In sanctam Christi generationem

Homily on the Holy Nativity of Christ. The birth of Christ—that which is proper, first, and peculiar to his divinity—let it be honored by silence; or rather, let us enjoin our minds not to seek after those things nor to pry into them. For where there is no time, no age intervened, no manner has been conceived, no spectator was present, nor is there one to narrate, how can the mind form an image? And how will the tongue serve the thoughts? But the Father was, and the Son was begotten. Do not say, "When?" but pass over the question. Do not inquire, "How?" for the answer is impossible. For "when" is temporal, and "how" introduces a slip toward the corporeal modes of generation. I can say from Scripture that it is like a radiance from glory, and like an image from the prototype. But nevertheless, since such an answer does not stop your meddlesome reasoning, I take refuge in the ineffability of glory, and confess that the manner of the divine generation is inconceivable to thoughts and unspeakable in human words. Do not say, "If he was begotten, he was not"; nor seize upon the minds of the inexperienced with a malicious manipulation of words, corrupting the truth from examples here and defiling theology. I said "he was begotten" to show his beginning and his cause, not to prove the Only-begotten later in time. And let your mind not wander idly, passing over into ages older than the Son, which neither exist nor have come to be. For how can the things made be older than the one who made them? But I have inadvertently fallen into that which I was avoiding, carried along spontaneously by the sequence of the discourse.

Let us therefore leave aside the discourses concerning that eternal and ineffable generation, having considered this: that the mind is inferior to the realities, and speech is again inferior to the objects of thought. It is necessary, then, to observe how great is the fall from truth to speech, since the mind is unable to approach the nature of the incomprehensible, and it is impossible to find speech equal in nature to things however conceived. God on earth, God among men, not through fire and trumpet and a smoking mountain, or through darkness and tempest terrifying the souls of those hearing the lawgivers, but through a body, speaking gently and kindly to those of the same race. God in flesh, not acting intermittently as in the prophets, but having acquired humanity as connatural and united to himself, and through his own flesh, which is akin to us, leading all humanity back to himself. How then, it is said, did the illumination come to all through one? In what way is the divinity in flesh? As fire in iron: not by transference, but by communication. For the fire does not run out to the iron, but remaining in place, it imparts to it its own power, which is neither diminished by the impartation, and fills the whole participant with itself. According to this, then, God the Word neither moved from himself, "And he dwelt among us," nor did he undergo change, "And the Word became flesh," nor was the heaven empty of that which holds it together, and the earth received the heavenly one in its own bosom. Do not conceive a descent of the divinity; for it does not pass from place to place as bodies do.

Do not imagine that the divinity has been altered, changed into flesh; for the immortal is immutable. How then, it is said, did the Word of God not become filled with bodily weakness? We say that neither does fire partake of the properties of iron. Iron is black and cold; but when heated, it assumes the form of fire, itself becoming bright, not blackening the fire, and itself becoming inflamed, not cooling the flame. So also the Lord's human flesh partook of the divinity, but did not impart its own weakness to the divinity. Or do you not grant that the divinity acts even as this perceptible fire, but imagine a passion affecting the impassible from human weakness, and are at a loss how the perishable nature, through communion with God, acquired incorruptibility? Learn then the mystery. For this reason God is in flesh, that he might slay the death lurking within. For as antidotes among drugs overcome the destructive ones, having been assimilated to the body, and as the darkness present in a house is dissolved by the introduction of light, so the death that held sway over human nature was annihilated by the presence of the divinity. And as ice in water, as long as it is night and shadow, prevails over the liquids, but when the sun warms, it melts before the ray, so death reigned until the coming of Christ; but when the saving grace of God appeared and the sun of righteousness arose, death was swallowed up in victory, unable to endure the sojourn of the true life. O depth of goodness and love of God for humanity! Through excess of love for humanity, we rebel against servitude.

Why do men seek a reason for God among men, when they ought to venerate his goodness? What shall we do with you, O man? You did not seek God remaining on high; you do not receive him when he descends and converses with you through flesh. But you seek the reason how you might be reconciled to God. Learn that God is in flesh for this reason: because this cursed flesh had to be sanctified, the weakened flesh had to be strengthened, the flesh alienated from God had to be reconciled to him, the flesh that fell from paradise had to be raised to the heavens. And what is the workshop of this economy? The body of a holy virgin. And what are the beginnings of the generation? The Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High overshadowing. But rather, hear the very words of the Gospel: "For when his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit." And a virgin, betrothed to a man, was judged suitable for the service of the economy, so that virginity might be honored and marriage not be disparaged. For virginity was chosen as suitable for sanctification; through the betrothal, the beginnings of marriage were taken up together. At the same time, so that Joseph might be a proper witness of Mary's purity and she not be exposed to slanderers as having profaned her virginity, she had a betrothed as a guardian of her life.

I have yet another argument to offer, no less worthy than those already spoken: that the opportune time for the Lord's incarnation, long predetermined and preordained before the foundation of the world, had then arrived, at which the Holy Spirit and that God-bearing power of the Most High were to constitute the flesh. But since that generation of men had no one equal in purity to Mary, so as to receive the activity of the Spirit, and since she was already taken through betrothal, the blessed Virgin was chosen, her virginity suffering no harm from the betrothal. It has also been said by one of the ancients, in another account, that the betrothal to Joseph was devised in order to conceal Mary's virginity from the ruler of this age. For the appearance of betrothal around the Virgin was devised as a kind of distraction for the Evil One, who had long been watching over virgins, ever since he heard the prophet say: "Behold, the virgin will conceive in her womb and bear a son." Thus, through the betrothal, the enemy of virginity was misled. For he knew that the Lord's manifestation through flesh would bring an end to his own dominion. "Before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Joseph found both: the pregnancy and its cause, that it was from the Holy Spirit. Therefore, fearing to be called the husband of such a woman, "he wished to dismiss her secretly," not daring to make her situation public. But being a righteous man, he received the revelation of the mysteries. "For while he was pondering these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.'" Nor should you consider that you will conceal the transgression by shameful suspicions. For you have been called righteous; it is not fitting for a righteous man to cover up lawlessness by silence. "Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife." It showed that he was not indignant or disgusted, but feared her as one filled with the Holy Spirit. "For what was born in her is from the Holy Spirit." And from this it is clear that the Lord's constitution did not occur according to the common nature of the flesh. For immediately the child in the womb was perfect in flesh, not formed by gradual development, as the words indicate. For it is not said, "the conceived," but "the born." Therefore, the flesh, compacted from sanctity, was worthy to be united with the divinity of the Only-begotten. "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus." We have observed that those for whom names are deliberately given have an indication of their underlying nature, as with Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. For the appellation of each of these signified not so much the character of the body as the peculiarity of the virtue accomplished by them. Therefore, now he is called Jesus, that is, "Salvation of the people.

Now the mystery that had been ordained before the ages and proclaimed long ago through the prophets was reaching its fulfillment. "Behold, the virgin will conceive in her womb and bear a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, 'God with us.'" That name itself, given long ago, contains the revelation of the whole mystery: that God is among men, since Emmanuel is interpreted, it says, as "God with us." And let no one be disturbed by the Jewish slanders, who claim that the prophet said not "virgin" but "young woman." For they say, "Behold, the young woman will conceive in her womb." First of all, it is utterly irrational that what was given by the Lord as a sign should seem to be something common and acknowledged by all of nature. For what does the prophet say? "And the Lord added, speaking to Ahaz, saying: 'Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God, either in the depth or in the height.' And Ahaz said: 'I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord.'" Then a little later he says: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the Virgin will conceive in her womb." Since Ahaz did not ask for a sign in the depth or in the height, so that you may learn that the one who descended into the lowest parts of the earth is the same as the one who ascended above all the heavens, the Lord himself gave a sign—a sign that is something extraordinary and miraculous, and far removed from common nature. The same woman is both virgin and mother, remaining in the sanctity of virginity while inheriting the blessing of childbearing.

