Слово на Рождество Спасителя нашего Иисуса Христа. Св. Иоанна Златоустого, архиепископа Константинопольского

I see an unusual and wonderful sacrament: the shepherds fill my ears, uttering not a desert song, but chanting a heavenly hymn. Angels sing, archangels sing, cherubim cry, seraphim praise: everyone triumphs, seeing God on earth and man in heaven. Now Bethlehem has become like the sky, having received singing angels instead of stars, and inexplicably containing the Sun of Truth instead of the sun. Do not investigate how - what; Where God wants, the order of nature is overcome. He was willing, able, descended and saved; everything obeys God. Today Jehovah is born, and Jehovah becomes what He was not; being God. He becomes a man without ceasing to be God: without losing the Divinity. He became man, and, on the other hand, not through gradual advancement from man became God, but, being the Word, He became flesh, so that His nature remained unchanged due to His dispassion. When He was born, the Jews rejected His unusual birth, the Pharisees falsely interpreted the divine books, and the scribes spoke contrary to the law; Herod sought the one who was born not in order to honor Him, but in order to destroy Him. Today people have seen all the opposites: without hiding, says the Psalmist, from their children to generations (Psalm 77:4). The kings came and marveled at the Heavenly King, how He came to earth, having with Him neither angels, nor archangels, nor thrones, nor dominions, nor powers, nor authorities, but, having passed through an extraordinary and impassable path, He came from an inviolable womb, without, however, leaving His angels without His leadership and without losing His own Divinity through incarnation with us. Kings came to worship the Heavenly King of glory, and warriors came to serve the Commander of the forces, wives came to the One born of a woman to change the wife’s sorrows into joy; virgins - to the Son of the Virgin, wondering how the Creator of milk and breasts accepted infant food from the mother - the Virgin; babies - to him who has become a baby, so that from the mouth of a baby and those who piss he can bring praise (Matt. 21:16; Psalm. 8:3); the youths - to the Youth, who made them martyrs because of Herod’s fury; men - to one who became human and healed the illnesses of slaves; shepherds - to the good Shepherd, who laid down His soul for the sheep; priests - to him who has become high priest according to the order of Melchizedek; slaves - to him who took the form of a slave, in order to decorate our slavery with freedom; fishermen - to him who made them fishers of men from fishermen; publicans - to the Evangelist who revealed the Evangelist from the publicans; harlots - to him who stretched out His feet to the tears of a harlot; in short, all sinners came to see the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), the wise men - giving Him honor, the shepherds - glorifying Him, the tax collectors - preaching the gospel, the harlots - bringing ointment, the Samaritan woman - thirsting for the source of life, the Canaanite woman - having undoubted faith. So, when everyone is rejoicing, I want to rejoice, I want to rejoice, I want to triumph. But I rejoice, not playing the zither, not having a flute in my hands, but accepting the shrouds of Christ instead of musical instruments; they are hope for me, they are life for me, they are salvation for me, they are a pipe for me, they are a zither for me. That is why I come, taking them, so that by their power I may receive the power of speech and say with the angels: glory to God in the highest, and with the shepherds: and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14). He who was inexplicably born of the Father is today incomprehensibly born of the Virgin for my sake. But then He was born by nature from the Father before the ages, as He who gave birth knows; and today He was supernaturally born, as the grace of the Holy Spirit knows. And His birth above is true, and His birth below is not false: truly He was born as God from God, and truly He was born as man from the Virgin. Above He is one only begotten of one, below He is one only begotten of one Virgin. Just as it is wicked to represent the mother in His birth above, so it is blasphemous to represent the father in His birth below. The Father gave birth to Him without seed, and the Virgin gave birth to Him incorruptible: neither God suffered division when giving birth to Him, because He gave birth to God, nor did the Virgin, when giving birth to Him, experience corruption, because She gave birth to Him from the Spirit. Therefore, neither His birth above can be explained, nor His coming in the last times admits of investigation. That the Virgin gave birth to Him today, I know, and that God gave birth to Him without time, I believe this; but I have learned to honor the manner of His birth with silence, and have not learned to explore it with verbal disputes. In relation to God, one should not pay attention to the nature of works, but believe in the power of the Acting One. After all, according to the law of nature, it happens when a wife who has entered into marriage gives birth; and when a Virgin, who has not experienced marriage and has given birth, turns out to be a virgin again, this is above nature. So, let what happens by nature be examined: and what is above nature, let it be honored with silence, not as worthy of neglect, but as inexplicable and worthy of respect through silence. But forgive me if I want to stop my speech at the very beginning. Fearing to explore the highest, I do not know how or where to turn the helm of speech. What will I say, or what will I talk about? I see the One who gave birth, I see the Born, but I do not comprehend the method of birth. Nature is conquered, the limits of its order are conquered when God wants it. This event did not happen by nature, but it was a miracle above nature, because nature did not act, but the will of the Lord acted. Oh, ineffable grace! The Only Begotten, existing before the ages, intangible, simple and incorporeal, took upon Himself my corruptible and visible body. For what? - in order to, having become visible, teach, and having taught, lead us to the invisible. Since people consider sight to be more reliable than hearing, and they doubt what they do not see: therefore God deigned to make Himself visible to the eyes through the body, in order to destroy doubt. He is born from a Virgin who did not know this matter, because She did not contribute to the event, and this matter did not depend on Her, but She was only an instrument of His ineffable power, having learned only what Gabriel told Her in response to Her question: how will this be, even if I have no husband (Luke. 1:34)? He said to Her: "Is this what you want to know? The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You (Luke 1:35). How then was He with Her and, after a little time, came from Her? Just as an artist, having found the most useful substance, makes from it the most beautiful vessel, so Christ, having found the holy body and soul of the Virgin, built for Himself an animated church, forming man in the Virgin in this way, as he desired, and, having clothed himself in it, now came, not ashamed of the ugliness of nature. It was not shameful for Him to bear His own creation: and this creation acquired the greatest glory, becoming the garment of the artist. Just as at the first creation it was impossible for man to be formed before the dust was taken into the hands of God, so the damaged vessel could not have been renewed if it had not become the garment of the Creator. Will I start talking? The miracle amazes me. The old man became a child; he who sits on the high and exalted throne is placed in a manger; the intangible and incorporeal can be touched by human hands; He who breaks the bonds of sin is wrapped in swaddling clothes - because He wants it so. He wants to turn dishonor into honor, to clothe dishonor with glory, and within the limits of humiliation to show the image of virtue. Therefore, He takes my body so that I can contain His Word, and, having accepted my flesh, He gives me His Spirit, so that, both by giving and receiving, He may impart to me the treasure of life. He takes my flesh to sanctify me - gives me His Spirit to save me. But what will I say, or what will I talk about? Behold, the Virgin will conceive in her womb (Isa. 7:14). And now this is spoken of, not as the future, but it is contemplated as accomplished. It took place among the Jews, among whom it was predicted; but it is accepted by faith among us, among whom it was not even mentioned. The Virgin will conceive in her womb. The letter belongs to the synagogue, and the acquisition belongs to the Church; she received the tablets, and this one found the pearl; that one adorned the wave, and this one dressed in purple. Judea produced Him, and the universe received Him; the synagogue fed and raised Him, and the Church accepted Him and benefited. She has a vine branch, and I have a bunch of truth; she has gathered grapes, and the pagans drink the mysterious drink. The Jews were left with the thorns of unbelief, and the pagans piously plucked the rose; the Jews explain the leaves of the script, and the pagans pluck the fruit of the Spirit. The Virgin will conceive in her womb. Tell me, Jew, tell me, whom did She give birth to? Trust me, at least as much as Herod. But you don't trust; I know why: because of my cunning. You told him to kill Christ; but you do not tell me that I should not worship Him. Whom did She give birth to? whom? - Lord of nature. After all, although you are silent, nature calls; The virgin gave birth as the one who was born himself wanted to be born. Not according to the law of nature. He used an extraordinary method of birth in order to show that, even by becoming a man, He is not born as a man, but is born as God. So, today He came from the Virgin, who conquered nature, who surpassed marriage: for the Source of holiness had to come from a pure and holy birth. He is the One who in ancient times created Adam from virgin soil, and from Adam without a wife formed a wife. Just as Adam without a wife gave birth to a wife, so today the Virgin without a husband gave birth to a husband. He is a man, says the Scripture, but who can know Him? Since the female sex owes to