Рождество Господа

The position of the kingdom of Judah before the birth of Christ the Savior The beginning of the greatest events, which were subsequently so important for the whole of humanity, we find for the most part hidden in the shadows of private life, among a few persons, in the domestic circle. Providence prepares and arranges its most important affairs, as if on purpose, in secret, secretly. The Jewish history of the time we are talking about, left to us by the famous writer of this people, barely contains a few words about the Messiah: the great era of His birth, the details of his life and deeds - it passes in silence: it does not show us at the end of the reign of Herod the Great anything except violence and indignation. At his court and in his kingdom, such unrest occurs as can only be expected in the state, on the one hand from the ruler’s selfishness, his suspicion and slavish desire to somehow retain the goodwill of a strong Empire, and on the other hand, from the dissatisfaction of his subjects with his rule, and often improvident jealousy to preserve their remaining rights from the claims of that alien Empire. However, no matter how much the people wanted to free themselves from the hated sovereign, it was impossible to expect that their internal or external state would improve in any way: internally, because religion and morals were in decline; externally, because the son of Herod showed little good hope, and the Romans had already arrogated to themselves such rights over the affairs of this people that it was too late to think about limiting their power and suppressing new attempts and interventions. This was the situation in which the kingdom of Judah was at the time when, in one corner of this land, those events happened with which the writers begin their history - events in which the presence and assistance of God was easily seen, but which in such turbulent times seemed to be lost between popular unrest and at first only here and there aroused rumors, which, however, were soon to fall silent. True, everyone generally paid attention then to when and where the person promised to the fathers should appear; and depending on how those ancient prophecies that were related to this person were more or less explored, and the figurative language in which they were expressed was more or less understood, these expectations were more or less fair. But as often happens with human expectations, people, having drawn up an image of the desired thing in advance, decorate it according to their taste until it completely corresponds to their desire; and then they look around them, where they can find something similar to their image - and because of this, they do not notice the very thing, even if it really appeared: this is what happened to these people, even to the best part of them, while waiting for the Messiah. Among the constant unrest and upheavals, in the dispute of interests of warring parties, the Jews formed for themselves the concept of the Great King, which combined in itself exactly that - and nothing else except that - that the needs of the state required, and these needs demanded a liberator from the Roman yoke and from the native oppressors. This was one of the most powerful desires especially among the Jews living in Palestine; and although there were people in places who were heartily attached to religion, therefore the Messiah was imagined not only as a liberator from oppression, but also as a corrector of religion; but whoever was too sensual to desire and expect a correction of morals and religion, to him the kingdom of the Messiah was presented only as a kingdom of sensual pleasure - either in the sense of the Sadducees, that is, without relation to the future life, or in the sense of the Pharisees, that is, so that the concept of this kingdom, although it embraced the future state, was more caressing the pride of the people than was in accordance with its true needs; this kingdom was to be for Israel only. Briefly: for everyone, the kingdom of the Messiah meant what was most consistent with his desires and needs. Family, political and moral condition of the descendants of David The story of the infancy of Jesus Christ, at the beginning as hidden as possible, but then announced by St. evangelists to the whole world, is a necessary and worthy introduction into the history of the public ministry of Jesus Christ. The example of the evangelists Mark and John shows that it may not have been as important for the private purposes of evangelists as the latter story. Our Lord himself could, for his own reasons, remain silent about it when Jewish unbelief did not want to recognize in him anything more than the son of Joseph: but in the full story of the revelation of the universal kingdom of God, it was necessary that at least a little light be shed on the first days of its divine Founder. Without the darkness in which the first natural question in the history of the Gospel would appear to us, how and where did our divine Savior come from? Further, the story of the infancy of Jesus Christ reveals to us the plan of the first plans of Providence; with which the great work of the Son of God was to begin: shows the first persons worthy of participation in it; - the means by which they were prepared for this; - the grounds on which their confidence rested when they acted in favor of Jesus. Consideration of these plans necessarily imparts greater clarity to the history of the ministry of Jesus Christ. They reflected the spirit of the Old Testament church with its preparatory influence on the hearts of people in the most exalted features. The whole history of the life of Jesus Christ does not show us such high people among the teachers of the law as are presented in the few pages of the history of the infancy of Jesus Christ. And these pages alone calm the thought of doubt, excited by the unbelief and lack of faith of the Jews encountered in the subsequent history of Jesus Christ - was it worth the effort to take so much care of the house of Israel when it understood its purpose so poorly? The story of the infancy of Jesus Christ is mainly concentrated in the close circle of the descendants of the