St. Nino, Sermons

St. Nino, Sermons — Nino Manuscripts: A-95, 142r-145v and 39r-43r; A-19, 194v-198r Concerning the Nativity of Christ, a sermon of the holy mother of ours, Nino, which she preached in Kartli on the birth of the Lord from the holy Mary. Let us come and behold the order of this word brought forth before us, which was truly the fulfillment of the old law and the coming of good hope of new grace. At the time when the old scriptures were fulfilled, so also the numbers of Daniel were to be fulfilled until the coming of the anointed one, Christ, which the prophet foretold beforehand and said: The sound of the gurite was heard in our land; the coming great archangel from on high made a voice to the ears of the all-holy virgin and said: Rejoice, O favored one, the branch is with you. That which Isaiah calls the earth a dry land, this is it, for it reveals the incorruptibility and the sinless birth of the virgin, and calls the virgin earth. Hear also the second divine revelation, which says: Wondrous is that which is earth, in which light dwells; it shows that it is greater than the whole world and praised by many, and human natures cannot reach where it is more honored by the Creator of all.

The Lord of many was deemed worthy to receive the great, brilliant, unapproachable light which was in the bosom of the Father, with whom the word was fulfilled. For this is the mother of all living beings. This is what is living. The Word of God said: "I am the life and the truth," and then: "I am living, and you also shall be living." The same immutable cause which was to come accomplished it. The oath of the covenant which God established among the first fathers, which he promised to Noah, the confirmation of the coming of the deliverance beforehand. He blesses the seed of Shem, and immediately the earth brings it forth. God spread Japheth and settled them in the house of Shem. And did he not, even more, promise to Abraham with an oath that through your descendant all the nations of the earth would be blessed? Likewise to David, through Isaiah, he showed, saying: "A shoot shall spring from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall come forth from that shoot, and the spirit of God shall rest upon it." That is what was accomplished upon the Virgin. At the end of times, through the hand of the chief angel Gabriel, the descending annunciation upon the sanctuary. This is the Word of God in the blessed womb of the pure Virgin.

The Lord came forth from the Father and with the Father is truly united by blending, his own begotten flesh: and he made it into a man with inexpressible power and unshakable strength. And thus in form like the appearance of men: and in his own time the word was ordained and was incarnated without disturbance: and from him the coming of God and the image he made truly took the flesh of the Lord, but the highest of the Lord’s flesh: the Lord adorned it in the flesh inseparably and indivisibly from the being of the Father’s substance and from the glory and the thrones of the cherubim: and the Lord dwelt without the cares of human nature: in the holy temple of the virgin’s womb he built from her the temple of the great light: thus is the man chosen from many, the Lord: as it is said, wisdom built her own house and seven pillars stood by it: it also speaks of the son born timelessly from the Father, wisdom being that of the Father himself: and the Lord built the eternal temple: the temple incorruptible from the incorruptible virgin, like the seven strengths: of the grace of the spirit: of wisdom and of his own power: he separates and shows the great prophet Isaiah and says: the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of the voice of the heart, the spirit of thought, the spirit of power, the spirit of knowledge.

The Spirit of the service of God: the Spirit of the fear of God, which the blessed apostle Paul interprets: for these are the pillars of the Spirit of grace, which the holy apostles received and became servants of the word of that life. And now again I declare to you, O blessed hearers. And also of the annunciation of Zacharias: than whom none of those born of women had arisen before the Forerunner and Baptizer John: which the great archangel Gabriel proclaimed to the teacher of priests Zacharias: which became partaker of the blood of that great righteous Abel: which was offered as a sacrifice, that innocent one by the faithless priests: that he might be the head of all martyrs, for whom the Lord himself suffered. For the righteous blood shed from the blood of the righteous Abel until the blood of Zacharias, son of Baruch, who was slain at the altar, seeks vengeance from this lineage. And he proclaimed to him beforehand concerning John and said that he would be a prophet, a forerunner, and a martyr of that great Lord. And is this not so? For he is also the fulfiller of the Old and New Covenants, and the purifier of sins, and the preacher of repentance.

The chosen ones were prepared by faith to receive the great light, which cleansed the sins of the world by the hand of the Lord for the sake of salvation. After this, the true preacher of truth, John, completed his course. He also received the sufferings of this life and became a crown-bearer together with the first martyrs. O blessed martyr of truth! He became truly an avenger of righteousness, according to the image of the Maccabees, valiantly contending through torments. And this one also turned to the underworld. O Lord, did not death overcome the first fathers? There he preached to those captive souls the coming of the Son of God incarnate, who is the blessed Lord of the Old and New Testaments. And now it is enough for your ears, for which I have recounted this to you. Henceforth, let us hasten with zeal to that life of birth. At that time, after the shining forth from above of the unapproachable light of God and of the Lord, according to the Annunciation, he descended from heaven to earth from the Father's bosom and dwelt in the womb of the holy Virgin.

At the time of the fulfillment of her approaching, the descending joys from above were made upon the earth: the cries of gladness in Bethlehem of the Jews from angels and from men. Or, I say, where was the foundation of the Jewish temple and the establishment of the chief fathers and of God the father David? For this reason it was heard from the saint and the prophet said: "And you, Bethlehem, this land of Judah, you are not inferior in any way among the chiefs of Judah." From you came forth for me the forerunner, and his outgoings from the days of the beginning of eternity according to the scripture. And then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. In that creation it speaks of light: beforehand it said: "This light is that which by the hand of the fleshly birth appeared to the pagans in the latter times." And the same Herod was convinced in his mind by the elders and scribes of the Jews, when he asked them where Christ was to be born. And they said to him: "Thus says the book: from the tribe of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was, Christ will come." And we have said beforehand: the voices of the angels were heard: cries of liberation for the glorification of all creatures. From heaven the glorification of the angels speaking of glory, and from the earth the wonder of the shepherds.

The enemy of mankind, the devil, was shaken. The bodiless ones cried out with a voice of proclamation: "Glory in the highest to God, and on earth peace, and among men goodwill." The shepherds were informed of this and hastened to go with great desire to observe the wondrous sounds that were heard in Bethlehem, and again a new miracle of another lineage: a guiding star and the prince of the stars, resplendent, appeared from on high to the Magi, as if for the giving of testimony from above. Before the light of the Unwaning One, a star went before those star-worshipping Magi, and led them to that cave, the imitator of heaven, so that they might see the supreme light of the unwaning luminaries.

Out of season, from the Father’s bosom, it flashed forth. Now it appeared from the virgin mother, on the earth, and with mercy the lost sheep, those of the Word’s kin, fell asleep. The prophetic voices were fulfilled, for they had prophesied beforehand concerning the Annunciation, and after that concerning the Nativity, and concerning the Baptism of all the ends of the heavens. And there occurred that deviation of Herod from the true living bread, which he procured in Bethlehem of Judea by his own wickedness, with many demonic infidelities, with fratricide, with ecclesiastical designs. From the very beginning, such a one had been established in him by wickedness and gluttony. And there occurred the deviation of the Jews from the divine counsels and their estrangement from the prophetic graces, and by the hand of false infidelity, they did not believe that true light of life which appeared to the world—that new flashing forth of the virgin height.

Then the order of the sacrifice of the breast and the worship of the true good service of God the Father was fulfilled. And their preparation with great honor and joy from the newly born Lord, under the guidance of the star, they departed to their own land. Then the Word of God became a child, taking on the old age of the body like men, and goes from Judea to Galilee, from Nazareth to Capernaum. Then, according to the order of the chosen times, eight days before the feast, he goes to Jerusalem. And after the forty days, he appeared in Solomon’s Temple. With great glory he is carried in the arms of the great high priest and righteous Simeon. Again, with a sword of the kingdom, the man-hating Herod, with cruel deed, slays the children. At that time, an angel of the Lord appeared in a vision to Joseph and said to him: Arise and take this child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Herod seeks to find and destroy that child. Then, according to human nature, he became frightened from fear. But the invincible one, with divine power and strength, entered to shake and break the hand-made temples of idols that were in Egypt.

The sacrifices of the gods were offered, the wondrous and the slayings of children, and those same idols were offered by the hands of defiled and polluted priests. Thus she abolished and scattered them. She called and turned them to the great and honorable heavenly table, to the high resting place before her father (?) of light, whose son, new and wondrous by birth, appeared on the cross as the Son of God, who is the Lord of Lords. To whom the great among the chief fathers, Saint Symeon, called him the fulfiller of the old and new covenant and said: "Behold, he stands for the fall and raising of many within Israel." From whom again, backwards, they fell by their own pride and faithlessness, and by the fire of flame were consumed, those gatherings of the Jews—I speak of the priests and the Pharisees, together with Herod, by their blindness. And some among them truly became alienated from that great light of the sun of righteousness, separated, and were deprived of that grace of the covenant and of the forerunners, and of the complete and true hearing. Those who were previously foretold: now in place of these, suddenly renewed, new fruits sprouted from those tender children, who were offered as sacrifice and victim on the heavenly altar, on the cross made fruitful by God.

Those [idols] were scattered and entered; the earth was adorned more than the churches of the pagans, with a brilliant star, with purple rose, with their blood they appeared, the white-winged birds of the doves on the tree, those which were earlier sacrificed, the sacrifice of the slaying of the world-dweller, that sacrifice was offered on the high, God-accepting cross, the leaders of all the martyrs. And thus they were renewed and were earlier crowned, the true martyrs of the true Lord, by the Father of light, for to Him belongs worship now and forever and ever. Amen.