Interpretation of the canon of the Nativity of Christ

“Interpretation of the Canon of the Nativity of Christ” is part of the work of St. Nikodim Svyatogorets “Eortodromium” (῾Εορτοδρόμιον) (first published in Venice in 1836). This extensive work contains interpretations of the song canons of the Lord's and Theotokos feasts. According to the plan of St. Nicodemus, the purpose of this work was to convey the deep theological content of the main Christian holidays to a wide range of believers. The monk took the works of Theodore Ptochoprodromus as the basis for his work. However, since that text was written in complex language and was not published, St. Nicodemus presented his interpretation in a more accessible way, supplementing it with references to the Holy Scriptures and the works of the holy fathers. In addition, he filled in the gaps of Theodore, adding interpretations for the missing holidays (Annunciation, Ascension, Pentecost and Dormition), based on the corresponding praiseworthy words of the Church Fathers. Contents Introductory article Interpretation of the canon of the Nativity of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ “Just as God does good to people, so people should thank their Benefactor God. For the one who, having received a benefit from God, does not even bring Him words of gratitude is considered and called ungrateful... Since God is the Living and Hypostatic Word, and He rejoices in being called by this name, then gratitude through the word is more pleasant for Him than anything else. However, a word is not only pronounced in prose and expressed without rhythmic meter, but also stated in metered verses, in chants and songs.” With these words the Monk Nicodemus the Holy Mountain begins his work “Eortodromion, or an interpretation of the song canons of the Lord’s and Theotokos’ feasts.” Eorthodromion means the holiday path or the road of holidays. This work is intended, according to the plan of the Monk Nicodemus, to make accessible to all believers the high theological content of the great Christian holidays through the interpretation of their semantic focus - the liturgical song canons. When starting to write the “Interpretation,” the Monk Nicodemus most of all wanted to encourage every Christian soul to glorify God and give thanks to Him for His mercy and for the economy of our salvation, which is especially clearly visible on holidays. He based his work on the existing interpretation of Theodore Ptochoprodromus. But since this work was presented in a difficult-to-understand language and remained unpublished, the Monk Nicodemus presented his interpretation in simpler language and provided it with numerous footnotes to the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers. In addition, he filled in the interpretations missing from Theodore for some holidays (Annunciation, Ascension, Pentecost and Dormition), guided by the praiseworthy words of the holy fathers for these holidays. A translation of this work into Russian is currently being prepared. We bring to your attention an excerpt from the interpretation of the Christmas canon. Interpretation of the canon of the Nativity of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ Christ is born - praise! Christ from Heaven - hide! Christ on earth - ascend! Sing to the Lord, all the earth, and sing with joy, O people, for you have been glorified. Who, if not the baker, should those who need bread turn to? Or from whom else, if not the winemaker, do those who have run out of it find wine? And those who need silver or gold coins should go to whom, if not the money changer? In the same way, those who wish to solemnly sing and praise the feasts of Christ, from whom should they seek words of praise and glorification, if not from the one who praises and glorifies them, the Great, I say, in Gregory’s Theology? Because he not only adorned the Master's holidays, composing his words and laudable speeches for them, being an excellent Trinity Theologian, but also allowed everyone who followed to steal his words and creations with a laudable and non-accusatory theft. The one who commits such theft is not only not ashamed, but, on the contrary, is embellished by it. What am I saying? Gregory - this mind of Theology - not only allowed his words to be stolen, but with inexpressible brotherly love he himself invites you to taste the mental bread of his wisdom, strengthening the soul, and to drink his rational wine, gladdening the heart, and calls with a great voice, repeating the words of Wisdom: Come, eat my bread and drink the wine that I have dissolved; (Prov.9:5), sometimes the words of the bride of the Song: Eat, friends, drink and be satisfied, beloved! (Song.5:1), and sometimes calls in the words of the prophet Isaiah: You who thirst! go, all of you, to the waters; even you who have no silver, go, buy and eat; Go, buy wine and milk without money and without price (Isa. 55:1). Therefore, the divine Cosmas - the songwriter and Music Director of sacred holidays - wanting to solemnly sing the saving Nativity of the Lord for us, repeats in this Irmos word for word after this great Theologian, the compiler of solemn and laudatory words for the holidays. For this is how he begins his word of praise on the Nativity of Christ: “Christ is born - glorify; Christ from Heaven - hide; Christ is on earth - ascend; sing to the Lord, all the earth." We must know that, according to the interpretations of John of Damascus and Nikita, a disciple of (Gregory) the Theologian, and Theodore Ptochoprodromus, expounders of the canons, the name Christ mainly indicates two-partness - both God and man. Sometimes, as an exception to the rule, it can mean either only the divine nature of Christ, or only His human nature. These two natures, for their such perfect hypostatic union, are called by the same name - Christ. When the Theologian and Sacred Cosmas say here “Christ is born” and “Christ on earth,” then the name Christ has the meaning of the God-man, since God and man were born from the Virgin, and God and man appeared on earth. When they say “Christ from Heaven,” then the name Christ means God without involvement in man. Since the Lord did not descend from Heaven clothed in human nature, as the mentally damaged followers of Apollinaris babble, against whom the words of Gregory the Theologian are directed: “If anyone says that the flesh came down from heaven, and not from the earth and not from us; let him be anathema” (1st Epistle to Kledonius), but the Lord descended from Heaven, naked as Divinity, and from the honest blood of the Ever-Virgin Mary accepted human nature and united it in his hypostasis, becoming a perfect man. So, Christ, they say, is born today. Therefore, you, Angels (for this word refers to them), who sing to God at the Nativity of the Lord, “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace,” glorify, that is, glorify God now. He says: “glorify,” also addressing those who in this human and earthly flesh lead an angelic life, calling them to glorify the born Lord. Christ, that is, God, came and descended from Heaven. So, you, the righteous (for he now addresses his words to them), meet Him, imitating the righteous Simeon, who met the Lord brought into the church. For only ungrateful slaves tend not to meet their masters when they come to them to benefit them. Gregory the Theologian and the songwriter Cosmas borrow this from that apostolic word, which says: Then we too will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:17). Then it is said that Christ, that is, the God-man, appeared on earth. So you, people living on earth, rise from earthly things, thinking about heavenly things and soaring on the wings of Action and Contemplation; for this is why God descended to earth, so that those living on earth could ascend to Heaven. For in no other way could the unity of God and man occur if God had not descended a little from his height, and man had not risen above his humiliation. As Gregory the Theologian says: “It is necessary for God to condescend to us, and for us to ascend to Him, and thus, with the dissolution of dignity, communication between God and people must take place. As long as they remain in their own dignity, God is in the dignity of heights, and man is in baseness, until then goodness is incompatible, love for mankind is incomprehensible” (Homily on Pentecost). According to him, the God-bearing Maxim (Confessor) also says: “The soul can never reach out to the knowledge of God unless God Himself, out of mercy towards it, touches it and does not lead it to Himself. And the human mind could never be so overcome with grief as to receive some kind of Divine illumination, if God Himself had not delighted it, as much as it is possible for the human mind to be delighted, and enlightened it with Divine illuminations” (the first hundred chapters on Theology, 31). And although God, in His love for mankind, condescends to unite with man, man must also make an effort on himself in order to ascend to God. Thus, the same divine Maxim continues: “Both God and man serve as an example for each other. And to the extent that man, having love for God, was able to deify himself, to that extent the humane God became human for the sake of man. And God delights the mind of man to the knowledge (of God) to the extent that man himself, through his virtuous life, has revealed the essentially invisible God” (seventh hundred chapters on Theology, 74). And again: “He who became a man without the admixture of sin, it is clear that he will deify (our) nature without any change in (His) Divinity, and will elevate it with Himself as much as He lowered Himself by becoming a man” (third hundred chapters on Theology, 82). The phrase “Sing to the Lord, all the earth” was borrowed by Gregory the Theologian and the hymn writer Cosmas from Psalm 95 of David, for this is what is written word for word in the first verse. This phrase is attached to the real irmos to show that this irmos is the first Song, the beginning of which “We sing to the Lord, gloriously we will be glorified.” “So sing,” says the songwriter, “the whole earth, that is, all the people living on it, to the born Christ. But you, various pagan peoples, sing to Him, not with laziness and spiritual sadness, but with readiness and joy of heart, for He is most glorified.” Why is it said that Christ is born, but not born? After all, one is not born every year, but only once. We answer in the words of Ptochoprodromus that rhetoricians have the custom of speaking about past actions as if they were present, so that to the listeners they seem to be happening at this hour, which makes them, as it were, eyewitnesses of these events. Or, according to Nikita’s interpretation, it is said that Christ is born today; because on this day (December 25), when Christ was born, the sun completes its annual cycle and begins a new one. But you, beloved brother, do not cease to glorify the born Christ, not only with your words, but more with your deeds. Hurry to meet Him descending from Heaven, contemplating Him in prayer. Ascend from the earth and from everything earthly for the sake of His love, because He descended to earth for your sake. Sing Him a new Song, as David urges. Sing songs a lot and insatiably, and do not become satiated, singing to Him. If you sing to the Lord in this way, He will not forget you singing to Him, and He will have mercy on you, according to the faithful words of the prophet Isaiah: Sing many songs so that they will remember you (Is. 23:16). The sorcerer of old, Balaam, the disciples of words, the wise watchers of the stars, you filled with joy, the star from Jacob, shining, O Master, the firstfruits of tongues introduced: but you accepted in reality, bringing you pleasant gifts. Chapter 22 of the Book of Numbers tells how Balak, the king of Moab, invited the sorcerer Balaam from Mesopotamia to curse the people of Israel. But instead of cursing, Balaam blessed this people and, against his own will, uttered the following prophecy about Christ: A star will rise from Jacob, and a man will arise from Israel and destroy the princes of Moab, and take all the sons of Seth captive (Num. 24:17). So, the Magi, according to Origen, Basil the Great and John Chrysostom, having accepted this prophecy of Balaam from their fatherly tradition, came to Bethlehem and worshiped Christ. Therefore, the sacred songwriter, mentioning this story in this troparion, says the following: “Oh, Master Christ, You shone like a new and bright star from the family of Jacob, and with this you filled with great joy the wise wise men, disciples and followers of the words of the sorcerer Balaam (the above-mentioned prophecy about Christ).” For it is said: When they saw the star, they rejoiced with very great joy (Matthew 2:10). The Persian people were magicians, diligently observing the stars and studying them. As Basil the Great said: “The Persian people were magicians, skilled in predictions, spells and some natural antidotes. In addition, they were engaged in observations of celestial phenomena” (Word for the Nativity of Christ). And blessed Theodoret says that the Persians called those who deified the elements magicians. (Church History, volume 5, chapter 39). Continuing, the songwriter says: “So, You, Christ, gave joy to these wise men, since they came to You as the firstfruits (that is, as the first and best) from all the pagan nations.” It is a custom among nations, when they enter into an alliance with a certain kingdom, to send two, three or more people as collateral and guarantee to confirm the friendship and loyalty of all their people to that kingdom. So the wise Magi came to Christ as a pledge and guarantee and showed that fidelity that all nations will show by their faith in Christ. And just as pious and God-loving people have the custom of offering and dedicating to God the first fruits from their vineyard or from their fields, or their first wine or flour, so all the nations who were supposed to believe in Christ managed to send the divine Magi to Christ, as the firstfruits and the first of all, thereby showing that they themselves would believe in that same Christ. Further, the songwriter says: “You, Christ, received the Magi, who brought You gifts pleasant and pleasing.” Namely gold, frankincense and myrrh. By giving gold, they showed that You are the King, for gold is given to kings. By giving incense, they showed that You are God, for people bring incense to God. By giving myrrh, they showed that You must become mortal as a man, for myrrh is brought to the dead and they are anointed with it. Christ our God came, incarnate, from the womb, Whose Father gives birth before the day; holding the reign of the most pure powers, he reclines in a manger and wraps himself in swaddling clothes, and looses the many-woven captivity of sins. The beginning for this troparion is borrowed by the sacred hymn-maker from Psalm 109, in which, on behalf of God the Father, he says to the Son: From the womb before the morning star I gave birth to you (Ps. 109:3). If you follow the most accurate interpretations, including those of the creator of this canon, the hymn writer Cosmas, this saying implies the pre-eternal Birth of God the Son from God the Father. Since the Lord in the Gospel, speaking about His divine Nativity, refers to the words of Psalm 109: The Lord said to my Lord: sit on my right hand (Ps. 109:1). So, the songwriter says: “The Only Begotten Son and God, whom the beginningless Father begets impassively and before the ages from His womb, in recent times came and was incarnate from the Virgin.” The word “womb,” according to Theodorit, has a symbolic meaning and figuratively refers to the Father, for God is incorporeal and immaterial, He does not have a womb or other bodily and human-like organs, this is excluded! And according to John Chrysostom, the word “womb” indicates the authenticity of Christmas, that is, that the Son was born from the same essence of the Father. Sevier believes that the womb indicates consubstantiality, and according to Theodoret, it indicates the identity of essence. For just as among people their own children are born from their own body and have the same nature as their parents, so You, my Only Begotten Son, were born of me, Your Consubstantial Father, and You show in Yourself my essence unchangeable. The word “Daystar” means, according to Ptochoprodromus, not only the sun and in front of the sun the rising (morning) star of Aphrodite (that is, the planet Venus), but also the highest of the Angels, who was previously called Lucifer (that is, luminiferous) for his lordship, but who later became darkness because of his pride. Therefore, “before the morning star” means that the Son was born of the Father before all creation, visible and invisible. And therefore Theodoret and Sevier understood “before the morning star” as “before the ages.” According to Athanasius the Great, “before the morning star” indicates that the method of the Nativity of the Son is in obscurity and incomprehensibility and hidden in deep darkness, that is, it is completely invisible and incomprehensible. Further, the singer, looking at the extreme humility of the Incarnate One, says that He who holds the reins and reigns over the heavenly and most pure powers and rules over them and controls them like certain horses or donkeys (since the prophet Zechariah saw the angels of heaven as red horses - Zech. 1:8), now reclines in the manger of dumb animals. Moreover, He is wrapped in simple swaddling clothes, and He, through repeated wrapping of these swaddling clothes, resolves the multi-braided bonds and chains of human sins. 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