Nativity 2

Another of Mar Ephrem On the melody of the "Noble Strivers" To the noble Striver who was sent for praise, To the pure sacrifice that was marked for salvation, And to the blessed day that was adorned for rejoicings, Even the tree shared in love and rejoiced With the branches of the bowing ones they praised him, And with the voice of the holy one they sang to him, To that child who redeemed, they glorified him. [Refrain: Grant also to me that on your string I may ascend and offer praise to you on your birthday] The string of prophets who proclaimed him sang before him, Also the veil of priests who hid him waved before his face, With the crown of kings which is in the procession, To that Lord of virgins whose mother is also a virgin, And he who is king gave kingship to all, And he who is priest gave mercy to all, And he who is lamb gave food to all. The cities of the king, all of them, are bringing gifts, Wreaths of gold and bowls in their hands. The cities of Judah, eloquent wreaths, O Lord, Their wreaths in their mouths they offer to you, Jesus. Bethlehem, Qatraye, and Nazareth, Beth 'Alya, Shechem, and Samaria, With the towers of Shaveh and they crowned you. The first wreath, your city, offers to you. Two wreaths together, of Mary and Aphrath, And in the rows together, all the cities. Behold, to you from your own, their wreaths they offer. The king, O Lord, takes without giving. Your cities, your fortresses, your walls, And a wreath for your praise they offer. His mother bows to him, a wreath offers to him.

To the one who completed her, his mother reigned and crowned him. He hastened and also placed his crown in the contest. Behold, the son of David who triumphed over the house of David and crowned it. His branches were many for his throne, And his exaltations were many for his lineage, And his shoot beneath him for every place. The mother who bore him is worthy of remembrance. The rock that planted him is worthy of blessings. Also Joseph, who was called father by grace, To the son of truth, whose father was praiseworthy. The shepherd of all creatures who was sent After the flock that was lost and went astray, And to his fold he brought it back and led it in. With all who were healed, the rejoicing of the one who came in his planting; With all who grew rich in him, the abundance of the one who came in his birth. To his living paradise, which is destined to enter, the one who came; And in the place where he hid, show and praise him, Who desired in me from the women who were created That I might be a mother to him whom he desired. Also he to me is a child who is fitting for him. Bethlehem gives thanks to you, who set your nativity. For the word of Micah, magnify your crown. The throng is that which was the multitude of loves. Call the prophets and kings who in her crown will help, That Moses, whose types are lost to him, And Isaiah, whose mysteries are hidden, And the wonders of Shushan in every book. Through the mouth of the confessors of the truth, the one who came, whom I received, To the hidden child when he went out to revelation, And to the great height, raise me up with your saints Who in the heavens are stretched and spacious, praise him, Who is full of his praise and cannot Contain his greatness within them, Who bowed and became small in the manger.

High voices made the lowly hope; the breasts of the high ones were dried up in hopes. A new spring which the heavens opened for the earth-dwellers who thirsted for life and did not taste. Or a stone without taste, which the twelve speaking springs opened and filled the world with life. Joseph worships you, brings you a crown; that sorrowful, despised one, who was the brother of the angel, and whose reward was to be driven away, he entwined you within his bosom. His sorrow, O Joseph, testified for you how it purified, that the sorrowful one was made to taste the cup, that the son-in-law was a helper, was deceived, and from the place was driven to his companion. You, my Lord, taught me how and on what water, from the bosom, the virgin was pleasing to you that you might laugh at her. Why is her type that of Adam, the glorious, who from the earth, from a virgin who was not plucked, was still formed? From then, therefore, it was necessary that she be betrothed to Joseph, the daughter of David, and behold, she, your birth from her without a man, a jubilee of kings instead of women, in the name of men it was written. Joseph, son of David, betrothed the son of David, so that the youth who was to be written in the name of his mother might not be found. Therefore, a child was born to Joseph without seed, also a child was born to his mother without a husband, and from both of them he bound their race, that in kings the son of David was written. It was not fitting that from Joseph's seed he be born, nor without Joseph from Mary that he be conceived. Mary, his mother, was not written in her name, and Joseph, who was written, his seed is what wrote him, that not Joseph's body, but his name, was attached.

without Mary’s being pregnant, her son shone forth; he became a lord to David, also a father. A woman bore a man, that one called the pregnant one Moses; a pregnant one without a husband, they called him also the son of David. Without lineage, the son of David was cut off; without a man, how was the son of David conceived? Her pregnancy was not counted like a man’s; also, they confessed his lordship in his nature, that they called him son of David and did not deny. They were astonished that a high one is called son to a man, that his nature and his body are found to be of a double kind. And because he desired in him the heir of desires, he divided himself over the birth of his body, the Saviour. When that daughter of David became pregnant, and on the shoulder of the son of David she was embraced, and in the town of David she was hidden. When was a handmaid a bride in that time? Gabriel was sent to her, flew and descended; in prayer she saw him, he grew great in that time, when also Daniel saw Gabriel in prayer. For prayer and the annunciation are sisters; one is fitting to rejoice with the other, like Mary and Elizabeth, her sister. The annunciation was a wanderer to prayer; by the prayer of Abraham, his annunciations were inscribed. Hezekiah’s prayer hastened, and his annunciation; the annunciation of Zechariah made his prayer rejoice, and by the reward of Simeon he rejoiced; and Zechariah, the reward of his silence—upon his silence his annunciation came. All annunciations are for the thirsty, they are arrows of request; she is the annunciation of annunciations, the cause of all joys. By prayer she was found for Mary and she drank her.

Gabriel, like an old man, dignified, seated, came and asked after her peace, that she might not be disturbed, that the maiden, the humble one, might not see the form of a youth and be troubled. To the two old men, the priests, and to the maiden, the young girl, to them alone Gabriel was sent with tidings. By a will that is like and that bears their likenesses: the virgin, the barren woman, and Daniel the faithful. One gave birth openly, the Word; and another, a voice to the wilderness; and the virgin, full of the Most High, without a husband, she conceived in her abundance for her visions. All his person from all to the land of the Hebrews, and from all of Judah and from it to Beth Lehem, until the small cave was filled. And as a mule in the womb, and a small radiance in the womb, it shone, spread, and filled the world; and the good one was received, the race of the son of the Most High. Luke and Matthew brought the race of the Most High; the son of Abraham they reckoned him, and David also Joseph. On the beautiful mouths of two witnesses, and the blind one called him the son of David. The crown increased for his branches, and the garland was woven for his kinsmen. The stream of Judah, however, from the foundation did not cease; the channel from it, from the foundation, was not cut off. From the Lord and the priest it was established that he added to him. Also the great burden, behold, witnesses that it confused him. To the coming of the generations, and there is none. To you, O stream, it has come and stands, that you are the son of David, and there is no other. The first is complete.