On the Birth of Our Lord

On the Birth of Our Lord A discourse, the third of those on the Birth of Our Lord. A prayer. Blessed is Christ on the day of his nativity. He rejoiced the earth and gladdened the heavens. My brethren. In love and mercy the Creator willed to give life to all, and sent his Son to bring all to the knowledge of him. He set out from the Father, his Word, the Father's Word, while not being separated, and came to our dwelling, while he was in his own dwelling and in all. He set out in his will and came in his love to the earthly ones, and established his nature without change in that which he was. Not by movement did he set out, nor was the God of all separated, for there is no place for existence to set out within its own boundaries. For he does not set out by means of a journey from that which he is, for in that which he is he abides, something without change. His love showed the race of men, by means of that which came, that he might cause the great name of his salvation to be heard before their eyes. For the vileness of Adam he honored again by means of the incarnations, for if existence descended towards him, how great is it beyond all! For the ruin of his image he willed to descend into the womb of a mother, that he might again seal him with the seal of the spirit and renew him. By the name of existence he sealed the dust of the son of the living one, and he fell and was corrupted, descended and raised him from the dead. His image he sealed with a borrowed womb, according to his greatness, for it is very small, all that is made from existence.

He raised up his image from the hands that have no measurements, and no visible form was fixed like the idols. He adorned his image with the name of the image of the Creator, in whom all who love are drawn to his knowledge through the name of his image. In the honor of his image, all participate, all are adorned, and through his firstborn he taught the way of those who flee from evil. By means of the sign of his firstborn, he burned his image like a firstborn, and showed the beauty of his eloquence through the sign. He saw the great damage of the rank of the image of Adam, and evil ceased and gave birth to a perfect one upon the perfect one. He filled the holy bow of wrath with the string of the perfect one, and struck and cast it with the hard arrow of the fruit of the passions. He effaced the image of the name of existence with violence, and dissolved the love of the covering of all through the storms. He crushed the demon of the living beings with the tether of evil, and cut off the path of the rebellion of men toward the hidden one. There were eloquent and silent memories for the race of men, and they cut off hope at the fall that does not rise again. The unclean demons laughed and rejoiced at his fall, and the spies rejoiced when they saw the fall of the one who was heavier than all. And when the good one saw the madness of his image and the insolence of the evil ones, he had pity on his image, that it might not be scorned by the wanton ones. He turned his love toward the salvation of the one who formed his image, that it might not be destroyed along with his suffering, the power of his wisdoms.

He knew him before the onset of the sin that sins, and his love preceded him toward forgiveness like the knowers. In this, he was being tested as a just man, and not by chance did he cut the path of death. In this, he looked upon the just man with the eye of the spirit, and the passing of the command of the impulse of the fruit was revealed to him. The cause of his life was not hidden from his knowledge. And no new thought turned him toward his salvation; with his being, the mystery of the end was hidden. And he prepared in the concealment of his love the salvation of his life for the end, preserving for it the great wealth of the power of the services. When the promise of the heart is completed, it will receive his wealth at the conclusion of the sacrifices, opening the treasury of his divinity. And he enriched without the deposits of the test in the days; the mystery of the son and the spirit was hidden with his salvation. And in our time, all trinity learned through our hands, the spiritual ones received newness. That the three persons of divinity are one in the confessor, in him he opened the treasury of his mercies before his signs. And the eloquent and the silent entered and were placed in the treasury of life; for him, honor in the beginning and the end from all that were. He called his image and made the sanctuary of his divinity; in the beginning, honor through the sign of the work of his hands. And in the end, he dwelt in his love and established all; he did not send his hunters from the spirits of his doings.

He sent the Word from Himself and called it to His knowledge. In the order of the Word, He went forth from the Father, the begetter of the Father. Hidden in Self and going forth and beginning without beginning, He went forth from the height and came to the depth, that His will. And He established a dwelling in the house of flesh for the will of His love, Hidden Self and Word from which it is from the seers. And He revealed it to the eyes of the senses of essence and side, Hidden was He from every word of the Father with His concealment. And His will became in the side of His flesh, and His glory was seen, In that name alone the Word becomes hidden in the side. And hidden in Self, and again the mouth is filled with words, In the name of the silent one, the Word also was loosed in the womb of flesh. And in the virginity of the sides of His flesh, His will sang, The Word hidden in Self and revealed by the deeds. In all Self and toward all, and not to be seen, Yet with His Father, hidden in the hidden and revealed in His love. All in His Father and all in all, and not to be divided, And if in the works there is something that is from Him, He is with Him and outside Him without separation, As in the nature of being, the hidden fitting for the confessors. That He is a limit toward His begetter and toward all, The glory of the Word went forth united from His begetter. And His will dwelt in the womb for the salvation of the living, Not in His own, He confined Himself in the womb of flesh.

His will mounted the flesh and made it his dwelling. Not his nature, which is without limit, came to a limit. His will put on concealment and filled all with it. He desired to cut the covenant of death that was upon them, and to abolish it. And his will ascended in mortality to the abolition of death. In this coming, he came to you, hidden in the revealed. And through the angel, he interpreted with you the power of his ministries. His will went forth and came to his own, to the doing of his own. As is fitting for the limitless one to do his own, he sent his will by means of a spiritual messenger. And he proclaimed to the watchers new tidings in the ears of flesh. The seed of his will he sowed in the land of flesh, to uproot their error and to sow hope for the hopeless. The watcher gave greeting to Mary at the beginning of his words, that the knots of that daughter of the voice of the covenant might be loosed. Greeting mingles with grace and gave to the pure one, that the inheritance of the evil seed might be uprooted from the ears of the womb. Greetings to you, Mary, the rib of Eve, who knew death, that the fruit of your womb might loose the knots of mortality. Greetings to you, woman, heir of the flesh that sought healing, that the king might desire to raise up an image in you, in your members. By the power of the Spirit, he desired to mount the womb as a sign, that it might become a dwelling and he might dwell in it by his will, without the craftsmen who injure what is in the covering of your body.

He established in him authority over his hidden birth. The great one became also an elder and exalted above all. He took rank and the great name of the name of essence. To him was given the authority of the throne of David. And he reigned over all, that he might deliver his crown to another. Now he came in the ranks of the free, clothed in humility. And he showed us that from the worthy ones of the city, Arise Eutyches, the maker of strife, with his disciples. And he explained to us that from the womb that conceived by the power of the Spirit, Came also the Egyptian, the apostle of the Word. And he showed us that from the one who took the throne of David, Arose with them also the fugitives of our days. And he showed us that from the one who reigned over the house of Jacob, Arose the Egyptian at the head of the camp of your chosen ones. And strengthen the ranks of your forces against the truth. To you comes the living one of the Word, exceedingly. That you might confuse for them the true order, better than all. From you a full, secret counsel of suffering was sought. That for the poor without end you bound the huntress in the midst of the members. You, like the shield of the heretics, shine upon our tombs. That from the womb that proclaimed the city in the hands of Mary, If the Word below became flesh in him. What is it that compelled the Spirit to come and complete his purpose? For why did he not mount his sign in the womb? The Spirit descended, and the power of the Father, and thus he was mounted.

When did he leave the name of essence with his begetter? Now he gave him the high name of holiness. Reveal and explain to me the hidden mysteries of your secrets: how the Spirit became flesh in the womb to the Word of the Father; how the incorporeal spirit embodied the flesh of form; and how the small space held the one who holds all. How did he cut off the infinity of the beginningless God? And he began a new existence without his will, that the Spirit might ride upon the flesh of the members in the womb. That flesh is his own, from the body of Mary it is. By his own he changes his self to flesh, or perhaps he is a knower. Examine and test for me, that your mind may find the truth. Is it the nature that became flesh in the womb? Or does the deceiver confess his words with David? And is it the flesh that rides by his own power? Or does his own endure without change? And if he changes his sign by his own or by another, does essence stand in name and not in works? There is no essence that cuts off the infinity of its boundlessness. And if it is cut off, it is not essence but bound. For you, let it not be that this is like the violent. But confess that all essence is without end. For there is no height nor depth nor any of these. Can the word of the union of your self be disturbed? Let us not have another hope that will be in his light.

except that the Word was not diminished in flesh. Eloquent and silent ones cry out with him in voice and silence: that the Word of the Father, without change, abides in his own nature. It was not that his nature changed and became common flesh; rather, he took flesh from us and honored it with his own. His own nature abides in his glory without confusion, and what is ours he made one with him in honor. Not that the nature of flesh came to be hidden from all; flesh mounted and rode upon his hiddenness. The chariot of the Spirit rides on the senses of the daughter of men; in his incarnation, men see the hidden from all. Without the drugs that disturb a man, she conceived him in her womb; he entered her womb above the order of her periods. The Spirit formed him and filled him with the Spirit of the power of his will; from his fullness he gave life and gave life to the imperfect. He made him and made him to be a living being in body and soul; so that body and soul might be freed from servitude. As a beginning, he chose him from all and set him over all; he placed in his hand the life of the imperfect without end. The spirits rejoiced in the new voice of the good news of her womb; and they began to sing to the messenger who was sent to men. The good news, the wise one, Gabriel sowed in the ears of Mary; a new womb without seed, which sows men. In the virgin of the covenant, the fruit of his word was planted; and the Spirit praised in the sanctuary of his soul the voice of praise. The voice of thanksgiving paid the reward of the new womb.

Blessed is the one who builds a dwelling for him within her members. They are equal in glory from all mouths, they set a limit to all. For by his incarnation he desired to raise the dust of Adam from its lowliness. In the first month Gabriel sowed the seed in her ears. And the ripeness of the ear of the bread of life was proclaimed. He caused the power of life to taste in the bosom of her body. And the ripeness of the fruit makes all rejoice at the completion of the month. At the time of her pregnancy, the earth in the beginning gave birth to the first-born of the marsh. In him was formed the second Adam in the earth of her womb. One spirit was the messenger dwelling in her womb. And on the day of his birth, many came down and cried out glory. He gave a sign to Mary, the watcher, for the truth of her pregnancy. The fruit that ripens in bodies that grow old and wither, behold, the pregnancy of Elizabeth was without meaning. And this sixth month is for the fullness of her pregnancy. The messenger hastened before the King without end. And the King hastened to the son without the order of marriage. Mary bore great wealth within her members. And the watcher learned from them by means of a sign. The cause of the ship, laden with wealth, came to the house of the poor. And she enriched from the silence the deep root with the voice of her words. She gave the inheritance of the king to the mother of the servant. And the unjust one began to dwell in the womb against his Lord. O wombs that from their wombs cry out in lamentation.

O the mothers who from their youth are wise, they are deceived. The barren one struck the voice of the herald who proclaims the good news. The barren one in the virgin completed the mystery and the end of the peoples. The herald heard the voice of the mother of the king of kings. And she rejoiced at her reception, and the mother rejoiced in the spirit of revelation. The barren one hastened to meet the womb of virginity. And she cried out and said, "Blessed is your birth from all births." She gave her gift to the gazelle that she might enter her side. The woman was permitted to become the mother of the Lord without name. Mary heard the words of the spiritual one. And she accepted the good news without doubt within her mind. She became a house with the gift of the barren one. And she was waiting when she would see the good news openly. Nine months in the ship of her body concealed her wealth. Until she descended in the fullness of the birth of the righteous one, the mystery of the youths. She descended into the house of the waves of the manger from the heights. Until she descended into the house of bread as a sign. A decree went out from Augustus, king of the peoples. That each should write himself in his place with a head tax. Joseph also went to the place of Judah, to the city of David. And he brought with him his betrothed, himself, according to the decree. The decree of the earthly king troubled the men. That again they would go under the authority of his headship. The decree of the head tax was for the sake of life.

