Homily V on the Nativity of Christ

I. Be that as it may, beloved, the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which He clothed Himself with the flesh of our nature, is inexpressible, but trusting not in my own strength, but in the inspiration that proceeds from Himself, I dare to hope that on the day chosen for the Mystery of Human Restoration, we may explain something that can benefit those who hear. And although there is no need to repeat what has already been said, for the majority of the Church of God understands what it believes, yet especially now we must give support to many who are just coming to faith with our words, and it will be better to burden the enlightened once again with the truths already known to them, than to leave the ignorant without instruction.

The Son of God, Who is not one person with the Father and the Holy Spirit, but has one essence, being destined to be a partaker of our humility, desired to become one of the afflicted and one of the mortals. It was so sublime and so amazing that even the wise of this world would not have revealed the plan of the Divine Council (1 Corinthians 2:8), if the true light had not dispelled the darkness of human ignorance. For not only in virtuous work, and not only in the observance of the commandments, but also on the path of the growth of faith, strait and narrow is the road that leads to life (Matt. 7:14). Great is the work and great distance that it is necessary to walk without knocking off one's legs along the only path of salvific teaching, being in the midst of dangerous notions of ignorant and plausible fabrications, and, when the snare of deception is spread everywhere, to avoid any dangerous error. So who is capable of this (2 Corinthians 2:16), if not the one who is taught and guided by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14)? For the Apostle says: "But we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit of God, that we might know the things which have been given to us from God" (1 Corinthians 2:12), and David also sings: "Blessed is the man whom Thou admonishest, O Lord, and instruct by Thy law" (Psalm 93:12).

II. And so, beloved, having a true footing in the midst of dangers and falsehoods, and being enlightened not by the words of human wisdom (1 Corinthians 2:4), but by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, we believe in what we have learned, and we preach what we believe (Psalm 115:10; 1 Corinthians 15:11), namely, that the Son of God, who was born of the Father before the ages, and co-eternal with Him by an eternal, and consubstantial equality, He came into our world from the womb of the Virgin chosen for this merciful Mystery, in Whom and from Whom Wisdom made Herself a home (Proverbs 9:1), and also that the immutable divinity inherent in the Word was clothed in the form of a slave (Phil. 2:7), in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom. 8:3), but at the same time She retained no less glory than the Father and the Holy Spirit (John 1:1). 1; 1:14), for [the human nature accepted by the Word] did not lead to the depreciation or distortion of the higher and eternal essence. Following our weakness, the Lord humbled Himself for those who could not contain Him, and hid under the veil of the body the splendor of His majesty, for it could not be borne by the sight of men. That is why it is also said that He humbled Himself (Phil. 2:7) (that is, as if He weakened Himself by His own will), that in the humility with which He helped us, He became inferior not only to the Father, but also to Himself. However, nothing has been diminished by this humiliation for Him Who has a common existence with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And we understood that this refers to omnipotence, and the lesser, according to our concepts, according to His own, is no less. In great power He gave light to the darkened, strength to the weak, mercy to the destitute, for the Son of God took on human nature and the basis to restore our nature, which He had begun, and to destroy death, which He did not create (Wis. 1:13).

III. Since all the notions of the wicked have been rejected and cast aside, for whom Christ is either foolishness or a stumbling block (1 Corinthians 1:23), let the faith of righteous hearts rejoice, and let it comprehend the true and only Son of God, not only by divinity, in which He is born of the Father, but also by human nature, in which He is born of the Virgin Mother. He, while remaining in the Divine majesty, at the same time dwells in our humility – the true man and the True God; eternal in His, temporal in ours; one with the Father in essence, which was never less with Him than with the Father, and one with the Mother in the body which He created. By accepting [human] nature, He became a step for us, giving us the opportunity to ascend to Him through Him. For that [Divine] essence, which always and everywhere remains intact, has dispensed with a partial descent, and, having been wholly merged into man, has not been separated from the Father. Thus there remains that which was the Word in the beginning (John 1:1), and that which exists, but was not at one time, is not applicable to Him.

