HE WHO IS.

The Magi are depicted to the left of the Virgin and Divine Christ Child who are depicted correctly as within a cave. Anyone who has been to the Church of The Nativity in Bethlehem at once realizes that the altar area is directly above this cave and you descend from the Church building into this cave. It is still quite normal in Palestine for people to use caves as places to corral their animals for the night. In all truth our God was "Born in a Cave and Laid in a Manger for our sake" (Priest's Blessing or doxology for Nativity) And what is a manger? It is a trough or open box for livestock to feed or fodder. Our open American Nativity Scenes don't quite depict this reality and I for one, the first time I was blessed to venerate the Holy Nativity Site of Christ our God was more than perplexed at this. Only after converting to Orthodoxy did I even start to grasp the greatness of this Divine condescension.

The tree below the cave is the "Tree of Jesse" from prophesy, which says that a shoot will sprout from the stump (tree) of Jesse (the father of King David) “ And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:” Isaiah 11:1 (KJV)

The ox and the ass are also from Old Testament prophecy, always shown near the Christ Child, providing warmth from their breath: "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." Isaiah 1:3 (KJV)

THE WORD BECAME FLESH

A Sermon by Saint John of Kronstadt on the Nativity of Christ Our True God

Saint John of Kronstadt

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. Oh, 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?

It was by reason of a supreme, inexpressible mercy toward His creation on the part of the Master, Who could not bear to see the entire race of mankind – which, He, in creating, had endowed with wondrous gifts – enslaved by the devil and thus destined for eternal suffering and torment.

And the Word became flesh!...in order to make us earthly beings into heavenly ones, in order to make sinners into saints; in order to raise us up from corruption into incorruptibility, from earth to heaven; from enslavement to sin and the devil – into the glorious freedom of children of God; from death – into immortality, in order to make us sons of God and to seat us together with Him upon the Throne as His royal children.

Oh, boundless compassion of God! Oh, inexpressible wisdom of God! Oh, great wonder, astounding not only the human mind, but the angelic [mind] as well!

Let us glorify God! With the coming of the Son of God in the flesh upon the earth, with His offering Himself up as a sacrifice for the sinful human race, there is given to those who believe the blessing of the Heavenly Father, replacing that curse which had been uttered by God in the beginning; they are adopted and receive the promise of an eternal inheritance of life. To a humanity orphaned by reason of sin, the Heavenly Father returns anew through the mystery of re-birth, that is, through baptism and repentance. People are freed of the tormenting, death-bearing authority of the devil, of the afflictions of sin and of various passions.

Human nature is deified for the sake of the boundless compassion of the Son of God; and its sins are purified; the defiled are sanctified. The ailing are healed. Upon those in dishonor are boundless honor and glory bestowed.

Those in darkness are enlightened by the Divine light of grace and reason.

The human mind is given the rational power of God – we have the mind of Christ, (I Corinthians 2:16) says the Holy apostle Paul. To the human heart, the heart of Christ is given. The perishable is made immortal. Those naked and wounded by sin and by passions are adorned in Divine glory. Those who hunger and thirst are sated and assuaged by the nourishing and soul-strengthening Word of God and by the most pure Body and Divine Blood of Christ. The inconsolable are consoled. Those ravaged by the devil have been – and continue to be – delivered.

What, then, O, brethren, is required of us in order that we might avail ourselves of all the grace brought unto us from on high by the coming to earth of the Son of God? What is necessary, first of all, is faith in the Son of God, in the Gospel as the salvation-bestowing heavenly teaching; a true repentance of sins and the correction of life and of heart; communion in prayer and in the mysteries [sacraments]; the knowledge and fulfillment of Christ’s commandments. Also necessary are the virtues: Christian humility, alms-giving, continence, purity and chastity, simplicity and goodness of heart.

Let us, then, O brothers and sisters, bring these virtues as a gift to the One Who was born for the sake of our salvation – let us bring them in place of the gold, frankincense and myrrh which the Magi brought Him, as to One Who is King, God, and Man, come to die for us. This, from us, shall be the most-pleasing form of sacrifice to God and to the Infant Jesus Christ. Amen.

Translated into English by G. Spruksts, from the Russian text appearing in Chapter 2 of "Solntse Pravdy: O Zhizni i Uchenii Gospoda Nashego, Iisusa Khrista" ["The Sun of Righteousness: On the Life and Teaching of Our Lord, Jesus Christ"], by Protopriest [Saint] Ioann [John] (Sergiev) of Kronstadt, pp. 4-6. English-language translation copyright © 1983, 1996 by The Saint Stefan of Perm' Guild, The Russian Cultural Heritage Society, and the Translator. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission from "KITEZH: The Journal of the Russian Cultural Heritage Society," Vol. 12, No. 4 (48).