После сего непорочная Родительница и необычная Служительница Своему новорожденному Младенцу, спеленав сладчайшее Чадо Свое льняными, белыми, чистыми, тонкими пеленами, заблаговременно приготовленными для сего и из Назарета принесенными, и, положив Его в яслях, находившихся в той же пещере, поклонилась Ему, как Богу и Создателю Своему, о чем вспоминает блаженный Иосиф, творец канонов [25], когда обращается к Пречистой Деве с такими словами: "Воплощенного Отроковице, и обложеннаго человеческим подобием, держащи руками и покланяющися и лобызающи матерски: чадо, глаголала еси, сладчайшее, тако тя сице держу, дрожащего рукою всю тварь" [26]. Достоверно, что Богоотроковица поклонилась до земли Рожденному от Нее, лежащему в яслях, и их с удивлением окружали невидимо ангельские чины.

А к яслям были привязаны вол и осел, дабы исполнилось Писание: вол знает владетеля своего, и осел ясли господина своего (Ис. 1:3). А эти вол и осел приведены были Иосифом из Назарета. Осел приведен был ради беременной Девы, чтобы везти Ее на себе во время пути, а вола привел Иосиф для того, чтобы продать его и отдать должную дань, взимавшуюся по повелению кесаря, а также и для себя купить все нужное. Оба эти бессловесные животные, стоя у яслей, своим дыханием согревали Младенца, по случаю тогдашнего зимнего времени, и таким образом служили своему Владыке и Творцу [27]. Иосиф же поклонился и Родившемуся, и Родившей, ибо тогда познал он, что Рожденное от Нее - от Духа Святого, как о сем говорит и святой Афанасий: "Воистину не знал Ее Иосиф, пока не родила Она Сына Своего первенца, до тех пор, пока Дева носила Зачатое от Нее, не знал Ее Иосиф, не ведал он, что в Ней, не ведал он, что в Ней совершается. Когда же родила Она, тогда познал он; тогда познал Иосиф о Деве, какая была Ее сила, и кем Она сподобилась стать. Тогда познал он, увидев Деву, сосцами питающую и в то же время хранящую нетленный цвет девства. Тогда познал он, когда Дева родила, но не испытала того, что свойственно родильницам. Тогда познал он, что камень несекомый давал сосец духовному Камню [28]. Тогда познал Иосиф, что о Ней писал Исаия: "Се, Дева во чреве примет". Эти слова святого Афанасия удостоверяют, что в то время познал Иосиф силу таинства и, познав, поклонился со страхом и радостью, благодаря воплощенного Бога, сподобившего его быть самовидцем и служителем сей тайны. - Относительно же времени рождества Христова многие достоверные писатели говорят, что это была полночь, следовавшая по субботе и предшествовавшая дню недельному, и это известие согласуется с VI Вселенским собором [29], который так объясняет празднование дня недельного (воскресного): "Ибо в тот день Бог сотворил свет, в тот же день Господь благоволил родиться; в тот же день принял Он крещение во Иордане от Иоанна, в тот же день Сам премилостивый Искупитель рода человеческого, нашего ради спасения, из мертвых воскрес, в тот же день Он и излиял Святого Духа на учеников Своих". Ибо как, по достоверному же известию, Он зачат был в девической утробе во время благовещения в пятницу и в пятницу же пострадал, так в день недельный Он родился и в день недельный же воскрес. И прилично было Христу родиться в день недельный, в который Бог сказал: "да будет свет" (Быт. 1:3); и в который "был свет" (Быт. 1:3) в тот же день подобало, чтобы и Сам Он, Свет присносущный, воссиял миру. А то что Христос имел родиться ночью и в известный ее час, об этом пророчески предречено в книге Премудрости Соломоновой, где говорится так: "Ибо, когда все окружало тихое безмолвие, и ночь в своем течении достигла середины, сошло с небес от царственных престолов на средину погибельной земли всемогущее слово Твое, как грозный воин" (Прем. 18:1415) [30]. Совершились и великие чудеса во вселенной во время Рождества Христова. Так, в тот самый час, в который Господь наш сшел через девические врата, запечатленные чистотою, внезапно в той пещере истек из камня источник воды, а в Риме вышел из земли источник елея и потек в реку Тибр. Храм идольский, именуемый вечным, разрушился; идолы сокрушились, и на небе явилось там же три солнца. А в Испании в ту же ночь явилось облако светлее солнца, в Иудейской стране виноградники энгаддские расцвели, несмотря на зимнее время [31]. Особенно же чудесно было то, что описано в Евангелии, когда ангелы сошли с небес с песнопением и ясно предстали перед людьми. Случилось это так. Против той пещеры, в которой родился Христос, по свидетельству блаженного Иеронима, находилась очень высокая башня, называемая Адер, в которой жили пастыри стад. Там в ту ночь трое из них случайно бодрствовали и стерегли свое стадо, и вот верховный среди сил небесных ангел (которым, по мнению святого Киприана, был святой благовестник Гавриил) явился им в великом сиянии, блистая небесною славою, которою он и их осиявал; увидев его, они очень испугались. Но явившийся ангел, повелев им оставить страх и не бояться, благовестил им о радости, наступившей для всего мира через рождество Спасителя. При этом он указал им и признак истинности своего благовестия: "обрящете", сказал он, "младенца в пеленах, лежащего в яслях. В то время, как ангел говорил им это, внезапно услышалось на воздухе пение множества небесных воинств, прославлявших Бога и воспевавших: "Слава в вышних Богу, на земле мир, в человеках благоволение" (Лк. 2:1214); после этого ангельского явления и пения сил небесных, пастыри, посоветовавшись друг с другом, пошли поспешно в Вифлеем, чтобы посмотреть, истинны ли слова ангела, и они пошли и увидели Пречистую Деву Марию Богородицу и святого Иосифа, Ее обручника, а также Младенца спеленатого, лежащего в яслях. И уверовав несомненно, что это есть Христос Господь, ожидаемый Мессия, пришедший спасти род человеческий, они поклонились Ему и рассказали все, что видели и слышали, и что сказано было им от ангела о Сем Младенце. И все слышавшие (Иосиф, Саломия и те, которые в то время пришли туда) дивились словам пастырей, в особенности же Пречистая Дева Матерь, безболезненно родившая, соблюдала все эти слова, слагая их в сердце Своем. И пастыри воротились, славя и хваля Бога. Так совершилось Рождество Иисуса Христа, Господа нашего, Которому и от нас грешных да будет честь и слава, поклонение, благодарение, со безначальным Его Отцом и со Присносущным Духом, ныне и присно, и во веки веков. Аминь.

