Рождество Христово

(Gal. 4, 4–7; Matt. 2, 1–12) Glory to Thee, Lord! And we still waited for the bright days of the Nativity of Christ: now let’s have fun and rejoice. The Holy Church, deliberately in order to heighten our joy in these days, instituted fasting before them - a certain constraint, so that when entering them we would feel as if we were going into freedom. Despite all this, she does not want us to indulge only in the pleasures of the senses and only carnal pleasures. But from time immemorial, having called these days Christmastide, it demands that our very joy during them be holy, just as they are holy. And so that no one would forget while having fun, she put into our mouths a short song in praise of the born Christ, with which it calms the flesh and elevates the spirit, showing it activities worthy of these days: “Christ is born - glorify” *40 and so on. Glorify Christ, and glorify so that the soul and heart are delighted with this glorification, and thereby the urge to any other work and occupation that promises some kind of joy is drowned out. Praise Christ: this is not like composing long songs of praise to Christ, no; but if, thinking or listening about the Nativity of Christ the Savior, you involuntarily exclaim from the depths of your soul: glory to Thee, Lord, that Christ was born! – that’s enough; it will be a quiet song of the heart, which will, however, pass through heaven and go down to God Himself. Reproduce a little more clearly what the Lord has done for us - and you will see how natural it is for us to make such an appeal today. To make this easier for us, let us equate the following cases with this. The tsar promised freedom to the one imprisoned and shackled... The prisoner waits for a day or two, waits for months and years... does not see the fulfillment, but does not lose hope, believing the tsar’s word. Finally, signs appeared that soon; his attention becomes tense; he hears the noise of those approaching with cheerful talk: now the constipation is lifted and the deliverer enters... Glory to Thee, Lord! the prisoner exclaims involuntarily. The end of my imprisonment has come, I will soon see the light of God! Another case: a patient, covered with wounds and relaxed in all his limbs, tried all the medicines and changed many doctors; his patience was exhausted, and he was ready to indulge in desperate grief. They tell him: there is still a most skillful doctor, he cures everyone and precisely from diseases such as yours; we asked him - he promised to come. The patient believes, rises to hope and waits for what was promised... An hour passes, two, more - anxiety again begins to sharpen his soul... Already in the evening someone arrived... walking... the door opened, and the desired one enters... Glory to Thee, Lord! the patient screams. Here’s another case: a menacing cloud hangs over; darkness covered the face of the earth; thunder shakes the foundations of the mountains and lightning cuts through the sky from end to end: this makes everyone afraid, as if the end of the world had come. When then the storm passes and the sky clears up; everyone, sighing freely, says: Glory to Thee, Lord! Bring these cases closer to yourself and you will see that our whole history is in them. A terrible cloud of God’s wrath was over us; the Lord the Reconciliator came and dispersed this cloud. We were covered with wounds of sins and passions - the Physician of souls came and healed us... We were in the bonds of slavery - the Liberator came and loosed our bonds... Bring all this closer to your heart and perceive with your feelings, and you will not resist exclaiming: glory to Thee, Lord, that Christ was born! I do not try to instill such joy in you with my words: it is beyond the reach of any word. The work accomplished by the born Lord concerns each of us. Those who enter into communication with Him receive from Him freedom, healing, peace, possess all this and taste the sweetness of it. There is no need to say to those who experience this within themselves: “Rejoice,” because they cannot help but rejoice, and to those who do not experience it, there is no need to say: “Rejoice”; they cannot rejoice. Bound hand and foot, no matter how much you tell him: “Rejoice at your deliverance,” he will not rejoice; covered with the wounds of sins, where will the joy of healing come from? How can one who is terrified by the thunderstorm of God’s wrath breathe freely? To such people one can only say: “go to the Midwife, lying in the manger, and seek from Him deliverance from all the evils that beset you, for this Child is Christ the Savior of the world.” I would like to see everyone rejoicing in precisely this joy and not wanting to know other joys, but “not all that exist are from Israel... - Israel” (Rom. 9:6). Empty, violent, lust-inciting amusements will now begin: ogling, circling, werewolves. No matter how much you say to those who love all this: “tame yourself,” they close their ears and do not heed - and they will always bring the bright days of the holiday to the point that they will force the merciful Lord to turn His eyes away from us and say: “All these celebrations of yours are an abomination to Me!” (cf. Is.1:14, Am.5:21) And indeed, many of our public amusements are truly pagan abominations, i.e. some were directly transferred to us from the pagan world, while others, although they appeared later, were imbued with the spirit of paganism. And as if on purpose, they are invented in large quantities during the days of Christmas and Easter. Being carried away by them, we give the prince of the world - our tormentor, the enemy of God, a reason to say to God: “What have you done to me with your birth and resurrection? Everyone is coming to me!” But let the words of the 50th psalm flash more often in the depths of our hearts: “Be justified in all your words and overcome the judgment of You” (Ps. 50:6)... We are carried away by enlightened Europe... Yes, there for the first time the pagan abominations that were expelled from the world were restored; They have already crossed over from there and are moving over to us. Having inhaled this hellish frenzy, we spin around like crazy, not remembering ourselves. But let us remember the twelfth year: why did the French come to us? God sent them to destroy the evil that we adopted from them. Russia then repented, and God had mercy on her. And now, it seems, that lesson has already begun to be forgotten. If we come to our senses, of course, nothing will happen; and if we don’t come to our senses, who knows, maybe the Lord will again send our same teachers to bring us to our senses and put us on the path of correction. This is the law of God’s righteousness: to heal from sin is the one who is attracted to it. These are not empty words, but a deed affirmed by the voice of the Church. Know, Orthodox, that God cannot be mocked; and knowing this, rejoice and rejoice in these days with fear. Sanctify the bright holiday with holy days, activities and amusements, so that everyone, looking at us, will say: they are celebrating Christmas time, and not some riotous games of the wicked and debauched who do not know God. The end, and glory to our God! Irmos of the 1st canon of the 1st canon to the Nativity of Christ. You might be interested in: