Christ is Born! The Nativity Discourse of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus

 

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!

 

ΥΜΝΟΙ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥΓΕΝΝΩΝ-ORTHODOX CHRISTMAS HYMNS

Χριστούγεννα η Αποκάλυψη της μονδικής Αλήθειας

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥΓΕΝΝΑ
Η ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΙΣ ΤΗΣ ΜΟΝΑΔΙΚΗΣ, 

 ΠΡΟΣΩΠΟΙΗΜΕΝΗΣ, ΤΕΛΕΙΑΣ, ΣΩΤΗΡΙΩΔΟΥΣ, ΘΕÏΚΗΣ ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΘΕΑΝΔΡΙΚΟΝ ΠΡΟΣΩΠΟΝ ΤΟΥ ΕΝΑΝΘΡΩΠΗΣΑΝΤΟΣ ΘΕΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΥ ΙΗΣΟΥ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ

Πρωτ. Άγγελος Αγγελακόπουλος

Πρό της ελεύσεως του Χριστού ήμασταν αμαρτωλοί. Καί ως αμαρτωλοί ήμασταν καταδικασμένοι. Η θέση μας μετά τόν θάνατο ήταν στήν κόλαση, τήν κατάσταση της αιωνίου αμεθεξίας του Θεού. Καί συνεπώς είχαμε ανάγκη σωτηρίας. Καί ποιός θά μπορούσε νά μας σώσει; Μόνο ο Θεός, στόν Οποίο έχουν αναφορά οι αμαρτίες μας. Ο Υιός καί Λόγος του Θεού Πατρός, τό δεύτερο πρόσωπο της Αγίας Τριάδος, ο Θεάνθρωπος Ιησούς Χριστός, όταν ήλθε τό «πλήρωμα του χρόνου»[1], δηλ. όταν η ανθρώπινη φύση, αφού εκπλήρωσε κάθε είδος κακίας, χρειαζόταν ιατρεία[2], «έκλινεν ουρανούς καί κατέβη», ενηνθρώπησε, έγινε καί τέλειος άνθρωπος, προσέλαβε ολόκληρη τήν ανθρώπινη φύση, εκτός της αμαρτίας, τήν ένωσε στό Θεανδρικό πρόσωπό Του καί ήλθε στόν κόσμο όχι μόνο γιά νά μας σώσει, αλλά καί γιά νά μας θεώσει. Σύμφωνα μέ τόν Μ. Αθανάσιο «Αυτός γάρ ενηνθρώπησεν, ίνα ημείς θεοποιηθώμεν»[3]. Ο Θεός γίνεται άνθρωπος, γιά γίνει ο άνθρωπος Θεός κατά Χάριν. Αυτό τό γεγονός εορτάζουμε κατά τήν εορτή των Χριστουγέννων.

Πώς ήλθε ο Χριστός, αγαπητοί μου; Τόν καλέσαμε; Αλλά, εμείς οι εθνικοί πώς θά μπορούσαμε νά Τόν καλέσουμε, τήν στιγμή πού Τόν αγνοούσαμε; Ο εγωισμός καί η αμαρτία μάς είχαν σκοτίσει˙ είχαμε καταντήσει μωροί, ανόητοι˙ θεοποιήσαμε καί λατρεύσαμε τά κτίσματα καί τά πάθη μας, αντί γιά τόν Κτίστη. Πώς θά μπορούσαμε νά Τόν καλέσουμε, αφού θεωρούσαμε τήν αμαρτία απλώς σάν μιά αστοχία, σάν ένα μαθηματικό λάθος, καί όχι ως τήν οντολογική ρήξη μέ τόν Ίδιο τόν Θεό, καί συνεπώς δέν αισθανόμασταν τήν ανάγκη μετανοίας; Καί πάλι πώς θά μπορούσαμε νά Τόν καλέσουμε, αφού πολλοί δέν πιστεύαμε στήν ύπαρξη της ψυχής, σέ αιώνια ζωή καί σέ ανταπόδοση κατά τά έργα μας;

Ο Χριστός ήλθε στόν κόσμο χωρίς κλήση από τούς ανθρώπους, αλλά από δική Του πρωτοβουλία, αυτεπαγγέλτως. Δέν καλέσαμε εμείς τόν Θεό νά έλθει σ’εμάς, αλλά ο Θεός ήλθε καί μας κάλεσε νά πάμε πρός Αυτόν, όπως ωραιότατα λέει ο 18ος οίκος του Ακαθίστου Ύμνου˙ «Σώσαι θέλων τόν κόσμον ο των όλων κοσμήτωρ πρός τούτον αυτεπάγγελτος ήλθε˙ καί Ποιμήν υπάρχων ως Θεός, δι’ημάς εφάνη καθ’ημάς άνθρωπος˙ ομοίω γάρ τό όμοιον καλέσας, ως Θεός ακούει˙ Αλληλούια».

Ο Χριστός ήλθε όχι μόνο αυτεπαγγέλτως, αλλά καί αυτοπροσώπως. Αυτοπροσώπως μας δημιούργησε καί αυτοπροσώπως ήλθε καί μας αναδημιούργησε. Ο Θεός Πατήρ δέν έστειλε αγγέλους, γιά νά τούς καταστήσει σωτήρες του κόσμου, αλλά έστειλε ένα απόγονο του Αβραάμ, τόν Χριστό. Ο Χριστός, όμως, δέν είναι απλώς άνθρωπος, αλλά ο Σωτήρ, ο Μεσσίας, ο Κύριος, στόν οποίο κατοικεί όλη η θεότητα, ο όλος Θεός. Ο Υιός της Παρθένου δέν είναι απλώς άνθρωπος, αλλά Θεάνθρωπος.

Ο Θεός ανέλαβε αυτό τό έργο της αναδημιουργίας του φθαρτού κόσμου, διότι έχει πολλή, ανιδιοτελή, υπερβάλλουσα, τελεία αγάπη. «Ούτω γάρ ηγάπησεν ο Θεός τόν κόσμον, ώστε τόν Υιόν αυτού τόν μονογενή έδωκεν, ίνα πας ο πιστεύων εις αυτόν μή απόληται, αλλ’έχη ζωήν αιώνιον»[4], λέει ο Ευαγγελιστής Ιωάννης ο Θεολόγος. Ο Θεός μάς δημιούργησε από αγάπη καί πάλι από αγάπη αυτεπαγγέλτως καί αυτοπροσώπως ήλθε νά μάς σώσει, διότι είχαμε διαφθαρεί καί βαδίζαμε στήν απώλεια, εξαιτίας του εγωισμού, της ανυπακοής καί της εχθρότητας πρός τόν Θεό. Ο Θεός αγάπησε ανθρώπους, πού δέν Τόν αγαπούσαν, αλλά Τόν εχθρεύονταν. Ο Θεός αγάπησε εχθρούς, πού ήξερε, ότι θά Τόν ανέβαζαν στόν Σταυρό καί θά Τόν πότιζαν όξος καί χολή. Ο Θεός αγάπησε καθάρματα! Κατά τόν ιερό Χρυσόστομο «ο Θεός επεθύμησε πόρνη. Πόρνη επεθύμησε ο Θεός; Ναί, πόρνη», εννοώντας τήν δική μας λερωμένη καί αμαυρωμένη ανθρώπινη φύση[5]. Όντως ακατάληπτη σέ μας τούς μικρόψυχους καί ιδιοτελείς η αγάπη του Θεού[6].