Тропарь, глас 4:

Рождество Твое Христе Боже наш, возсия мирови свет разума: в нем о звездам служащии, звездою учахуся Тебе кланятися Солнцу Правды, и Тебе ведети с высоты востока: Господи, слава Тебе.

Кондак, глас 3:

Дева днесь пресущественнаго раждает, и земля вертеп неприступному приносит, ангели с пастырьми славословят, волсви же со звездою путешествуют: нас бо ради родися Отроча младо превечный Бог.

Слово на Рождество Христово

The Heavenly Evangelist points out to the shepherds of Bethlehem the following sign of the coming of the Saviour into the world: the Infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. For he says to them thus: "You will find the child in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger" (Luke 2:1112). Perhaps someone will think that it is not a great sign to see a swaddled child, for it is customary for every newborn child to be wrapped. It would be a great sign if an angel, as a witness and a clear testimony of the Nativity of Christ, showed something unusual, as, for example, a star in the east to the Magi, or as the Sibyl showed Augustus in the sun a maiden holding a child in her arms. But if anyone wants to look with a spiritual eye at the sacraments performed in that wrapped Infant, he will see and know that the sign indicated by the angel to the shepherds: "The Infant wrapped in a manger," is a great sign. For this Infant is He Whose Nativity revealed to the world the light of the knowledge of God, clearer than the stars and the sun, and His swaddling clothes wider than the clouds, His manger wider than the heavens, for in them lay the incomprehensible Christ God. Thus, let us turn our mental gaze to the infancy of Christ. For He Who created the worlds and prepared salvation for us from eternity, Who appeared on earth as a child to renew the decrepitude of our nature: "Ye shall find," said the angel, "the child."

Perhaps someone could be of the opinion that Christ was to come into the world not as a child, but as a giant, according to the prophecy of David, who thus predicted the coming of the Messiah: "And he as a Bridegroom proceedeth out of his palace" (Psalm 18:6) (i.e., from the womb of the Most-Pure Virgin), "rejoices like a giant to run the race" (Psalm 18:6) [2]. That is why the angel may also say: "You will find a child, and not a giant." But if we reflect on the infancy of Christ, we will find another reason for such words of the angel. Just as the Nativity of Christ was not like an ordinary human birth, but was extraordinary and supernatural, so His infancy is unusual and unlike the infancy of other infants. All newborn babies are weak and senseless; they have no strength in themselves and do nothing until, after a long time of their growth, their strength and intelligence begin to manifest themselves and grow with them. And this newborn Infant, our Lord Jesus Christ, is born with both strength and understanding. That is why the angel also points to such a Child, Who is born both with invincible power and with ineffable wisdom, as a miracle, unique in its kind and never before seen in the world. As for His invincible strength and power, the Church has not kept silent about it on this feast day when it sings together with the prophet Isaiah: "Mighty God, Lord, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). Somewhere it is said that a lion is known by its claws. The lion of the tribe of Judah, Christ, from His childhood (i.e., from His infancy) reveals Himself, "as the Lord is strong and mighty, the Lord is mighty in battle" (Psalm 23:8). Let us pay attention to how great is the strength and strength of the newborn Infant. As soon as the news of His Nativity began to spread, "Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him" (Matt. 2:3). The Child does not yet speak, but already terrifies those who have called their names on earth; He is still in swaddling clothes, but He has already filled the tormentors with terror; He was still in a manger, and had already shaken him who sat on the royal throne.

One of the most skilful physicians relates that those who have to be great, eminent, and glorious in the world, or kings and brave warriors, those, according to him, are apt from their earliest fingernails (i.e., infancy) to foretell their future power and their future deeds. At the same time, the same physician says that Pericles had not yet been born [3], but had already frightened the Greeks with dreams; Alexander had not yet been born [4], but was already called by all the son of Jupiter [5] and the lord of the kingdom. And in another place it is narrated that ants brought grains of wheat and put them into the mouth of Medes, king of Phrygia, when he was still a child, during his sleep, thus indicating his future innumerable riches. In the same way, our King and Master, the newborn Infant, already in His childhood shows clear indications of His future powers and deeds. The future riches that are prepared for those who love Him are indicated by the sign that, according to His dispensation, gold, frankincense, and myrrh are brought to Him from the farthest lands. His future victory over death and the devil and His triumph over all hell is foreshadowed by the fact that He shakes and confuses Herod and all Jerusalem. His power over the visible and invisible world, which will be granted to His humanity, and of which He will say in due time: "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to Me" (Matt. 28:18), is foreshadowed by the fact that, according to His will, angels and shepherds serve His Nativity, and the kings of the East worship, according to the prophecy of David: "And all the kingdoms of the earth shall worship Him" (Psalm 71:11). For this prophecy had already been fulfilled, when He, as King of kings, was honored by the three earthly kings with worship and gifts. The Primate of the Church of Hippo, Blessed Augustine [7] puts it beautifully thus: "Such are the signs of Thy nativity, O Lord Jesus: before the waves of the sea are smoothed under Thy feet, when Thou walkest on the sea; before the winds are stilled by Thy commandment; before the dead rise by Thy word; before the sun is darkened at the moment of Thy death, and the earth at Thy resurrection from the tomb is shaken, and the heavens are opened at Thy ascension; before all this and other miraculous things Thou hast accomplished, before that Thou hast still been carried by Thy Mother's hands, and at the same time Thou hast revealed Thyself as the Lord of all the world." Such is the strength and power of the newborn Infant, our Lord Jesus Christ, that even in His childhood He clearly reveals Himself as an almighty Lord: "The strength of God is great, verily the power of God is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). For in the small and feeble members of infants we see the great power of Jesus Christ, to which the Church points when she likens the newborn Lord to a lamb, and when she calls Him a lamb, glorifying Him in an unsedentary prayer for the worship of the shepherds with these words: "They see this lamb without blemish, fallen in the womb of Marina, singing: Rejoice, mother of the lamb and shepherd" [8].

