Homily One on the Afterfeast of the Nativity of the Theotokos
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1960, on the 16th Week After Pentecost)
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1960, on the 16th Week After Pentecost)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Dear brothers and sisters, these days the Holy Church of Christ, and we with it, brightly celebrate the all-joyful holy days of the afterfeast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. The Church proclaims to us: "Your Nativity, O Virgin Theotokos, brings joy to the whole universe, for from you did the Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God, shine forth" (Troparion of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos). "A woman," according to the word of Christ the Savior, "when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world" (John 16:21), that is, the birth of every person into the world brings joy and comfort to the parents of the newborn and to all relatives and friends. And not only the birth itself, but also the very memory of the birth of a notable family member, their day is almost always a day of special joy and deliberate celebration for the family. As for great individuals who have distinguished themselves through charitable deeds in glory of their homeland, their birthdays are invariably celebrated with joy at the appointed time even after their death.
The reason for this joy is clear. The birth of a human being is always an important event – a celebration of being and life over non-being. If people rejoice at the birth of even ordinary individuals, those who are somehow close to them, and even more so at the birth of great individuals in their country, how immense must be the common joy! Today we remember the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, from whom was born not an ordinary, and not merely a great person, but Christ our God, the Sun of Truth, who has freed us from sin and the bondage of the lord of sin – the devil – and granted us eternal salvation, eternal life. Imagine a traveler. A dark, impenetrable night catches him on the path; he strays from the road, not knowing where to go, a storm rises, it rains, the cold pierces him through, he is exhausted and in despair falls to the ground, in fear and trembling calling out for help to the Almighty God, already expecting death. And with what inexpressible joy will he meet the appearance of the morning dawn, heralding the rising of the sun!
Such a calamity faced all of humanity, akin to an unfortunate traveler surrounded for nearly five thousand years by a spiritual night of wandering and irrational deeds. And what these deeds were is compellingly articulated by the Holy Apostle Paul in the first chapter of his epistle to the Romans. After the seduction of the crafty tempter of the forefathers, when sin, and through sin, death entered the world, humanity became lost and estranged from the life of God and perished. The Lord foresaw this destruction, and, not completely angry, He pronounced a joyful decree for mankind and a deadly one for the tempter-devil after the fall. And the dawn, heralding the fulfillment of the consoling promise, became, for the suffering people, the birth of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Most Pure and Immaculate Virgin Mary.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