ancient royal house, with which all the hopes of the people of Judah were connected, in the family of Joseph, a descendant of David. It would not be superfluous for us to enter into a more detailed consideration of the family, political and moral state of these descendants of David. The family of David's descendants at the time of Jesus Christ consisted of the following persons; Joseph, Mary, his wife 1 and her sister, also Mary, probably called Cleopas after her husband 2 with children 3. In addition, it was related to the house of one pious priest Zechariah: Mary Joseph and Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, were relatives 4. The House of David, of which we have two family lines going to Jesus Christ - one through Solomon, the other through another son of David, Nathan, appears at this time in its outward state in the most humiliated form, in its inner state for the most part - in such a way as the Messiah could desire from it. At the end of both genealogical lines, the evangelists stand Joseph, the husband of Mary, the imaginary father of Jesus Christ 5 . He was so poor that he earned his living by carpentry work: he lived in Nazareth, an unimportant Galilean town. Tradition assures that he was already advanced in years at the time when he was called to serve the Messiah. How much his sacred writer of everyday life reveals to us his face - he was a man of high virtue. St. Chrysostom, in his one intention that he wanted to secretly let Mary, whom he suspected of a crime that subjected her to legal death, sees an action above the law, a sign of high life that preceded grace, a lot of wisdom (on Evan. Matt. Conversations 18). He was so kind that he could sooner distrust his own judgment and feelings than the purity of another; so submissive to the will of God that he could not refuse any of her orders; and realizing the importance of his service, he did not dare to take even a step arbitrarily (Matthew 2:22). Since such philosophy of wisdom is acquired only by many years of internal exploits, then his character in these years could already achieve its full formation - to always be equal, just as his low lot did not suppress him, and his high lot should not have puffed him up. The calm greatness of the descendant of famous kings shone in his face even at a time when he did not think of being anything more than a carpenter: now this greatness corresponded to his special purpose - to be the educator and guardian of the Youth, whom the ancient kings and patriarchs had long desired to see. Joseph will not change himself. His enviable lot! For him the Davids would have given up their thrones. Solomons from all their riches. Joseph, brought up in a school of poverty and humiliation, will not be mistaken in how he treats Him Who, so to speak, hid the rays of His divine greatness before his eyes in such a humiliated form. Another person in the gospel story from the house of David, who, moreover, attracts even more attention than Joseph himself, is the Virgin Mary. What was in the old man the fruit of many years of his life was revealed quickly in the heart of the young virgin - and in even greater splendor - from the special actions of grace in her. The same humility, the same obedience to divine orders, the same kindness of heart: only everything was founded deeper in the heart, more bore the character of the divine, and everything was still adorned with the purity of the virgin soul. Such was the young maiden: the years promised to adorn this chosen one of God even more. Providence always has people to whom it imparts a deliberately greater measure of strength than to others, and gives these forces much more rapid development for its own special purposes. But never before has the power of moral feeling been imparted to the human soul in such abundance, and in no one has it appeared so quickly revealed as in young Mary, the truly grace-filled Mary. Her duty, perhaps, was not only to give flesh to the God-Man, but to partly and, moreover, even more - and longer - than Joseph, to contribute to the development and formation of the forces that belonged to the human nature of the Son of God and were revealed only gradually, not always in a supernatural way. How, therefore, it would be desirable to have more accurate information about the first years of the life of the Blessed Virgin!... But the biographers of Jesus Christ, occupied only with his person, did not leave us anything actually related to his mother. They were gathered by some persons, who, however, were already quite distant from the time of the Rev. Virgins, preserved legends about certain circumstances in the original life, but fictions were mixed with the truth, sometimes even absurd, generally contradictory. We are not even talking about some of the Gnostic writings that relate here: about the birth of Mary, about Mary and her grandmother: we will indicate only two purer sources of legends about Mary, which, it seems, St. Gregory of Nyssa also used in his work on the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the essence: the first Gospel of James, and the book about the birth of the Virgin, issued by the heretic Seleucus (Manichaean) on behalf of the Apostle Matthew. If St. Gregory did not have in mind any other biographies of the Virgin Mary besides these; it is clear that he also used them carefully. The features of his story of the Virgin Mary can be briefly presented in this form: the father of the Mother of God was a rich man: his wife was barren. For a long time Anna asked God to bless her womb; finally her prayer was heard; she gave birth to a daughter and dedicated her to the church: the priests raised her in the church. When the years of her upbringing were completed, they discussed among themselves what to do with her - and decided to give her as a wife to some elderly husband so that he would be the guardian of her virginity. For this purpose, Joseph was chosen from the same family, to whom she was betrothed. This story is much simpler and more probable than those found in other biographies. Everyone, however, agrees 1) that she was the fruit of the prayers of her mother and father, who did not have children for a long time: in St. history - there are many such examples, and in all cases of this kind, the orders of Providence had something special as their subject; 2) in the fact that she received an upbringing at the temple: an example also not unusual in antiquity and in the time of Mary (Luke 2:37). But here the remark of one of those legends that Mary was fed in the church by angels is especially worthy of attention: perhaps these words are nothing more than a figurative expression of the same thought that another legend contains: “Mary had daily visions and spoke with angels every day”; 3) in the fact that she doomed herself to permanent virginity, despite the general prejudice of her compatriots against a celibate life. These circumstances complement us with the outline of the character of the Ever-Virgin and the way it is revealed: they present us with a being of a special kind, more heavenly than earthly - a feature that puts her in the true light, in which there is nothing exaggerated. Mary, the mother of the Lord, had a sister named also Mary, probably called Cleopas after her husband (John 19:25), who was the mother of four disciples of Jesus Christ known in the gospel history: James the Less, Josiah, Simon and Judas, and maybe several more daughters (Mark 6:3) 6. Of these children, we know better than others from the private circumstances of his life before his calling by Christ, Jacob, according to the testimony of Christian writers, a Nazirite from his mother’s womb, respected by the Jews themselves for his ascetic virtues, the beginning of which, no doubt, was laid in his Judaism. He did not eat meat, did not anoint his body with oil, and did not wash in baths; His knees, from frequent falling to God in prayers for himself and for others, were covered with growths - this is how Eusebius describes his difficult life; Jerome adds to this that he also observed virginity. Most of all, his message testifies to his spirit, however, already enlightened by Christianity. We do not know how similar his brothers were to Jacob in such asceticism: but everything makes us think that they were not far from him. Judas was also among the apostles, like James: Simon was the successor of James in the bishopric of Jerusalem. Joseph's family was also related to the house of one priest named Zechariah. How close this relationship was and through whom these two houses were connected is unknown: only Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, was in close connection with Mary. Zechariah was one of those men who, given the general decline of religion and morals, tried to lead as immaculate and immaculate a life as possible; he fulfilled the duties of an Israeli, and especially his rank, not out of skill alone, but with the fear of God. Such a husband should have felt all the more strongly the desire to quickly see the Messiah, who would transform everything, who would give people - as he himself said - to serve God with honor and truth all the days of his life. Elizabeth, his wife, who also descended in a direct line from Aaron, was a woman of famous piety. The fact that both spouses were of priestly origin gave them a certain kind of nobility among the Jews and, it seems, this surname enjoyed special respect in its place 7 . They lived in the same town, which lay in the mountainous part of the tribe of Judah 8 . Zechariah, in order to correct his duties, had to go to Jerusalem from time to time, but not often - twice a year - and not for long - no more than one week. This couple was already in old age - and did not have children: among the people who considered a fruitful marriage to be a special blessing of God - whose long genealogies, going in a direct line from Abraham through many generations, were in great respect - childlessness seemed doubly upsetting. For a long time, both spouses prayed to the Lord to give them a son: it seemed sad to both that the light of their noble generation should fade away with them: but the older they got, the less hope there was for offspring. Having thus surveyed the state of the two families in which the first beginning of the events of the gospel history was laid, with which the story of the infancy of Jesus Christ is closely connected, we proceed to the events themselves. Appearance of the Archangel Gabriel to St. Zechariah At one time, during a series of services in the church, Zechariah had to lay incense on the altar of incense. With a handful of incense, he enters the sanctuary: the people at this time usually performed secret prayers before the Lord. The entire action of the priest was very short-lived. But this time Zechariah was too slow. What was the reason for this, he himself later explained in this form: as soon as he had completed the incense and wanted to leave the sanctuary, a heavenly messenger appeared to him on the right side of the incense altar and said to him, terrified, in a meek voice: “Nothing, do not be afraid, Zechariah! “I have come to tell you that your prayer has been heard: listen!” your Elizabeth will bear you a son; you must give him a name: John (mercy of God, grace of God). The name is joyful: it should be like this: because not only will he be a joy to you in your old age, but his birth will be saving for very many. This baby will be great before God, close to Jehovah. But for this very reason, you must educate him in a special way: he must bear the vow of a Nazirite throughout his life, be dedicated to Jehovah, and from his youth not drink either wine or strong drink. The Lord, even in his mother’s womb, will fill him with special gifts of the Holy Spirit, and he, the angel added, will be entrusted with turning Israel to his God, whom he has forgotten; he, like the second Elijah, filled with zeal, is appointed to go ahead of the divine king, the Messiah, to arouse the pious dispositions of the fathers in the hearts of the descendants and prepare the people to accept the Lord who comes after him.” “The fear and joy in Zechariah were too strong at that time for him to control himself: moreover, he was already accustomed to considering it impossible - not only unlikely - what the angel was now announcing to him, so that no hope had any place in his