After all, the Son is always the Son and the Father is always the Father. And since the Son Himself says: "He who has seen Me sees the Father also" (John 14:9), then your wickedness blinds you, O heretic, for if you did not see the greatness of the Son, you did not see the Glory of the Father. And when you say that He was born who was not there before, you acknowledge the Son to be temporary, and when you declare the Son temporary, you therefore believe that the Father is also changeable. For it is not only that which decreases that changes, but also that which increases, and if, therefore, the Begotten One is not equal to the Father (for it seems to you that by birth He begot Him Who did not exist before), then the essence of the Begetter was also imperfect, which by Birth received what it did not have before. But this impious error of yours is condemned and condemned by the catholic faith, which, admitting nothing temporary in the true divinity, acknowledges both the Father and the Son to be co-eternal, for the radiance which arises from the light is not secondary to the light, and the true light is never devoid of its radiance, and as the essence is always there, so it is always able to shine.

The manifestation of this radiance, by which Christ revealed Himself to the world, is called the sending [of the Lord into the world]. And although He always filled all things with His invisible power, yet in the innermost and highest mystery He came to those to whom He was previously unknown, destroying the blindness of ignorance, as it was written: "To them that dwell in darkness and in the darkness of death light shall shine unto them" (Isaiah 9:2).

IV. For although the light of truth was sent for the enlightenment of the holy fathers and prophets in previous ages, as David says: "Send forth thy light and thy truth" (Psalm 42:3), and in various ways and by many signs the divinity of the Son testified to His presence, yet all these signs and all the miracles and testimonies gathered together were about the epistle of which the Apostle speaks: But when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, Who was born of a woman, and was subject to the law (Gal. 4:4). What is true in this, if not that the Word became flesh, that the Creator of the world was born from the womb of the Virgin, that the Lord of greatness brought Himself into conformity with human principles, and since it became possible for spiritual conception that there would be no confusion or contact of the earthly seed, He took from the Mother only one nature [without sin] in order to take on true flesh?

In the coming in which God was united with man, the Son is not equal to the Father, not in what was taken from the Father, but in what was taken from man. Human nature has not damaged the equality of unshakable divinity, and the descent of the Creator to creation is also the ascent of the faithful to the eternal. And the Apostle says: "For when the world by its wisdom did not know God in the wisdom of God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1:21). Consequently, for the world, that is, for the rational of this world, their wisdom has become blindness, and through it they have not been able to discern God, to the comprehension of Whom they approach only by possessing His wisdom. And since the world was proud of its false postulates and unworthy and unreasonable things were revealed in it (1 Corinthians 1:23), the Lord confirmed in this world the faith of those who are being saved, so that when all stubborn prejudices are removed, the mercy of God alone will clarify what human reason could not comprehend.

V. Let the catholic faith know its glory in the humility of the Lord, and let the Church, which is the body of Christ, rejoice in the mystery of her salvation, for if the Word of God had not become flesh and dwelt in us (John 1:14), if the Creator Himself had not descended to communion with creation, and had not called human decrepitude to a new foundation by His Nativity, then, from Adam (Romans 5:14) until the end times, death would reign and an insoluble curse would remain on all people, for the law of birth alone is sufficient to become the cause of perdition for all. And therefore, among the sons of men, only the Lord Jesus was born innocent, that He was the only one conceived without defilement by carnal lust. For the same reason He became a man of our race, so that we too might be partakers of the Divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). For the origin which He assumed in the womb of the Virgin He also placed in the fountain of Baptism, and gave to the water that which He had previously given to the Mother. And the power of the Most High and the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35), which made the Saviour born of the Virgin Mary, gave the water the power to revive the believer. What was more suitable for curing the sick, for the blind to see, for reviving the dead, than for the ulcers of pride to be healed by means of humility? Adam, disregarding the commandments of God, allowed the curse of sin, and Jesus, having submitted to the law (Galatians 4:4), restored the power of justice (1 Peter 2:16). He, following the devil even to the point of secret complicity, was worthy that all should die in him, but this one, in obedience to the Father even to the Cross (Phil. 2:8), made all in Him come to life (1 Cor. 15:22). He, striving for Divine glory, destroyed the dignity of His nature, and This, accepting our weakness, gathered those for whom He descended into the bowels of the earth, in the Heavenly abodes. Finally, it was said to him who fell through arrogance: "Dust art thou, and to dust shalt thou return" (Gen. 3:19), and to this one, exalted in humility, it was announced: "Sit at my right hand, until I make Thy enemies Thy footstool" (Psalm 109:1).

VI. And so, beloved, all that our Lord has done is useful to us, not only in the Sacrament, but also as an example to follow. And if the medicines themselves become habitual, then what is done in the Sacraments will also be useful for morals, so that we remember that we should live in humility and obedience to the Redeemer, for, as the Apostle says: "If only we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him" (Romans 8:17). For we would be mistakenly called Christians if we were not imitators of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1), Who said that He is the Way (John 14:6), so that the Teacher's way of life would become a way of life for the disciples, and so that the servant would choose that humility which the Lord, Who lives and reigns forever and ever, took upon Himself. Amen.

Homily VI on the Nativity of Christ

I. In all days and times, beloved, the Birth of our Lord and Saviour from the Virgin Mother has sought to meet the souls of those faithful who have meditated on the Divine. At the same time, their minds, lifted up in grief for the sake of comprehending their Creator, dwelt either in the groaning of prayer, or in the exultation of glorification, or in the gift of sacrifice, most often and boldly touching with their spiritual gaze precisely the fact that God, the Son of God, begotten of the co-eternal Father, was also born as a man. And this worship of the Nativity in Heaven and on earth reaches its climax today, when our senses are granted the splendor of the wondrous Mystery that has shone with a new light in [all] the elements. The conversation of the Archangel Gabriel with Mary, frozen with fear, is resurrected not only in memory, but also in a certain way with one's own eyes, for as miraculous as the promised conception from the Holy Spirit is, so is faith in it. Today, the Creator of the world was born from the virgin womb, and He Who created all the elements became the Son of the One Whom He Himself had previously created. Today the Word of God has taken on the veil of the flesh, and that which has never been revealed to the eyes of men has become tangible (1 John 1:1). Today, from the voices of angels (Luke 2:11), the shepherds have learned about the Birth of the Savior in the essence of our flesh and soul, and for the leaders of God's nations today a [new] form of gospel has been laid, so that we, too, echoing the host of the heavenly host, may proclaim: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men! (Luke 2:14).

II. The Child, Who was not deprived of the greatness of the Son of God, was transformed in the course of years into a perfect Man, and, for the sake of us unworthy, serving the triumph of the Passion and the Resurrection, fulfilled all that was predestined for Him. In today's celebration of Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, we turn to His Holy Nativity. At the same time, when we worship the birth of our Saviour, it turns out that we also celebrate our own birth into the world, for the birth of Christ is the beginning of the entire Christian people, and the head is also the beginning of the body that is generated. And although each has his own name, and all the sons of the Church were separated from each other, since they were born at different times, the Council of all the faithful (which began at the source of Baptism) was crucified with Christ in suffering, resurrected in the Resurrection, placed at the right hand of the Father in the Ascension, and was born together with Him in this Nativity. Thus every man of the assembly of the faithful is reborn in Christ: the chain of original sin is broken, and being born anew, this man is transformed into a new man (Col. 3:10), and no longer belongs to the offspring of the flesh, but to the offspring of Christ, who then became the Son of man, that we might be transformed into the sons of God. For if He had not descended to us in such a humiliated form, no one would have risen to Him on his own merits.