1. The Feasts of the Lord
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
I. The Nativity of Christ
Homily No. 3: On the Meaning of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
I. The Nativity of Christ
Homily No. 3: On the Meaning of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ
“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people: for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11).
I. Thus proclaimed the Angel of the Lord to the shepherds of Bethlehem on that blessed night when Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. “I bring you good tidings of great joy,” said the heavenly messenger, “which shall be to all people: for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
II. Great is the joy proclaimed by the Angel of the Lord; great is the joy to which the Church of Christ now calls all her children.
a) This joy is great and beyond expression because of its very subject: Today a Savior is born. Who is this Savior? "Christ the Lord," answers the heavenly messenger. The Only-begotten Son of God, the true God, Lord of heaven and earth, was born for the salvation of mankind. Long before, the Prophet Isaiah, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, depicted the divine majesty of the promised Savior in these words: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6).
God appeared on earth for the salvation of perishing men; God took upon Himself our human nature in order to accomplish our salvation within it. Who can comprehend this mystery of God’s boundless goodness? Who can worthily set forth the greatness of God’s mercy revealed in the Incarnation of the Son of God for the salvation of the human race? By what could sinful people deserve such immeasurable mercy, that the Only-begotten Son of God Himself, the true God, willed to be born on earth for their salvation? People could deserve nothing of the kind. This is the work of God’s boundless goodness. Therefore the same Prophet Isaiah, having said, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given,” added the explanation of how this could come to pass, saying: “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isa. 9:7). That is, the love of the Lord God, who does not desire the death of sinners, will bring about the birth of the Son of God on earth. And the Savior Himself explained this mystery when He said: “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
b) This joy is great and inexhaustible because of the beneficent consequences of the great event which we now celebrate. The Son of God took human nature and was born in Bethlehem — why? For the salvation of mankind. For what kind of salvation? Not for deliverance from some bodily affliction or disease, not from some ordinary misfortune or calamity, not from an external enemy or bondage (as the Jews contemporary with Jesus Christ supposed), but for salvation from sin, the curse, and eternal death, that is, eternal condemnation for sin. And for whose salvation was Christ born? Not only for the Jews, not only for the Old Testament patriarchs, prophets, or chosen righteous ones, but for the salvation of all people. The Apostle teaches: “Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men to justification of life” (Rom. 5:18). Jesus Christ was born on earth “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Therefore the joy of the Nativity of Christ is a universal joy — the joy of salvation from sin and eternal condemnation, the joy of eternal life which Jesus Christ bestows upon all who believe in Him.
III. “Glory to God in the highest!” — and we too will repeat this angelic hymn with our lips and hearts, thanking and glorifying God the Father, who so loved the world, “that He gave His Only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Brethren! Let us pray to the Lord God that His peace may be established, exalted, and spread throughout the whole earth. May those who do not know the true God come to know Him, may they know His boundless love for mankind revealed in Jesus Christ. May those who do not care for their salvation be enlightened by the light of His grace, recognize the one thing needful, and love the path of salvation. Amen.
(Compiled from the Sermons of Eusebius, Archbishop of Mogilev, vol. II, 1870.)
Appendix to Homily No. 3
Dogmatic and Moral Reflections Drawn from the Services of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ
Dogmatic and Moral Reflections Drawn from the Services of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ
1) The remembrance of the poor cave and the humble manger in which the Child born of the Virgin — the Pre-eternal God — was laid, inspires humility in every earthborn person. “Every mountain and hill shall be brought low.” Let every kind of worldly pride bow down before this poor dwelling, this wretched shelter “in which lay Christ God, whom nothing can contain,” and be humbled. “Who being the radiance of His glory and the express image of His person” (Heb. 1:3); “Who, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:6–7). Thus did our Redeemer humble Himself, to shame our human pride. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5). Let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.
“O great God, invisible King, how do I behold You and comprehend Your mysteries through Your immeasurable poverty; for even this smallest and strange cave contains You who are born.”
“He who is full is emptied; the Beginningless One begins; the Word becomes flesh; the Creator is created; the Uncontainable is contained, being incarnate in your womb, you who have been grace by God.”
Thus does the Church sing of the divine self-emptying in the Nativity of Christ.
2) Let the believing soul be filled with reverent joy, heartfelt compunction, and thanksgiving, recalling the divine self-emptying revealed for our salvation in the Nativity of Christ. All promises and all prophecies concerning our salvation were fulfilled when the incarnate God, born of the Virgin, came to earth and saved all mankind. This joy the Holy Church expresses in many ways in the festal hymns: “Hear, O heaven; give ear, O earth, for God the Creator has clothed Himself in flesh.”
“Hear, O mountains and hills, for Christ comes to save man whom He created, as the Lover of mankind.”
“Mountains and hills, trees of the forests, rivers and seas, and every breath, leap for joy, for today salvation draws near.”
3) “Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with a voice of joy” (Ps. 46:2). “God reigns over the nations” (Ps. 46:9). The long-awaited hope of the Gentiles is fulfilled: the star that rose from Jacob illumines all the ends of the earth, for the revelation of all nations. The Gentile Church, formerly barren, that is, not bearing the good fruits of piety, now flourishes. The eastern Magi, guided by the star as by a kind of rational power, come to worship Christ our God, born of the Virgin, and thus lay the foundation for the conversion of the wandering children of the pagan world to the true God.
“With a rod of iron you shall shepherd Judea, for being disobedient and not believing the prophets; for to the Son who is born the Father gives the nations as an inheritance and possession of the whole earth, but you He rejects because of your defilement.”
Oh, the depth of the riches of God’s mercy toward the sinful and wandering pagan world!
4) “In a wondrous manner Christ passes into His own; let us put away sins and receive Him dwelling in gentle souls.” The first gracious tidings of the Nativity of God the Word from the Most Holy Virgin Mary were revealed by angels not to the noble and powerful of the earth, not to the chief priests and Jewish dignitaries, not to the Pharisees and scribes resting in the Law, but to simple and poor shepherds guarding their dumb flocks in the field. Simplicity and innocence of heart drew this mercy upon the shepherds. Thus the grace of God always pours into meek and humble hearts.
“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the strong; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are” (1 Cor. 1:27–28).
5) “Holding fast to the law of love, let us acquire brotherly affection, living in peace with one another and being of one mind; for Christ, the Giver of peace, comes, reconciling all things and saving those who cry: Sing to the Lord…”
“God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). And those reconciled with God, brought into sonship and adopted by Him, must live among themselves in unity of faith and love as children of one God and brothers in Christ. Therefore let us acquire love for one another, “and let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (Col. 3:14–15).
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
