On the Nativity of the Lord
In natalitia domini
The Nativity of Christ§1
1On the nativity of the Lord, Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, for the birthdays of the great God and Savior of us, Jesus Christ.
This spiritual and bright meadow, variegated with the beauty of heavenly flowers and fragrant with apostolic and unblemished offerings, seems to me to have a type of the divine nearby. For just as that sensible and incorruptible place is brightened with beauty by incorruptible trees and immortal fruits and myriads of other superlative things, so also this most god-like assembly of the sacredly appropriate church is brightened with intelligible and unspeakable mysteries, of which the secret is to us unshakeable and well-founded, unblemished and salutary beginning and most venerable summit; it is today the feast of the birthdays of Christ, our true God, the holy ones, through which the old things have been prophetically typified and the new things have been proclaimed loudly throughout the whole inhabited world; through which heaven has been stretched out and the earth has been lifted to divine height; through which paradise has been given to men and the dominion of death has been abolished; through which the power of corruption has been trampled and the destructive awe of the devil has been stilled; through which human passions have been extinguished, the life of angelic lordship has been renewed, and the wandering of demons has been driven away, and the wisdom of God and the all-pervading presence are remembered. For he says, 'Not an angel, nor an elder, but the Lord himself will come and save them' 1 Thess 4:16. O unsearchable wealth of divine gospels! O unutterable knowledge of all-wise mysteries! O inexhaustible treasure of divine and unblemished gifts! O countless grace of providential philanthropy! For he says, 'The Lord himself will come and save us' Matt 24:30.
In what way will he come to us, O divine prophet, you who preach the Lord? For I shall speak boldly in this matter to you, having been emboldened by the character of the men of old, who did not celebrate this all-praised festival, nor having experienced the new and all-pervading offspring of the unblemished Virgin, nor having even seen the herald of the heavenly, I say, the most god-like star; nor having seen the movements of the holy angels, nor having heard the divine voices which, while unprofanely rejoicing about the Savior having been born, the priests and shepherds announced to the priests, nor having understood the gifts of the magi and the divine worship; having taken up the character of those, I ask you about the manner of the presence. For the saying struck them greatly, and they were preparing their minds to stand against the smallness of the awe of the multitude. For they did not have the capacity to conceive that the immortal God would come to men in a terrestrial way, and the intangible to the sensible, and the invisible to the visible. For how could they have thought that God would come, and how would he be seen? It seemed to some previously that he appeared to Abraham through angels, or again that he appeared to Moses through fire in the bush, or in whatever way he appeared to Isaiah through the seraphim, or to Ezekiel through the cherubim. For thus all have testified to having seen God in diverse ways. Which, then, of these ways is worthy of the vision of God? It is clear that not even one. From where...
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The Reality of the Incarnation§2
2Do we believe this most especially? It is from the other voice of the prophet saying: 'After these things he was seen upon the earth and associated with men.' For those things were evidence of a vision and not of association, but these are proclamations of association and not of vision.
How then do you say: 'The Lord himself is coming and will save us'? You might say to us, 'O blessed one, how the unformed is shaped, how the motionless one from the heavenly thrones is again exchanged upon the earth!' And this divine man, meeting them, might say to them: 'That through other sayings you heard the manner of the presence, why do you meddle so much here with the saying?'
Or has it been written to you that 'the virgin shall conceive in her womb and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,' which is translated 'God with us' (Isa 7:14)? Or have you not heard the written word that 'a child was born to us, a son and was given to us, whose rule is upon his shoulder, and his name is called the angel of great counsel, wonderful counselor, mighty God, ruler of authority, prince of peace, father of the age to come' (Isa 9:6)? From these words you have recognized the manner of the presence.
For an incorruptible virgin will physically give birth to the incorruptible Light, for it is necessary for the most venerable Word of God to descend with flesh to us, so that he might indeed renew the minds of those who were made by him as incorporeal divinity—having been made old through sin—and make them incorruptible through the likeness to corruption. These things we also shall say, having the prophet speaking to them.
O child of heaven, more ancient! O three-edged son, who comes upon shoulders bearing his own rule and not seeking it to be brought to him from another! For it is inherent in the Word of all things to rule as a Son and not acquired as a creation; for the rule, he says, is upon his shoulder. O great-named offspring! For he is called the angel of great counsel and mighty God. O almighty authority! For he is a wonderful counselor and prince of peace.
