Word on the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and on the massacre of the infants in Bethlehem from Herod

The sermon “A Sermon on the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Massacre of the Innocents in Bethlehem by Herod” was delivered by St. Gregory of Nyssa on December 25, 386 and contains important information about the features of the celebration of the Nativity of Christ in the 4th century. *The title of the work in Greek is Εἰς τὸ ϒενέθλιον τοῦ Σωτῆρος. *The title of the work in Latin is Oratio in diem natalem Christi. Blow the trumpet in the new moon, on the blessed day of your feast, David cries (Ps. 80:4). The commandments of the inspired teaching constitute an indispensable law for those who hear it; Therefore, when the blessed day of our holiday approaches, we will also fulfill the law and blow the trumpet during the holy months. And the lawful trumpet, as the Apostle tells us to understand, is the word. For, according to him, the sound of the trumpet must be specific, distinct in tones, so that it is intelligible to those listening (1 Cor. 14). Let us, brethren, make a clear and easy-to-understand sound, in no way inferior to the sound of a trumpet. The law, pre-depicting the truth in the images of the canopy, established the sound of a trumpet on the feast of the deposition of the tabernacle: and the reason for the present celebration is the sacrament of the true deposition of the tabernacle. Now He who has clothed Himself for us in the form of man sets up the tabernacle of man. Now our tabernacles, destroyed by death, are again being erected by Him who first built our church. Let us also sing a psalm song, rejoicing in the loud voice of David: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord (Ps. 117:26)! But how does He come? - He comes not on a chariot, and not by the sea, but passes into human life through virgin incorruption. Behold our God, behold the Lord, has appeared to us to establish this feast for us in the frequenting ways of the altars (Ps. 117:27). So, brethren, we cannot help but see a mystery here, for all creation is one palace of the Lord of creation. When sin invaded the world, and the lips of people infected with unrighteousness were sealed, when the voice of joy fell silent and the harmony of the rejoicing was upset, since the human race could no longer triumph along with the heavenly world: then the trumpets of the Prophets and Apostles appeared, which the law calls horns, because they were made by the true Unicorn. These trumpets, by the power of the Spirit, loudly proclaimed the words of truth in order to arouse the ears of people, muffled by sin, and to form one harmonious triumph in which the earthly creature, through the new tabernacle, could participate along with the incorporeal and immortal forces surrounding the heavenly altar. For the horns of the mental altar are exalted and excellent mental powers, principles, authorities, thrones, dominions, to which, through the restoration of the tabernacle, human nature, increased by the renewal of the flesh, joins to participate in the celebration; and increase, according to those who know the meaning of the words, means the same as decorating with something, or investing in something. So, come, let us attune our souls to spiritual joy, making David the leader, leader and head of our rejoicing. Let us exclaim with him the sweet song that we recently sang, and repeat it again. For this day, which the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it (Ps. 117:24). Now the darkness begins to diminish, and the light, increasing more and more, reduces the limits of the night. It was not by chance, brethren, and not without reason, that this happened at the time of the present festival, when Divine life was clothed in human life. Here nature, through its phenomena, allows the most discerning to see a certain mystery. She teaches those who are able to listen to her voice, and almost explains to him in a word: why exactly at the coming of the Lord the day increases and the night decreases. It seems to me that I hear nature saying: “Looking at such a phenomenon, O man, know that through the visible the hidden is revealed to you. You see that the night, having reached the extreme limit of its length, does not extend further and retreats back. Know that the disastrous night of sin, which has increased to the last possibility, and has been brought to the highest degree of wickedness by iniquities of all kinds, now ceases to receive an increase, and its darkness from now on begins to decrease and disappear. You see that the ray of light becomes brighter, and the sun rises higher than usual; know that the true Light has appeared, illuminating the entire universe with the rays of the Gospel.” And that the Divine appearance of the Lord to the human race did not follow at the beginning, but in recent times; For this, in all fairness, one can imagine the reason that the One who wanted to accept human life in order to destroy wickedness waited (which was necessary) until all the sin sown by the enemy grew, and after that, as the Gospel says, He brought the ax to the very root (Matthew 3:10). And how the most skillful doctors, at a time when a fever inflames the body from within, and little by little intensifies from painful causes, yield to the disease, not allowing the patient to strengthen himself with any food until the disease reaches its extreme degree; and they begin to use their art only when the disease, having fully revealed itself, will no longer spread: so the Physician of our sick souls delayed until the sinful disease with which human nature was infected was revealed in all its fullness, so that nothing was hidden and remained unhealed; and this could have happened if He had healed only what was revealed from time to time. Therefore, the Lord does not appear with healing even in the time of Noah, when all flesh was corrupted by unrighteousness, since the iniquity of Sodom had not yet grown; does not appear during the destruction of Sodom, for many other evils were still hidden in human nature. There was no Pharaoh who was the enemy of God, and the indomitable anger of the Egyptians had not yet been revealed. Even then, when the wickedness of the Egyptians was revealed, it was not time for the Transformer of the world to enter into this life, because the disobedience of the Israelites had to be revealed, the kingdom of Assyria had to appear, the hidden pride of Nebuchadnezzar had to be revealed in the world. It was necessary that from the evil root planted by the devil, like some worthless and thorny plant, the murder of the righteous should grow. It was necessary to reveal the fury against the Saints of God from the Jews, who killed the Prophets, stoned those sent to them, and finally committed an atrocity against Zechariah between the church and the altar. The beating of infants by Herod should also be added to the number of unsuitable growths. So, when from the sinful root all the power of wickedness was revealed, it increased and revealed itself in many different forms in the wills of people, spreading its branches throughout all centuries, famous for atrocities; then, as the Apostle Paul says to the Athenians, God, despising the years of ignorance (Acts 17:30), appeared in the last days, when there was no one who understood and sought God, when everyone had turned aside from the path, everyone had become corrupt, when everything was concluded under sin, when the measure of iniquities was fulfilled. As soon as the darkness of wickedness reached its final degree; Then grace appeared, a ray of true light shone, the sun of righteousness rose for those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death; then He who took on human flesh crushed the many-headed serpent, trampling it with his foot and grinding it to the ground. And no one, looking at what is happening in the world today, should consider unjust the reason why, as we said, the Lord condescended to people in recent times. For some, perhaps, will say against us that the One who waited so long for the discovery of evil in order to destroy it to the ground, after it was discovered, in all likelihood, destroyed sin completely, so that not the slightest part of it remained in the world; meanwhile, even now, murders, thefts, adulteries, and all other crimes are committed. But the doubt that arises when encountering such experiences can be resolved with the most ordinary example. It is known that when killing a serpent, a blow delivered to the head does not crush the back part of the reptile at the same time; and when the first is completely deprived of life, the latter is still animated by its own life and for a long time shows signs of vital force: just so the Slayer of that dragon, which, growing with each generation of people, became a huge beast, crushing its head, i.e., the deadly force for good, which contained other numerous heads, left its body intact; and He did this so that the movement remaining in the slain beast would excite people to fight it. What kind of mortified head is this? - She who, with sly advice, brought death into the world, and, having wounded a person, poured deadly poison into him. So, He who destroyed the power of death crushed, according to the Prophet, the power contained in the head of the serpent (Ps. 73:14); and the body of this monster, spread across the entire human race, still hurts it with sinful scales, and will continue to hurt until people are freed from sinful desires; however, it no longer has the same power, for the head of the serpent has been crushed. When the end of time comes, and with the onset of the expected end of this life everything moving stops, then the final and last part of the enemy, i.e. death, will be destroyed; and thus the final destruction of sin will follow; since through the resurrection everyone will be called to life: the righteous will immediately move to the higher villages, and those who remain in sins will be consigned to the fire of Gehenna. Let us now move on to real joy, which the Angels preach to the shepherds, the heavens preach to the Magi, and which the Spirit of prophecy announces many times and in many different ways, so that the Magi also become heralds of grace. For He who causes the sun to rise on the just and the unjust sends rain on the evil and the good; He sent down a ray of knowledge and the dew of the Spirit into the mouths of foreigners, so that by the testimony of strangers the truth would all the more confirm the truth for us. The soothsayer Balaam, by inspiration from above, predicts to foreigners that a star will rise from Jacob (Numbers 24:17). And so you see that the Magi, descending from him, according to the prediction of their ancestor, carefully observe the ascent of a new star, which alone, not obeying the law of other stars, has both its own movement and position, and alternately uses both. As for all the other stars, some of them, once established in a fixed sphere, always stand motionless; while others are in constant motion; but this star moves, preceding the Magi, and stops, showing them the place. Do you hear what Isaiah cries: For unto us was born a Child, and unto us a Son was given (Isaiah 9:6)? Find out from the Prophet himself how the Child was born, how the Son was given. Is it by natural law? No, answers the Prophet. The Master of Creation does not obey the laws of nature. How was the Child born? Behold, the Prophet cries, the Virgin will conceive in her womb, and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel: it can be said: God is with us (Is. 7:14, Matt. 1:23). An incomprehensible miracle! The Virgin becomes the Mother and remains the Virgin. Do you see what extraordinary news in nature! About other wives it is usually said this way: the virgin is not yet a mother, and the mother is no longer a virgin. And here both of these names are combined into one. One and the same face - both Mother and Virgin; neither virginity prevented birth, nor birth violated virginity. Who descended into human life in order to save the entire human race from corruption; He himself had to take birth from an incorruptible woman who had not known her husband. It seems to me that the great Moses foreknew this secret during his Epiphany in the fire, when the fire burned the bush and the bush did not burn up. I will pass by, I will see this great vision, he says (Ex. 3:3), indicating with these words, as I think, not his transition from one place to another, but the transition of time; for what was then depicted in the flame and bush, was later clearly revealed in the mystery of the birth from the Virgin. How the bush burns and does not burn out; so here too the Virgin gives birth to Light and remains incorruptible. It would not be inappropriate to present Zechariah here as a testimony to the incorruptibility of the Mother. This Zechariah was a Priest; In addition to the priesthood, he also had the gift of prophecy. His prophecy, narrated in the Gospel, is pronounced by him at a time when the grace of God, preparing people so that they would not consider the birth of the Virgin incredible, first disposed the unbelievers to believe with less amazing miracles. A barren and elderly woman gives birth to a son. This was, as it were, the threshold of a miracle that was about to happen to the Virgin. For just as Elizabeth, who remained barren until old age, is not made into matter by the force of nature, but the birth of a son from her seems to be a matter of God’s will: so the miraculous birth from the Virgin becomes probable as soon as it relates to God. since he who was born from a barren woman preceded the One who was to be born from the Virgin: then even before his birth, he leaped in his mother’s womb, hearing the voice of the one who carried the Lord in her womb; Zechariah's silence was resolved by prophetic inspiration, as the Forerunner of the Word was soon born. All the prophetic words of Zechariah contained a prediction about the Savior who would be born. But we have already strayed far from our subject; Now we must be transported in a word to Bethlehem, mentioned in the Gospel. For if we are true shepherds, and vigilantly watch over our flock; then the voice of the Angels, preaching this great joy, in all fairness, also applies to us. So, let us turn our gaze to the heavenly army, let us look at the rejoicing of the Angels, and listen to their Divine chant. What voice do we hear from those who rejoice? Glory to God in the highest, they cry. And why do the Angels glorify with their voice the Divinity contemplated in the highest? Because, they answer, there is peace on earth. This is the phenomenon that delighted the Angels: peace on earth! The land that was previously cursed, which produced thorns and thistles, a land of war, a place of exile for the condemned - this land received peace. Oh miracle! Truth rose from the earth, and righteousness came from heaven (Ps. 84:12). This is the fruit the earth has given to men! And all this is done out of goodwill towards people. God descends and joins human nature in order to lift humanity to the Divine heights. But the gospel of the Angels invites us into the den to delve into the mysteries that appear in it. What's there? - The baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, rests in a manger; Virgin by birth, the incorruptible Mother guards the Child. Let us, shepherds, exclaim this prophetic word: as we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God (Ps. 47:9). But did all this that is told about Christ really happen by chance and without any reason? Does what is being told really have no meaning? What does it mean for the Lord to be in the den and reclining in the manger? Why did He descend into life during the census carried out to collect taxes? since He redeems us from legal oaths, having Himself become a curse for us, and takes our ulcers upon Himself, so that we may be healed by His ulcers: it is obvious that taxes are imposed in order to free us from the heavy tribute that humanity paid to death. Seeing the den in which the Lord is born, bring to mind the darkness and gloom into which the human race was immersed at the time when the Lord appeared to those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. Being wrapped in swaddling clothes signifies that He takes upon Himself the chains of our sins. In the manger where the dumb are fed, the Word is born so that the ox may know him who has acquired it, and the donkey his master's manger (Is. 1:3). By ox mean one subject to the law; and the donkey, as an animal carrying weights, means one burdened with the sins of idolatry. The food characteristic of the dumb for