heart... And he answered: “This is difficult to believe. At this age, how can I and my Elizabeth have children?” The angel replied: “I am Gabriel, a servant of Jehovah. By divine command, I came to announce this to you: therefore, my words will certainly come true. You are still perplexed! “From now on, you will not be able to utter a single word until the day comes when what I have told you from God will be fulfilled.” This is because you didn’t want to believe me without a sign.” From that very moment, Zechariah lost his tongue. This is how he recounted this event after Zakhapiy. And the consequence of this miraculous event - the dumbness of Zechariah and the birth of his son - gave his words complete authenticity. It seems that it was not without special purposes that this kind of punishment was imposed on Zechariah - silence. Having lost his tongue, Zechariah was thereby taught that this event should remain a secret for the time being. And yet, what harmful consequences could have resulted if even the slightest part of what was announced by the heavenly messenger became publicly known! Let us remember what consequences such a rumor entailed, which spread on the occasion of the search for the newborn King of the Jews by the Eastern sages. So, Zakharia involuntarily now had to keep the secret to himself. And when he then came out of the sanctuary to the people, from his alarmed appearance, his silence and slowness, one could already conclude that something extraordinary had happened to him. He was asked if he had a vision? he answered with a wave in the affirmative, and that was all. What kind of vision this was was not explained, and his numbness, of course, seemed a natural occurrence - especially when he was then seen again holding office until the end of his term, just as before. So in Jerusalem, nothing more was known about this incident, except that the priest Zechariah, as could be guessed from his wave, had some kind of vision in the church, about which he lost his tongue, but not everyone could find faith in this. Meanwhile, when his week ended, he returned to his city. He could also let his wife know about the miraculous event with some kind of sign 9 . But it is very likely that he did not reveal all the circumstances of this vision in detail to her, not only to anyone else. Elizabeth really became pregnant - and either in gratitude for God's blessing, or in order not to divulge the purpose on which the seal of silence was placed in depriving her husband of her tongue - only she kept herself so secret for five months that even those close to her did not know the change that had happened to her. No matter how much the first circumstances of the appearance of the great prophet, who was supposed to prepare the way for the long-awaited Messiah, were thus hidden under a veil of silence, however, in their very secrecy they had more solemnity than the gospel of the birth of the Messiah himself and His incomprehensible conception. The greatness of the Savior was revealed more there, where He descended to the deepest humiliation. John, as a messenger, needed glory worthy of the King he was proclaiming; he will not be given the power to work miracles: only these miraculous events that marked the first minutes of his existence will testify to his divine mission. Annunciation of the Most Holy Virgin Mary In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, an angel is sent, but not to Jerusalem, but to a remote, ignorant Galilean town - Nazareth, not to a priest, respected by his rank and virtues before God and people, but to a virgin unknown to people: he appears to her not in a temple, or a synagogue, or somewhere in a holy place, but in a wretched house - he appears to a virgin on whom the rumor of dishonor could rather fall than glory. extraordinary chosenness. It is very likely that this was at the hour of her prayer; when her gaze was directed to the heavenly, when her whole soul soared to the throne of the Heavenly Father, the earthly moved away from her feelings, the dark shell thinned out - a shining angel appeared to the eyes of her spirit with joy. “Rejoice, full of grace,” the heavenly messenger greeted the angelic Virgin; – the greeting was earthly, but in the mouth of a celestial being it was definitely full of joy. – Mary, immersed in the subject of her prayer, did not seem to hear this greeting. “The Lord is with you,” the angel added: “again a greeting—and again such a greeting as has long been used to greet each other, 10 but never could this word have a more complete meaning than in the present case.” “Mary is still perplexed,” there was something extraordinary in the appearance of the Angel and in his words. Finally, the Angel brings her to her senses with a new greeting: “blessed are you among women” (the most blessed of all wives). Maria was embarrassed by these words: such a greeting already seemed to her too high: her humility made her fear that there was something insidious here? Is this good news? “Do not be afraid,” answered the luminous messenger of Mary, who penetrated with the thought the confusion of her soul, “do not be afraid. Because you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, the Savior of the world. Whom you should give the name Jesus, and this Son of yours will be so great before the Lord that he will bear the name of the Son of the Highest! This will be the one promised to the fathers, to whom God will give the throne of His father David: He will reign over the house of Jacob, and His kingdom will stand forever and will never end.” These are the lines in which the grace-filled kingdom of Jesus Christ was depicted for the first time, and in these terms He himself is represented. The angel spoke to a maiden of the royal family of Judah; Jesus and His kingdom were certainly depicted in these terms in the Old Testament. The Virgin knew this, and in the present circumstances there was no other way to announce the Messiah to her than in features familiar to her. She should have recognized the face of the Messiah more briefly, more clearly; this will happen later, but now these words of the angel are enough to agree to what was required of her. Why did she need