Γιά ποιόν άλλο λόγο ήλθε ο Χριστός στόν κόσμο; Γιά νά γνωρίσουμε τήν αλήθεια καί νά ελευθερωθούμε από τήν πλάνη. «Γνώσεσθε τήν αλήθεια καί η αλήθεια ελευθερώσει υμάς»[7], μας λέει ο Ίδιος. Βέβαια, η αλήθεια δέν είναι μιά αφηρημένη καί απρόσωπη έννοια, αλλά βρίσκει τό τέλειο περιεχόμενό της στό θείο πρόσωπο του Χριστού. Η αλήθεια είναι ο Χριστός, όπως μάς απεκάλυψε ο Ίδιος˙ «Εγώ ειμί η οδός καί η αλήθεια καί η ζωή»[8]. Η μοναδική αλήθεια, προσωπική μάλιστα, όχι αλήθεια ως έννοια, αλλά αλήθεια προσωποποιημένη, σέ πρόσωπο, είναι η χριστιανική αλήθεια, είναι ο Θεός των Χριστιανών, είναι η Αγία Τριάς, ο Πατήρ, ο Υιός καί τό Άγιον Πνεύμα. Ένα από τά πρόσωπα τό γνωρίσαμε στό πρόσωπο του Κυρίου ημών Ιησού Χριστού. Στό πρόσωπο του Χριστού μας φανερώθηκε ποιά είναι η πραγματική αλήθεια.

Αυτές τίς ημέρες ακούμε πολύ συχνά να πολύ όμορφο χριστουγεννιάτικο ύμνο˙ «Βηθλεέμ ετοιμάζου, ευτρεπιζέσθω η φάτνη, τό σπήλαιον δεχέσθω, η αλήθεια ήλθεν, η σκιά παρέδραμε»[9]. Ετοιμάζου Βηθλεέμ˙ κι εσύ φάτνη˙ η αλήθεια ήλθε. Γεννιέται ο Χριστός, κατεβαίνει στή γη τό δεύτερο πρόσωπο της Αγίας Τριάδος, γιά νά μάς παρουσιάσει προσωπικά τήν αλήθεια˙ «εγώ ειμί η αλήθεια». Ελάτε νά βιώσετε κοντά   σ’ Εμένα τήν αλήθεια καί ν’αναπαυθείτε. «Η αλήθεια ήλθεν, η σκιά παρέδραμε».

Ο άγιος και ευαγγελιστής Ιωάννης ο Θεολόγος αρχίζει τό Ευαγγέλιό του ως εξής : «Εν αρχή ην ο Λόγος καί ο Λόγος ην πρός τόν Θεόν καί Θεός ην ο Λόγος», «καί ο Λόγος σάρξ εγένετο»[10]. Νά, λοιπόν! Ο Λόγος του Θεού έγινε σάρκα στό πρόσωπο του Χριστού. Προσωπική πραγματικότητα.

Ο Χριστός, όταν ήλθε καί κήρυξε τό Ευαγγέλιο, δέν κήρυξε μία αλήθεια μερική, δέν είπε ότι «εγώ είμαι ένας από αυτούς, πού λένε τήν αλήθεια». Είπε˙ «Εγώ είμαι η οδός καί η αλήθεια καί η ζωή»[11], αποκλειστικά. Ο Χριστός είναι τό πλήρωμα της αληθείας καί η Εκκλησία είναι τό πλήρωμα, ο στύλος της αληθείας, συνεχίζοντας τόν Χριστό.

Τήν περίοδο αυτή του ιερού Δωδεκαημέρου αναγινώσκουμε αυτή τή φοβερή περικοπή από τό Ευαγγέλιο, πού, όταν ο Χριστός άρχισε νά διδάσκει εκεί στήν Ιουδαία, λέει˙ «γη Ζαβουλών καί γη Νεφθαλείμ, ο λαός ο καθήμενος εν σκότει είδε φως μέγα καί τοις καθημένοις εν χώρα καί σκιά θανάτου φως ανέτειλεν αυτοίς»[12]. «Εγώ είμαι τό φως του κόσμου»[13], είπε. Δέν υπάρχουν άλλα φώτα. Καί δέν τά λέει αυτά ένας δάσκαλος, άνθρωπος. Δέν τά λέει ο Μωάμεθ, ο Αλλάχ, ο Βούδδας, ο Κομφούκιος, ο Πάπας. Τά λέει ο ίδιος ο Θεός στό πρόσωπο του Χριστού. Αν πιστεύουμε ότι ο Χριστός είναι ο Θεός, τό δεύτερο πρόσωπο της Αγίας Τριάδος, τολμούμε νά αμφισβητήσουμε ότι αυτό πού λέει ο Χριστός «Εγώ είμαι η αλήθεια καί η οδός καί η ζωή»; Αποκλειστικά εγώ καί κανένας άλλος. Αυτό τό λέμε καί στό απολυτίκιο της Γεννήσεως˙ «Η γέννησίς σου, Χριστέ ο Θεός ημών, ανέτειλε τω κόσμω τό φως τό της γνώσεως. Εν αυτή γάρ οι τοις άστροις λατρεύοντες υπό αστέρος εδιδάσκοντο σέ προσκυνείν τόν ήλιον της δικαιοσύνης». Η Γέννησή σου, Χριστέ, ανέτειλε στόν κόσμο τό φως. Δέν υπήρχε φως. «Η αλήθεια ήλθεν, η σκιά παρέδραμεν». Πάει τό σκοτάδι. Ήλθε η αλήθεια. Γι’αυτό σέ κάθε Θεία Λειτουργία ψάλουμε : «Είδομεν τό φως τό αληθινόν, ελάβομεν Πνεύμα επουράνιον˙ εύρομεν πίστιν αληθή». Αλήθεια. «Αδιαίρετον Τριάδα προσκυνούντες».

Οι ιεροί υμνογράφοι της εορτής των Χριστουγέννων, όσιος Κοσμάς ο ποιητής επίσκοπος Μαϊουμά καί όσιος Ιωάννης ο Δαμασκηνός, αρκετά τροπάρια τά έγραψαν σέ χρόνο ενεστώτα καί χρησιμοποιούν συχνά τό χρονικό επίρρημα «σήμερον», όπως «Χριστός γεννάται, δοξάσατε...», «Η Παρθένος σήμερον τόν υπερούσιον τίκτει...», «Σήμερον γεννάται εκ Παρθένου ο δρακί τήν πάσαν έχων κτίσιν», «Σήμερον τίκτει η Παρθένος τόν Ποιητήν του παντός...», «Σήμερον δέχεται η Βηθλεέμ τόν καθήμενον διά παντός σύν Πατρί. Σήμερον Άγγελοι τό Βρέφος τό τεχθέν θεοπρεπώς δοξολογούσι...» κ.ά. Δικαιολογημένα θά ρωτούσε κάποιος γιά ποιόν λόγο τό έκαναν αυτό, αφού τό ιστορικό γεγονός της Γεννήσεως του Χριστού πραγματοποιήθηκε μία φορά πρίν από 2012 χρόνια καί κανονικά θά έπρεπε νά χρησιμοποιήσουν παρελθοντικό χρόνο. Τήν απάντηση μάς τή δίδει ο Όσιος Νικόδημος ο Αγιορείτης, τονίζοντας ότι οι ρήτορες συνηθίζουν νά προφέρουν τά περασμένα πράγματα σέ χρόνο ενεστώτα, γιά νά τά δείξουν ως παρόντα στά μάτια των ακροατών καί ακολούθως νά τούς κάνουν περισσότερο θεατές παρά ακροατές[14]. Ο χρόνος μέσα στήν Εκκλησία σχετικοποιείται, καταργείται καί όλα τά παρελθόντα γίνονται παρόντα, γιά νά μπορούν οι πιστοί νά τά βιώνουν, σά νά πραγματοποιούνται ακριβώς αυτή τή στιγμή. Τό χρονικό γίνεται άχρονο, αιώνιο καί αΐδιο. Καί όχι μόνο τά παρελθόντα γίνονται παρόντα, αλλά καί τά μέλλοντα. Παράξενο αυτό! Πώς γίνεται ένα μελλοντικό γεγονός, πού δέν τό γνωρίζουμε καί δέν έχει πραγματοποιηθεί ακόμη, νά είναι παρόν; Είναι αυτή η κατάργηση καί σχετικοποίηση του χρόνου, πού αναφέραμε πιό πάνω. Στήν ευχή της Αναφοράς της Θείας Λειτουργίας ο λειτουργών ιερεύς λέγει : «Μεμνημένοι τοίνυν της σωτηρίου ταύτης εντολής καί πάντων των υπέρ ημών γεγενημένων, του σταυρού, του τάφου, της τριημέρου αναστάσεως, της εις ουρανούς αναβάσεως, της εκ δεξιών καθέδρας, της δευτέρας καί ενδόξου πάλιν παρουσίας». Θυμόμαστε, λέει, περασμένα γεγονότα, πού έχουν γίνει. Τήν Σταύρωση, τήν Ταφή, τήν Ανάσταση, τήν Ανάληψη. Μέχρι εδώ εντάξει. Αλλά, ας προσέξουμε τί λέει παρακάτω! Θυμόμαστε καί τήν Δευτέρα καί ένδοξη Παρουσία. Μά, είναι δυνατόν αυτό; Νά θυμόμαστε ένα μελλοντικό γεγονός, πού δέν έχει λάβει χώρα; Ένας φιλόλογος θά εξίστατο καί θά έλεγε ότι εδώ υπάρχει λάθος. Όμως, δέν είναι λάθος. Είναι ορθόν. Διότι, στήν Εκκλησία καί τήν Ορθόδοξη θεολογία τά γεγονότα όλα είναι παρόντα καί ο πιστός τά βιώνει εδώ καί τώρα. Καί γιατί ο πιστός δέν πρέπει νά κατανοεί τά πράγματα καί τά γεγονότα μόνο μέ τό μυαλό, μέ τή λογική, νοησιαρχικά, αλλά κυρίως ωφείλει νά μετέχει σ’αυτά καί νά τά βιώνει καρδιακώς.     

Όντως, αγαπητοί μου, «μέγα τό της ευσεβείας μυστήριον», αναφωνεί ο Απόστολος των εθνών Παύλος, διότι «ο Θεός εφανερώθη εν σαρκί»[15]. Αυτό τό μέγα μυστήριο ας είναι η κύρια μελέτη καί τό εντρύφημά μας αυτές τίς άγιες ημέρες του ιερού Δωδεκαημέρου, ικετεύοντας παραλλήλως τό θείον Βρέφος της Βηθλεέμ νά μας ανοίξει τά πνευματικά μάτια της ψυχής μας, ώστε νά τό βιώσουμε καρδιακώς όσο τό δυνατόν βαθύτερα. Ας κάνουμε τίς καρδιές μας φάτνες ταπεινές, γιά νά υποδεχθούμε τόν ενανθρωπήσαντα Κύριο καί Σωτήρα μας, καί, όπως ο Χριστός καταδέχθηκε νά γεννηθεί ως νήπιον, έτσι κι εμείς ας γίνουμε νήπια όχι στήν ηλικία καί τήν φρόνηση, αλλά ας νηπιάσουμε ως πρός τίς αμαρτίες μας.

[1] Γαλ. 4, 4.
[2] ΟΣΙΟΣ ΝΙΚΟΔΗΜΟΣ ΑΓΙΟΡΕΙΤΗΣ, Ερμηνεία εις τάς ΙΔ΄ επιστολάς του  Αποστόλου  Παύλου, τ. Β΄, σ. 302, εκδ. Ορθόδοξος Κυψέλη, Θεσσαλονίκη 1990.
[3] Μ. ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΣ, Περί ενανθρωπήσεως του Λόγου 54, PG 25, 192Β.
[4] Ιω. 3, 16.
[5] ΑΓΙΟΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΣ, Ομιλία «ότε της Εκκλησίας έξω ευρεθείς Ευτρόπιος...», PG 52, 404Α - 411Β.
[6] Ο Σταυρός, μηνιαίο περιοδικό όργανο ορθοδόξου ιεραποστολικής αδελφότητος, έτος ΝΓ΄, Αθήναι, Δεκέμβριος 2005, αρ. τ. 507, σσ. 164-166.
[7] Ιω. 8, 32.
[8] Ιω. 14, 6.
[9] Ιδιόμελον Α΄ Μεγάλης Ώρας Χριστουγέννων.
[10] Ιω. 1,1,14.
[11] Ιω. 14,6.
[12] Μτθ. 4,15-16.
[13] Ιω. 8,12.
[14] ΟΣΙΟΣ ΝΙΚΟΔΗΜΟΣ ΑΓΙΟΡΕΙΤΗΣ, Εορτοδρόμιον ήτοι ερμηνεία εις τούς ασματικούς κανόνας των Δεσποτικών και Θεομητορικών εορτών, τ. Α΄, σ. 152,                
   εκδ. Ορθόδοξος Κυψέλη, Θεσσαλονίκη 1987.
[15] Α΄ Τιμ. 3, 16.

On the Sunday of the Forefathers of Christ (St. Gregory Palamas)

by St. Gregory Palamas (+1359)

David indicates that our Lord Jesus Christ has no genealogy with regard to His divinity (Ps 110.4), Isaiah says the same (Isa 53.8), and later so does the Apostle (Heb 7.3). How can the descent be traced of Him “who is in the beginning, and is with God, and is God, and is the Word and Son of God” (Jn 1.1-2, 18)? He does not have a Father who was before Him, and shares with His Father “a name which is above every other name” and all speech (Phil 2.9). For the most part, genealogies are traced back through different surnames but there is no surname for God, and whatever may be said of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, They are one and do not differ in any respect.

Imposssible to recount is Christ’s descent according to His divinity, but His ancestry according to His human nature can be traced, since He who deigned to become Son of man in order to save mankind was the offspring of men. And it is this genealogy of His that two of the evangelists, Matthew and Luke, recorded. But although Matthew, in the passage from his Gospel read today, begins with those born first, he makes no mention of anyone before Abraham. He traces the line down from Abraham until he reaches Joseph to whom, by divine dispensation, the Virgin Mother of God was betrothed, being of the same tribe and homeland as him, that her own stock might be shown from this to be in no way inferior. Luke, by contrast, begins not with the earliest forebears but the most recent, and working his way back from Joseph the Betrothed, does not stop at Abraham, nor, having included Abraham’s predecessors, does he end with Adam, but lists God among Christ’s human forebears (Luke 3.23-38); wishing to show, in my opinion, that from the beginning man was not just a creation of God, but also a son in the Spirit, which was given to him at the same time as his soul, through God’s quickening breath (Gen 2.7). It was granted to him as a pledge that, if, waiting patiently for it, he kept the commandment, he would be able to share through the same Spirit in a more perfect union with God, by which he would live for ever with Him and obtain immortality.