How then shall we glorify this present feast? How shall we bless this most mystical festival of the present time? For who will trace out the immortal wealth of this day? With what great and most high words shall we proclaim this all-praised thing and the trophy-bearing mystery of incorruption? O day worthy of myriads of hymns, in which the star from Jacob and the heavenly man who was seen from Israel has risen for us (Num 24:17), and the mighty God has made his residence among us, and the sun of righteousness has overshadowed (Mal 4:2), and the treasure of divine virtues and the plant of eternal life has sprouted for men and the rising from the heights.
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The Incarnation and the Paradox of the Manger§3
3The Master of heaven and earth has shone forth from virgin wombs for the redemption of the world into a corruptible realm. For a Savior has been born to us today, who is Christ the Lord, who is a light for the nations and the salvation of Israel's house (Luke 1:49). O the wonder! He who cannot be circumscribed by the heavens was made at home in a manger like a child, and he who summarized all things in brief words was warmed by women's embraces; and he who is rejoiced by those who have learned of the holy Virgin to be 'graced' (Luke 1:28) is possessed of all super-cosmic powers. For it happened, he says, as the gospel testifies, that when their days were fulfilled to give birth, she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the lodging (Luke 2:7).
What is this new and paradoxical mystery? What is the almighty and corruption-making benevolence of the divine Providence? What is the terrible and all-wise strategy against the devil? The world has been set free through a virgin, he who before this had fallen under sin. Through a virgin's childbirth, so many and such great systems of invisible demons are overthrown. The Master has become like the servants, so that the servants might become like God again. O Bethlehem, city honored and perfected with men! O manger, O manger, participant with the Cherubim and equal with the Seraphim! For he who was eternally held up by those thrones is now, in a bodily way, made at home in you again.
O Mary, O Mary, who has possessed the firstborn Creator of all things! O humanity, who has made the eternal Word of God bodily present and has been honored in this place by the heavenly and noetic powers! For Christ was not worthy to be formed into the likenesses of the archangels, nor even into the unchangeable images of the principalities, powers, and authorities, but into you, who were drawn into a turn and associated with irrational animals. For those who are healthy have no need of a physician, but she who is seized by frequent and such a disease has found a physician such that it is a greater happiness of health to have escaped the sickness. But where now is the hostile and senseless, the wandering and riotous dragon, promising to lift his own throne to the height? Therefore, brothers, called to the participation in the heavenly calling of blessedness, called to the adoption of God and brotherhood, we ought to give thanks to Him who called us and to present ourselves as worthy of Him who provides us the...
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The Christian Life and the Glory of God§4
4Brotherhood and being worthy children of the sonship given to us and having received us into adoption. Therefore, let us serve Him out of love, being ready for every accomplishment of righteousness, adorned with purity, pursuing unpossessiveness, persisting in the words of God, feasting upon holy prayers and sacred hymns to God, transforming ourselves from this age, forgetting earthly and mortal desires, overcoming evil with good, returning nothing evil for evil, not considering ourselves to be living in the land, but to be citizens in heaven (Phil 3:20), to converse with angels, and to stand by the throne of the heavenly kingdom.
These are the teachings of the holy apostles; in these Christ established for us the blessed and eternal covenant. Let the world marvel at your virtue; let the Jews be ashamed, seeing the new and chosen people, how beautifully it is adorned with the spiritual, with what brightness it illuminates the world. For this reason He left us mixed among the Gentiles, so that we might appear as lights in the world, so that we might be seen as a seed of salvation for the conversion of all those who come together and encounter us.
See that no one among the Gentiles blasphemes God because of you; but let Him who called and sanctified and saved be praised among us. Let the violent and the insolent marvel at our gentleness and moderation; let the reviler, when answering back, be restrained; let the one greedy for money and desiring to judge find us undisturbed, regarding money not as something we possess as an earthly property, but as holding the heavenly; let the one approaching us with friendly entreaty for worldly pleasures find us solemn, immovable, desiring temperance, not being enticed by pleasure, so that they may see how much the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, having deadened the nature of the flesh, is powerful.
Let the one ready for perjury find us even refusing to swear, but fearing to bring the name of God into lowly and earthly matters. For thus we shall all be teachers to those who encounter us in whatever matter. Thus, living as citizens truly, we shall become holy leaven, and through us the world shall be leavened for salvation, and much fruit shall be found from us by the Lord, kept for Him, and God shall be glorified in us according to the one saying, 'In this the Father was glorified, that you should bear much fruit and become my disciples' (John 15:8). And the Lord, having been glorified by us, will glorify us with eternal glory, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom belongs the glory through the ages of ages.
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