With obedience and humility begins a new world, a new creation, a new humanity. The Old World trampled on obedience to God and humility before God, and thus destroyed the bridge between earth and heaven. The spiritual building material for the restoration of this bridge is, first of all, obedience and humility.

As long as Adam was rich in obedience and humility, he could hardly distinguish between his own spirit and the Spirit of God, between his own will and the will of God, between his thoughts and the thoughts of God. He could neither feel, nor will, nor think anything that was not in God and from God. Like the angels of God, so Adam stood in the immediate vicinity of God and from the immediate vicinity contemplated the Primordial source of light, wisdom and love. Living within the sun itself, he had no need to light any of his own candles. His candle inside the sun would not burn and shine.

But when Adam broke his obedience and lost his humility – and they are always lost or gained at the same time – then his direct communion with God was interrupted, the bridge was destroyed, and he fell into a terrible darkness and rotten dampness, in which he was forced to shine with his candle, nevertheless given to him by the mercy of God, when God's righteousness expelled him from Paradise. Then he not only began to feel the difference between himself and God, between his own will and the will of God, his feelings and God's feelings, his thoughts and God's thoughts, not only did he begin to feel and realize this difference, but he could scarcely, in the rare hours of enlightenment, notice his God-likeness.

Alas, into such an abyss was thrown by his disobedience and pride the one who was originally created in the image and likeness of the Holy and Divine Trinity Himself! ("In the blameless man the image of God was the source of blessedness, in the fallen man it is (only) the hope of blessedness." Alas, we are all descendants of Adam, all are low shoots from the stump of a felled cedar, which once majestically towered and ascended above all God's creatures in Paradise, low sprouts, drowned out by the tall she-wolves of coarse nature, descending like a veil between us and the Ancestral Source of immortal love.

Just look at how, as if by magic, the disobedience and pride of the progenitor of mankind immediately change the entire creation around him and he is surrounded by a whole army of disobedient and proud people!

As long as Adam was obedient to his Creator and humble before Him, all those around him breathed obedience and humility. But what an instant change of scenery! At the moment of Adam's fall, Adam is surrounded only by the disobedient. Here is the naughty Eva next to him. Here is the main bearer of disobedience and pride - the spirit of disobedience, Satan. That's all nature, naughty, rebellious and insane. Fruits, which until then melted in the mouth of man with sweetness, begin to torment him with bitterness. The grass that has spread like silk under his feet begins to scratch him with thorns. The flowers, which rejoiced when their king inhaled their fragrance, begin to clothe themselves in the armor of thorns in order to push him away from them. The beasts that caressed him like lambs begin to pounce on him with sharp fangs and eyes burning with anger. Everything occupies a rebellious and threatening position in relation to Adam. Thus the richest of all created nature felt himself the poorest. Previously clothed with the glory of Archangel, now he felt humiliated, lonely and naked; so naked that he was forced to borrow from nature clothes for his nakedness, both physical and spiritual. For his body he began to borrow the skin from animals and leaves from trees, and for his spirit he began to borrow from all things - from things! - knowledge and skills. He who had formerly drunk from the full-flowing fountain of life now had to follow the cattle, bend down in the mud, and drink from the tracks of the beasts, both physically and spiritually thirsty.

Look now at our Lord Jesus Christ and His entourage. All of them are obedience and humility itself! Archangel Gabriel, representative of angelic obedience and humility; The Virgin Mary - obedience and humility; Joseph - obedience and humility; shepherds - obedience and humility; the Magi of the East - obedience and humility; the stars of heaven - obedience and humility. Obedient storms, obedient winds, obedient earth and sun, obedient people, obedient cattle, and the grave itself is obedient. Everything is obedient to the Son of God, the New Adam, and everything humbles itself before Him, for He too is infinitely obedient to His Father and humble before Him.

It is known that along with many earthly crops that man plants and cultivates, some other herbs and plants that have not been sown or cultivated grow willingly. So it is with the virtues: if you diligently sow and cultivate obedience and humility in your soul, you will see that soon a whole bunch of other virtues will grow next to them. One of the first is simplicity, internal and external. The obedient and humble Virgin Mary is at the same time adorned with chaste simplicity. In the same way, the righteous Joseph, and the Apostles and the Evangelists. Just look at the unparalleled simplicity with which the Evangelists describe the greatest events in the history of human salvation, in the history of the universe! Can you imagine how extensively and theatrically a worldly writer would describe, for example, the resurrection of Lazarus, if he happened to become an eyewitness to this event? Or what grandiose and pompous drama would he have written about all that was going on in the soul of Joseph, an obedient, humble, and simple man, at the moment when he learned that his ward and betrothed was pregnant? And the Evangelist in today's Gospel reading describes all this in just a few simple sentences:

The birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: after the betrothal of His mother Mary to Joseph, before they were united, it turned out that She was with child of the Holy Spirit. Prior to this, the Evangelist described the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ, or, more precisely, the genealogy of the righteous Joseph from the tribe of Judah, from the tribe of David. In this genealogy, the Evangelist enumerated people born of men, in the natural way and manner in which all mortal men in the world are born. Suddenly he begins to describe the Nativity of the Lord and says: Του δε Ιησου Χριστου η γεννησις ουτως ην..., as if by this δε (and, however, however) he wants to show the extraordinary and supernatural nature of His Birth, which is completely separated from the image of the birth of all the enumerated ancestors of Joseph. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph. In the eyes of the people, this betrothal could be considered a kind of preface to married life; but in the eyes of Mary and Joseph it could not be considered as such. Praying to God with tears, the Virgin Mary, according to the promise of her parents, was forever dedicated to God. For Her part, She voluntarily accepted this promise of Her parents, which is also shown by Her many years of service in the Temple of Jerusalem. If it had depended on Her will, she would undoubtedly have remained in the temple until her death, like Hannah, the daughter of Phanuel (Luke 2:36-37), but the law prescribed otherwise, and something else had to be fulfilled. She was betrothed to Joseph, not in order to live in marriage, but precisely in order to avoid marriage. All the details of this betrothal and its meaning are contained in the Tradition of the Church. And if people valued the Tradition associated with the Mother of God, with the righteous Joseph and with all the personalities mentioned in the Gospel, as much as they value the traditions, often the most stupid, associated with worldly kings, generals and sages, the meaning of the betrothal of the Most Holy Virgin to Joseph would be clear to everyone. (St. Ignatius says that the Virgin was betrothed, "so that His Nativity might be hidden from the devil, and so that the devil would therefore think of Him as being born of a lawful woman, and not of a virgin." II homily on the Annunciation).

Прежде нежели сочетались они, - эти слова не означают, будто бы они потом сочетались как муж и жена, Евангелист и не думает об этом. Евангелиста интересует в данном случае само Рождество Господа Иисуса Христа, и ничто более, и он пишет приведенные выше слова, чтобы показать: Его Рождение произошло без сочетания мужа и жены. Посему понимай слова Евангелиста точно так, как если бы он написал: и без сочетания их оказалось, что Она имеет во чреве от Духа Святаго. Лишь от Духа Святаго и мог быть зачат Тот, Кому предстояло среди царства духа тьмы и злобы восстановить Царство Духа света и любви. Как бы мог Он исполнить Свою Божественную миссию в мире, если бы пришел в мир по каналам земным, затворенные грехом и смердящим гнилостью смертною? В этом случае вино новое отдавало бы запахом мехов ветхих, и Тот, Кто пришел спасти мир, и Сам нуждался бы во спасении. - Только чудом мог быть спасен мир, чудом Божиим; в это веровал весь род человеческий на земле. И когда чудо Божие произошло, не следует сомневаться в нем, но следует преклониться пред ним и для себя в чуде сем найти лекарство и спасение. Как же поступает Иосиф, узнав, что Дева Мария имеет во чреве?

Иосиф же муж Ее, будучи праведен и не желая огласить Ее, хотел тайно отпустить Ее. Он поступает, таким образом, по послушанию закону Божию. Он послушен воле Божией в той форме и настолько, в какой и насколько воля Божия до того времени была объявлена народу Израильскому. Он поступает и по смирению пред Богом. Не будь слишком строг, - предупреждает премудрый Соломон (Еккл.7:16). То есть: не будь слишком строг к согрешившим, но помни о своих немощах и своих грехах и старайся в отношении к грешникам строгость растворить милостью. Взращенный этим духом, Иосиф и не подумал предать Деву Марию суду за подозреваемый грех: и не желая огласить Ее, хотел тайно отпустить Ее. Такой план показывает нам Иосифа как человека образцового, образцового в строгости и милости, какого вообще дух Ветхозаветного закона мог воспитать. Все у него просто и ясно, как это и могло быть в сердце человека, боящегося Бога.

Но как только Иосиф придумал удобный выход из неудобного положения, внезапно в его планы вмешалось небо, дав неожиданное повеление:

Но когда он помыслил это, - се, Ангел Господень явился ему во сне и сказал: Иосиф, сын Давидов! не бойся принять Марию, жену твою, ибо родившееся в Ней есть от Духа Святаго. Ангел Божий, который до того благовестил Пречистой Деве пришествие в мир Богочеловека, ныне идет приготовить путь Ему и прямыми сделать стези Ему. Сомнение Иосифа - одно из препятствий на пути Его, и притом весьма сильное и опасное препятствие. Сие препятствие следует устранить. Дабы показать, как легко силам небесным сделать то, что для людей очень трудно, ангел является Иосифу не наяву, а во сне. Именуя Иосифа сыном Давидовым, ангел хочет одновременно и оказать ему честь, и вразумить. Как потомок царя Давида ты должен радоваться этой Божественной тайне более других людей, однако ты должен и понимать ее лучше других. Но как же ангел называет Деву женою его: не бойся принять Марию, жену твою? Точно так же, как и Господь со креста сказал Матери Своей: Жено! се, сын Твой, - а потом ученику Своему: се, Матерь твоя (Ин.19:26-27)! Воистину, небо бережливо на слова и не глаголет ничего лишнего. Если бы сего не следовало говорить, разве ангел сказал бы это? Хотя такое наименование Марии женою Иосифа является камнем преткновения для некоторых неверующих людей, оно есть защита чистоты от нечистых сил. Ибо слово Божие слушают не только люди, но все миры, и добрые, и злые. Тот, кто желал бы проникнуть во все тайны Божий, должен был бы иметь зрение Божие для всего тварного, видимого и невидимого.

Родившееся в Ней есть от Духа Святаго. Сие есть дело Божие, а не человеческое. Не смотри на природу и не бойся закона. Здесь действует Больший природы и Сильнейший закона, без Которого ни природа не имела бы жизни, ни закон - силы.