Pokrov leaflet - December 2017
The Feast of the Nativity
The celebration of the birth of Christ was introduced into the ecclesiastical calendar at a relatively late date. During the first centuries, the Church concentrated on Epiphany, the first and glorious manifestation of the Lord, rather than on His birth, an event which seemed somehow private and as if wrapped in shadow – even though this shadow was shot through by rays of divine light. In the liturgical life of contemporary eastern Churches, Epiphany still has pre-eminence over Christmas, and this pre-eminence is noticeable also in popular devotion. The Roman west officially assigns a place to Epiphany which is not inferior to that of Christmas; but the devotion of the faithful has definitely concentrated on this last feast; it would even seem that, for the majority of Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Protestants, Christmas has become more important than Easter.
However, being faithful to the early tradition, we consider Epiphany to be the highest and most complete celebration of the coming of our Lord amongst men. We shall be careful, though, not underestimate the inspiration by which the Holy Spirit has impelled the whole Christian community to contemplate Jesus’ birth itself and honour it better. We shall strive to receive the message and the grace that Christmas brings with our whole heart. We shall consider the period which lasts from Christmas to Epiphany as an indivisible feast, of which Christmas is the starting point and Epiphany the culmination.
Matins for Christmas are celebrated either on the evening of December 24th/6th January or on the morning of December 25th/January 7th. At these the Gospel account of the angel’s message to Joseph (Matt.1: 18-25), which has already been read during the ‘royal hours’ of Dec 24th/Jan 6th, is read again; the angelic hymn: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men …” and the odes proper to the Nativity are sung. During the liturgy for Christmas, instead of the Trisagion, the antiphon formed on the words of St Paul is repeated: “All ye that are baptised into Christ have put on Christ”. It is from the same letter to the Galatians (4: 4-7) that the epistle for this day is drawn: “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman … And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father”. The Gospel (Matt. 2:1-12) already read on the eve, is that of the adoration of the Magi. The final blessing of the liturgy is altered to start in the following way: “Christ, our true God, Who, for our salvation, was born in a cave and laid in a manger …”
We shall quote some of the words sung at matins for Christmas, to show what spirit animates the Church at this feast:
“All things are filled with joy today ….Let all the earth acclaim its God.”
“Rod of the root of Jesse, and flower that blossomed from its stem, O Christ, Thou has sprung from the Virgin.”
“To those who are caught in the night straying into the works of darkness … grant, O Christ, thy blessing.”
“I was pierced by the arrows of the tyrant, but found refuge in Thee, O Christ, Who hast overcome the evil one …”
“Our Saviour, the Dayspring from on high, has visited us, and we who were in shadow and in darkness have found the truth …”
We notice here, once again, the tendency of the Byzantine Church to think of Christ in terms of light. Byzantine Christians certainly do not forget that the Word became a small child who was laid in a manger; but, while Western Christians seem, since the middle ages, to cling with pleasure to this flesh and blood child, the East sees above all in the Incarnation the coming of light, is triumph over darkness, and our own conversion from the night of sin to the divine radiance. The East wants to contemplate the eternal reality to which the historical event gives expression. This spiritualisation of Christmas evidences a very different state of mind form that of most Western Christians5, and it finds its perfect formulation in the troparion for the Nativity:
“Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, has shone upon the world with the light of knowledge: for thereby they who adored the stars through a star were taught to worship Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, the Dayspring from on high, O Lord, glory to Thee.”
From: “The Year of Grace of the Lord. A Scriptural and Liturgical Commentary on the Calendar of the Orthodox Church”. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, NY, 1992, Chapter III, pp.66-68
However, being faithful to the early tradition, we consider Epiphany to be the highest and most complete celebration of the coming of our Lord amongst men. We shall be careful, though, not underestimate the inspiration by which the Holy Spirit has impelled the whole Christian community to contemplate Jesus’ birth itself and honour it better. We shall strive to receive the message and the grace that Christmas brings with our whole heart. We shall consider the period which lasts from Christmas to Epiphany as an indivisible feast, of which Christmas is the starting point and Epiphany the culmination.
Matins for Christmas are celebrated either on the evening of December 24th/6th January or on the morning of December 25th/January 7th. At these the Gospel account of the angel’s message to Joseph (Matt.1: 18-25), which has already been read during the ‘royal hours’ of Dec 24th/Jan 6th, is read again; the angelic hymn: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men …” and the odes proper to the Nativity are sung. During the liturgy for Christmas, instead of the Trisagion, the antiphon formed on the words of St Paul is repeated: “All ye that are baptised into Christ have put on Christ”. It is from the same letter to the Galatians (4: 4-7) that the epistle for this day is drawn: “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman … And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father”. The Gospel (Matt. 2:1-12) already read on the eve, is that of the adoration of the Magi. The final blessing of the liturgy is altered to start in the following way: “Christ, our true God, Who, for our salvation, was born in a cave and laid in a manger …”
We shall quote some of the words sung at matins for Christmas, to show what spirit animates the Church at this feast:
“All things are filled with joy today ….Let all the earth acclaim its God.”
“Rod of the root of Jesse, and flower that blossomed from its stem, O Christ, Thou has sprung from the Virgin.”
“To those who are caught in the night straying into the works of darkness … grant, O Christ, thy blessing.”
“I was pierced by the arrows of the tyrant, but found refuge in Thee, O Christ, Who hast overcome the evil one …”
“Our Saviour, the Dayspring from on high, has visited us, and we who were in shadow and in darkness have found the truth …”
We notice here, once again, the tendency of the Byzantine Church to think of Christ in terms of light. Byzantine Christians certainly do not forget that the Word became a small child who was laid in a manger; but, while Western Christians seem, since the middle ages, to cling with pleasure to this flesh and blood child, the East sees above all in the Incarnation the coming of light, is triumph over darkness, and our own conversion from the night of sin to the divine radiance. The East wants to contemplate the eternal reality to which the historical event gives expression. This spiritualisation of Christmas evidences a very different state of mind form that of most Western Christians5, and it finds its perfect formulation in the troparion for the Nativity:
“Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, has shone upon the world with the light of knowledge: for thereby they who adored the stars through a star were taught to worship Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, the Dayspring from on high, O Lord, glory to Thee.”
From: “The Year of Grace of the Lord. A Scriptural and Liturgical Commentary on the Calendar of the Orthodox Church”. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, NY, 1992, Chapter III, pp.66-68
