The Reality of the Incarnation

Do 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.