By heeding the evil counsel of the pernicious angel, man transgressed the divine commandments, was shown to be unworthy, forfeited the pledge and interrupted God’s plan. God’s grace, however, is unalterable and His purpose cannot prove false, so some of man’s offspring were chosen, that, from among many, a suitable receptacle for this divine adoption and grace might be found, who would serve God’s will perfectly, and would be revealed as a vessel worthy to unite divine and human nature in one person, not just exalting our nature, but restoring the human race. The holy Maid and Virgin Mother of God was this vessel, so she was proclaimed by the archangel Gabriel as full of grace, being the chosen one among the chosen, blameless, undefiled and worthy to contain the person of the God-man and to collaborate with Him. Therefore God pre-ordained her before all ages, chose her from among all who had ever lived, and deemed her worthy of more grace than anyone else, making her the holiest of saints, even before her mysterious childbearing. For that reason, He graciously willed that she should make her home in the Holy of Holies, and accepted her as His companion to share His dwelling from her childhood. He did not simply choose her from the masses, but from the elect of all time, who were admired and renowned for their piety and wisdon, and for their character, words and deeds, which pleased God and brought benefit to all.

Observe also that the Holy Spirit makes it clear to such as have understanding that the whole of divinely inspired Scripture was written because of the Virgin Mother of God. It relates in detail the entire line of her ancestry, which begins with Adam, then passes through Seth, Noah and Abraham, as well as David and Zerubbabel, those in between them and their successors, and goes up to the time of the Virgin Mother of God. By contrast, Scripture does not touch upon some races at all, and in the case of others, it makes a start at tracing their descent, then soon abandons them, leaving them in the depths of oblivion. Above all, it commemorates those of the Mother of God’s forebears who, in their own lives and the deeds wrought by them, prefigured Christ, who was to be born of the Virgin.

Now these things are examples and types of greater mysteries, since it was necessary that the royal line be united in many ways with the priestly race, which would bring forth the family of Christ according to the flesh; because in many ways Christ is truly the eternal King and High Priest. And the fact that adopted sons are counted as sons, that the law approves of adoptive fathers no less and sometimes more than natural fathers, and that the same, appropriately, applies to other kinds of kinship, was a clear example and type of our adoption by Christ, our kinship with Him and our calling according to the Spirit and the law of grace. For the Lord Himself says in the Gospels, “Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matt 12.50).

Do you see that the family and kin of Christ are not engendered according to nature, but according to grace and the law that comes from grace? This law is so far superior to the law given through Moses that, whereas those called sons according to the law of Moses are neither born of God nor do they transcend human nature, those styled sons by the law of grace are born of God, brought to perfection above nature and made sone of Abraham through Christ, more closely associated with him than sons according to blood. All who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, according to Paul (Gal 3.27), and although they are other people’s children according to nature, they are born supernaturally of Christ, who in this way conquers nature. For as He became incarnate without seed of the Holy Spirit and the ever-virgin Mary, so He grants potential and power to those who believe in His name to become children of God. For “as many as received him,” says the evangelist, “to them He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1.12-13).

Why, when he says, “which were born of God,” does he not say “and became sons of God,” but “received power to become” sons? Because he was looking towards the end and the universal restoration, the perfection of the age to come. The same evangelist says in his epistles, “It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but when He shall appear, we shall be like Him” (1 John 3.2). Then shall we be children of God, seeing and experiencing God’s radiance, with the rays of Christ’s glory shining around us, and ourselves shining, as Moses and Elijah proved to us when they appeared with Him in glory on Mount Tabor (Matt 17.3, Luke 9.30). “The righteous,” it says, “shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt 13.43). We receive power for this purpose now through the grace of divine baptism. Just as a newborn infant has received potential from his parents to become a man and heir to their house and fortune, but does not yet possess that inheritance because he is a minor, nor will he receive it if he dies before coming of age, so a person born again in the Spirit through Christian baptism has received power to become a son and heir of God, a joint-heir with Christ, and in the age to come he will, with all certainty, receive the divine and immortal adoption as a son, which will not be taken from him, unless he has forfeited this by spiritual death. Sin is spiritual death, and whereas physical death is annulled when the future age arrives, spiritual death is confirmed for those who bring it with them from here.

Everyone who has been baptized, if he is to obtain the eternal blessedness and salvation for which he hopes, should live free from all sin. Peter and Paul, the leaders of the highest company of the holy apostles, made this clear. Paul said of Christ, “In that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God,” adding, “likewise we also ought to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God” (Rom 6.10-11), whereas Peter wrote, “Forasmuch then as Christ hath died for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: that ye no longer should live the rest of your time by the lusts of men, but by the will of God” (1 Pet 4.1-2). If it was for our sake that the Lord lived His time on earth, to leave us an example, and He passed His life without sin, we too must live without sin, in imitation of Him. Since He said even to Abraham’s descendants according to the flesh, “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham” (John 8.39), how much more will He say to us who have no physical kinship with Him, “If you were My children, you would do My works”? It is therefore consistent and just that anyone who, after divine baptism, after the covenants he made then to God and the grace he received from it, does not follow Christ’s way of life step by step, but transgresses and offends against the benefactor, should be utterly deprived of divine adoption and the eternal inheritance.

But, O Christ our King, who can worthily extol the greatness of Your love for mankind? What was unnecessary for Him and what He did not do, namely, repentance (for He never needed to repent, being sinless), He granted to us as a mediator for when we sin even after receiving grace. Repentance means returning once again to Him and to a life according to His will out of remorse. Even if someone commits a deadly sin, if he turns away from it with all his soul, abstains from it and turns back to the Lord in deed and truth, he should take courage and be of good hope, for he shall not lose eternal life and salvation. When a child according to the flesh meets his death, he is not brought back to life by his father, but someone born of Christ, even though he fall into deadly sins, if he turns again and runs to the Father who raises the dead, is made alive once more, obtains divine adoption, and is not cat out from the company of the just.

May we all attain to this, to the glory of Christ and of His Father without beginning and of the life-giving Spirit, now and for ever, and unto unceasing ages. Amen.

From Homily Fifty-Seven of St Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica, on the Sunday of the Forefathers of the Lord, between the years 1347 and 1359.

π. Ανδρέας Κονάνος - Εικόνα Χριστουγέννων (Αθέατα Περάσματα)

π. Ανδρέας Κονάνος Αθέατα Περάσματα 19-12-2006 Εικόνα Χριστουγέννων

The Sunday before Christ's Nativity: St. John Chrysostom on the Genealogy of Christ

 Icon of Christ "Emmanuel", which means "God with us"

Greetings!
For the past forty days we are called by our Church to prepare for Christ's Nativity. On the Sunday before Christmas, the Genealogy of Christ from the first chapter of St. Matthew is read as one of many preparations for us before Christ's Holy Birth. Below are excerpts from the commentary of St. John Chrysostom on this section of the Holy Gospel.

The Sunday before Christ's Nativity: St. John Chrysostom on the Genealogy of Christ

“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.”

Do ye indeed remember the charge, which we lately made you, entreating you to hearken unto all the things that are said with all silence, and mystical quietness? For we are to-day to set foot within the holy vestibule, wherefore I have also put you in mind of the charge.
  

Since, if the Jews, when they were to approach “a mountain that burned, and fire, and blackness, and darkness, and tempest;” —or rather when they were not so much as to approach, but both to see and to hear these things from afar;—were commanded for three days before to abstain from their wives, and to wash their garments, and were in trembling and fear, both themselves and Moses with them; much more we, when we are to hearken to such words, and are not to stand far from a smoking mountain, but to enter into Heaven itself, ought to show forth a greater self-denial; [φιλοσοφαν.] not washing our garments, but wiping clean the robe of our soul, and ridding ourselves of all mixture with worldly things. For it is not blackness that ye shall see, nor smoke, nor tempest, but the King Himself sitting on the throne of that unspeakable glory, and angels, and archangels standing by Him, and the tribes of the saints, with those interminable myriads.
  

For such is the city of God, having “the Church of the first-born, the spirits of the just, the general assembly of the angels, the blood of sprinkling,” whereby all are knit into one, and Heaven hath received the things of earth, and earth the things of Heaven, and that peace hath come which was of old longed for both by angels and by saints.
  

Herein standeth the trophy of the cross, glorious, and conspicuous, the spoils won by Christ, the first-fruits of our nature, the booty of our King; all these, I say, we shall out of the Gospels know perfectly. If thou follow in becoming quietness, we shall be able to lead thee about everywhere, and to show where death is set forth crucified, and where sin is hanged up, and where are the many and wondrous offerings from this war, from this battle.
  

Thou shalt see likewise the tyrant here bound, and the multitude of the captives following, and the citadel from which that unholy demon overran all things in time past. Thou wilt see the hiding places, and the dens of the robber, broken up now, and laid open, for even there also was our King present.

But be not thou weary, beloved, for if any one were describing a visible war, and trophies, and victories, wouldest thou feel no satiety at all; nay, thou wouldest not prefer either drink or meat to this history. But if that kind of narrative be welcome, much more this. For consider what a thing it is to hear, how on the one side God from Heaven, arising “out of the royal thrones, leaped down” unto the earth, and even unto hell itself, and stood in the battle array; and how the devil on the other hand set himself in array against Him; or rather not against God unveiled, but God hidden in man’s nature.

And what is marvellous, thou wilt see death destroyed by death, and curse extinguished by curse, and the dominion of the devil put down by those very things whereby he did prevail. Let us therefore rouse ourselves thoroughly, and let us not sleep, for lo, I see the gates opening to us; but let us enter in with all seemly order, and with trembling, setting foot straightway within the vestibule itself.
  

2. But what is this vestibule? “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham..."
  

Think not, therefore, it is of small things thou art hearing, when thou hearest of this birth, but rouse up thy mind, and straightway tremble, being told that God hath come upon earth. For so marvellous was this, and beyond expectation, that because of these things the very angels formed a choir, and in behalf of the world offered up their praise for them, and the prophets from the first were amazed at this, that “He was seen upon earth, and conversed with men (Baruch iii. 37).” Yea, for it is far beyond all thought to hear that God the Unspeakable, [Or Unapproachable ἀπρσιτο] the Unutterable, the Incomprehensible, and He that is equal to the Father, hath passed through a virgin’s womb, and hath vouchsafed to be born of a woman, and to have Abraham and David for forefathers. But why do I say Abraham and David? For what is even more amazing, there are those women, whom we have lately mentioned.
  

3. Hearing these things, arise, and surmise nothing low: but even because of this very thing most of all shouldest thou marvel, that being Son of the Unoriginate God, and His true Son, He suffered Himself to be called also Son of David, that He might make thee Son of God. He suffered a slave to be father to Him, that He might make the Lord Father to thee a slave.

  

Seest thou at once from the beginning of what nature are the Gospels? If thou doubt concerning the things that pertain to thee, from what belongs to Him believe these also. For it is far more difficult, judging by human reason, for God to become man, than for a man to be declared a Son of God. When therefore thou art told that the Son of God is Son of David and of Abraham, doubt not any more that thou too, the son of Adam, shall be son of God. For not at random, nor in vain did He abase Himself so greatly, only He was minded to exalt us. Thus He was born after the flesh, that thou mightest be born after the Spirit; He was born of a woman, that thou mightest cease to be the son of a woman.

  

Wherefore the birth was twofold, both made like unto us, and also surpassing ours. For to be born of a woman indeed was our lot, but “to be born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of man,” but of the Holy [Spirit], (John i. 13). was to proclaim beforehand the birth surpassing us, the birth to come, which He was about freely to give us of the Spirit. And everything else too was like this. Thus His baptism also was of the same kind, for it partook of the old, and it partook also of the new. To be baptized by the prophet marked the old, but the coming down of the Spirit shadowed out the new. And like as though any one were to place himself in the space between any two persons that were standing apart, and stretching forth both his hands were to lay hold on either side, and tie them together; even so hath He done, joining the old covenant with the new, God’s nature with man’s, the things that are His with ours.

  

Seest thou the flashing brightness of the city, with how great a splendor it hath dazzled thee from the very beginning? how it hath straightway shown the King in thine own form; as though in a camp? For neither there doth the king always appear bearing his proper dignity, but laying aside the purple and the diadem, he often disguises himself in the garb of a common soldier. But there it is, lest by being known he should draw the enemy upon himself; but here on the contrary, lest, if He were known, He should cause the enemy to fly from the conflict with Him, and lest He should confound all His own people: for His purpose was to save, not to dismay.

  

4. For this reason he hath also straightway called Him by this title, naming Him Jesus. For this name, Jesus, is not Greek, but in the Hebrew language it is thus called Jesus; which is, when interpreted into the Greek tongue, “A Saviour.” And He is called a Saviour, from His saving His people.

  

Seest thou how he hath given wings to the hearer, at once speaking things familiar, and at the same time by these indicating to us things beyond all hope? I mean that both these names were well known to the Jews. For, because the things that were to happen were beyond expectation, the types even of the names went before, in order that from the very first all the unsettling power of novelty might be taken away. Thus he is called Jesus, who after Moses brought the people into the land of promise. Hast thou seen the type? Behold the truth. That led into the land of promise, this into heaven, and to the good things in the heavens; that, after Moses was dead, this after the law had ceased; that as a leader, this as a King.

  

However, lest having heard the word Jesus, thou shouldest by reason of the identity of the name be perplexed, he hath added, “Jesus Christ, Son of David.” But that other was not of David, but of another tribe.

  

5. But wherefore doth he call it a “book of the generation of Jesus Christ,” while yet this book hath not the birth only, but the whole dispensation? Because this is the sum of the whole dispensation, and is made an origin and root of all our blessings. As then Moses calleth it the book of heaven and earth, (Gen. ii. 4) although he hath not discoursed of heaven and earth only, but also of all things that are in the midst thereof; so also this man hath named his book from that which is the sum of all the great things done. For that which teems with astonishment, and is beyond hope and all expectation, is that God should become man. But this having come to pass, all afterwards follows in reasonable consequence.

  

6. But wherefore did he not say, “the Son of Abraham,” and then “the Son of David?” It is not, as some suppose, that he means to proceed upward from the lower point, since then he would have done the same as Luke, but now he doth the contrary. Why then hath he made mention of David? The man was in the mouths of all, both from his distinction, and from the time, for he had not been so very long since dead, like Abraham. And though God made promises to both, yet the one, as old, was passed over in silence, while the other, as fresh and recent, was repeated of all. Themselves, for instance, say, “Doth not Christ come of the seed of David, and out of Bethlehem, the town where David was?” (John vii. 42) And no man called Him Son of Abraham, but all Son of David; and that because this last was more in the recollection of all, both on account of the time, as I have already said, and because of his royalty. On this principle again all the kings whom they had in honor after his time were named from him, both by the people themselves and by God. For both Ezekiel (Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24; xxxvii. 24, 25; Jer. xxx. 9; Hos. iii. 5) and other prophets besides speak of David as coming and rising again; not meaning him that was dead, but them who were emulating his virtue. And to Hezekiah He saith, “I will defend this city, for mine own sake and for my servant David’s sake.” (2 Kings xix. 34) And to Solomon too He said, that for David’s sake He rent not the kingdom during his lifetime. (1 Kings ii. 11, 12, 13). For great was the glory of the man, both with God and with men.

