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Christ is born, glorify him!
Christ from heaven, go out to meet him!
Christ on earth, be exalted!
Sing to the Lord all the earth,
and that I may join both in one word:
let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad,
for the One who is of heaven and then of earth,
Christ comes in the flesh.
Rejoice with trembling and with joy;
with trembling because of your sins,
with joy because of your hope.
...The Word of God Himself, who is before all worlds,
the Invisible, the Incomprehensible, the Bodiless, Beginning of Beginning, the Light of Light,
the Source of Life and Immortality,
the Image of the Archetypal Beauty,
the immovable Seal, the unchangeable Image,
the Father's Definition and Word,
came to His own Image - mankind - and took on Him flesh for the sake of our flesh, and … for my soul's sake, purifying like by like;
and in all points except sin He became human. Conceived by the Virgin… He came forth then as God with that which He had assumed,
One person in two natures,
flesh and Spirit, of which the latter deified the former.
O new commingling;
O strange conjunction;
the Self-Existent comes into being,
the Uncreated is created,
the Uncontainable is contained,
…
And He Who gives riches becomes poor,
for He assumes the poverty of my flesh,
that I may assume the richness of His Godhead.
He that is full empties Himself,
for He empties Himself of His glory for a short while,
that I may have a share in His fullness.
What is the riches of His goodness?
What is this mystery that is around me?
I had a share in the image; I did not keep it;
He partakes of my flesh that He may both save the image and make the flesh immortal.
The Good Shepherd, He who lays down His life for His sheep, came to seek for that which had strayed upon the mountains and the hills… and found the wanderer; and having found us, took us upon His shoulders - on which He also took the wood of the Cross;
and having taken us, brought us back to the higher life, and having carried us back, numbered us amongst those who had never strayed.
He lighted a candle - His own flesh - and swept the house, cleansing the world from sin, and sought the piece of money, our royal image that was covered up by sinful passions
and He calls together His angel friends on the finding of the coin, and makes them sharers in His joy, whom He had made to share also the secret of the Incarnation. On the candle of the Forerunner there follows the light that exceeds in brightness, and to the voice the Word succeeds; and to the Bridegroom's friend the Bridegroom, to him that prepared for the Lord a peculiar people, cleansing them by water in preparation for the Spirit…
He girds Himself with a towel and washes His disciples' feet, and shows that humiliation is the best road to exaltation.
For the soul that was bent to the ground He humbles Himself, that He may raise up with Himself the soul that was tottering to a fall under a weight of sin.
He eats with tax-gatherers and at the taxgatherers' tables, and that He makes disciples of tax-gatherers, that He too may gain something - and what? - the salvation of sinners.
A little later on you will see Jesus submitting to be purified in the river Jordan for my purification, or rather, sanctifying the waters by His purification (for indeed He had no need of purification, who takes away the sin of the world) and the heavens cleft asunder, and witness borne to him by the Spirit that is of one nature with Him;
you shall see Him tempted and conquering and served by angels, and healing every sickness and every disease, and giving life to the dead - O that He would give life to you who are dead because of your heresy, - and driving out demons, sometimes Himself, sometimes by his disciples, and feeding vast multitudes with a few loaves, and walking dry-shod upon seas, and being betrayed and crucified, and crucifying with Himself my sin, offered as a lamb, and offering as a priest, as a man buried in the grave, and as God rising again, and then ascending, and to come again in His own glory. Why what a multitude of high festivals there are in each of the mysteries of the Christ; all of which have one completion, namely, my perfection and return to the first condition of Adam.
Now then I pray you accept His conception, and to leap before Him, if not like John from the womb, yet like David, because of the resting of the Ark. Revere the enrolment on account of which you were inscribed in heaven, and adore the birth by which you were loosed from the chains of your birth.
Honour little Bethlehem, which has led you back to Paradise.
Worship the manger through which you, being without sense, were fed by the Word.
Know as Isaiah bids you, your Owner like the ox, and like the ass your Master's crib…
Run with the star, and bear your gifts with the Magi, gold and frankincense and myrrh, as to a king, and to God, and to One who has died for you.
With shepherds glorify Him;
with angels join in chorus;
with archangels sing hymns.
Let this Festival be common to the powers in heaven and to the powers upon earth. For I am persuaded that the heavenly hosts join in our exultation and keep high Festival with us to-day, because they love mankind, and they love God …
One thing connected with the birth of Christ I would have you hate - the murder of the infants by Herod. Or rather you must venerate this too, the sacrifice of the same age as Christ, slain before the offering of the New Victim. If He flees into Egypt, joyfully become a companion of His exile. It is a great thing to share the exile of the persecuted Christ. If He tarry long in Egypt, call Him out of Egypt by a reverent worship of Him there. Travel without fault through every stage and faculty of the Life of Christ. Be purified; be circumcised; strip off the veil which has covered you from your birth. After this teach in the Temple, and drive out the sacrilegious traders. Submit to be stoned if need be, for well I know you will be hidden from those who cast the stones; you will escape even through the midst of them, like God. If thou be brought before Herod, answer not for the most part. He will respect your silence more than most people's long speeches. If you are scourged, ask for what they leave out. Taste gall for the taste's sake; drink vinegar; seek for spittings; accept blows, be crowned with thorns, that is, with the hardness of the godly life; put on the purple robe, take the reed in hand, and receive mock worship from those who mock at the truth; lastly, be crucified with Him, and share His death and burial gladly, so that you may rise with Him, and be glorified with Him and reign with Him. Look at and be looked at by the Great God, who in Trinity is worshipped and glorified, and Whom we declare to be now set forth as clearly before you as the chains of our flesh allow, in Jesus Christ our Lord, to Whom be the glory for ever.
Amen.
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