their life is grass, as the Prophet says: vegetate the grass with cattle; and a rational animal eats bread. So the bread of life, which came down from heaven, is offered in a manger, a nourishment for the dumb, so that the foolish, having tasted reasonable food, may come to understanding. In a manger, a shelter for an ox and a donkey, their Lord lay down in order to, after the destruction of the mediastinum of the fence, create both through Himself into one new person, removing the heavy yoke of the law from the first, and freeing the latter from the burden of idolatry. You see, not only do Prophets and Angels preach true joy to us, but heaven also proclaims the glory of the Gospel with its miraculous appearances. From Judas Christ shone forth to us, as the Apostle says (Rom.9:4.5); but the Jew is not enlightened by the One who has risen. The Magi, alien to the covenants of promise, who did not participate in the blessing of the Forefathers, warn the people of Israel with knowledge, seeing a star in the sky and coming to the den to the King. The Magi bring gifts, and the Jews build forts; the Magi worship, the Jews persecute; the former rejoice that they have found the One they were looking for, but the latter, hearing that the Foretold One has been born, are troubled. The Magi, says the Gospel, seeing that the star stopped at the place where the Child was, rejoiced greatly with great joy (Matthew 2:10); Herod, having heard this verb, was embarrassed, and with him all Jerusalem (Matthew 2:3). The Magi bring Lebanon to Him as to God, greet His royal dignity with gold, and with myrrh, as if by some prophetic gift, foreshadow His suffering; and the latter condemn the entire age of infancy to extermination, which, in my opinion, reveals in them not only terrible cruelty, but also extreme madness. What do they hope from beating children? For what purpose do vile murderers decide to commit such atrocities? Because, they say, some new sign among all the miraculous phenomena in the sky announced to the Magi the birth of the King. What then? Do you believe this heralding sign as if it were true, and do you not consider the events to be mere rumors that do not deserve to be believed? But if this is the kind of King who disposes of the heavens at his own will, then of course He already exceeds your power; and if both his life and death depend on you, then you were in vain to be afraid of him. Why are you treacherous against those subordinate to your power? Why are you sending out this terrible command, this evil sentence, so that unfortunate babies should be killed? What are they guilty of? What crime brought the death penalty on yourself? Their whole fault is that they were born and came into the world - and that’s why it was necessary to fill the whole city with executioners, attract many people there, gather thousands of mothers and babies, their fathers, and, probably, everyone connected with them by ties of kinship, so that they too could witness the suffering? And who can describe the disaster? What narrator is able to depict suffering? This universal sobbing, this pitiful cry of children, mothers, relatives, fathers, uttering piercing moans when threatened by the executioners? How to depict an executioner standing over a baby with a drawn sword? His gaze is stern and breathes murder; his speech is terrible; With one hand he drags the baby towards him, with the other he extends the sword, while the mother on the other hand drags her child towards her, and exposes her own neck to the tip of the sword, so as not to see with her own eyes how her poor child will be killed by the hands of the executioner? How to describe the parents' situation? – Their lamentations, their cries, their last farewell to their children? And all this at the same time?! Who will imagine this terrible disaster in all its forms, with all the details - the extreme pain of mothers who have recently given birth, the cruel torment of nature - how an unfortunate child, at the very moment when she was clinging to her mother’s breast, receives a fatal blow in the womb? How does a poor mother bring her breast to the baby’s lips, and at the same time receive his blood into her bowels? Another executioner, with one swing of his arm, with one blow of his sword, pierced both the baby and his mother, and the blood flowing from the wound of the mother and child merged into one stream. since in the lawless command of Herod the death sentence is pronounced not only for newborns, but also for all babies who have reached the age of two, for it is written: from two years old and below (Matthew 2:16): then even new horrors are presented here. During this period of time, probably many became mothers of two children. What was the spectacle when two executioners were engaged near one mother: one was dragging towards him a child running next to the mother, and the other was tearing the infant away from her bowels? How must the unhappy mother suffer then? Her nature belongs equally to both, both equally ignite the fire of love in the mother’s heart; she does not know which of the two inexorable executioners to follow; both drag her chicks to slaughter - one on one side, the other on the other side. Should she run up to the newly born, uttering a voice that is still indistinct and indivisible; but the voice of another reaches her ears, who, with a babbling tongue and tears, calls his mother to him. What should she do? Who should I contact? Who should I respond to? With whom to share your cry? Whose death should we mourn when nature stung her with arrows of equal love for both?.. But let us turn our ears away from sobs, and turn our thoughts to comforting objects, and more befitting of real triumph. Let Rachel, according to the Prophet, mourn with a cry the beating of her children (Jer. 31:15). On the day of the holiday, says the wise Solomon, one should not remember disasters. And what holiday could be more beneficial for us than the present one, on which the Sun of Truth, having dispelled the destructive darkness of the devil, enlightens the world through our nature; in which the fallen is restored, the hostile is reconciled, the rejected is sought, the fallen from life returns to life, the captive and enslaved are again elevated to royal dignity, bound by the bonds of death are released from its bonds, and return to the land of the living? Now, according to prophecy, the copper gates of death are being broken, the iron ropes are being broken (Ps. 106:16), which previously kept the human race under guard of corruption. Now the gates of righteousness are opened (Ps. 106:17.19); Now the unanimous voice of those celebrating is heard throughout the universe. Through man there is death, through the God-man there is salvation. He fell into sin, He raised up the fallen. The wife was saved by the wife: the first opened the entrance to sin, the other to truth, one bowed to the seduction of the serpent, the other showed us the Destroyer of the serpent, and gave birth to the Parent of light; the first brought in sin through the tree, the last through the tree (by tree I mean the cross) brought in truth; the fruit of this tree is ever-blooming and unfading life for those who partake of it. And one should not think that such joy is only fitting for the celebration of the mysterious Easter. Thoughts: the economy of our salvation ends with Easter; but would there be an end if it were not preceded by a beginning? What comes first? It is obvious that birth precedes death and resurrection. Therefore, the benefits given by Easter depend on the benefits given by Christmas. In fact, will anyone count the blessings narrated in the Gospels; Will anyone talk about miraculous healings, about abundant feeding of insufficient supplies, about the raising of the dead from their graves, about the sudden cultivation of wine, about the expulsion of demons, about the transformation of various diseases into health, about the cheerful walking of the lame, about the clay that enlightened the eyes, about the Divine teaching of sublime truths through parables - all this is the gift of the present day. All subsequent benefits began with him. So, let us rejoice and be glad in it, not fearing reproach from people, and not being discouraged, as the Prophet says, from the reproach of those who despise the image of the economy, saying that it was indecent for the Lord to take on a bodily nature and enter into human life through birth. They, apparently, do not at all understand the mystery through which the wisdom of God arranged our salvation. We were voluntarily sold to our sins, and, like slaves bought for silver, we were enslaved to the enemy of our life. What should you most desire from the Lord? Is it not to be delivered from slavery? But is it your business to seek an image of this deliverance? Why do you prescribe laws to the Benefactor when you do not know his treasuries? Isn't this similar to someone who rejected a doctor and began to blame him for curing him in this way and not in another way? If, out of curiosity, you try to penetrate into the depths of house-building; then it is enough for you to know that God is not one good, but everything that only you can connect with the concept of good is all in God. He is omnipotent, righteous, good, wise, in a word, all names and concepts that signify Divine properties belong to Him. Now look at how all the properties we mentioned, that is, goodness, wisdom, omnipotence, justice, were combined in the good deed shown to us. As a good one, He loved the criminal; like a wise man, he found a way to return the captives; as a just one, He does not take them by force from the enslaver who has taken the right to own them; but in exchange for those kept in slavery, he gives Himself, so that, like a guarantor who takes on a debt, he can free those kept from the power of those held. As almighty, He was not restrained by hell, and His flesh did not see corruption (Ps. 15:10). For it is impossible for the Author of life to be restrained by corruption. You say that it was shameful to enter into human life and be subjected to bodily suffering. But by this you prove the greatness of God’s beneficence. since there was no other way to extract humanity from the abyss of evils: then the King of all bliss deigned to exchange his own glory for the humiliation of our lives. Purity is contained in our uncleanness, but the unclean does not touch the pure, as the Gospel says: Light shines in the darkness, and its darkness is not comprehended (John 1:5); darkness disappears from the rays of the sun, and the sun is not darkened by darkness; mortal is swallowed up by life, according to the word of the Apostle (2 Cor. 5:4), and life is not exhausted by death; the corruptible is preserved from the incorruptible, and the incorruptible is not touched by corruption. Thus, all creation participates in the praise of the Lord, every creature with one accord sends praise to its Master, and every tongue, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, cries out that the Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father, is blessed forever and ever. Amen.