  

On account of this he makes the beginning at once from him who was more known, and then runs up to his father; accounting it superfluous, as far as regards the Jews, to carry the genealogy higher up. For these were principally the persons held in admiration; the one as a prophet and a king, the other as a patriarch and a prophet.

  

7. “But whence is it manifest that He is of David?” one may say. For if He was not sprung of a man, but from a woman only, and the Virgin hath not her genealogy traced, how shall we know that He was of David’s race? Thus, there are two things inquired; both why His mother’s genealogy is not recited, and wherefore it can be that Joseph is mentioned by them, who hath no part in the birth: since the latter seems to be superfluous, and the former a defect.

  

Of which then is it necessary to speak first? How the Virgin is of David. How then shall we know that she is of David? Hearken unto God, telling Gabriel to go unto “a virgin betrothed to a man (whose name was Joseph), of the house and lineage of David.” (Luke i. 27) What now wouldest thou have plainer than this, when thou hast heard that the Virgin was of the house and lineage of David?

Hence it is evident that Joseph also was of the same. Yes, for there was a law, which bade that it should not be lawful to take a wife from any other stock, but from the same tribe. And the patriarch Jacob also foretold that He should arise out of the tribe of Judah, saying on this wise: “there shall not fail a ruler out of Judah, nor a governor out of his loins, until He come for whom it is appointed, and He is the expectation of the Gentiles.” (Gen. xlix. 10).

  

“Well; this prophecy doth indeed make it clear that He was of the tribe of Judah, but not also that He was of the family of David. Was there then in the tribe of Judah one family only, even that of David, or were there not also many others? And might it not happen for one to be of the tribe of Judah, but not also of the family of David?”

  

Nay, lest thou shouldest say this, the evangelist hath removed this suspicion of thine, by saying, that He was “of the house and lineage of David.”

  

And if thou wish to learn this from another reason besides, neither shall we be at a loss for another proof. For not only was it not allowed to take a wife out of another tribe, but not even from another lineage, that is, from another kindred. So that if either we connect with the Virgin the words, “of the house and lineage of David,” what hath been said stands good; or if with Joseph, by that fact this also is proved. For if Joseph was of the house and lineage of David, he would not have taken his wife from another than that whence he himself was sprung.

  

“What then,” one may say, “if he transgressed the law?” Why, for this cause he hath by anticipation testified that Joseph was righteous, on purpose that thou mightest not say this, but having been told his virtue, mightest be sure also that he would not have transgressed the law. For he who was so benevolent, and free from passion, as not to wish, even when urged by suspicion, to attempt inflicting punishment on the Virgin, how should he have transgressed the law for lust? he that showed wisdom and self-restraint beyond the law (for to put her away, and that privily, was to act with self-restraint beyond the law), how should he have done anything contrary to the law; and this when there was no cause to urge him?

  

8. Now that the Virgin was of the race of David is indeed from these things evident; but wherefore he gave not her genealogy, but Joseph’s, requires explanation. For what cause was it then? It was not the law among the Jews that the genealogy of women should be traced. In order then that he might keep the custom, and not seem to be making alterations from the beginning, and yet might make the Virgin known to us, for this cause he hath passed over her ancestors in silence, and traced the genealogy of Joseph. For if he had done this with respect to the Virgin, he would have seemed to be introducing novelties; and if he had passed over Joseph in silence, we should not have known the Virgin’s forefathers. In order therefore that we might learn, touching Mary, who she was, and of what origin, and that the laws might remain undisturbed, he hath traced the genealogy of her espoused husband, and shown him to be of the house of David. For when this hath been clearly proved, that other fact is demonstrated with it, namely, that the Virgin likewise is sprung from thence, by reason that this righteous man, even as I have already said, would not have endured to take a wife from another race.

There is also another reason, which one might mention, of a more mystical nature, because of which the Virgin’s forefathers were passed over in silence; but this it were not seasonable now to declare, because so much has been already said.

  

9. Wherefore let us stay at this point our discourse concerning the questions, and in the meanwhile let us retain with accuracy what hath been revealed to us; as, for instance, why he mentioned David first; wherefore he called the book, “a book of the generation;” on what account he said, “of Jesus Christ;” how the birth is common and not common; whence it was that Mary was shown to be from David; and wherefore Joseph’s genealogy is traced, while her ancestors are passed over in silence.

  

For if ye retain these things, ye will the more encourage us with respect to what is to come; but if ye reject and cast them from your mind, we shall be the more backward as to the rest. Just as no husbandman would care to pay attention to a soil which had destroyed the former seed.

  

Wherefore I entreat you to revolve these things. For from taking thought concerning such matters, there springs in the soul some great good, tending unto salvation. For by these meditations we shall be able to please God Himself; and our mouths will be pure from insults, and filthy talking, and reviling, while they are exercising themselves in spiritual sayings; and we shall be formidable to the devils, while arming our tongue with such words; and we shall draw unto ourselves God’s grace the more, and it will render our eye more piercing. For indeed both eyes and mouth and hearing He set in us to this intent, that all our members may serve Him, that we may speak His words, and do His deeds, that we may sing unto Him continual hymns, that we may offer up sacrifices of thanksgiving, and by these may thoroughly purify our consciences.

  

For as a body will be more in health when enjoying the benefits of a pure air, even so will a soul be more endued with practical wisdom when nourished in such exercises as these. Seest thou not even the eyes of the body, that when they abide in smoke they are always weeping; but when they are in clear air, and in a meadow, and in fountains and gardens, they become more quicksighted and more healthy? Like this is the soul’s eye also, for should it feed in the meadow of spiritual oracles, it will be clear and piercing, and quick of sight; but should it depart into the smoke of the things of this life, it will weep without end, and wail both now and hereafter. For indeed the things of this life are like smoke. On this account also one hath said,“My days have failed like smoke.” (Ps. cii. 3) He indeed was referring to their shortness of duration, and to their unsubstantial nature, but I would say that we should take what is said, not in this sense alone, but also as to their turbid character.

  

For nothing doth so hurt and dim the eye of the soul as the crowd of worldly anxieties and the swarm of desires. For these are the wood that feedeth this smoke. And as fire, when it lays hold of any damp and saturated fuel, kindles much smoke; so likewise this desire, so vehement and burning, when it lays hold of a soul that is (so to speak) damp and dissolute, produces also in its way abundance of smoke. For this cause there is need of the dew of the Spirit, and of that air, that it may extinguish the fire, and scatter the smoke, and give wings to our thoughts. For it cannot, it cannot be that one weighed down with so great evils should soar up to heaven; it is well if being without impediment we can cleave our way thither; or rather it is not possible even so, unless we obtain the wing of the Spirit.

  

Now if there be need both of an unencumbered mind, and of spiritual grace, that we may mount up to that height; what if there be none of these things, but we draw to ourselves whatever is opposite to them, even a satanical weight? how shall we be able to soar upwards, when dragged down by so great a load? For indeed, should any one attempt to weigh our words as it were in just balances; in ten thousand talents of worldly talk he will scarcely find an hundred pence of spiritual words, or rather, I should say, not even ten farthings. Is it not then a disgrace, and an extreme mockery, that if we have a servant, we make use of him for the most part in things necessary, but being possessed of a tongue, we do not deal with our member so well even as with a slave, but on the contrary make use of it for things unprofitable, and mere makeweights? And would it were only for makeweights: but now it is for what are contrary and hurtful and in no respect advantageous to us. For if the things that we spoke were profitable to us, they would assuredly be also pleasing to God. But as it is, whatever the devil may suggest, we speak it all, now laughing, and now speaking wittily; now cursing and insulting, and now swearing, lying, and taking false oaths; now murmuring, and now making vain babblings, and talking trifles more than old wives; uttering all things that are of no concern to us.

  

For, tell me, who of you that stand here, if he were required, could repeat one Psalm, or any other portion of the divine Scriptures? There is not one.

  

And it is not this only that is the grievous thing, but that while ye are become so backward with respect to things spiritual, yet in regard of what belongs to Satan ye are more vehement than fire. Thus should any one be minded to ask of you songs of devils and impure effeminate melodies, he will find many that know these perfectly, and repeat them with much pleasure.

  

10. But what is the answer to these charges? “I am not,” you will say, “one of the monks, but I have both a wife and children, and the care of a household.” Why, this is what hath ruined all, your supposing that the reading of the divine Scriptures appertains to those only, when ye need it much more than they. For they that dwell in the world, and each day receive wounds, these have most need of medicines. So that it is far worse than not reading, to account the thing even“superfluous:” for these are the words of diabolical invention. Hear ye not Paul saying, “that all these things are written for our admonition”? (1 Cor. x. 11)

  

And thou, if thou hadst to take up a Gospel, wouldest not choose to do so with hands unwashed; but the things that are laid up within it, dost thou not think to be highly necessary? It is because of this, that all things are turned upside down.

  

For if thou wouldest learn how great is the profit of the Scriptures, examine thyself, what thou becomest by hearing Psalms, and what by listening to a song of Satan; and how thou art disposed when staying in a Church, and how when sitting in a theatre; and thou wilt see that great is the difference between this soul and that, although both be one. Therefore Paul said, “Evil communications corrupt good manners.” (1 Cor. xv. 33) For this cause we have need continually of those songs, which serve as charms from the Spirit. Yes, for this it is whereby we excel the irrational creatures, since with respect to all other things, we are even exceedingly inferior to them.

  

This is a soul’s food, this its ornament, this its security; even as not to hear is famine and wasting; for “I will give them,” saith He, “not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord.” (Amos viii. 11)
  

What then can be more wretched? when the very evil, which God threatens in the way of punishment, this thou art drawing upon thine head of thine own accord, bringing into thy soul a sort of grievous famine, and making it the feeblest thing in the world? For it is its nature both to be wasted and to be saved by words. Yea, this leads it on to anger; and the same kind of thing again makes it meek: a filthy expression is wont to kindle it to lust, and it is trained to temperance by speech full of gravity.

  

But if a word merely have such great power, tell me, how is it thou dost despise the Scriptures? And if an admonition can do such great things, far more when the admonitions are with the Spirit. Yes, for a word from the divine Scriptures, made to sound in the ear, doth more than fire soften the hardened soul, and renders it fit for all good things.

  

11. In this way too did Paul, when he had found the Corinthians puffed up and inflamed, compose them, and make them more considerate. For they were priding themselves on those very things, touching which they ought to have been ashamed, and to have hid their face. But after they had received the letter, hear the change in them, of which the Teacher himself hath borne witness for them, saying on this wise: for “this very thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge.” (2 Cor. vii. 11) In this way do we bring to order servants and children, wives, and friends, and make our enemies friends.

  

In this way the great men too, they that were dear to God, became better. David, for instance, after his sin, when he had had the benefit of certain words, then it was that he came unto that most excellent repentance; and the apostles also by this mean became what they did become, and drew after them the whole world.

  

“And what is the profit,” one may say,“when any one hears, but doeth not what is said?” No little will the profit be even from hearing. For he will go on to condemn himself, and to groan inwardly, and will come in time also to do the things that are spoken of. But he that doth not even know that he hath sinned, when will he cease from his negligence? when will he condemn himself?

  

Let us not therefore despise the hearing of the divine Scriptures. For this is of Satan’s devising; not suffering us to see the treasure, lest we should gain the riches. Therefore he saith that the hearing the divine laws is nothing, lest he should see us from the hearing acquiring the practice also.

Knowing then this his evil art, let us fortify ourselves against him on all sides, that being fenced with this armor, we may both abide unconquered ourselves, and smite him on the head: and thus, having crowned ourselves with the glorious wreaths of victory, we may attain unto the good things to come, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might for ever and ever. Amen.

Source: http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.ca/2008/12/forefeast-of-christs-nativity-i-st-john.html

Τα Τίμια Δώρα Λιβάνι, Σμύρνα και Χρυσό

Το Λιβάνι ήταν ένα άρωμα που χρησιμοποιούσαν οι Ιουδαίοι και σαν δώρο συμβόλιζε πως ο Χριστός θα γινόταν αγαπητός.
Το χρυσάφι ήταν το αγαθό των Βασιλιάδων, πράγμα που συμβόλιζε την ιδιότητα ως Βασιλιά που έχει ο Χριστός για τους Χριστιανούς.
Η Σμύρνα ήταν άρωμα που τοποθετούσαν στους νεκρούς για να μυρίζουν ωραία, πράγμα που συμβόλιζε πως ο Χριστός θα υπέφερε και θα πέθαινε.
Λιβάνι κοινώς λιβάνι η λιβανωτός: αρωματική ελαιώδης ρητίνη του δένδρου βοσουελλίας της καρτερεί-ου, πού φύεται στις αμμώδεις εκτάσεις της Αραβίας, της Σομαλίας, των Ινδιών και του Λιβάνου. Χρησιμοποιήθηκε σαν θυμίαμα για κοσμική και λατρευτική χρήση από τα πανάρχαια χρόνια (Αιγύπτιοι, Βαβυλώνιοι, Εβραίοι).
Μύρα κοινώς μύρον ή μύρρα: αρωματική υδατοδιαλυτή ρητίνη του φυτού μύρρας της κομμιοφόρου και άλλων συγγενών πού φύονται στην Αραβία και την Αιθιοπία.
Στα δώρα των μάγων δόθηκαν οι εξής συμβολισμοί σε σχέση με τον Χριστό:

ο χρυσός ως τιμή σ' αυτόν ως τον νέο βασιλιά του κόσμου

το λιβάνι ως Θεό

η σμύρνα ως αυτόν που θα θυσιαζόταν για χάρη των ανθρώπων
Η σημασία των Δώρων
Στο εδάφιο 2:

Πού είναι αυτός που γεννήθηκε, ο βασιλιάς των Ιουδαίων;
Επειδή, είδαμε το αστέρι του στην ανατολή, και ήρθαμε για να τον προσκυνήσουμε (2:2).

Στο εδάφιο 11:

Και όταν ήρθαν στο σπίτι, είδαν το παιδί μαζί με τη Μαρία, τη μητέρα του, και
πέφτοντας κάτω το προσκύνησαν, και ανοίγοντας τους θησαυρούς τους,
του πρόσφεραν δώρα, χρυσάφι και λιβάνι και σμύρνα (2:11).

Προσκύνησαν αφού άκουσαν τον βασιλιά, αναχώρησαν, και ξάφνου, το αστέρι, που είχαν δει στην ανατολή, προπορευόταν απ' αυτούς, μέχρις ότου, φτάνοντας, στάθηκε επάνω εκεί όπου ήταν το παιδί. Και καθώς είδαν το αστέρι, χάρηκαν με χαρά υπερβολικά μεγάλη (Ματθαίος 2:9-10). Προσκύνησαν με την καρδιά τους.

Του πρόσφεραν Δώρα βασιλικά. Προσφέρουν αυτό που λατρεύουν, τα εργαλεία τους, τα όπλα τους. Το λιβάνι και η σμύρνα, ήταν τα πιο ακριβά μυρωδικά καρυκεύματα, σε όλη τη Μέση Ανατολή και τη Μεσόγειο. Το χρησιμοποιούσαν για θυσίες σε τελετές που έκαναν, στους ναούς τους, ή για να πάρουν χρησμούς. Υπάρχουν αρκετά βαβυλωνιακά κείμενα που βεβαιώνουν αυτό.

Τα δώρα τους ήταν φόρος υποτέλειας, ήταν τα όπλα τους, αυτό που θεωρούσαν πιο σημαντικό και το λάτρευαν. Στην Παλαιά Διαθήκη όταν ο βασιλιάς Εζεκίας, έδειξε στους Βαβυλώνιους τους θησαυρούς του και στους θησαυρούς υπήρχαν κατά πάσα πιθανότητα αυτά τα τρία (Β΄ Βασιλέων 20:13)

Τα δώρα των μάγων δεν ήταν δώρα για μωρό.
Συμβόλιζαν την προσκύνηση και υποταγή τους στο νέο βασιλιά.
Ήταν μια θυσία. Θυσίαζαν αυτό που πριν λάτρευαν.
Η μόνη κατάλληλη θυσία για το βασιλιά Χριστό, που δείχνει την αλλαγή στη ζωή μας, είναι να θυσιάσουμε αυτό που λατρεύουμε πριν πάμε στο Χριστό.
Οι μάγοι με την ελάχιστη γνώση τους, έστω έψαξαν και βρήκαν τον Ιησού.

Και θα με ζητήσετε, και θα με βρείτε, όταν με ζητήσετε με όλη σας την καρδιά
(Ιερεμίας 29:13)

 Ανεκτίμητο κειμήλιο της Ιεράς Μονής Αγίου Παύλου

 
Τα Τίμια Δώρα είναι χρυσός, λίβανος και σμύρνα

O χρυσός βρίσκεται υπό την μορφή εικοσιοκτώ επιμελώς σκαλισμένων επιπέδων πλακιδίων, ποικίλων σχημάτων (παραλληλογράμμων, τραπεζοειδών, πολυγώνων κτλ.) και διαστάσεων περίπου 5 εκ. χ 7 εκ. Κάθε πλακίδιο έχει διαφορετικό σχέδιο πολύπλοκης καλλιτεχνικής μικροεπεξεργασίας.

O λίβανος και η σμύρνα διατηρούνται ως μείγμα υπό την μορφή εξήντα δύο περίπου σφαιρικών χανδρών μεγέθους μικρής ελιάς.

Φυλάσσονται με ιδιαίτερη επιμέλεια στο θησαυροφυλάκιο της Ιεράς Μονής Αγίου Παύλου. Για λόγους ασφαλείας είναι κατανεμημένα σε διάφορες λειψανοθήκες, μόνο μέρος δε αυτών εκτίθεται για προσκύνηση των επισκεπτών της Ιεράς Μονής ή μεταφέρεται προς αγιασμό εκτός Αγίου Όρους στις κατά τόπους Ιερές Μητροπόλεις.
Γράφει ο Ευαγγελιστής Λουκάς για την Παναγία ότι
«διετήρει πάντα τα ρήματα ταύτα εν τη καρδία αυτής» (Λουκ. β' 19, 51).

Πιστεύεται από τους θεολόγους ερμηνευτές ότι ένα μεγάλο μέρος από αυτά τα «ρήματα», τα λόγια και τα γεγονότα δηλαδή της ζωής του Κυρίου, η Θεοτόκος τα εκμυστηρεύθηκε στον Άγιο Απόστολο Λουκά ο οποίος και τα συμπεριέλαβε στο Ευαγγέλιο του.
Παράλληλα με τα άγια «ρήματα» του Κύριου, η Υπεραγία Θεοτόκος «διετήρει» και ότι άλλο σχετικό με την επίγεια ζωή του Κυρίου και τα Τίμια Δώρα.

Σύμφωνα με την ιστορικοθρησκευτική μας παράδοση, πριν την Κοίμηση της η Παναγία Μητέρα του Κυρίου τα παρέδωσε μαζί με τα Άγια Σπάργανα του Χριστού, την Τίμια Εσθήτα και την Αγία Ζώνη της στην Εκκλησία των Ιεροσολύμων οπού και παρέμειναν μέχρι το έτος 400 μ.Χ. περίπου.

Κατά το έτος αυτό ο αυτοκράτορας Αρκάδιος τα μετέφερε στην Κωνσταντινούπολη για αγιασμό του λάου και προστασία και προβολή της Βασιλεύουσας.

Εκεί παρέμειναν μέχρι και την άλωση της πόλης από τους Φράγκους το έτος 1204 μ.Χ. Στη συνέχεια μεταφέρθηκαν για λόγους ασφαλείας μαζί με αλλά ιερά κειμήλια στη Νίκαια της Βιθυνίας, προσωρινή πρωτεύουσα του Βυζαντίου, όπου και παρέμειναν για εξήντα περίπου χρόνια.

Με την υποχώρηση των Σταυροφόρων επί αυτοκράτορος Μιχαήλ Παλαιολόγου επεστράφησαν στην Κωνσταντινούπολη μέχρι την υποδούλωσή της στους Τούρκους το 1453 μ.Χ.

Μετά την Άλωση η Μάρω, χριστιανή σύζυγος του σουλτάνου Μουράτ Β' (1421-1451) και μητρυιά του Μωάμεθ Β' του Πορθητού, τα μετέφερε αυτοπροσώπως στην Ιερά Μονή Αγίου Παύλου στο Αγιο Όρος.
Η Μονή αυτή της ήταν γνωστή αφού ο πατέρας της Γεώργιος Βράγκοβιτς, δεσπότης της Σερβίας, έκτισε το καθολικό της προς τιμή του Αγίου Μεγαλομάρτυρα Γεωργίου του Τροπαιοφόρου.

Κατά την αγιορείτικη παράδοση
καθώς η Μάρω ανέβαινε από τον αρσανά (λιμάνι) στην Μονή, η Κυρία Θεοτόκος την εμπόδισε με υπερφυσικό τρόπο να πλησίασει στη Μονή και έτσι να παραβίασει το άβατον του Αγίου Όρους.
Αυτή υπάκουσε και παρέδωσε ταπεινά τα Τίμια Δώρα στους μοναχούς και πατέρες, οι όποιοι και έστησαν στο σημείο εκείνο της θεομητορικής παρουσίας ένα Σταυρό πού σώζεται μέχρι σήμερα και λέγεται «Σταυρός της Βασιλίσσης».
Το σουλτανικό έγγραφο με τις σχετικές πληροφορίες παραδόσεως των Τιμίων Δώρων φυλάσσεται στο αρχείο της Μονής του Αγίου Παύλου.