Here, Christ, born of the Virgin, is likened to a lamb, and is called a lamb. But what strength is there in the lamb, what power? The force is truly invincible, as we see from the following. Once John the Theologian saw in his revelation various beasts and serpents, which came out of various places - from the sea, from the abyss and from the desert, with many terrible heads and open mouths full of deadly poison - and whose very appearance was very terrible! They all rebel against the one Lamb, as the Scripture says: "They shall make war with the Lamb" (Rev. 17:14). Perhaps, looking at this struggle of those serpents and beasts with the Lamb, someone will think that even one of the weakest beasts will immediately take and tear the Lamb to pieces, so that the great beasts will have no one to fight with. But look at the power of the Lamb: He is so heavily armed against them, that all that power of the beast suddenly, according to His action, falls and goes into the earth, as it is written: "The Lamb will overcome them, for He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings" (Rev. 17:14). Oh, Truly this is the great power of the Lamb! This Lamb signifies the Son of God; and serpents and beasts signify demons and their servants. Here is a thing worthy of reflection: why did the angel, having shown under these images the struggle of the Son of God with His enemies, not call Him by His real name, brought from heaven during the Annunciation to the Most-Pure Virgin and given at His circumcision? Why did He not say, "These shall fight with Jesus Christ," but said, "These shall fight with the Lamb?" He rests on the hay like a lamb, and already breaks mental serpents and beasts like reeds, crushes them like earthen vessels. It is well written in the prophecy: "And they called his name Magershelal-hash-baz; for before a child knows how to say, 'My father, my mother,' the riches of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria shall be carried before the king of Assyria" (Isaiah 8:34) [9]. This newborn Lamb does not wait for the time when He will become a lion, and it will be said of Him: "This conqueror is a lion of the tribe of Judah" (Rev. 5:5). This Child does not wait for the time when He will grow in strength like a giant. This Child does not wait for the time when His young members will receive strength like Sampson's [10]. But before He begins to suck the breasts of His Mother, He defeats His enemies. Before He can pronounce His name or the name of His Most-Pure Mother with His lips, He exterminates from the book of life the names of the unworthy. Before this Child begins to acquire, as He grows, manly power, He deposes the mighty from their thrones: "The Lamb shall overcome them; for He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings" (Rev. 17:14). Such is the strength of our Lamb, such is the invincible power of the Divine Child, with which He is born!

And He is born together with the mind, for He Who has strength and strength in His infancy also has the mind. "Great is our Lord, and great is His might, and His understanding is immeasurable" (Psalm 146:5). Is there any infant to whom it would be appropriate to apply the following words: "Learned more than the elderly" (Psalm 118:100)? Only to the Divine Infant can these words be applied. Ordinary infants at birth do not understand anything until the time of their growth, and even when they grow up, they need teaching in order that they may understand. This Divine Infant, as before His Nativity was Wisdom itself, so also in His Nativity is the depth of wisdom and the understanding of Divinity (Romans 11:33). In His infancy He is subject to the conditions of time, but by Wisdom He is eternal. A Child is also born to us, and under the image of the Ancient of Days, i.e. a very old man, the Prophet Daniel (Dan. 7:913) [11], the Child, and (together) the Father, as the prophet Isaiah says now on His Nativity: "The Father of the age to come" (Isaiah 9:6). This name "Father" befits not children, but men, and no one has ever called an infant feeding on his mother's milk father. Nevertheless, the prophet, without mincing words, calls the