And he wrote a letter of manumission for the sons of the house of bondage. Because of the king, he heard about the king who shone in Judah. And men began to write in his name a letter of their lives. A sign of his glory [to the king of the earth] to the governor. For in his hand was revealed the beginning of the kingdom of Rome. In the city of David, the counsels of David were completed. And also the course of pregnancy ceased within the house of bread. Her pains were like a thousand wanderings of the wealth of the bride. And she opened a treasury before the spiritual and corporeal ones. A hidden sign struck Eve to the heavens. And they descended and proclaimed the good news to the hopeless. Their voices were like trumpets, and they proclaimed in the land: "Arise, you who are submerged, and cast off the burden of the yoke of iniquity." The good news is upon you, O spiritual ones, to the corporeal ones. Come, take the letter of their debt to the king who shone. To the shepherds he revealed the mystery of the one who tends all. And Eve taught the manifest truth in the child and his mother. The corporeal ones heard from the spiritual ones the counsels of life. And Eve struck the voice of counsel to the deed. Toward the domestics, the spiritual ones sent and awakened Eve. And toward the strangers, he sent his sign and struck Eve. To the sons of the house, he established Eve through counsel. And to the distant ones, he sent Eve as a star of light. With the inner ones, he spoke with them through words.

And to the pagans he proclaimed a message through the silent ones. He sent a star like a messenger after the peoples, that they might come and see the salvation of life that is among the peoples. Mystically he spoke with them through the movements of the star. And with a sign of light he showed them the way of life. When the wise men lost their way, he taught them the truth. The worshippers made peace before the worshippers. In Chaldean error the erring ones erred and entered into lots. And for the enlightened ones, the Lord made masters of death and life. To the star he gave the headship and the service. And he subjected them under his lordship when they performed. A vision of light showed itself to the sons of error. For a runner ran, one of the watchers, before their eyes. It was not a natural star hung in the firmament and descended before them, but a sign that was manifested in a star of light. A spiritual one, a sign that was given to him, was lost. And it caused it to grow like a light for the sons of darkness. And the true one, whose action was not natural, witnessed his running, which was disturbed from the lights. He alone changed the order of the course of his path. And he lowered its height toward the earth-dwellers who were perplexed by him. Before their eyes he showed his vision and his running in a measured way, until they entered the land of Judah and his light was hidden. Among the Magi he showed his light and the course of his path.

And against the pagans he set his snares and concealed his light. It was not his own to descend and remain far from his teaching. He hid a sign from their eyes in the words of the Zipporah. For the circumcised people he desired to mingle with the uncircumcised peoples. So that when the Magi sought a king like the pagans, the uncircumcised of the flesh asked the uncircumcised of the spirit. For they saw a king born in Judah as a sign. A star of light appeared and indicated to them his birth. And they hastened toward him to offer him the worship of love. The pagans saw the seekers of truth who sought righteousness. And when they did not wish to enter the test of righteousness, in this they became a manifest sign to the distant ones. That they might come and be witnesses among the free to the oppressors. The outsiders cried out to the pagans and awakened them. And the Magi proclaimed with the voice of remembrance from the books of the Spirit. Even the king heard the wonder of the king of the Zipporah and was troubled. For perhaps the fulfillment of the promise of righteousness had come. The wonder of the king had fallen into the hands of the Edomite. And the staff of the elder had completed the decree of the words of Jacob. The proselyte heard of the king standing from the house of the dead. And he seized the cry that struck words toward the events. The cunning fox saw the tracks of the lion's cub. And he began to tremble in the corners of the forest to hide. He called the Magi and asked them in the form of love.

He saw in the star the sign of the king of the Magi, and put on the guise of one who asks about this, that he might worship. He hid the sword within his thought, that he might shed blood. The Chaldeans heard the hidden words of the Creator of all creatures, and they were not disturbed by the form concealed within the thought. The simple ones went forth from the presence of the king, and he stood still, that he might go before their eyes. He mingled his light with the tumult in their thoughts, and he made wise the vessel that would shake the king in secret. The hidden sign that he would announce to the worship of the king; he also taught the sounds that the vessel would ride. The simple ones went forth, pursuing the light of the sign before their eyes, until he came and set the vessel at the king’s gate. The secret agents he sent entered the house of the Magi, and they saw the king in a scattered abode, and they were not divided. O the command that divides the forces of the elements! They were not disturbed by the divisions of the weak. The Chaldeans kept the great order in their thoughts, that they might not ask about the chariot and the authority of the king. The commands of silence cast a sign upon the elements of the self, and he arranged that their voice not be heard through division. They ran swiftly under the covering that was. They adorned the body upon the chariot that the king would ride. They honored and worshipped the hidden one in the open, who was spread out in the vision.

