Did not all seeds, Theodoulos, both vegetable and animal, appear according to the word of God? The actual, primordial seed is the word of God. By the power of His word, the human seed also arose in the first man, the forefather of the human race, Adam. And God spoke, and it was so, is written on the first page of the Book of Life, the only one shining among the piles of gloomy, speckled papers.

So God said that the Holy Virgin Mary would give birth to Christ, and it was so. What can resist the word of God? Darkness could not resist it, when God said, "Let there be light," and light appeared. Nor could the earth resist it, when God commanded it to grow from itself herbs and grass with seed. Nor could the dark expanse of the universe resist him, when God said that the sun, moon, and stars should shine in these expanses. Neither the water nor the air dared to say "No" when God filled them with fish and birds. Nor did the earth revolt when the command of God thundered out of it for the beasts, and for all the cattle, and for the beasts of the earth after their kind; nor did the dust of the earth rise when the Artist of artists took it to create man, His highest creation on earth.

Truly, in the same way, nothing in heaven and on earth could resist the word of God, which commanded: "Let Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, be born of the Most-Pure Virgin Mary." And as soon as God said, it was like this. And Mary conceived according to the word of God, and bore a son, and called his name Jesus. Without the lust of the flesh and without the desire of a man, but from God.

O Theodoulos, what can a seed do without the power and will of God? Think how many people in the world do not give birth – not because of the impoverishment of seed, but because of the impoverishment of God's blessing, the lack of God's power. Would the Virgin Mary ever have been born of her aged parents Joachim and Anna without the power of the word of God? And would the great John the Baptist ever have come into the world from the old and withered body of Elizabeth without the power of the word of God? Never. And how many seeds in the fields remain barren without the word of God, without God's command? When God commands, then every seed, whether grass, animal, or human, bears fruit. And when God does not command, then every seed is in vain, and every sower is ashamed. And the seed, therefore, does not bear fruit without the word of God. And the word of God bears the desired fruit even without seed. The Word of God is mightier than any seed. For it alone can act without hindrance, both through the seed and without the seed. The Word of God is truly a seed that never remains barren.

And so, then, in the silence of one winter night, in the deaf silence of an underground cave, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, was born, according to the almighty word of God, from the Spirit of God and the Most-Pure Virgin Mary.

And this was in the time of the Roman Caesar Augustus, one of the "gods" of pagan Rome, when Syria was ruled by Quirinius, and Jerusalem was ruled by Herod the Bloody, the Edomite.

God from God

Will I bring her to childbirth, and not let her give birth? saith the Lord. Or, giving strength to give birth, shall I close the womb? saith thy God. (Isaiah 66:9)

Only a God can save the world! This is the last cry of the philosophers and prophets of ancient times. It is the cry of humanity, languishing in the chains of the prince of this world, in a labyrinth without windows or doors, in a life lost in nirvana or Hades.

If this cry had been heard earlier, then God would have appeared in the world earlier. But people relied on themselves, on their reason and their own strength. They did not realize that their minds were controlled by Satan and that he was using their powers to serve him. All reason, all science, art and all the powers of people were used to build temples to demons, to elevate demons to the level of gods. Man cannot help but be amazed at the majestic pagodas in India, the pyramids and temples in Memphis and Karnak, the sanctuaries in Assyria and ancient Greece, on the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and in America; he cannot help wondering at them as striking and majestic works of art. But a person cannot help but weep with bitterness and shame when he hears to whom these sanctuaries are dedicated: snakes and crocodiles, monkeys and bulls, fantasies and fables.

All art and all culture can serve falsehood just as well as truth, and Satan just as well as God. All art and culture before Christ were in the service of Satan. And now they serve him, as they once served among the pagan nations. Know, therefore, Theodoulos, that art and the whole culture of any epoch have no value in themselves, their value lies in the deity whom they serve. And look, in none of these majestic pagan sanctuaries, so richly decorated and decorated, did the Savior of the world, the prophesied Messiah, appear, but appeared in a cave. But this cave, subterranean and gloomy, modest and simple, is nevertheless much more representative than all pagan pagodas and temples. After all, it was created at the beginning of the creation of the world by the One Who was born in it. It is immutable and solid as the world, while pagodas and pagan sanctuaries, however great and outlandish they may be, are undermined by the worm of time, and, however propped up, warp and sleepily tend to collapse and ruin. The cave of Bethlehem stands today exactly as it was two thousand years ago; stands just like the Himalayas and Ararat: after all, it is the work of God's hands, not of man.

In this primordial temple of God, which is older than all temples made with hands and stronger than all of them, in this pen for sheep and lambs, there appeared One Who is more reliable than men, stronger than the world, stronger than Hades and all the powers of hell, all evil.

My Theodoulos, God has appeared. The Son of God, or God from God.

Let all human testimony be silent, and let the word die in my mouth, Theodoulos. Listen to His testimony, His word: