The Nativity of Christ: Homily 5: On the Ecclesiastical Hymn "Christ is Born, Glorify Him" (Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko)

 

1. The Feasts of the Lord

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko 

I. The Nativity of Christ

Homily No. 5: On the Ecclesiastical Hymn "Christ is Born, Glorify Him; Christ from Heaven, Meet Him; Christ on Earth, Be Exalted"

I. Today — on the day of the festive commemoration of the Nativity of Christ the Savior — let us converse, brethren, about that ecclesiastical hymn with which the Holy Church began to resound in our ears several weeks before the feast itself, as if preparing us for it — the hymn with which the sacred ministers of the Church will come to you and into your homes, like angelic heralds, proclaiming the great day of the Savior’s birth and at the same time teaching how this most illustrious day ought to be observed. Let us therefore delve into every wise word of this wondrous ecclesiastical hymn — lofty in spirit, deep in feeling, and edifying in meaning.

II. a) “Christ is Born, Glorify Him!” 

And it is entirely natural that at the thought of the Nativity of Christ we are called to glorify the One who is born. Were a celebration to take place in honor of some earthly benefactor who had delivered us from the greatest misfortune or bestowed upon us the highest well-being, we would undoubtedly turn all our thoughts toward him: we would speak of him everywhere, praise him before everyone, and strive to please him in every way — such is the nature of a grateful heart. But can any earthly benefactor be compared with Jesus Christ? The Only-begotten Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, leaves heaven and His throne, is incarnate of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, dwells upon our poor earth, and endures all things precisely in order to deliver us from eternal death and raise us to the highest degree of honor and blessedness. Such an ineffable Benefactor of the human race is born, therefore, "glorify Him;" turn all your thoughts toward Him and toward His glorification! Although He, as the Lord of glory, has no need of any glorification from us, He Himself “gives to all life and breath and all things,” and although He is in Himself infinitely glorious and above all glory, nevertheless we, weak and unworthy as we are, must glorify Him always, and especially in the coming holy days. The Holy Church commands us all: "glorify Him." Proclaim the glory of God, each as he is able; above all, think about Him and speak with one another about Him in your homes and gatherings; magnify Him with every name by which His glory and our gratitude toward Him may be expressed; instruct those who do not know the love of the Savior who was born for mankind. Glorify Him with your lips, but above all with your life, striving to conform it to the law given by the Savior Himself who was born.

b) “Christ from Heaven, Meet Him!” 

Proclaiming that Christ comes from heaven, the Holy Church calls us all to go forth to meet Him. And who among us, brethren, would refuse such happiness —  to meet the newborn Lord? If we consider happy those who have seen an earthly king, and even more so those who have received him into their home, what joy, what blessedness it is to go forth to meet the King of kings and Lord of lords! But how are we to meet Him — our heavenly King, Lord, and Savior? “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth” (Ps. 144:18), says the Psalmist. Thus, earnest and true prayer — both at home and especially offered in the holy temple of God — draws the Lord near to us. Therefore, whoever desires to meet the Christ who is born, let him come to the holy temple. Here Jesus Christ, according to His gracious promise, is always mystically present among us in our prayerful assemblies; here, during the Divine Liturgy, through the Most Holy Mystery of the Eucharist, He desires “to lie in the manger of our wordless soul and to enter our defiled body;” here, “in the word of God that is read,” as Saint Ambrose of Milan notes, “He appears as walking, present, and speaking; here He is everywhere present and near to those who seek Him.” We will also meet Christ the Savior in houses of sorrow, in the persons of our wandering, the poor and suffering brethren: whether we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, or comfort the sorrowful — all this Christ the Savior Himself will accept from us and count as done to Himself, according to His word (Matt. 25:34–40).

c) “Christ on Earth, Be Exalted!” 

By these words the Holy Church seems to say: “Since Christ is on earth, you ascend to heaven.” Why should we be separated from Him — our Savior — when even the angels have descended from heaven to earth and sing: “Glory to God in the highest”? Christ the Savior did not descend to earth in order to remain on it and make it His dwelling, but in order, by His appearing on earth, to show us the path to heaven — our true homeland — and to grant us the means to ascend there from the earth, which is a foreign land to us. For this very reason, in His Nativity the Lord appears as a humble man, without any earthly glory, so as not to detain our attention on such glory, and so that, renouncing the world, we might lift our minds to heavenly things and recognize in the One who is born the Master of the world. And if ever, then especially in the days of the Nativity of our Savior it is most fitting for us to begin our journey toward heaven; if ever, then now it is time for us to abandon every attachment to what is earthly and corruptible and to think of what is spiritual and heavenly; now it is fitting for us to leave behind sinful worldly habits and to work out the salvation of our souls. Our most loving Mother, the Holy Church, for our salvation commands us during the coming great and holy days — the greatest of Christian feasts — to lift our minds and hearts from earth to heaven, for Jesus Christ has come to lead us there.

III. Thus, brethren, in a few words of this sacred and edifying hymn the Holy Church has communicated much to us: both the reason for the present feast — the solemn and joyful glorification of Christ the Savior, who is glorified no less by the re-creation of man than by his creation — and the rules for how these festive days ought to be observed worthily. Let us therefore more often sing this sacred hymn with both lips and heart, for our own edification and instruction: “Sing unto the Lord, all the earth, and with gladness sing, O people, for He has been glorified.” Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.