And in the flesh he saw the spirits in the movements of the soul. They opened the hidden signs of the error that was in their inquiries. And they approached and revealed the power of their understanding. In gold they inquired about the authority of the king who rules over all. And the head of thanksgiving bowed, seeking from all. With myrrh they showed that he suffered beforehand like a human. And he was raised above death by the power of his suffering. They revealed in it the hidden power of his concealment, which is hidden from all. And to him the guilty, the eloquent, and the magicians gave the worship of love. They gave him gold as to a king who rules over all. And they offered myrrh, which is very suitable for the pains of the flesh. They repaid her for the thanksgiving from his signs. With a clear sign they gave him glory that is fitting from all. With three gifts they sealed and bound all the offerings. And each one of them inquired about his authority. Three offered three sacrifices in the king's temple. And they proclaimed and preached the Trinity hidden from all. They completed the course of the proclamation of their offerings. And they learned another way through revelations. Herod saw that his haters, the Assyrians, were many. And he cast his wrath upon the infants without mercy. With the sword of the children he prepared the evils that he was to conceal. For the sake of the child who would take his crown and rule over all, a wake of death was prepared from the infants.

In this inquiry that is established from the births, with them that one whose going was lost did, body and prostrated, the Adamantine to pour out blood. He raised his sword against the encampment of the ranks of Jacob. The weeping of the wicked was spoken in the land of Judah. And the destruction was accomplished by the voice of the cry. Rachel wept and was not consoled from her sorrow, for she saw her sons being destroyed unjustly. Weeping and lamentation filled the streets of the villages of David, while the mothers were wailing over their children. The sacrifices of the enemy were the children by their slayers. And the king received the child with love as the firstborn. The death of the sacrifice cut off their lives from the perfect one. And the child mixed for the body a life without end. They died because of the one who came to revive the race of man. And they sought the way by which man descended through sufferings to life. They gave life because of the life that revives all. That the child might sprout new life in the kingdom of Rome. He quenched his wrath that thirsted for blood by their slayers. And he thought to turn away from the coming of the good news of the king. But not so did the thought of all ascend toward the end. That the child might cut off the hidden sign for the elders of prayer. The birth went forth that the sword had escaped because of him. And he came to light like the dawn of the annunciation. The reward of Mary, in whose womb the wicked were bound.

He brought the sacrifice like a law to open the wombs. He marked him with the sign of the house of Abraham on his members, so that the great covenant of the peoples might be established in him. Behold, the demonstration in which the interpretation of the words is revealed. He sought to make the flesh of the circumcision of the hand of man come. Come, see the circles of Babylon, the order of flesh and spirit. And see how he made his flesh good and offered sacrifices. If the Word changed his sign and became flesh, what compelled him to imprint himself with the sign of men, to receive circumcision in his body at that time? How was the confession of his words to the afflicted fulfilled, as if the peoples of the house were brothers? And if Abraham, that one did not receive the sign of the house of Abraham on his body, he would deceive even the kingdom of Abram. For Mary did not give birth to the son of David, but the Word. Or examine for yourself what body received the sign. Or come, learn and be freed from the confusion of your thoughts. What do you err, you men, on the path of the foam of words? Come, follow me, and I will show you the way of truth. When you men sin against the sign that received evil, restrain your thoughts and be silent with me about the two that were one: the Word and the body received the sign, the lover of sin. Come, learn the confession of one self, a single doctrine. The Word was written that it became flesh, not in a lamentable manner.

