In natale domini et in sanctam Mariam genitricem

Of the same Chrysostom, for the same day, for the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ and for the holy Mary the Theotokos. An indescribable sea appears today through the ages, deeper than human investigation. I attempted to draw up an unfathomable depth, and the more I search, the deeper it appears. Having set out to observe knowledge of unspeakable things and wisdom, I am baptized in the struggle of such inquiry. Powers were ignorant of such a mystery, and how shall I undertake to narrate the unspeakable? Let the feast keep within itself questions that transcend every mortal thought. A storm of seas lies before me, unnavigable, having its substance from unseeable depths. Let creation today hymn the creator, sending up suppliant voices and song. A heavenly treasure is seen in the field; let us run, then, and behold such a mystery. See how the earth imitated the heaven; for it puts forth, contending, the sun that is before the morning star. Such illumination shines upon all things, being without night and a light-bearing radiance. God-inspired torches have appeared from heaven, running to all the ends of the inhabited world. Mary receives the one who is uncontainable in all things and bears in her womb the one who suspended the ages. Now the grain has been sown in the land of grace and has sprouted a fruitful ear of the knowledge of God. Such a matter astonishes those who see it, how the sea encloses the abyss. The precious pearl has been fixed in the shell, and Joseph, like a merchant, sought it out. A child is sought in the arms of a mother and nourishes all things, being consumed continually.

A rod blossomed a flower and spread a root into the depth; a star puts forth a star, and a manger welcomes the birth. Swaddling clothes are wrapped in fire, and there is no diminution of them; animals are smeared with life, and a cave receives light. Babylon first runs from Persia bearing gifts, and Ethiopia arrives, to receive God in her hands. Angels sing hymns and shepherds chant; men bring glory to God, and on earth they recognize peace. Salome is seized with fear and by her voice placates the judge; she acknowledged the born Lord and was freed from her own wound. With her hands she carries the undefiled one and knew saving joy. The souls of the righteous rejoice and the choruses of mortals delight; the deserted city has been recognized, the king having taken up residence. As the birth is ineffable, so the mother is undefiled; and through all these things an indescribable sea appears through the ages, deeper than human investigation. O ineffable conception and birth without spinning, O matters of thought and wonders of astonishment, O unwedded virgin and alone after birth undefiled. I see the virgin city embracing the king; I see a divine temple, the one who dwells in the highest and officiates in it; I see a holy ark clasping the covenant; I see a golden jar putting forth the manna; I see an indissoluble pillar bearing the image. O wonder: from dew fire is quarried, and from matter a flame is kindled; the bush puts on a flame, and the mountain admits no diminution; the footprints of God are observed, and no investigation of inquiry is known.

I see more than the heaven that underlies the cosmos: I behold another heaven on earth. That one is uncontentiously borne up by the word of the Lord, and this one is ineffably illumined by the birth of the Lord. That one puts forth a perceptible sun, and this one has shone forth an intelligible sun. Instead of the morning star, she showed forth the one who is before the morning star; instead of the moon, the womb that is without a husband; instead of the stars, the purity of the belly; instead of the clouds, the covering from the body. Truly I see the virgin as a heaven, today more than the heaven of the cosmos, flashing with virtues. Without the touch of hands, a stone is hewn from a mountain, which the most wise Daniel prefigured. No man is present for union, and a mother has given birth to the truth. The gate of the palace was seen to be secured, and within the bedchamber the king was recognized. You, O Virgin, were rooted like a cedar in Lebanon; for like a garden of the Lord you gave forth fragrance. You were raised like a palm tree in glory; for the whole world has been filled with your sweetness. You, like a beautiful olive tree, bore fruit of glory, and your blossom is a perfume of fragrance. You, like a vine, sprouted a cluster, and the joy of your wine is drunk and is not diminished. You, like frankincense, received frankincense, and like choice myrrh, gold and myrrh were brought to you. You, like a terebinth, extended branches, and beneath its shelter wandering nations ran. You, like a plane tree, were raised up over water, for you bore the source of life in your womb. You, like a rose of fair color, blossomed among women, and like a lily, you sent forth fragrance undefiled.

You were destined to bear God before the age, and your childbed endures until the age. You are the mother of love. For the peoples proclaim your praises, and the church will announce your glory; for when you assume the garment of glory, you have given birth to the Son of God, to whom the Father cries: "You are my Son; I have begotten you today." "The Lord said to me: 'You are my Son; I have begotten you today'"; I have none after you as you because of you; for one from one; "I have begotten you today" for an anointing of athletes and a king of the tyrannized; "I have begotten you today" for a calm of the warring and a glory of the despairing. "I have begotten you today" for a vengeance of the persecuted and a life of the dead, for a good character and a more divine improvement; "I have begotten you today," I have preferred no co-heir after you or with you. Ineffably, without flowing, unspeakably, incorruptibly "You are my Son; I have begotten you today"; I have emptied all the things of nature, having you as a Son upon my bosom as myself; with balanced will I have anointed you King; "I have begotten you today," having spread out power by will without contention, having willed to beget a Son, I have begotten a perfect God.

I have begotten you today.” No age was present for the choice of the begetter, no mediation of anyone so that the offspring might arrive, no thought of angels—the conception being deeper—no time, no interval, no slowness of deliberation, but he transformed his entire self into the child. “I have begotten you today.” “And why did nations swell with pride and peoples plot vain things,” when the Lord came to renew all things so that the disordered world might be ordered anew from above? “And why did nations swell with pride”? Having willingly chosen the form from the body, he hastened seeking the wandering sheep. “And why did nations swell with pride,” when the king was present to subdue the rebel in order to free man from the first corruption? “And why did nations swell with pride,” when the shepherd was dwelling to block the insatiable throat, so that the serpent might not again bite the ancient rib? “And why did nations swell with pride”? Having woven the garment of divinity in the loom of the womb, he clothed the world in a robe of incorruption. “And why did nations swell with pride”? Above, a Son without mother, and below, a babe without father; for man did not advance into God, but God assumed man. “And why did nations swell with pride and peoples plot vain things”? Greek nations swelled with pride, Jewish peoples plotted vain things. Why do you swell with pride and not shudder, and plot vain things and not consider that from a virgin has come forth a Son who is the creator of the one who bore him?

The law prefigured it, and the prophets proclaimed it beforehand, and such a mystery did not come about in silence. And you devise empty charges against the Lord and against his Christ. If you were ignorant of the matter, lawless Jew, you would rightly seek the manner. Have you not long ago heard Isaiah crying out among the prophets: "Hear, then, house of David—is it a small contest for you to provide to men? And how do you provide a contest to the Lord? Because of this, the Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, the virgin will conceive in her womb and will bear a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel." And you, concealing the truthful voice of the prophet, devise empty charges against Christ. Behold, the virgin gave birth and remained a virgin; behold, the virgin who contained the uncontainable in her womb in a contained and uncontentious manner; behold, the virgin who received the fire of divinity in her arms and, like a bush, was not consumed; behold, the virgin who bore the pre-cosmic image of God as a pillar and remained unmoved.

Behold the virgin, raised by angels, grown, sealed, betrothed, guarded, sanctified, wedded, and enrolled in the house of God. "For the birth of Jesus Christ was thus." Thus? How was the birth of Jesus Christ? There was a certain virgin from the tribe of Judah, tracing the Davidic line, of father Joachim and mother Anna, from the village of Bethlehem, which is interpreted "house of bread." The girl was of royal lineage and adorned with every virtue, preserving the beauty of the Davidic root, a pure and inviolate place. She was nobly nurtured in the home of her parents, a palace bedecked with flowers, guarded by a royal seal, and bearing a lamp of divine vision she shone upon the whole world, as a mistress she was looked up to, displaying the reverence due among women. Set apart in the temple of the Lord like a dove, she is betrothed to the holy man Joseph, who was related to the Davidic line. So Joseph accepted the bond of betrothal and agreed to the contract, ignorant of the exchange that the future would bring.

What then does it say? "She was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit." And Joseph, her husband, being righteous, considered neither to investigate, since it was the work of God, nor to expose her because of the noble and surpassing character of the maiden, nor to report it to anyone because of the overshadowing power, but he wished to dismiss her secretly. But an angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream, saying: "Joseph, son of David, why do you seek to dismiss secretly the ewe lamb who was long ago proclaimed beforehand by the prophets? Why do you seek to dismiss secretly the inviolate land that received the heavenly fruit? Why do you seek to dismiss secretly the one who contained the fire of divinity undiminished and who manifests the strange presence of the God of Sinai? But "do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for what has been born in her is from the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus." O Lord, why should I not be afraid to take the virgin? Standing near, I dare not look upon the overshadowing power in her, and should I not be afraid to take the virgin? She is wholly transformed into flame; for she carries in her womb the one who in anger burns the peaks of mountains and arrays the incorporeal powers with flame; and should I not be afraid to take the virgin?

She overwhelms those who see her with a stern glance, and, denying her lineage, the girl is transformed into a kind of vision of God and bears a different character of countenance. And shall I not be afraid to receive the virgin? You mediated the birth for the virgin; you became an advocate of the spectacle that was seen. You transformed the girl into a different likeness, you gave a greeting and she conceived the propitiation, you said "Hail" and the Word became flesh in her. And you, who among the higher powers are unable to look back at the one who sent you, say to me, who lie in a material life, "Do not be afraid to receive the virgin." I serve the birth but I do not minister to the manner; I behold the light but I do not investigate the how; I compare what is within my power but I do not examine what is beyond me; I groan at the burden of the womb but I also submit to the ordinance of nature. Shall I release her? But it is not expedient. Shall I examine? But I cannot endure it. Shall I investigate? But I will not track it down. Shall I approach the law? But I oppose the king who is resident in her.

What do you mean, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife”? My wife? What kind? She who was not yoked to a man’s yoke but was revealed as a temple of the Master? You call her my wife. Why? I am a servant of the virgin, O master, and not a husband, a guardian and not a lord, a keeper of the deposit and not a spouse, a household servant and not a bridegroom. If she flees to Egypt, I will not abandon her; if she gives birth, I am present; she seeks and I am amazed. For from the sheer rock, the milk of life gushes forth and provides nourishment for all. From this holy virgin came our Lord Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.