Reading from the Synaxarion:
The incomprehensible and inexplicable Nativity of Christ came to pass when Herod the Great was reigning in Judea; the latter was an Ascalonite on his fathers's side and an Idumean on his mother's. He was in every way foreign to the royal line of David; rather, he had received his authority from the Roman emperors, and had ruled tyrannically over the Jewish people for some thirty-three years. The tribe of Judah, which had reigned of old, was deprived of its rights and stripped of all rule and authority. Such was the condition of the Jews when the awaited Messiah was born, and truly thus was fulfilled the prophecy which the Patriarch Jacob had spoken 1,807 years before: "A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a prince from his loins, until there come the things stored up for him; and he is the expectation of the nations" (Gen.49:10).
Thus,
our Saviour was born in Bethlehem, a city of Judea, whither Joseph had come
from Nazareth of Galilee, taking Mary his betrothed, who was great with child,
that, according to the decree issued in those days by the Emperor Augustus,
they might be registered in the census of those subject to Rome. Therefore,
when the time came for the Virgin to give birth, and since because of the great
multitude there was no place in the inn, the Virgin's circumstance constrained
them to enter a cave which was near Bethlehem. Having as shelter a stable of
irrational beasts, she gave birth there, and swaddled the Infant and laid Him
in the manger (Luke 2:1-7). From this, the tradition has come down to us that
when Christ was born He lay between two animals, an ox and an ass, that the
words of the Prophets might be fulfilled: "Between two living creatures
shalt Thou be known" (Abbacum 3:2), and "The ox knoweth his owner and
the ass his master's crib" (Esaias 1: 3).
But
while the earth gave the new-born Saviour such a humble reception, Heaven on
high celebrated majestically His world-saving coming. A wondrous star, shining
with uncommon brightness and following a strange course, led Magi from the East
to Bethlehem to worship the new-born King. Certain shepherds who were in the
area of Bethlehem, who kept watch while tending their sheep, were suddenly
surrounded by an extraordinary light, and they saw before them an Angel who
proclaimed to them the good tidings of the Lord's joyous Nativity. And
straightway, together with this Angel, they beheld and heard a whole host of
the Heavenly Powers praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, good will towards men" (Luke 2:8-14).
Apolytikion of Holy Nativity in the Fourth Tone
Thy
Nativity, O Christ our God, hath shined the light of knowledge upon the world;
for thereby they that worshipped the stars were instructed by a star to worship
Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, the Dayspring from on high. O
Lord, glory be to Thee.
Kontakion of Holy Nativity in the Third Tone
Today,
the Virgin bears Him who is transcendent, and the earth presents the cave to
Him who is beyond reach. Angels, along with shepherds glorify Him. The Magi
make their way to Him by a star. For a new child has been born for us, the God
before all ages.
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