born Christ father. Why? To show that in that deified Infant there is the same understanding, the same wisdom as in the Father of the old day. Like some wise father in relation to his children, so does this Heavenly Infant, born of the Most-Pure Mother of God, act with us. And this is the sign by which we are convinced that the Saviour has now been born for us: for in His infancy He is a father to us. In what way is He a father to us? Let us listen to how it happens: being born Himself, He at the same time regenerates us from death to life in no other way than the Gospel father of the prodigal son, who was previously dead and then came to life. That father, in order to revive his dead son to life, fell on his neck and kissed him. This fatherly kiss was a sign to the son that his sins, which were the cause of his spiritual death, were forgiven, for through sin comes death; and after sins, these causes of death, were taken away from the sinner through forgiveness, immediately the dead man came to life. For just as there is a day after the night has passed, so after the removal of the gloomy sinful death from man, the grace of God begins to shine, which is life for the soul. Truly it is true that Christ our Saviour kissed us in His Nativity, that He regenerated us who died in sins to life by His grace, and through this He is for us an all-wise father in His infancy. And in order to understand that Christ our Saviour kissed us in His Nativity, let us pay attention to how in the book of the Song of Songs a certain God-loving person so ardently expresses the desire for union with God: "Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth!" (Song of Songs 1:1) [12]. Do we want to know who desires God's kiss? Let us listen to St. Ambrose [13], who says that our nature, our flesh, it is precisely this nature that desires to attain through the incarnation of the Son of God God's love and closeness to God, so that it may be able to behold Him as if face to face and kiss Him as if from mouth to mouth with a holy kiss. This teacher puts it this way: "Let us understand that (that God-loving face in the book of Song of Songs) is the flesh that in the person of Adam was soaked in the venom of the serpent and rotted from the stench of sin. She, having learned from many prophecies that God will come, Who, having abolished the flattery of the serpent, will pour out the grace of the Holy Spirit, prays, saying: "Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth!" And St. Chrysostom thus says on behalf of the church gathered from the pagans: "I, the Church of the Gentiles, do not so much want Him to speak to me through Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and through other prophets, how much I want Him to converse with me Himself. Therefore, let Him Himself appear, and I will speak to Him lip to mouth. Let Him come and kiss me with the kiss of His mouth. I hear Jeremiah speaking of Him thus: "Evil is the heart (of man) above all things and utterly corrupted; and who shall know him" (Jeremiah 17:9) [14]? I desire Him Himself to appear and kiss me with the kiss of His mouth. I hear Amos speaking of Him thus: "Behold, a man stood on the adamantine fence, and in His hand was adamant" (Amos 7:7) [15]. But I seek Him Himself, that He may come and kiss me with the kiss of His mouth." From these words of the holy teachers it is clearly revealed that the kiss of God with our nature is the incarnation of the Son of God. For just as in kissing the lips are attached to the lips, so in the Incarnation of the Savior the nature of God was added to human nature and united with it. Thus, in His Nativity, Christ our Saviour, as a Father, kissed us, as David prophesied when He said: "Righteousness and the world kiss each other" (Psalm 84:11), in which passage the interpreter Euthymius (Zigaben) [16] understands by the world the nature of God, for God alone is the righteous Judge, and by righteousness the human nature in Christ, by reason of the true meekness inherent in this nature. Of these two natures it is said because they have kissed each other, because they have in Christ a close union, agreement and concord.

It is also true that through this kiss Christ our Saviour regenerated us in His Nativity from the death of sin to the life of Divine grace. In the 2nd Book of Kings (2 Kings 4:2830, 3435) we read the following. When the Somanite wife asked the prophet Elisha, who was on Mount Carmel, to enter her house and resurrect her dead son, the prophet did not immediately go himself, but first sent his servant Gehazi with his rod, so that he would put this rod on the face of the child, but the deceased did not utter a voice and did not listen to Gehazi. When the prophet himself came to the dead man, he put his mouth to his mouth and blew on him, and behold, the lad opened his eyes. Notice how the dead child is given life through the application of the prophet's mouth to his lips, as is the case with kissing. Truly there was a kiss, when the lips were put to the lips of the lad, and through the kiss of these lips the dead was raised. This was the transformation of Christ's incarnation. Death, having entered the world through sin, kidnapped the first child Adam, who had barely begun to live. Woman, human nature, calls out to God with tenderness: "Lord! Bow down the heavens, and come down" (Psalm 143:5); "Thy face shall shine, and we shall be saved" (Psalm 79:4). The Lord God does not come immediately, but, just as Elisha sent his servant, so the Lord first sends His servants, the prophets, with the rod of the law, so that they may lay this rod on the lad, on the generation of Adam; but this lad had not yet come to life, people were still in darkness and the shadow of death [17]. When the Lord Himself came in His incarnation and, as it is said, put the mouth of His Divinity to the lips of mankind, and kissed us with the kiss of His lips, then the lad immediately arose, the dead rose (the Resurrection of the Theotokos before the great doxology) – from death we were reborn to life in the Nativity of Christ. It's like such an old story. A good friend, seeing that his beloved friend has been wounded by the poisonous sword of the enemy, diligently cares how to heal him of the mortal wound. But now the physicians tell him that the wound is incurable, for the sword, filled with poison, not only wounded the flesh and produced a great wound, but with the same poison damaged the whole body, so that death awaits his friend in any case, unless someone atones for him with his health in this way: let him put his mouth to his wound and suck the poison out of it: "Then your friend," say the doctors, "would easily be healed, but he who sucked out the poison would in any case die." Hearing this, the true lover of friends, despite the fact that his own life was not bitter to him, nevertheless, loving his friend more than himself, and preferring his health to his own life, healed his friend in the above-mentioned way - through the application of his lips to his wound he sucked out the poison, and by his death granted his friend health. Likewise, the Lord our God has done to us, wounded by the poisonous sword of sin of the warrior of hell. No one could heal us from the wound and deliver us from death without first taking away from us the mortal harm. There was no such perfect physician until He Himself, the Most High, Who sits on the Cherubim, the perfect Physician and Creator of souls and bodies, put His mouth, that is, His Son; for just as the Holy Spirit is called in the Scriptures the Father's finger: "I am with the finger of God," says the Lord, "I cast out demons" (Luke 11:20), so God the Son is called the Father's mouth, as it is written: "By the spirit of His mouth is all their army" (Psalm 32:6). And so, I say, the Lord God put His mouth, that is, His beloved Son, out of love for the human race, for the wound of our nature: God so loved the world, that He also gave it His only begotten Son (John 3:16). What kind of mouth do I understand? God the Son, united with our wounded nature, took upon Himself that sinful poison: Who took away the sins of the world, He bore our sins and healed us, laying down His health for us. Through this He regenerated us to a life of grace through His kiss, that is, through the Incarnation, and thus, in His infancy, He showed Himself as our Saviour, our all-wise Father, a skilful Physician and a most beloved Friend. Look, then, at the infancy of Christ, how Christ is born: both with invincible power and with incomprehensible wisdom. And rightly the angel points out to the pastors as a sign of the coming into the world of the Saviour, the Infant, an extraordinary Infant and unlike other infants in His birth: a strong and intelligent Infant, a strong and all-wise Child. This is a sign for you: you will find the Child, and the Child wrapped, for even the swaddling clothes of That Child are full of mysteries. St. Ambrose says: "Christ is wrapped in swaddling clothes, so that you may be delivered from the rags of death. In this lies the mystery of Christ's swaddling clothes, so that we may cast off the coarse rags of corruption, in which death has clothed us." Let us delve carefully into the words of Ambrose. Why did he not say "one rag", but "rags thou hast loosened!" I believe that he means here Adam's rags, for Adam, after his fall, had two rags: leaf and leather. Deciduous - in paradise, which Adam and Eve made for themselves: "they sewed fig leaves, and made for themselves girdles" (Gen. 3:7). And the rags of leather are outside of paradise, when God made for Adam and his wife "garments of skins" and clothed them in these garments (Genesis 3:21). Both of these rags were mortal, for those leaves were from the tree that brought death to man; For some of the teachers of the church believe that the tree from which Adam was forbidden to eat fruit was a fig tree. And the skin was from a slain beast. The rags of leaves signified Adam's disobedience, through which he fell away from God, like a leaf from a tree, and the leather rags were a sign of love of flesh, or wordless lust. Christ, the new Adam, was wrapped in swaddling clothes in order to release man from both rags, namely: from disobedience and from wordless lusts, for His holy swaddling clothes mysteriously depict both obedience and purity, - they depict obedience, as the above-mentioned teacher of the Church, St. Ambrose, explains.

