Nativity 4

Again the day of the Nativity At the sound of the cry of the children in the month of Kānūn, Blessed is your day, my Lord, that first day On which this day of your feast is marked. [Refrain: Blessed is the one who gave you to me without my asking you, That through you I might confess to your Father for his gift.] Your day is like a lover of mankind, Who is carried and comes with every generation. It is the day that makes peace with the aged And turns to dwell with the young. It is the day that renews itself through its love, That it might renew its strength through its antiquity. Your day, when it has grown old and passed and gone, Through its renewal it returns and grows old again for you. It knows that humanity is in need; All of it is like you when it asks of her. Creation is in need of its source, And to him, my Lord, as also to you, all of it is thirsty. It is the day that rules over the sacrifices of [its] flock, And the burden conquers all, [not passing it by]. [For even kings passed by with their burdens, And the memorials of their names ceased.] The authority of your day is as your own, Which is extended over the generations that have come and will come. Your day is like you, that though it is one, It multiplies and becomes many, that it might be like you. On this, my Lord, your day that is near to me, Show me your son, that distant one. Like you, may your day be for me, my Lord; May it be a mediator and a guarantor of peace. Your day is the shepherd of heaven and earth, Through which the Most High descended to the lower ones. Your day is able to reconcile That angry one who is wrathful over our sins. Behold, our sins have increased; your day has forgiven you.

In it that mercy smiled upon the guilty. Great is your day, my Lord, it is not small; have mercy in its feast upon my foolishness. And I have seen that every day, my Lord, your forgiveness is abundant; how much more does it increase on this day. All the days are from its treasury, that your day is victorious, it sets up good things. All the feasts are from its stores, that this feast has been adorned and prepared. Your mercy on your day, pour out for me, my Lord; make known to me your day from all my days, that great is the treasury of the day of your birth. It will be a redeemer in place of the guilty. Great is this day from my days, in which the guilty one went out to hunt sinners. A store of remedies is your great day, in which the medicine of life smiled upon the dead. A treasury of powers is this day, in which light dawned upon my blindness. When will the rock that has gone astray come to you, so that from it the abundance of grace may drive out my stony heart? A beginning is this day, the firstborn, in which the cup of salvation was mixed. A first feast is this day, which first brings victory to all my feasts. In the winter of treasuries, the fruits of the branches; from the barren winter, the fruit that smiled upon you. In the cold that strips all trees, a shoot has borne fruit for you from the house of Jesse. In the mud that hides the seed in the earth, a stalk of life has sprouted from the womb. In the mire that leaves the seed in the air, in it the rock sowed itself in the earth. Its harvest also Death ate in Sheol, and its shoot set the life that was hidden in it. For in the mire of the lambs that labor in the wilderness.

to the belly came, in it he said "Passover." The hunter of the sea, he is the one who went up, the fishermen. He went down into the sea and went up, hunting the whole. The hunter of the sea, he was, they heard, his nets. He went down into the sea, his hunt, hunting the living. The crucified one, he is the one who hunts all the proud. In his hunt, for life, for that proud one. Living by his death, he emptied Sheol. He distressed her and made flee from her the perfect arrows. Taxes and burdens, traps, unclean ones. For the traps of the cunning one, the holy one hunts. The sin that was a trap for men, he made it a spectacle for the penitents. The destructive fig tree that harmed the fruits, for the pure one, like a fruit, his approach was. A fruit that she did not give her purity, but she gave a fruit, a talkative one. He prayed, his thirst injured, upward from the well, and his hunt for the thirsty one in the waters that he asked. He was hunting one soul from the spring, and he turned his hunt in her for the whole circle. Twelve fishermen hunt the holy one, and he turned his hunt in them for the whole creation. The Iscariot is the one who went out from the house of his nets, and she fell in his form, the strangler. His net that revives all, for life, hunts, and that which goes out from him goes out from life. And make me worthy of the end for my wonder. Distinct orders that are hidden in you, my Lord. How much can a thirsty mouth find from within the spring of divinity? Open for me today the voice of my request. My prayer, that in words it may be in deeds. Show me, my Lord, all that I have seen. Until your goodness that you have heard passes. Turn your thought to me, the maker of sounds.