to know the details of her son’s fate: Simeon would hint to her about this later: now she had to see only the brightest side of this matter - and, moreover, we repeat again, precisely in such features as were familiar to her. Mary understood the evangelist; to be the mother of what everyone has long desired - what could be more desirable? One thing complicates her: she has a vow of virginity, which she pronounced in the church: “How can I give birth to a son when I don’t know my husband?” “You won’t even know your husband,” the incorporeal one answers. The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the Power of the Most High will overshadow you. The Son of the Most High cannot be born from human seed: the Lord Himself will give Him flesh from your blood 11 . Therefore, what is born is Holy (Ps. 6:3) and will be called the Son of God. “You still wonder how this can be; do not test, rely on the omnipotence of God: your relative Elizabeth, whom everyone called barren, has been pregnant for the sixth month - and this also became due to the special action of the power of God. I proclaim to you an incomparably higher miracle: but remember that nothing is impossible for God.” “When this is so,” Mary answered with joy, “I am ready to be an instrument of God: I even wish, I wish for this! Γένοιτό μοι!” And the Word became flesh. Let's stop the thread of history for a moment; Let us give room for reverent reflection. The event that history has now brought us to witness is the main thing of our salvation. We know in what beauty the Lord created us: we were made less than angels; the heavenly powers shared conversations with us and told us the secrets of the heavenly world; wisdom itself rejoiced with the sons of men; - and we fell from this bliss and we lost our first beauty. We also know that one day paradise will open to us and we will taste the fruits of the tree of life; let us forget earthly sorrows, the spirit will unite with the Lord more closely than before, the flesh itself will be spiritualized; the saints will triumph over sin; there will be no divisions in the soul - there will be peace and bliss. We know that these are two dawns: evening and morning of our world: they shine for us in our nocturnal wanderings with a joyful brilliance. But how are this evening and morning connected? How did the eternal night not cover us forever with hopeless darkness? How will it be possible for a broken vessel to be filled again with heavenly fragrances? How can the corrupted nature be stripped of its sin and corruption? Where is this life-giving force that will penetrate it all, cleanse it, enlighten it? – will he consume sin, drive out death, take away all sorrows, and reveal life, truth and bliss everywhere? It is in the Word, which at that moment, as Mary uttered her words: “Be me according to your word,” became flesh. If the souls of those who have departed have some awareness of what is happening with us on earth, then I believe that teacher of the church who says in his word to Mary: Adam asks you with his unfortunate offspring, expelled from paradise, Abraham asks you, David asks all your fathers, sitting in darkness and the shadow of death: give consent to what is offered to you by the angel. Why are you delaying? Why are you trembling? open, blessed virgin, your heart to faith, your lips to confession, your womb to the Creator. Believe, confess, accept. Give the word and receive the Word. This is not the first time that this Word takes upon itself the work of restoring humanity. This is the Word that was with God in the beginning, i.e. which remained hidden with God the Father before the creation of the world, then revealed itself to be God in creation (all that was and without him there was nothing to be), which revealed in itself for the most perfect of created beings more than just the source of being - but also life (in that belly: - here one involuntarily recalls - the breath of lives, the tree of life...), - this Word, when man was deprived of his already God-given life, wanted at least to remain for him with light (and the belly is light with man), from the internal to the external; it could no longer be his soul - it wanted at least to illuminate him with its light from time to time, like the sun. And the light shines in the darkness; the further a person moved away from the beginning of his existence, the more the darkness thickened in him and above him; his eye became dark and his whole body became dark; but this darkness was thinned out from time to time by the radiance of the Word; it shone - either with internal insights of the spirit, or with external phenomena and revelations; Moreover, it kindled a constant lamp in written revelation; this was the second word of God; in a word, it so divided its light among people that it did not deprive anyone of its extent (true light, enlighten every person coming into the world); but the darkness - people with their heart defects, with errors of mind - did not understand him. It was in the world, and the world was it, and the world did not know it. In order to express himself more clearly, in order to penetrate the darkness deeper, in order to become life again for man and to enliven all humanity, the Word became flesh. And from Jesus, says one teacher of the Church (Origen), the divine and human nature began to dissolve with each other, so that through communication with the divine, the human became divine not only in Jesus, but also in all those who with faith perceive the way of life that Jesus taught. Now there is an undoubted hope that everything will be headed: the Divinity itself in all its fullness has descended into the sphere of corrupted humanity; united with him in the most intimate way; partook of our flesh and blood: now every groaning, every painful sensation that his brethren endured on earth is given to Him in heaven; and if He is omnipotent, then it cannot be that He did not stop these groans and illnesses, and did not communicate to our hearts the blessings with which He Himself is filled. And it cannot be that He did not give this to us. Thus humanity will be restored: the earthly will unite with the heavenly; The Word glorified both