"Look at the mystery," he says, "out of the virgin's womb came both the servant and (together) the Lord: a servant to work, for whoever girds himself with swaddling clothes will gird himself up for service; But the Lord is in order to rule. Good is the service which has acquired His name, which is above every name: for what is disgrace to some is glory to Christ." Let us pay attention to these words. Whoever girds himself with swaddling clothes will gird himself for service. Thus, in the swaddling clothes is expressed the obedience of Christ, since he who does and serves is a novice. And it is proper for a novice to gird himself up, according to the command of a certain master in the Gospel: "Prepare for me to have supper, and gird yourself, serve me" (Luke 17:8). And our Lord took upon Himself the rank of novice, for He says of Himself: "They will not come to serve Me, but I will serve them"[18]; He will gird Himself with swaddling clothes to serve us, according to the words of the Gospel: "Verily I say unto you, He shall gird Himself up, and shall seat them, and when He shall come to serve them" (Luke 12:37). And by His obedient service He heals Adam's disobedience. The old Adam was disobedient, but the new Adam was "obedient even unto death" (Phil. 2:8). In this way, with the swaddling clothes of Christ's obedience, the rags of Adam's disobedience are resolved. As for purity, we will see it mysteriously depicted in the swaddling clothes of the Lord, if we reflect on why the old Adam was covered with leather clothes, and the new Adam with linen (as it is reliably known) swaddling clothes, previously prepared by the Most-Pure Mother of God for this. It often happens among people that the outer garment corresponds to the inner thought and disposition of a person, so that through the outer garment the inner heart of a person is clearly revealed (2 Cor. 4:16). On the day named in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, the proud Herod [19] put on a royal garment, and did not this garment correspond to his inner arrogance? Truly it corresponded, as the Scriptures say: "sitting on the seat" (before the people with pride), "speaking to them" (Acts 12:21). Through the proud garment of conscience, inner pride was clearly revealed. The humble and God-fearing Queen Esther [20] at one time also dressed in the appurtenance of royal dignity, not out of pride, but on the occasion of the danger that threatened the Jewish people; and after three days, when she had finished praying, she took off her sorrowful garments and put on her festive garments (Est. 45). Were not these last garments of her in accordance with her bright soul and her good and pure intention? Of course, they corresponded, as the Scripture says: "And having become magnificent, she called upon the all-seeing God and Saviour" (Est. 5:1), so that her outward beauty corresponded to her inner, spiritual beauty. Let us also remember Adam. When he sinned in paradise, he became from a man as a wild beast: a beast, for he stole the forbidden fruit; and wild because he then began to run and hide himself, like a beast in the wilderness. Such an animal arrangement had to correspond to his animal, leather clothing, so that the internal disposition and external clothing corresponded to each other. St. Gregory of Nyssa (in the life of Moses) understands this in the same way, who says about this: "Let those who have disfigured their souls with their bestial disposition use animal skins." Understand why the old Adam was in rags, and why the new Adam, Christ, is wrapped in linen shrouds. Flax, according to the testimony of Gregory and Isidore [21], appears in St. Scripture is the image of purity, which is why in the Old Testament the priestly garments were made of linen, as a sign of the blameless and pure ministry of the priests. Bl. Jerome, who, in his Epistle to Fabiola,22 says thus: "When we, preparing to put ourselves on Christ, lay aside the garments of leather, then we put on a garment of linen, which has no defilement in it, but is pure in everything." Linen clothing is prescribed as a sign of purity, but, oh, how pure is Christ our Saviour! "His hands are innocent, and he is pure in heart, he will not commit sin, and deceit is not found in his mouth" (Ps. 23:4; Ps. 31:2). He is so pure that the purest and brightest stars are extinguished before His purity, according to the Scriptures: "The stars are unclean before Him" (Job 25:5). And for such a Most-Pure Infant, born of the Most-Pure Virgin, it was not a leather, animal garment that was befitting, but pure linen and white shrouds, so that there would be a mutual correspondence between inner and outer purity. But here is not the end of the meaning of swaddling clothes. Why is Adam dressed in animal skin, and Christ in linen swaddling clothes? The skin has such a close connection with the body like nothing else. And therefore the skin envelops the body so tightly that it can only be torn from the body with great effort, but flax does not know any flesh, it exists by itself and does not have such a union with the flesh. This is the final reason why Adam was clothed in skins, and Christ in linen. Adam was carnal: he loved the flesh of his flesh to such an extent that he did not want to leave it even in the worst case, in the anger of God, but together with it, skin with flesh, he angered his Creator, and therefore the Lord clothed him in carnal leather rags, as of "a carnal minder" (Romans 8:5). And Christ, although He appeared to bear the flesh, was nevertheless above all flesh, being Himself the Source of purity. For this reason He was wrapped in linen shrouds, having no union with the flesh, and through this He loosed the leather rags of carnal love and wordless lust. Look at the mystery of Christ's swaddling clothes: these swaddling clothes are plasters on our sinful wounds; they wipe the tears from our eyes, they inseparably bind us together for the closest union with God and in perfect love for Him. Moreover, the manger in which the wrapped Infant reclined is not devoid of mysterious significance. Let us listen to what Blessed Theodoret [23] says about this: "Look," he says, "at the wretched sojourn of Him Who enriches heaven; look at the manger of Him who sits on the cherubim; look at His earthly poverty, contemplating His heavenly riches. God, who is rich in mercy, became poor, so that we might be enriched by His poverty, and for this purpose the King of Heaven was laid in a manger, so that we might learn His self-willed poverty and humility." And St. Cyprian says: "For this reason He is placed in a manger, so that we, having changed the life of beasts, may not eat hay (sinful sweets), but heavenly bread." And Theodoret also says: "In the manger the Word of God is placed, so that both the verbal and the dumb (i.e., the righteous and the sinners) may freely and unhindered partake of the saving food."