the male sex that Adam produced a wife without a wife, therefore today the virgin gave birth without a husband, paying off this debt to the husbands for Eve. So that Adam would not be proud that he gave birth to a wife without a wife, therefore the virgin gave birth to a husband without a husband, in order to show the equality of her nature by the sameness of the miracle. Just as God took a rib from Adam and through this did not reduce Adam in the least, so He formed an animated church in the Virgin and did not deflower Her. Adam remained intact even after a rib was taken from him; The virgin also remained intact after the baby came from Her. Therefore, He did not build His church out of anything else, nor did He create and take upon Himself another body, so that it would not seem that He was humiliating the being of Adam. Since the deceived man became a weapon of the devil, He chose this fallen one for Himself in the animated church, in order, through affinity with the Creator, to ward him off from communion with the devil. However, even by becoming a man, He is not born as a man, but is born as God. If He happened through an ordinary marriage, like me, then for most it would seem like a lie; and now He is born of a Virgin, and... being born, she preserves Her womb intact and preserves Her virginity intact, so that the extraordinary manner of birth may serve as the basis for me of great faith. Therefore, if a pagan or a Jew asks me, “whether Christ, God by nature, was made supernaturally man,” then I will say: “Yes,” and point to the intact seal of virginity to confirm my word. Thus, He is God, conquering the order of nature; thus, He is the creator of the womb and the author of virginity, and therefore He was born of a virgin birth and inexplicably built a church for Himself, as wanted. Tell me, Jew: did the Virgin give birth, then confess an extraordinary birth; and if she did not give birth, then why did you deceive Herod? When he asked: where is Christ born, you said that in Bethlehem (Matt. 2: 4, 5) Did I not know the dignity of the One who was born? Him, as about God? He will give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel (Is. 7:14). Didn’t you, ungrateful enemies, declare this truth? Didn’t you, the zealous keepers of the law, teach us everything about Him? After the Virgin gave birth and even before She gave birth, so that the explanation of this passage does not seem to be made to please the Lord, were you not the one who brought the prophet Machaeus as a witness to Herod’s question to confirm your words? And you, he says, Bethlehem, the house of Ephrath, are you in no way least among the rulers of Judah: for from you will come a leader who will shepherd my people Israel (Mic. 5:2; Matt. 2:6). The Prophet said well: from you, because from you He came out and came into the universe. The One who exists comes, but the one who does not exist is created. He was there then, and he was before, and he always was. But he was always like God, ruling the world, and today he came as a man; as a man, He shepherds the people, and as God, He saves the universe. O good enemies! Oh, benevolent blamers, who, unbeknownst to themselves, revealed the God born in Bethlehem, who made known the Lord hidden in a manger, who involuntarily opened the one lying in the cave, and, unwillingly, did good, wanting to hide - they opened it! Do you see ignorant teachers? What they teach, they do not know; They feed the hungry, they give them drink when they are thirsty, they enrich them when they are poor. Come, let us celebrate; come, let us celebrate. The type of celebration is extraordinary, because the way of birth is also extraordinary. Now the ancient bonds are broken, the devil is put to shame, the demons are put to flight, death is crushed, heaven is opened, the curse is destroyed, sin is removed, error is destroyed, the truth has returned, and the teaching of piety has spread everywhere, the higher life is planted on earth, angels enter into communication with people, and people fearlessly converse with angels. Why? - because God came to earth and man to heaven: everything was united. He wholly existing in heaven came to earth, and he wholly existing in heaven appears entirely on earth. Being God, He became man without ceasing to be God; being the dispassionate Word, He became flesh—made flesh to dwell in us. He did not become God, but He was; but became flesh, so that, Whom the sky could not contain, the manger would receive Him. For this reason He was laid in a manger, so that He who nourishes everything would receive infant food from his mother, the Virgin. For this reason, the Father of future centuries does not shun the embrace of a virgin, like a suckling child, in order to become accessible to the Magi. Now the wise men have come, having made the beginning of their departure from the tormentor - and the sky boasts, pointing out its Lord with a star - and the Lord, sitting on the light cloud of His body, strives for Egypt, apparently avoiding the wiles of Herod, but in fact fulfilling what was said by Isaiah: in my day, he says, Israel will be third among the Assyrians and in the Egyptians, blessed are My people