Today at Orthros, the sound of the 1st Canon of the Nativity began to be heard in the singing of the Katavasias of the Canon, that is, the hiermoi of the Nine Odes with the Great Censing of the Temple at the Magnifications.
There is, for me, as sense of reality breaking in on my impoverished and often unreal life when we start singing this. For the past few weeks - yes, in Canada we don't have a third-Thursday in November Thanksgiving Day to get by before it starts - For weeks I've been hearing Christmas music, even some carols on the radio, and last week the music system in the Mall our little Orthodox Mission Community calls home began to play it. But when the Katavasias of the Canon sound, I suddenly know with certainty that Christmas really is coming - the Christmas that has as its centre Christ our true God and His birth in the Flesh. It's happening! And it's for real! Thanks be to God!
KATAVASIAS OF THE FIRST CANON OF CHRIST’S NATIVITY
IN TONE ONE
Ode 1. Christ is born, glorify Him. Christ is come from heaven, receive Him. Christ is on earth, be ye elevated. Sing to the Lord, all the earth; and ye nations, praise Him with joy; for He hath been glorified.
Ode 3. Let us cry unto the Son, born of the Father before the ages without transubstantiation, Christ God Who hath been incarnate in these last days of the Virgin, without seed, shouting, O Thou Who hath elevated our state, Thou art holy, O Lord.
Ode 4. O praised Christ, a stem hath come out of Jesse, and from it hast sprouted a Flower from a dense and shadowed mountain, O immaterial God, coming incarnate from the Virgin that hath not known man. Glory, therefore, to Thy might, O Lord.
Ode 5. Since Thou art the God of peace and the Father of mercies, O Lover of mankind, Thou didst send to us the great Messenger of Thy mind, granting us Thy peace. Therefore, have we been led aright to the light of divine knowledge, glorifying Thee as we come out of darkness.
Ode 6. The sea-monster did disgorge Jonah from its belly, as it received him safely like a fetus. As for the Word, when He dwelt in the Virgin, taking from her a body, He was born, preserving her without corruption, and without transubstantiation, preserving His Mother without harm.
Ode 7. The youths having grown together in true worship, despising the command of the infidel, were not dismayed by the threat of fire; but were singing as they stood in the midst of the flames: Blessed art Thou, God of our fathers.
Let us praise, bless, and worship the Lord.
Ode 8. Verily, the dewy furnace did shadow the sign of the supernatural wonder; for it burned not the youths whom it received, as the fire of divinity also burned not the womb of the Virgin in which it dwelt. Wherefore, let us offer praise with song, saying: Let all creation praise the Lord, exalting Him evermore, to the end of ages.
MAGNIFICATIONS IN TONE ONE
+ My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
More honorable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim, thou
who without corruption barest God the Word, and art truly Theotokos, we magnify thee.
+ For He hath regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. (Refrain)
+ For He that is mighty hath magnified me, and holy is His Name; and His mercy is on them that fear Him, throughout all generations. (Refrain)
+ He hath showed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. (Refrain)
+ He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the empty with good things, and the rich hath He sent empty away. (Refrain)
+ He remembering His mercy hath helped His servant Israel, as He promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed forever. (Refrain)
Ode 9. Magnify, O my soul, her who is more honorable and more exalted in glory than the heavenly hosts.
I behold a strange and wonderful mystery: the cave a heaven, the Virgin a cherubic throne, and the manger a noble place in which hath laid Christ the uncontained God. Let us, therefore, praise and magnify Him.
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