His human nature through the resurrection, and so did all humanity, ready to follow Him; as one body - it will purify, glorify and lead to the Father, it will cast all-begotten Adam to the throne of the Father, and then, as in the beginning, God will be all in all. This is the place occupied in the existence of humanity by the moment when the virgin said to the angel: Be me according to your word. For us there are only two such moments in all the infinity of centuries: the creation of man and his re-creation. And the entire earthly life of Jesus Christ, His suffering and miracles, humiliation and glory, death and resurrection were held, as on the first knot, at the moment of His incarnation, or better to say - all these 33 years of His life were only the development of that moment when the Word became flesh. Rendezvous with Rev. Virgins with St. Elisaveta The angel, having fulfilled his command, left: Mary was left alone. Then the extraordinary nature of her situation must have presented itself to her with all vividness. And in less astounding circumstances, after some unexpected event, the first thought is usually to ask oneself: did it all really happen, was it not a dream, was it not a dream of the imagination? Of course, Mary asked herself such questions more than once: but there is also no doubt that the action of the power of the Most High, which from that moment began the formation of the flesh of Jesus, did not go unnoticed by her. Feeling the importance of the event that happened to her, thinking that it was not in vain that the angel appeared to her alone, having learned about Elizabeth, how tightly she kept her secret, Mary herself considered it necessary not to announce what had happened to anyone. It is impossible to imagine that she did not feel the desire to tell her husband Joseph about this, but the mystery of God tied her tongue. Humility was all the more conducive to silence. It just occurred to her that at least the heavenly messenger had pointed to Elizabeth with a purpose: perhaps this experienced wife could somehow help her in her present situation. Meanwhile, a meeting with her can reveal to her in greater detail what actually happened to her, and what the angel only briefly pointed out to Mary. In these thoughts, Mary leaves Nazareth and goes with haste to the city where her relative lived, which was about twenty to five hours away from her. Let us note here the note of one church teacher: it was not Mary who hurried to Elizabeth, but Jesus, who was in the womb of Mary, who was in a hurry to sanctify his Forerunner John, who was also still in the womb of Elizabeth (Origen). In the house of Zechariah, Mary was not expected at all; Elizabeth could not even think that anyone, especially from such a distant place as Nazareth, could hear anything about her pregnancy. Nevertheless, for her part, Mary could have expected that the angel’s gospel would be known to someone other than herself: but as soon as Mary entered Elizabeth’s home with the usual greeting, Elizabeth suddenly felt an extraordinary movement of the baby in her womb. She met Mary not as a poor girl whom she loved through kinship, but truly as the mother of the Lord. She comprehended before her words everything that had happened to her and greeted Mary with a joyful loud voice: blessed are you among women (repeating the extraordinary greeting of the angel) and blessed is the fruit of your womb. What an honor I have received! the mother of the Lord herself came to me. And to explain how she learned the secret, unknown to anyone except the virgin’s mother herself, she added: “The joyful play of my baby in my womb told me about this!” O blessed are you for accepting with faith the words of the angel... (as if she wanted to say later what the consequence of unbelief in such circumstances was on her husband: but in order not to confuse the joyful with the sad, she only said, “what the Lord told you will certainly come true.” This is how the first impulses of the sacred delight of the elderly wife were expressed! The gracious Mary gave free flow to her words, and then with the calm greatness of the Mother of the Lord and with the deep humility of the servant of the Lord, as if before the face of God himself, she answered that all glory belongs to the Lord. He has looked upon his servant and all nations will please her. But this is a matter of His mercy and faithfulness to the promises that He gave them. For their sake He now wants to show the strength of His arm, to lift up the humble, to bring down the proud. This is the first conversation of the two God-chosen women! She was so pleased in Elizabeth's house that she, it seems, only to evade the eyes of curious people, who were soon to fill the house of Zakhariin on the occasion of the birth of his son, decided to leave Elizabeth, spending three months with her. This visit, as one might guess, especially judging by the first conversation between Mary and Elizabeth, should have greatly strengthened the inner state of the Blessed Virgin. Then she faced an important temptation from her betrothed husband. She saw Elizabeth - previously barren - already so close to being delivered from her burden, heard from her what divine predictions were about her Son; I learned what the purpose and responsibilities of John, who was about to be born, were in relation to the Messiah, her son, also unborn: how all this was supposed to reassure Mary in the thought that the work to which she was called, further and further in its remote details, was under the direct order of God, that she could only wait in silence for the resolution of her difficult situation from the hand of Providence. Return Ave. Virgins of the House of Zechariah In fact, upon Mary’s return from Zechariah’s house, signs of her pregnancy began to appear more and more every day. If before anyone silence about the true reason for it could be considered inappropriate, then of course before Joseph, and if whose eye could most likely notice this change in Mary’s condition, then of course the eye of the man to whom she was betrothed. On the other hand, the caution with which Zechariah and Elizabeth kept their secret, a secret of incomparably lesser importance, was an example for Mary, which she considered the greater duty to follow because Joseph was removed from participation in this secret by the evangelist himself, since the angel was completely silent about him. But silence is what puts you in danger; Joseph, not knowing the current state of affairs, can legally accuse Mary of infidelity to her betrothed husband; In this case, the betrothed maiden was required by law to be subjected to the same severe punishment as a married woman. If not for this: if she did not think that Joseph would act with her according to all his rights: one could be afraid that, however, he would give her a formal letter of divorce - and this would be the case both in the case when in this letter he directly explained the reasons that prompted him to divorce, and in the case when he kept silent about them, subjecting the virgin, who had all the signs of pregnancy, to shame; since it was done in front of witnesses and as solemnly as marriages were performed. And even if this shame fell on her alone: ​​what will they say later about the Son, Whom she carries in her bosom? Could there be anything more difficult than this situation for Mary? But confident that the Most High would not leave her work unfinished and would not allow it to be destroyed, she devoted herself entirely to His will and orders. The time was approaching when she was supposed to enter Joseph's house as his real wife: but Joseph, troubled by doubts, now thought of alienating Mary from himself by divorce. The kindness of his heart and the somewhat familiar disposition of the maiden, her piety and chastity, disposed him to act in this case as easily as possible, but accepting her into his home was too difficult for him. So he decided only to give her a letter of divorce without mentioning the reasons why he was divorcing her, as others did. In these circumstances, which, although they did not upset the divine plan, nevertheless threatened to darken the innocence of the purest of virgins, threatened the birth of the Messiah himself with dishonor, the Providence of God, always guarding virtue, could not remain inactive. A dream is sent to Joseph, which should reveal to him with all the conviction of the truth the concept of Mary’s pregnancy. A thought is revealed to him that he never had in his mind - it is revealed through an angel, with such clarity and power that there is no doubt left in him about the reliability of what he saw. Moreover, this dream also indicated one sign by which its truth could be believed, at least in the aftermath: it was said that Mary was carrying a son in her womb; A simple dream could not say this with certainty. But even earlier, Joseph was not forbidden to verify from Mary herself that what he saw in his dream was not a figment of his imagination. He communicates his dream to Mary and announces the angel's command; Now she no longer had any reason to remain silent in front of Joseph: she willingly laid aside this burdensome duty for her heart. And the old man, together with the young virgin, reverently pronounced the holy name of the future Messiah - Jesus, which was revealed to them - each separately - together they shed abundant tears of tenderness at the thought of the inscrutable destinies of God, happening over them and through them; They both remembered the difficult situation they were in and joyfully thanked God for the happy resolution of their perplexities and the rejection of unfair suspicions; After this, Mary completely moved into Joseph’s house. Birth of St. John the Baptist While in Nazareth the seal of silence was thus lifted from Mary's secret; The bonds of silence that bound the lips of Zechariah were also resolved. Elizabeth was resolved, as the angel predicted, with a son; on this occasion, many relatives and acquaintances gathered to see her; everyone marveled at the extraordinary event, compared it with the time of Zechariah’s vision, and saw the close relationship between one and the other circumstances; but they didn’t know anything definite. Zakharia was still silent: Elizabeth could not and, of course, did not intend to reveal anything - without the will of her husband. Seven days have passed; on the eighth, the baby was to be circumcised and given a name: on this day, the Jews usually had a family holiday, which brought together at least ten people closest to the baby’s parents. And so the closest relatives gathered at Zechariah’s house for sacred rites and celebrations: when the time came to name their son, they asked the mother about this (since the father was mute): she answered that he should be named John. This name seemed strange, because Zechariah and Elizabeth were not related to John at all: they suggested naming the baby better after his father’s name, but Elizabeth did not go back on her word. Therefore, they wanted to find out from the father by some sign what he would like to name his son. John will be his name - Zechariah wrote on the tablet - and from that moment his mouth was opened: and his first words were praise to God. Everyone was amazed at this coincidence of circumstances at the birth of John. Everyone wondered ahead what would happen to this son: he was born in his old age; during the entire pregnancy of his mother, his father was without a tongue: for some incomprehensible impulse, his mother and father gave him a name completely unknown to their family; and as soon as the father wrote this name, he received the tongue. Miracle! So everyone could talk about this event, but no one knew the true reason and purpose of all these events. Zechariah subsequently composed a special song for the birth of John 12 in which he blesses God as he reveals the kingdom of the Messiah (Luke 1:68–75), and then prophetically depicts the destiny of his son, as the angel indicated to him and as his own inspiration explained (76–79). Historically, it has the special importance that it reveals to us the view of the best of the priests of that time on the face of the Messiah and his kingdom. The Messiah, according to the literal meaning of this song, is a person through whom God, due to his ancient promises, now wants to deliver his people from the