Christ is born! Glorify Him!
The Discourse on the Nativity of Christ
by Our Father among the Saints Gregory Thaumaturgus the Wonderworker
Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, who lived from about 213 AD until about 270 AD, was the Bishop of Neo-Caesarea.
We behold now a great and wondrous mystery. Shepherds with cries of
joy come forth as messengers to the sons of mankind, not on their hilly
pastures with their flocks conversing and not in the field with their
sheep frolicking, but rather in the city of David Bethlehem spiritual
songs exclaiming. In the highest sing Angels, proclaiming hymns
Archangelic; the heavenly Cherubim and Seraphim sing out praises to the
glory of God: “Holy, Holy, Holy…” Together all do celebrate this joyous
feast, beholding God upon the earth, and mankind of earth amidst the
heavens. By Divine providence the far distant are uplifted to the
highest, and the highest, through the love of God for mankind, have bent
down to the far distant, wherefore the Most High, through His humility,
“is exalted through humility.” On this day of great festivity Bethlehem
hath become like unto heaven, taking place amidst the glittering stars
are Angels singing glory, and taking the place of the visible sun—is the
indefinable and immeasurable Sun of Truth, having made all things that
do exist. But who would dare investigate so great a mystery? “Wherein
God doth wish it, therein the order of nature is overturned”, and laws
cannot impede. And so, of that which was impossible for mankind to
undertake, God did aspire and did descend, making for the salvation of
mankind, since in the will of God this is life for all mankind.
On the present joyous day God hath come to be born; on this great day
of arrival God is become That Which He was not: being God, He hath
become Man, so to speak as though removed from Divinity (though His
Divine Nature be not divested of); in being made Man, He hath remained
God. Wherefore, though He grew and flourished, it however was not thus
as it were by human power to attain to Divinity nor by any human ability
to be made God; but rather as the Word, by miraculous sufferance,
wherein He was incarnated and manifest not being transformed, not being
made something other, not deprived of that Divine Nature which He
possessed previously. In Judea the new King is born; but this new and
wondrous nativity which pagan Gentiles have come to believe, the Jew
have eschewed. The Pharisees comprehended incorrectly the Law and the
prophets. That which therein was contradictory for them, they explained
away mistakenly. Herod too strove to learn of this new birth, full of
mystery, yet Herod did this not to reverence the new-born King, but to
kill Him.
That One, Who did forsake the Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Dominions,
and all the constant and luminous spirits—He alone having come a new
path, does issue forth from an inviolate of seed virginal womb. The
Creator of all comes to enlighten the world, indeed not leaving His
angels orphaned, and He appears also as Man, come forth from God.
And I, though I see by the NewBorn neither trumpets (nor other
musical instruments), nor sword, nor bodily adornments, neither lampadas
nor way-lamps, and seeing the choir of Christ composed of those humble
of birth and without influence—it doth persuade me to praise of Him. I
see speechless animals and choirs of youth, as though some sort of
trumpet, resonant with song, as though taking the place of lampadas and
as it were shining upon the Lord. But what shall I say about what the
lampadas do light? He—is the very most Hope and Life Itself, He is
Salvation Itself, Blessedness Itself, the focal point of the Kingdom of
Heaven. He is Himself borne as offering, so that there would in power
transpire the proclamation of the heavenly Angels: “Glory to God in the
Highest,” and with the shepherds of Bethlehem be pronounced the joyous
song: “And on earth peace, good-will to mankind!” Born of the Father, in
His Person and in His Being passionless, now in a manner dispassionate
and incomprehensible He is born for us. The pre-eternal birth, He alone
Who was born dispassionately doth know of; the present birth, is
supernaturally known only by the grace of the Holy Spirit; but in both
the first birth truly, and in the present birth in kenotic humbling,
actually and immutably God was born from God, but He—is also Man, having
received flesh of the Virgin. In the highest of the One Father—He is
One, the Only-Begotten Son of the One Father; in kenotic humbling Unique
of the unique Virgin, the Only-Begotten Son of the one Virgin… God
suffereth not passions, in being born God of God; and the Virgin did not
suffer corruption, since in a manner spiritual was born the Spiritual.
The first birth—is inexplicable and the second—is insurmisable; the
first birth was without travail and the second was without impurity… We
know, Who now is born of the Virgin, and we believe, that it is He, born
of the Father before all eternity. But what manner of birth it was we
would not hope to explain. Neither with words would I attempt to speak
of this, nor in thought would I dare to approach it, since the Divine
Nature is not subject to observation, nor approachable by thought, nor
containable by the hapless reasoning. Needful only is to believe in the
power of His works. The laws of corporeal nature are evident: a married
woman conceives and gives birth to a son in accord with the purpose of
marriage; but when the Unwedded Virgin gives birth to the son
miraculously, and after birth remaineth a Virgin,—then is manifest and
higher corporeal nature. We can comprehend what exists according to the
laws of corporeal nature, but concerning that which is beyond the laws
of nature, we fall silent, not through fear, but moreso through
sin-wrought fallibility. We fall silent, in silent stillness to
reverence virtue with a worthy reverence and, not going beyond the far
limits (of word), to be vouchsafed the heavenly gifts.