in the land, Bless the Lord of hosts, saying: Bless my people, those who are in Egypt, and those who are in Assyria, and my inheritance Israel (Isa. 19:24, 25). What are you saying, Jew? You, the first, became the third? The Egyptians and Assyrians are placed first, and the firstborn Israel is counted after? Yes, and rightly so, the Assyrians will be first because they were the first to worship Him through the Magi, and the Egyptians will follow the Assyrians, because they also accepted Him, fleeing from the wiles of Herod; the Israelis are considered the last, because after leaving the Jordan they recognized Him through the apostles. He came to Egypt and shook the hand-made Egyptian idols, not without reason, but because he had once sealed the Egyptian dwellings with the destruction of the firstborn. Therefore, now He came as the firstborn to stop the crying caused by ancient sorrow. And that Christ is called the firstborn, the Evangelist Luke now testifies to this, when he says: And gave birth to Your firstborn Son, and took Him, and laid Him in a manger: for there was no place for them in the monastery (Luke 2:7). So, He came to Egypt to stop the crying caused by ancient sorrow, introducing joy instead of torment, giving the light of salvation instead of night and darkness. The water of the river then became unclean from the killing of young babies; Therefore, He came to Egypt, having once stained the waters, and made the streams of the river flow with salvation, cleansing their defilement and uncleanness by the power of the Spirit. The Egyptians once became embittered and furiously rejected God; Therefore, He came to Egypt and filled God-loving souls with the knowledge of God, and He imparted to the river the power to produce martyrs more abundantly than ears of corn. However, due to the shortness of time, I want to end my speech here, and I will end it here, adding how He, being the impassive Word, became flesh, while His nature remained unchanged. What will I say or what will I talk about? I see the carpenter and the manger, the Child and the swaddling clothes, the virgin birth, deprived of everything necessary, all in poverty, all in misery. Do you see wealth in this great poverty? How did He, who was rich, become poor for our sake? how He had neither a bed nor a bed, but was laid in a naked manger? Oh, poverty that serves as a source of wealth! Oh, immeasurable wealth that has the appearance of poverty! He lies in a manger and shakes the universe - he is wrapped in swaddling clothes and breaks the bonds of sin; had not yet uttered an articulate sound, and taught the Magi, and showed them the path to return. What will I say or what will I talk about? Behold, the Child is wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger; Mary, virgin and mother is coming; Joseph, who is called His father, was also present. He is called the husband, and She is called his wife; the names agree with the law, but do not indicate their combination. Understand here only the names, and not the deed: he was only Her groom, and the Holy Spirit overshadowed Her. Therefore, Joseph, at a loss, did not know what to say about the Child. He did not dare to attribute Him to adultery, he could not utter a blasphemous word about the Virgin, and he did not dare to call Him his own son; he knew well that he did not know how or from what He was born; therefore, when he was perplexed about this event, a suggestion was brought from heaven by the voice of an angel: Fear not, Joseph: for that which was born in her of the Spirit is holy (Matthew 1:20). The Holy Spirit overshadowed the Virgin. Why is He born of a Virgin and keeps his virginity intact? Since in ancient times the devil deceived Eve, who was a virgin, therefore Gabriel preached the gospel to Mary, a virgin. But the seduced Eve uttered a word that caused death; and Mary, who received the gospel, gave birth to the Word in the flesh, who acquired eternal life for us. The word of Eve indicates the tree for which Adam was expelled from paradise; and the Word, born of the Virgin, revealed the cross, through which the thief was introduced into paradise in Adam’s place. Since neither the pagans, nor the Jews, nor the heretics believed that God gave birth incorruptibly and impassively, then he who now came from a passionate body preserved the passionate body impassively, in order to show that, just as he who was born of a Virgin did not violate his virginity, so God, without incorruptibility and changing His holy nature, gave birth to God magnificently, like God. And since people, having left Him, sculpted humanoid idols, which they served to insult the Creator, therefore now the Word of God, being God, appeared in the form of a man in order to destroy both the lie and turn the reverence of God imperceptibly onto Himself. Let us give glory to Christ, who made the inconvenient comfortable, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen 56. See the works of St. John Chrysostom, in Russian. translation 1900, vol. VI, countries. 692–699. Comp. with this word St. Chrysostom’s above (pages 185 – 196) word of St. Gregory the Wonderworker, Bishop of Neocaesarea. You might be interested in: