Mysteries Beyond Mind and Speech

What mysteries beyond mind and speech! God in His compassion is born on earth, putting on the form of a servant that He may snatch from servitude to the enemy those who with fervent love cry out: Blessed art Thou, O Savior Who lovest mankind.

1^st Stichera at The Praises, Orthros of Christmas Eve

 As we approach the great Feast of the Holy Nativity, the Church’s hymns help us to prepare for the feast. During the Pre-Feast, a joyful and wonderful preparation is announced: what is about to happen is good news! 

Several years ago – it seems like a lifetime ago now – I read a book called “The Kingdom of God is a Party”, by Tony Campolo. I’m not necessarily recommending the book, but I have always found the title striking. And it is so wondrously true at this time of year!  The very Kingdom of the heavens, the Kingdom of our God, is bursting upon us – gate-crashing the petty concerns of our lives (Thanks to Philip Turner for that remarkable line from his passion play, "Christ in the Concrete City!) and as the Kingdom of the Heavens gate-crashes our live this Nativity Season, everyone, without exception, is invited!

As I have mentioned in my last two posts, the Pre-Festal theme is joyful anticipation and, even more important, joyful invitation. But that invitation is not just to us, but to the entire cosmos!

Come, Israel slow of heart, cast from thee the mist that lies upon thy soul; recognize the Maker Who is born in a cave. He is the expectation of the nations; He shall destroy thy feasts: for thou wilt not consent to cry aloud: Christ the King of Israel is come.

 “O Sun, my Son, how shall I wrap Thee in swaddling clothes? How shall I give Thee milk, Who givest food to all creation? How shall I hold Thee in my arms Who holdest all things? How shall I look upon Thee without fear, on Whom the cherubim with many eyes dare not to lift their gaze?” So spake she who knew not wedlock as she held Christ.

O ye shepherds, shout aloud in new songs: O ye Magi, cast away your magic spells. Let the mountains and the hills rejoice exceedingly. O ye daughters of kings, come unto the joy of the Theotokos. O ye people, let us say: Blessed art Thou, our God Who now art born: glory to Thee.

Come, O Bethlehem, prepare for the birth. Come, O Joseph, and be enrolled with Mary. O most sacred manger! O swaddling clothes that carry God! There the Life was wrapped, even Christ our God, Who shall tear to pieces the bands of death, and bind fast mortal men to incorruption.

O most blessed womb of the Maid of God, thou hast been shown forth as spiritually vaster than the heavens. For Him Whom heaven cannot contain, thou dost carry and hold within thee. O most blessed breasts of the Virgin, that Christ has sucked Who feeds all that has breath! He has built flesh for Himself in the womb of the Maiden that knew not a man.

2^nd – 4^th Stichera and Doxostika from the Praises, Orthros on Christmas Eve

Again, the theme is joyful anticipation and, even more important, joyful invitation, not just to us, but to the entire cosmos! It is not just you and I and our families and friends who have received the invitation and are almost ready to celebrate the Great Feast – it’s all! 

Those who have rejected Christ (represented in the hymn by Israel) are invited.

The Holy Theotokos, who in the heavenlies celebrates with us, amazed and filled with wonder at what has been wrought through her, is included!

All who have ever gazed upon and all who will ever gaze upon Him before whom the angelic hosts cover their eyes are enticed to participate.

The very city of Bethlehem and even the inanimate objects such as the manger and the swaddling clothes – all that was, is, and ever shall be - is not excluded, but is now coming to celebrate with us  the Nativity in the Flesh of our Lord, God and Saviour!

No matter how we may feel at Christmas – and for many it’s a lonely and grief-filled time of year – whether we’re surrounded by friends and family, or even if we have no one with which to share the Feast, we are not alone. The whole of the Cosmos, the bodiless powers of heaven, all peoples who are, who have been, and who will be, are now are invited with the very rocks and stones of this wondrous Creation to join in the Feast!

Christ is born! Let us (all) glorify Him!

Preparing For The Nativity of our God in the Flesh

Today at Orthros, the sound of the 1^st 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.