Nativity 27

Change of melody. Response: Praise to you, son of the Lord of All.

He was a herald, like a proclaimer, to that shining one whom Mary bore. For he was in her womb with the victory of a herald; again, he was born with the victory of the blessed sun of the victorious. A sign was placed on his head, of the name; with ten signs, in the month of Nisan, on the tenth she entered the womb. With the mystery of the perfect number, he was in your womb. The number ten was complete. [On the tenth of Nisan she entered the womb; again, the number six was complete. On the sixth of Kānūn, to the six chosen ones, your birth was joyful. The number ten was the limit.] And the sixth was the limit of limits. With ten in her womb, with six she bore him. To the four directions [and height and depth], one bore him. The name of Joseph was not sufficient that he should be a father to you, for he was weak. Your name gave him a sign; your name strengthened the name of Joseph, that he should be a father to you. Again, Christ, the head of his letters, gave to the name of Mary by his letters. Behold, their names are suspended on his names; by his power, their bodies also were suspended, with all creatures. For Mary, who conceived him, in womb and on shoulder, for him, the Messiah, the head of his letters, the name "Messiah" is. Her conception of his name was in the likeness of his power, for her body was conceived. For Mary was not able, without his power, to conceive his body. Show that the hidden is in the hand of the revealed, that even their names could not exist without him. He gave his first letters to his parents, who were his heads; and as their bodies were suspended in him.

He also placed a sign in his names for their names, and again that John was not without his power; he immersed his body, he knew his error for the name John, as the power of Jesus was known to him for John. Then, as for the beauty of his writings for their names, then his glorious beauty mingled with their names. How much more did his hidden power mingle with their names? And as for the measure, there are ten steps for it alone; six sides has the creation: height, depth, and the four directions that are full of you. Thus the sign of Jesus the king is the queen of all measures; in her completeness, thoughts hang, as in Jesus all perceptions are mingled. Great from all, he descended entirely to the unspeakable lowliness; again, he turned from that lowliness and took a height that cannot be bounded over the right hand. Great wonder that from that height he did not descend little by little, so that the depth of divinity might fly to humanity. For the sun, that sun of yours, as in the mouth your mystery proclaims, in winter descends to the low place in your type, in summer ascends to the height in your likeness and over all kingdoms. And also the type of your great one in the belly, and of John that herald of yours, a mystery in your bellies and your birth, in light and darkness are bound and revealed to the understanding one, that John was in his belly in the beginning of the month that aids darkness; in your own belly he was in the feast.

He who makes light rule over darkness and subjugates it, confesses to your firstborn, who was hidden and concealed from all creatures. Again, he confesses to your secondborn, who was revealed and manifested from all creatures that were in your hands. The births of the Only-Begotten: one is above, and one is below; one is the light of all lights, and one is a son of the race who strikes down all error. Again, the day of your birth, as in a mystery in your womb it is concealed, in which light passes from darkness. The hours that swallowed, as if I had made them pass from the mouth, your belly makes small the cry of Jesus, who cries out, “Behold, light is confined in a womb!” In your womb came forth a pair of lights. You came from the womb, and the sun with you from within the darkness.