The voice of his father scattered voices. The world grew great in you, it will be planted. For in you the sea was stilled from its disturbances. The demons rejoiced when they heard the sound of the thunderbolt. The watchers rejoiced in you, as if [they were] [pierced]. From within your pasture, the voice of the proclamation. In you he rejoices all; your feast will rejoice. My Lord, do not cut off my shepherd; the mouth is filled when he is the sinner. Your day, my Lord, will give all joys. In the feasts of the scatterer, he will make your Passover. The day of your ascension, in it he will be exalted. With the new bread, it will be his memorial. My Lord, the scatterer has increased for you what he will do. The three feasts of the divinity. Great is your day, my Lord; it will not be despised. Precious is every man; the day of your birth is precious. The mourner is precious; the day of your birth is precious. Herod's day of birth is precious. The dance of impurity pleased the tyrant. For you, my Lord, the voice of the palms pleased you. For you, my Lord, the voice of the palms will tend. That it may guard their bodies in a holy manner. Herod's day is like him; also your day, which is yours, is like you. His day is disturbed, disturbed by sin; and your day is pure, like you. The tyrant's feast killed the herald; in your feast every man proclaims praise. On the day of the murderer, the voice was silent; on your day, however, the voices of the feast. The impure one in his feast extinguished the lamp, that darkness might cover the proud. The holy feast arranges lamps, that darkness may flee with its coverings. The day of that fox, he laughed like him; and holy is the feast of the one who spoke the truth.

The day of the violent one passed like him, and your day like you stands forever. The day of the persecutor stripped like him, whose silence in his knot is a bitter voice. The feast of the humble is a respite like him, whose sun was clear upon his oppressors. The persecutor knew that he was not a king; in deceit he gave the land to the king of kings. My Lord, the whole day is not enough for me to weigh your praise with his clamor. Your holy day passed my folly, that with the defiled day your day was weighed. For your day is great beyond comparison, and it cannot be compared with other days. The day of a son of man is like the earth, and the day of God is like God. Your day is great, my Lord, beyond the prophets, and you took the offering of the little one to the slayer. You know, my Lord, as all know, that you will hear the comparisons that compare your praise. Your day gave life to the one who asked for life, while the day of that one gave death to the one who asked. The sea in its time, the king in need, that half of his kingdom might be the reward of a dancer. Your feast, then, is yours, or it enriches all. The treasure of the pardoning one is poured out in righteousness. From the parched earth a spring gushed forth, which sufficed to satisfy the thirsty of the peoples. From the virgin a shoot, as from a channel, cast forth seed, from which came causes. Treasures without end filled Joseph, and they were sufficient and overflowed for the needy. One path of truth gave bread, heavenly bread that does not run out, bread that was cut with a knife in the desert. He brought it and passed by, for it was good and abundant.

He turned again and became the end, a new bread of generations and lineages that does not cease. He added seven to the loaves of the end, and they completed also five to the loaves of the one who increased. One loaf of the end conquered creation, for the more it is divided, the more it increases. Again he filled large basins with wine; they poured it out and he added when it was plentiful. When the cup that he gave was small, his portion was great; great is the power of the one that is not exhausted. A cup that receives all wines, and the mystery within it is as it is. One loaf of the end that is not broken, and one cup that is mixed and not exhausted. The sin that was sown for three days ascended and filled the storehouse of life with its word. It is the bread of the Spirit, like Jacob; it gives life to spirits spiritually. And whoever takes it bodily takes it bodily in a figurative way. It is the bread of life, separately; he takes it as a living being, like the medicine of life. If the sacrifices of the dead in the name of demons are offered and eaten in a mystery, how much more fitting is it for you, regarding the holiness of the separation, that its mystery be used openly by you? He who eats from a sacrifice in the name of demons is a demon without shame. He who eats from the bread of the heavenly one is heavenly without dispute. The wine teaches you that it is like him; it makes the one who lives by it like itself. For it leads greatly to those who love it, making them drunk, amusing them, and mocking them. The light teaches you that it is like him; it makes the dark eye into a bright one.

The sign by means of the light saw the divider, and it ran to the hunger of the hungry man. That divider made it wine, which does not even know how to be hungry for hungers. The food of the eater put on the firstborn, in the food that killed, it turned and became alive. By the wood that killed, by it he was redeemed. By the wine that makes drunk, by it he became hungry. By the rib that came from Adam, it was drawn out; in it the evil one drew out the heart of Adam, that a power hidden from the rib might go out, which cut off the Satan as it did the liar. For in that tomb a book was hidden in it, which cried out and proclaimed concerning the victor. But also the revealed mystery became complete, that the one who deceived in the midst of his own company was humbled. Completion came to him after the mystery that the evil one was humbled in the midst of his trusts. Blessed is he who came, and the mysteries of the left and of the right were fulfilled in him. He completed that mystery which was in the lamb, and he completed that type which was in the liar. Blessed is he who by the lamb of truth redeemed and overthrew the oppressor as he did the liar. In the winter of the lengthened nights, a day that does not end went out to them. In the winter that is dark, the whole creation went out to the beauty that makes all creatures glad. The winter that makes the barren earth bear, by it she learned to bear a child through virginity. In the winter that dissolves the pains of the earth, by him were the pains for virginity. The first lamb did not delay the beginning; the thoughts see him, and also truth said after his birth, "His tidings ran to the thoughts.

The wolf also tasted the lamb, the lamb that spoke out of season and came forth, the lamb that came out of season and became a herald to that lamb which in its belly was not pure. The old wolf saw it, a lamb of milk, and cut off from it what was disturbing it, for the wolf had put on the garment of a sheep; it became a shepherd for every lamb in the flock. When the wolf climbed upon the meek one, the strong one crushed that biter. Holiness dwelt in a bodily womb, and behold it dwelt in a spiritual perception. Mary, in whose womb the union dwelt, did not feel the self that dwelt within her; Mary left her perception with her seller. Behold it dwelt in the palms—if she perceived it, the deaf one does not perceive the great thunder, nor the leper the sound of the command. For the deaf one is quick to pain after pleasure, and the leper is quick to the sound of warning. To the deaf one, the thunder of power is its shout; to the leper, the anger of power is its victory. The deaf one who does not hear is not a hearing; the leper who is not sprinkled is not a leprosy. From the time of the sacrifice, the thunder becomes the voice of the law, thundering every day. It does not block the ears of the one who accuses you; the openings that are opened and not closed, the door of hearing is open in the pure one, which with its short one covered your leprosy. The doors [of the fathers] and the door of the mouth can open and close the will. See—give you the good one who hears—that you may be held. Her movements from your will. Glory to that voice which became a body.

The high Word that was flesh: the ears heard it, the eyes saw it, the hands touched it, and the mouth consumed it. The limbs and senses gave thanks to the one who came and revived the whole body. Mary was a lost simpleton, a quiet one, while in him all the eloquent were hidden. Joseph was lost to him and hidden in him, the silent nature that is older than all. He was high like a child and hidden in him, the treasure of wisdoms that suffices for all. He was high, and Mary’s milk was pressed, and from his goodness all creatures were pressed. They became a living thanks for a living ascent. They pressed from his life the dead and they lived, without ascent, that the air might not harm the living; without his strength, that the son might not harm the one who stands. In his ascent is the life of that one who revives all. The hanging names, of the upper and the lower, while indeed her milk was pressed from Mary, they became as if life were pressed for all. When again he rested in his mother’s womb, in his womb all creatures were loosened. He rested like a simpleton, and he commanded all creatures all his commands. For without the firstborn, the son cannot approach the being of that one who suffices for her. Thirty years indeed he was on earth, how did he govern all creatures? How did he receive all offerings? The praise of the upper and the lower, all was in the depth and all in the height, all was the hunt of all and all the hunt of one. His body within his belly while it was being formed.

His power was composed in all his members, while he was being formed in the womb of the Son in the belly. He was a fetus growing in the belly, while he was being formed in the womb of the Son in the belly. He was a fetus growing in the belly. Not again, as his body was weak on the wood, so his power was weak on the wood. For when he went up on the wood, he revived the dead; his body revived, or his will? So, when he was entirely placed in the belly, his will, hidden, accomplished everything. For he saw that he was entirely suspended on the wood. His power, however, moved all creatures. For he darkened the sun and moved the earth; he broke open the tombs and brought out the dead. For he saw that he was entirely on the cross, while again he was entirely with everyone. So he was entirely in the belly, while again he was entirely in everything. For when he was on the cross, he revived the dead; so, when he was a fetus, he caused the fetuses to grow. When he was killed, he opened tombs; when he was in the belly, he opened wombs. Come, hear, my friends, about the hidden Son: he was a deceiver in his body and concealed his power. For the power of the Son is a power that is loosed; the belly did not confine it as it does a body. For when that power was placed in the belly, he was a fetus growing in the belly. His power went out to her who brought him forth, so that if his power were to leap, it would destroy everything. For the power that holds all creatures, when it was inside the belly, it did not let go of everything. He formed an image of his stature in the belly.

He was forming in all wombs all persons, while he was being reared in the house of the poor. With the treasure of the seven he was providing for all, while again his anointing, that anointing of his, he was annulling and with his rain he was anointing all. The magi brought myrrh and gold, while in him was hidden the treasure of wealth. Myrrh and perfumes of incense and myrrh, the magi offered to him, to him from his own. By the power of his mother Mary sufficed, that she might nurse her infant for him who had nursed all. From the great treasure of all creatures, Mary gave him all that she gave. She gave him milk from that which eats; she gave him food from that which is outside. He gave milk to Mary as God; he turned her infant from her as a son of man. Her hands were his nurses, that they might lighten his burden, and her bosom his swaddling, that she might diminish his self. The time of his greatness could not be contained; his dimensions were too small for the covering. She wove and clothed him, that he might cast off his glory; she wove a garment for him who had diminished himself. The sea bore him, silent and calm; and how did Joseph’s infant bear him? By his bearing, the belly of Sheol was emptied; and how did Mary’s womb bear him? The stones on the tombs were shattered by his voice; and how did Mary’s bosom bear him? She came to the lowliness that subdues all. Glory to you from all who live by your hand. How can one speak of the hidden Son, who descended and was wrapped in flesh in the womb? He came forth and like a nursling he sucked milk, and among infants the Lord of all was weaned.

In the street like a child they used to see him, while the love of all was dwelling in him. Openly the watchers were binding him with fear. He was rejoicing among children like a begetter, while he was powerful among watchers like a commander. He was powerful for John, that he might loose his bonds. He was showing to sinners who had kissed his feet. The watchers like watchers used to see him, in the measures of his knowledge all the sick saw him. In his father alone he was the measure. The peace of his knowledge knows how great he is. In measures, indeed, measures are the measures of his knowledge. The orders of the upper ones with the lower ones, he was the Lord of all, giving to all, and he was the enricher of all, lending from all. He was the giver of all as if not in need, and again the lender of all as if in need. He gave lambs and rams as a creator, he turned and asked for sacrifices as one in need. He made water wine as a maker, he turned and drank from it as a poor man. From his own he mixed it in the house of drinking. He mixed his wine and gave to drink the cup that was pressed. In his love that old man Simeon grew, who brought mortality to that one who revives all. By the power that from him Simeon carried him, he was the one who brought his offerings, he was offered in him. He was giving the laying on of hands to Moses on the mountain, and she took it within the river from John. By the power of his gift John sufficed, and he baptized the earth for the heavens. By the power that from him the earth carried her, she went to be loosed, and his power strengthened her. The mistress who from his own fed him was.

The blind placed their children before him, while his own were distributing all gifts. From his treasure they cast upon his table.