What to say and what shalt I proclaim? To speak more concerning the
Virgin Birth-Giver? To deliberate more on the miraculously new birth? It
is possible only to be astonished, in contemplating the miraculous
birth, since it overturns the ordinary laws and order of nature and of
things. About the wondrous works (of God) one might say in brief, that
they are more wondrous than the works of nature, since in nature nothing
begets itself by its own will, though there be the freedom thereof:
wondrous therefore are all the works of the Lord, Who hath caused them
to be. O, immaculate and inexplicable mystery! That One, Who before the
very creation of the world was the Only-Begotten, Without-Compare,
Simple, Incorporeal, is incarnated and descends (into the world),
clothed in a perishable body, so that He be visible to all. For if He
were not visible, then by what manner would He teach us to keep His
precepts and how would He lead us to the invisible reality? It was for
this therefore that He became openly visible, to lead forth those of the
visible world to the invisible. Far more so do people reckon their
eyesight as more credible a witness than mere hearsay; they trust that
which they see, and doubt that which they see not. God willed to be
visible in body, to resolve and dispel the doubts. He willed to be born
of the Virgin, not to initiate of Her something unneeded and wherein the
Virgin knew not the reasons of the matter, but rather the mystery of
His birth is an immaculate act of goodness, wherein the Virgin Herself
asked of Gabriel: “How can this be, in that I know not a man”—to which
She received in reply: “The Holy Spirit shalt come upon Thee, and the
power of the Most High shalt overshadow Thee” (Luke 1:34-35). But in
what manner did the Word, Who was God, therefore issue forth from the
Virgin? This—is an inexplicable wonder. Just as a goldsmith, having
obtained the metal, makes of it a thing suitable for use, thus did
Christ also: finding the Virgin immaculate both in spirit and in body,
He assumed of Her a spirit-fashioned body conformable to His intents,
and was arrayed in it, as in clothing. On this wondrous day of the
Nativity the Word was neither afraid nor ashamed to issue forth from the
virginal womb, nor did He consider it unworthy of Himself to assume
flesh from His creation—so that the creation, made the attire of the
Creator, should be esteemed worthy of glory, and so that mercy should be
made known when revealed, from whence God through His goodness hath
descended. Just as it would be impossible for an earthen vessel to
appear before it be clay in the hands of the potter, so likewise would
it be impossible for the perishable vessel (of human nature) to be
renewed otherwise, to make it the attire of the Creator, Who is garbed
in it.
What more to say, what shall I expound on? The new wonders do strike
me with awe. The Ancient of Days is become a Child, to make people
children of God. Sitting in glory in the Heavens, because of His love
for mankind, He now lays in a manger of dumb beasts. The Impassionate,
Incorporeal, Incomprehensible One is taken by human hands, in order to
atone the violence of sinners and the iniquitous and free them of their
slavery, to be wrapped in swaddling cloths and be nourished on the knees
of Woman, so that shame be transformed into honor, the impious to be
led to glory, and in place of thorns a crown. He hath taken on my body,
so that I be made capable to have within myself His Spirit—He hath
appropriated unto Himself (my nature), being garbed in my body, and doth
give unto me His Spirit, so that I, giving and in turn receiving, might
discover the treasure of life.
What shall I say and what proclaim? “Behold, a Virgin in womb shalt
conceive and She shalt give birth a Son, and they will call Him the name
Emmanuel, in interpretation: God is with us (Matthew 1:23). The saying
here deals not with something for future whereof we might learn to hope,
but rather it tells us about something that already has occurred and it
awes us with something that already has been fulfilled. What formerly
was said to the Jews and fulfilled amidst them, is now thus amidst us
realised as an occurrence, whereof we have received (this prophecy), and
adopted it, and believed in it. The prophet says to the Jews: “Behold, a
Virgin shalt conceive” (Isaiah 7:14); for Christians however, the
saying devolves upon the fulfilling of the actual deed, the full
treasure-trove of the actual event. In Judea a Virgin gave birth, but
all the lands of the world accepted Her Son. There—was the root of the
vine; here—the vine of truth. The Jews squeezed the wine-press, and the
Gentiles have tasted of the sacramental Blood; those others planted the
kernel of wheat, and these thrive by the grain harvest of faith. The
Jews were pricked to death by the thorns, the Gentiles are filled by the
harvest; those others sat beneathe the tree of desolation, and
these—beneathe the tree of life; those expounded the precepts of the
Law, but the Gentiles reap the spiritual fruits. The Virgin gave birth
not Herself of Herself, but as willed He needing to be born. Not in
corporeal manner did God act, not to the law of the flesh did God
subordinate Himself, but the Lord of corporeal nature manifested Himself
to appear in the world by a miraculous birth, in order to reveal His
power and to show, that in having been made Man, He is born not as a
mere man,—that God is made Man, since for His will nothing be difficult.
On the present great day He is born of the Virgin, having overcome
the natural order of things. He is higher than wedlock and free from
defilement. It sufficed that He the preceptor of purity should shine
forth gloriously, to emerge from a pure and undefiled womb. For He—is
That Same, Who in the beginning did create Adam from the virgin soil,
and from Adam without wedlock did bring forth for him his wife Eve. And
as Adam was without wife before that he had a wife, and the first woman
then was brought into the world, so likewise on the present day the
Virgin without man giveth birth to That One, about Whom spake the
prophet: “He—is Man, who is he that doth know Him?” The Man Christ,
clearly seen by mankind, born of God, is such that womankind was needed
to perfect that of mankind, so that perfectly would be born man for
woman. And just as from Adam was taken woman, without impairment and
without diminishing of his masculine nature, so also from woman without
man was needed to bring forth a man, similar to the bringing forth of
Eve, so that Adam be not extolled in that without his means woman should
bring forth woman. Therefore the Virgin without cohabitation with man
gave birth to God the Word, made Man, so that in equal measure it was by
the same miracle to bestow equal honor to both the one and the other
half—man and woman. And just as from Adam was taken woman without his
diminishing, so likewise from the Virgin was taken the body (Born of
Her), wherein also the Virgin did not undergo diminishing, and Her
virginity did not suffer harm. Adam dwelt well and unharmed, when the
rib was taken from him: and so without defilement dwelt the Virgin, when
from Her was brought forth God the Word. For this sort of reason
particularly the word assumed of the Virgin Her flesh and Her
(corporeal) garb, so that He be not accounted innocent of the sin of
Adam. Since man stung by sin had become a vessel and instrument of evil,
Christ took upon Himself this receptacle of sin into His Own flesh so
that, the Creator having been co-united with the body, it should thus be
freed from the foulness of the enemy, and man thus be clothed in an
eternal body, which be neither perished nor destroyed for all eternity.
Moreover, He that is become the God-Man is born, not as ordinarily man
is born—He is born as God made Man, manifest of this by His Own Divine
power, since if He were born according to the general laws of nature,
the Word would seem something imperfect. Therefore, He was born of the
Virgin and shone forth; therefore, having been born, He preserved
unharmed the virginal womb, so that the hitherto unheard of manner of
the Nativity should be for us a sign of great mystery.
Is Christ God? Christ is God by nature, but not by the order of
nature did He become Man. Thus we declare and in truth believe, calling
to witness the seal of intact virginity: as Almighty Creator of the womb
and virginity, He chose an unshameful manner of birth and was made Man,
as He did will.
On this great day, now being celebrated, God hath appeared as Man, as
Pastor of the nation of Israel, Who hath enlivened all the universe
with His goodness. O dear warriors, glorious champions for mankind, who
did preach Bethlehem as a place of Theophany and the Nativity of the Son
of God, who have made known to all the world the Lord of all, lying in a
manger, and did point out God contained within a narrow cave!
And so, we now glorify joyfully a feast of the years. Just as hence
the laws of feasts be new, so now also the laws of birth be wondrous. On
this great day now celebrated, of shattered chains, of Satan shamed, of
all demons to flight, the all-destroying death is replaced by life,
paradise is opened to the thief, curses be transformed into blessings,
all sins forgiven and evil banished, truth is come, and they have
proclaimed tidings filled with reverence and love for God, traits pure
and immaculate are implanted, virtue is exalted upon the earth, Angels
are come together with people, and people make bold to converse with
Angels. Whence and why hath all this happened? From this, that God hath
descended into the world and exalted mankind unto Heaven. There is
accomplished a certain transposition of everything: God Who is perfect
hath descended to earth, though by Nature He remaineth entirely in the
Heavens, even at that time when in His wholeness He be situated upon the
earth. He was God and was made Man, not negating His Divinity: He was
not made God, since He was always such by His very Nature, but He was
made flesh, so that He be visible to everything corporeal. That One,
upon Whom even the Heaven-dwellers cannot look, chose as His habitation a
manger, and when He came, all around Him became still. And for naught
else did He lay in the manger, than for this, that in giving nourishment
to all, He should for Himself extract the nourishment of infants from
maternal breasts and by this to bless wedlock.
On this great day people, leaving off from their arduous and serious
affairs, do come forth for the glory of Heaven, and they learn through
the gleaming of the stars, that the Lord hath descended to the earth to
save His creation. The Lord, sitting upon a swift cloud, in the flesh
wilt enter into Egypt (Isaiah 19:1), visible fleeing from Herod, on that
very deed which inspires the saying by Isaiah: “On that day Israel wilt
be third amidst the Egyptians” (Isaiah 19:24).
People entered into the cave, thinking not at all about this
beforehand, and it became for them an holy temple. God entered into
Egypt, in the place of the ancient sadness there to bring joy, and in
the place of dark gloom to shed forth the light of salvation. The waters
of the Nile had become defiled and harmful after infants perished in it
with untimely death. There appeared in Egypt That One, Who upon a time
turned the water into blood and Who thereafter transformed these waters
into well-springs of the water of rebirth, by the grace of the Holy
Spirit cleansing away sins and transgressions. Chastisement once befell
the Egyptians, since in their errors they defied God. But Jesus now is
come into Egypt and hath sown in it reverence for God, so that in
casting off from the Egyptian soul its errors, they are made amicable
unto God. The river waters concurred worthily to encompass His head,
like a crown.
In order not to stretch out in length our discourse and briefly to
conclude what is said, we shall ask: in what manner was the passionless
Word made flesh and become visible, while dwelling immutably in His
Divine Nature? But what shall I say and what declare? I see the
carpenter and the manger, the Infant and the Virgin Birth-Giver,
forsaken by all, weighed down by hardship and want. Behold, to what a
degree of humiliation the great God hath descended. For our sakes
“impoverished, Who was rich” (2 Cor 8:9): He was put into but sorry
swaddling cloths—not on a soft bed. O poverty, source of all exaltation!
O destitution, revealing all treasures! He doth appear to the poor—and
the poor He maketh rich; He doth lay in an animal manger—and by His word
He sets in motion all the world. He is wrapped in tattered swaddling
cloths—and shatters the bonds of sinners having called the entire world
into being by His Word alone.
What still should I say and proclaim? I see the Infant, in swaddling
cloths and lying in the manger; Mary, the Virgin Mother, stands before
it together with Joseph, called Her husband. He is called Her husband,
and She—his wife, in name but so and seemingly wedded, though in fact
they were not spouses. she was betrothed to Joseph, but the Holy Spirit
came upon Her, as about this the holy evangelist doth speak: “The Holy
Spirit shalt come upon Thee, and the power of the MostHigh wilt
overshadow Thee: and He to be born is Holy” (Lk 1:35) and is of the seed
of Heaven. Joseph did not dare to speak in opposition, and the
righteous man did not wish to reprove the Holy Virgin; he did not want
to believe any suspicion of sin nor pronounce against the Holy Virgin
words of slander; but the Son to be born he did not wish to acknowledge
as his, since he knew, that He—was not of him. And although he was
perplexed and had doubts, Who such an Infant should be, and pondered it
over—he then had an heavenly vision, an Angel appeared to him and
encouraged him with the words: Fear not, Joseph, son of David; He That
shalt be born of Mary is called Holy and the Son of God; that is: the
Holy Spirit shalt come upon the Immaculate Virgin, and the power of the
Most High wilt overshadow Her (Matthew 1:20-21; Luke 1:35). Truly He was
to be born of the Virgin, preserving unharmed Her virginity. Just as
the first virgin had fallen, enticed by Satan, so now Gabriel bears new
tidings to the Virgin Mary, so that a virgin would give assent to be the
Virgin, and to the Nativity—by birth. Allured by temptations, Eve did
once utter words of ruination; Mary, in turn, in accepting the tidings
gave birth to the Incorporeal and Life-Creating Word. For the words of
Eve, Adam was cast out of paradise; the Word, born of the Virgin,
revealed the Cross, by which the thief entered into the paradise of
Adam. Though neither the pagan Gentiles, nor the Jews, nor the
high-priests would believe, that from God could be born a Son without
travail and without man, this now is so and He is born in the body,
capable to endure suffering, while preserving inviolate the body of the
Virgin.
Thus did He manifest His Omnipotence, born of the Virgin, preserving
the virginity of the Virgin intact, and He was born of God with neither
complication, travail, evil nor a separation of forsaking the immutable
Divine Essence, born God from God. Since mankind abandoned God, in place
of Him worshipping graven images of humans, God the Word thus assumed
the image of man, so that in banishing error and restoring truth, He
should consign to oblivion the worshipping of idols and for Himself to
be accorded divine honor, since to Him becometh all glory and honor unto
ages of ages.
Amen!