but that he might place the Word in flesh, hidden in the revealed, that he might place the Word, not that it changed from what it is. For it is not possible that it should be and place itself in its own nature. One and the same is able to place in complete love. And he alone, as he places in his person, the Word of the Father, he placed his person under his will. And he placed his power in the pure body of the one who gave birth, Mary. Not in his being did he place his person and come to birth. The will of his love was with the sign, and he called him by his name. Not the being of the hidden from all did the one who gave birth, Mary, bear. She is a human being, the one who gave birth, who is like all of her kind. Not a spirit without mixture did the hands cut. It is a bodily one whose hands of the bodily cut. She is a human being, Mary, from the humanity of the race of Adam. And not like him is the one born from her in body and soul. Mary is equal to women by her constitution. But her offspring is greater than all offspring of the daughters of Eve. Her offspring is like the bodily in body and soul. But he is separate and exalted from the bodily by his constitution. His nature is like that of his mother from whom he is. And he is above her, for not from seed was his composition. He is wholly a human being by the completion of body and soul. And he is also God, who was a dwelling for God, the All. A daughter of a human being is she; from her he is by nature his composition.

and the Son of the Essence who is equal to this in the power of his nature, in flesh and soul he is like his bodily brothers. And in authority he is equal to the Word, his birth from the Father, in birth and in infancy and in the sufferings of the flesh he is entirely man. And in the glories which he received and inherited, he is entirely God, not a division of Son and Son in the thoughts of their nature. Not did the heretics contend in the distinction of words, the natures which I said are two that are distinguished one from the other. Not two persons does he make manifest like shadows, one knows the Word of the Father and the flesh from the womb. When he worships in a bodily manner the spiritual, one confession without division does he offer in thought. And he strips off the garment of the king because of the king, the natures are distinguished because of the sufferings and the glories. One who suffers and does not suffer, the Word and the flesh, because of Mary who did not give birth to a man. And because of this the mystery is revealed in the distinction of words, there is no mother of the Essence who is fitting for this economy. What disturbs you, O clarity of truth, in the snares of your iniquity? Not to being does one come, a sign hidden from all, that which is not comprehended holds all within from the limit. She is Mary of Adam of two, not of the Essence. In the likeness of the earth she conceived, also she who is without union, that command which signified to the earth and she gave birth to Adam.

the image-maker within this one, in the likeness of Adam, to the decree of judgment that condemns Adam, he desired to annul. And from the guilty he made the innocent, and he acquitted Adam by the will of the first debtor, and he condemned his own children. And in the contest Adam took victory, Adam through Adam, through Mary he annulled that daughter of the voice of the children of Eve. There death, and here life that gives life to Adam, through the children of Eve the rebel sowed rebellion. And through the children of Mary the watchman proclaimed the voice of awakening in the prison of pains that the birth pangs of the one who bore him bound to Eve. And in the blessings toward Mary he loosed the struggle, because Adam cursed the land of error with thorns. And through the son of Adam he cultivated it in glory, so that glory might be given to the image that he cast down in the face of iniquity, he desired to renew. And he adorned her with spirit, and before her he placed spiritual gold, in soul and body the mortals sinned and condemned the sinner. And he freed the sign through human beings, in body and soul, by this sign the human took from the daughter of man. And he adorned her with the spirit of the savior of his race from the oppressor, and now it is fitting that the name be called pure for the pure one. The mother of the image that is to be adorned in him for the [...] of concealment, he called the child Christ, and son of the king and lord. The likeness of the servant who was lord through his suffering, and if it is given, the heretics are confounded in the path from them.

With him, the Word and the body of this one whom I called, from him I learned to call him by the name of maker and creator. When he said, "Behold, I go to my father and my God," if he is God, how does he go to his God? And if he is a maker, how does he receive two? There is no God for divinity, a heresy. There is no maker to set right; cease all your blasphemies. Be silent, do not strike with your syllogisms the head of your orders. Your words are lighter than the spider's web of your blasphemies. Let it not be that your peace is given except to the truth. Death and life are not distinguished for you from your trust. Light is not mixed with the darkness of your thought; it is itself. And confession is not mingled with your doubts. One confession of one God is fixed in itself. That he is something as he is without change, and that he has a son who is born from him, written in your heart. And that there is no time between him and his true son for you, that the Spirit, a substance from him, is not divided. And he is equal with him in all that is divine. You confess again in this that was at the end of times, that he saved by his son and set with you height and depth. By his son I said the Word from him and the body from you. One spirit and one body hidden in the revealed. Two aspects of the death of the maker and of the maker.

The one nature of the will and the honor that is his in himself is fitting for him, all knowledge, lest all be foolishly led to his knowledge.