The Shepherd, December 2007
THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST
The Great Mystery of Piety
Bishop Alexander of Buenos Aires, 1938-2005.
Translated by Seraphim Larin & Daniel Olson
IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND, there is no event greater and more joyful than the incarnation and coming of the Son of God into the world. It is an act of the endless love of God the Father, Who so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The incarnation of the Son of God from the Virgin Mary changed the world for the better in a radical way: It gave men a new way of thinking, ennobled their morals and directed world events along a new course. It brought men power to struggle against sin, reconciled men to God, brought about the adoption of men by the Father, and regenerated their whole nature. It poured a stream of divine life into the corrupted human organism and thereby brought eternal life to men. For these reasons, the incarnation of the Son of God proved to be at the very centre of world events, and chronology is reckoned relative to it - before and after the Nativity of Christ. The celebration of the Nativity of Christ became a most joyous festival of believing humanity.
In the present article, we shall recount the events surrounding the Nativity of Christ, we shall talk about the spiritual significance of this event, and finally we shall discuss the main features of the Nativity divine service [this last part we have omitted in the present issue -ed.].
The Event of the Nativity of Christ
Preceding the Nativity of Jesus Christ, there was a general expectation of the Saviour. The Jews expected His coming on the basis of prophecies, and all the prophecies relating to the coming of the Son of God had been fulfilled. For example, the Patriarch Jacob had foretold that the Saviour would come when the sceptre would depart from Judah (Gen 49:10). The Prophet Daniel had foretold that the Kingdom of the Messiah would begin at the seventieth week (490 years) after the issuance of a command concerning the restoration of Jerusalem, during the era of a powerful pagan kingdom, which would be as strong as iron (Dan 9:24-27). And, indeed, at the end of Daniel’s seventy weeks, Judæa fell under the dominion of the mighty Roman Empire, while the sceptre passed from Judah to Herod, an Idumæan by birth.
The pagans also, in misery from unbelief and a general dissipation of morals, expected a Deliverer with impatience. Men, having fallen away from God, began to deify earthly good things, wealth and worldly glory. The Son of God rejected these worthless idols as the fruit of sin and human passions, and was pleased to come into the world under the most modest conditions.
Two Evangelists describe the events of the Nativity: the Apostles Matthew (of the twelve) and Luke (of the seventy disciples). Since the Evangelist Matthew wrote his Gospel for the Hebrews, he set himself the aim of proving that the Messiah descended from the forefathers Abraham and King David, as had been foretold by the prophets. Therefore, the Evangelist Matthew begins his narrative of the Nativity of Christ with a genealogy (Matt. 1:1-17).
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