If some of those who have interpreted the Hebrew sound have rendered "young woman" instead of "virgin," this in no way damages the argument. For we have found that in the usage of Scripture, "young woman" is often taken instead of "virgin," as it says in Deuteronomy: "If someone finds the maiden who is a virgin and not betrothed, and forces and lies with her, and it is discovered, the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty didrachms." "And he arose and took his wife." And with disposition, and affection, and all the care that befits those who live together, considering her his wife, he abstained from marital acts. "For he did not know her, it says, until she bore her firstborn son." This already provides a suspicion that after having purely served the birth of the Lord, which was accomplished through the Holy Spirit, Mary did not reject the customary works of marriage. But we, even if nothing in the argument of piety is damaged (for virginity is necessary only up to the service according to the economy; what follows is left uninvestigated by the argument of the mystery), nevertheless, because the ears of the faithful cannot accept that the Mother of God ever ceased to be a virgin, we consider those testimonies sufficient. As to the statement, "He did not know her until she bore her son," that "until" often seems to indicate a certain limitation of time, but in truth shows the indefinite.

Such is the saying of the Lord: "And behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the age." For surely the Lord was not going to be with the saints only after this age; rather, the promise of the present signifies continuity, not a cutoff of the future. In the same way, we say that "until" is employed here. And since "firstborn" is said, the firstborn is not necessarily compared to those who come after, but one who first opens the womb is called firstborn. The account concerning Zechariah also shows that Mary remained a virgin forever. For there is a certain account, handed down to us by tradition, that Zechariah, after placing Mary in the region of the virgins following her conception of the Lord, was slain by the Jews between the temple and the altar, accused by the people of thereby contriving that extraordinary and much-hymned sign: a virgin giving birth and not destroying her virginity. "And when Jesus was born," it says, "in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is the born king of the Jews?'" The magi are a Persian people, devoted to divinations, incantations, and certain natural antipathies, and occupied with the observation of celestial phenomena.

This prophecy seems to belong also to Balaam, who was summoned by Balak to curse Israel through certain rites. In his fourth oracle he speaks thus concerning the Lord: "A man seeing," he says, "hearing the oracles of God, knowing the knowledge of the Most High, and seeing a vision of God in sleep; his eyes are uncovered. I will show him, but not now; I call him blessed, but he does not approach. A star will rise from Jacob, and a man will arise from Israel." For this reason, having sought out the region of Judea according to the memory of the ancient prophecy, they came to learn where the born king of the Jews was. Perhaps also, since the opposing power had become weaker at the manifestation of the Lord, perceiving that its activity was being nullified, they bore witness to the great power of the one who was born. For this reason, having found the child, they worshipped him with gifts. Magi, a people alienated from God and foreign to the covenants, were deemed worthy of the first worship, because testimonies from enemies are more trustworthy. For if Jews had worshipped first, they would have been thought to be exalting their own kinship; but now those who have no connection worship as to God, so that the kinsmen are condemned, having crucified the one whom the foreigners worshipped. Since, however, they were devoted to the movements of the heavens, they did not idly observe the extraordinary celestial spectacle, a new and unfamiliar star having risen at the birth of the Lord. And let no one drag the construction of astrology into the rising of the star.

Some, introducing generation from stars already existing, posit that a certain configuration of these is the cause of the events in life for each person. But here, none of the existing stars signified the royal birth, nor was this star itself of the usual kind. For the stars cast down with creation from the beginning are either entirely immobile or have unceasing motion; but this star that appeared seems to have both, being both moving and stationary. Among the stars already existing, the fixed ones never move, and the wandering ones never stand still; but this one, having both motion and rest in itself, is clearly akin to neither. For it moved from the east as far as Bethlehem, and it stood still above where the child was. Therefore the magi, stirred from the east, following the guidance of the star, arriving at Jerusalem, disturbed the whole city by their arrival and instilled fear in the king of the Jews. Finding then the one they sought, they honored him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh—perhaps following the prophecy of Balaam also here, who spoke thus concerning Christ: "He lay down and rested like a lion, and like a lion's cub. Who will rouse him? Those who bless you are blessed, and those who curse you are cursed." Since through the lion the word indicates the royal, through the lying down the passion, and through the power of blessing the divinity, the magi, following the prophecy, offered gold as to a king, myrrh as to one who would die, and frankincense as to God.

Nor can those who interpret the circumstances of the birth in a meddlesome manner say this, that the star was like the comets, which are thought especially to indicate the successions of kings by standing in the heavens. For these too are for the most part stationary, the combustion occurring in a circumscribed place. Comets, beams, and pits have different shapes, and names appropriate to the shapes. But the generation of all is the same. For when the air around the earth overflows and is poured into the ethereal region, and, as it were, supplies fuel to the fire, the thick and turbid matter from the exhalation here below presents a clear appearance of a star. The star that appeared in the east, having moved the Magi to seek the newborn, was again invisible until, when they were at a loss, it appeared a second time in Judea, so that they might learn whose it was, and whom it served, and for whose sake it had come into being. For it came and stood above where the child was. Therefore the Magi, seeing it, rejoiced with great joy. Let us then also receive this great joy in our hearts.

For this joy the angels announce to the shepherds. Let us worship with the Magi, let us glorify with the shepherds, let us dance with the angels, "Because today a Saviour has been born to us, who is Christ the Lord. The Lord is God, and he has appeared to us," not in the form of God, so as not to frighten the weak, but in the form of a servant, so as to free the enslaved. Who is so sluggish in soul, who is so ungrateful, as not to rejoice and exult and be radiant at the present events? It is a common feast of all creation; this day bestows upon the world the supramundane things; it sends the archangels to Zacharias and to Mary; and it stations choirs of angels who say: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men." Stars run from heaven; Magi are stirred from the nations; the earth receives in a cave; no one is incomplete, no one is ungrateful. Let us also utter some cry of exultation; let us give a name to our feast: Theophany; let us celebrate the saving events of the world, the birthday of humanity. Today the condemnation of Adam is dissolved. No longer, "You are earth and to earth you will return," but, having been joined to the heavenly, you will be taken up to heaven. No longer, "You will bear children in pains," for blessed is the woman who labored to give birth to Emmanuel, and blessed are the breasts that nursed him. Because of this, "A child was born

to us, and a son has been given to us, whose beginning is upon his shoulder." My heart blooms, and my mind wells up; but my tongue is short and my speech faint, so as to declare such a magnitude of joy. Understand for me the incarnation of the Lord in a manner befitting God. Understand for me the divinity as undefiled and unstained, even if it comes to be in a material nature. The passible is corrected, but it itself is not filled with passion. Do you not see this sun, even when it is in mud, and is not defiled at all, and shines upon foul things, and does not partake of their stench? On the contrary, wherever it dwells persistently, it dries up the putrefactions. Why then do you fear concerning the impassible and pure nature, that it might contract some stain from us? For this reason he was born, that you might be purified through the kindred. For this reason he grows, that you might be made familiar through habit. O depth of the goodness and philanthropy of God! Because of the excess of gifts we disbelieve the benefactor; because of the great philanthropy of the Master toward servitude we revolt. O of this absurd and wicked ingratitude! Magi worship, and Christians debate how God is in flesh, and what sort of flesh, and whether the assumed man is perfect or imperfect. Let superfluous things be silenced in the Church of God; let what is believed be glorified; let what is passed over in silence not be meddled with. Join yourself to those who received the Lord from the heavens with joy. Consider shepherds being made wise, priests prophesying, women rejoicing, when Mary was taught to rejoice by Gabriel, when Elizabeth had John leaping in her very womb.

Anna was proclaiming the good news, Symeon was taking the child in his arms, both adoring the great God in a small infant: not despising what was seen, but glorifying the majesty of his divinity. For the divine power shone forth, as light through glass membranes, through the human body, gleaming for those who have the eyes of their hearts purified. May we also be found among them, reflecting the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, so that we too may be transformed from glory to glory by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.