enemies who oppress them. The kingdom of the Messiah will consist in the fact that the Jewish people, freed from enslavement, will fearlessly serve their God in the holiness of truth and will be illuminated with a new light of knowledge of God. In relation to this kingdom, John has the following meaning: he will prepare the people for the revelation of this kingdom, announcing to them that the condition of salvation expected from the Messiah is the remission of sins. So here are the preparations made by Providence for the appearance of the Messiah: only four people knew about it: two in Nazareth, and two in Utah. There were much more rumors about John; they spoke about him both in Jerusalem and throughout Mount Judea (Luke 1:65); but even this rumor was uncertain. Popular census during the time of Augustus The first rumor about the Messiah among the people should have, according to the intentions of Providence, spread when He was already born, and spread from the city that belonged to Him by right of His descent from the house of David. This plan of Providence was carried out when a census was carried out in Judea, by order of Augustus. Since in the agreement of the circumstances of the time, indicated by St. Luke, there are many difficulties encountered with the history of the Jewish people: we intend to enter into a somewhat more detailed consideration of this subject, which may be all the more important for us since it may shed new light on some Gospel events. 1. What kind of census is this that, according to the evangelist, took place throughout the whole earth? – 2. How could it have been carried out in Judea by order of Augustus, when Judea had its own king, Herod? – 3. How could Quirinius carry out a census under Herod as the ruler of Syria, when he assumed this position after not only Herod, but also his son Archelaus, had completed his reign? – 4. Why is Josephus silent about this census? 1. The census that took place at the end of the reign of Herod - whether it consisted of a single count and identification of persons, or was combined with the distribution of taxes, like ordinary Roman censuses - was not throughout the entire earth, meaning by this all subjects of the Roman Empire and the peoples dependent on it. Although Suetonius indicates three censuses in the Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus, they extended only to Roman citizens. Only Populus Romanus was counted. Moreover, in terms of time, as is proven by undoubted monuments, none of these censuses comes close to the one that took place around the time of the birth of I. Christ. It is also impossible to think that historians would not have noticed such a massive number of all subjects of the Roman Empire in their own and dependent areas, as we see in Judea. So it remains to be assumed that this census was only in Judea; this does not contradict the words of the Evangelist: throughout the whole earth, πάσαν τήν οίκουμένην. Οίκουμένη was used in an improper meaning and when it meant the Roman Empire: it could have an even more common sign, for example. in Luke himself (Acts. 11:28) and Josephus (8:13, 5) meant only Judea. Πάσαν - the Evangelist could write to mean that all the regions of Judea were subject to this census, even Galilee, in which Joseph lived; and this was necessary for the Evangelist to notice, since after that the Jewish possessions were divided into several parts independent of each other. 2. The fact that Judea had its own king did not prevent the Roman emperor from establishing a census in Judea. The Romans, despite the fact that they themselves had made Herod king in Judea, kept the Jews completely dependent on their power. Herod could not arbitrarily dispose of his throne regarding his inheritance, but had to submit his election to the approval of the emperor. Herod, at least shortly before his death, paid tribute to the emperor: this is evident from the fact that when the areas inherited by his son Archelaus, despite the general indignation, remained in legal subordination; then, Josephus Flavius ​​notes, the emperor eased the fourth part of the tax. Who was this donation going to? – obviously not to Archelaus. In another place, Joseph himself dates the beginning of slavery (δουλείας) of the Jewish people to the Romans to the time of the entry into Judea (ruler) Pompey, called by the enmity of two brothers (De bell. iud. Lib. V. p. IX). Anpian (De bell. civil. I. V. p. 1135) says that Herod paid tribute to Anthony, who was a friend of Herod. From a consideration of all these circumstances, it is clear that it is not at all impossible that at the end of Herod’s reign there would be a census in his state, by order of the Roman emperor, even if it were combined with the actual imposition of tribute, much less a simple head-to-head count of all Jewish subjects, which, by the will of the emperor, could be followed by a complete head-to-head taxation of tribute. 3. Αϋτη ή άπογραφή πράτη έγένετο ήγεμονεύοντος τής Συρίας Κυρηνίου. These words have undergone many interpretations. We will indicate only the most probable: a) they take πρώτη instead of προτέρα (see John 1:15) and make subsequent genitive cases dependent on it: ήγεμονεύοντος Κυρηνίου, so the meaning of these words will be this: this The census was earlier than that which was carried out by the governor of Syria, Quirinius. The complete speech according to this interpretation should be in the following form: Κυρηνίου. But the τής member could also be omitted (see similar in Luke 13:1 itself, Pilate mixed their blood with their victims: ών τό αίμα Πιλάτος έμιζε μετά τών ϑυσιών άύτών, - to say more fully μετά τού τών ϑυσιών... See also Acts 7:16). This explanation is supported by the fact that another census, which took place in Judea about fourteen years after this, was definitely carried out by Quirinius when he was the governor of Syria, as is known from Josephus; and Luke also points to him (Acts 5:37). b) Others interpret these words as follows: this is the first census of Quirinius, who was later the governor of Syria, believing that Luke noticed this circumstance to distinguish this census from another, carried out by the same Quirinius, whom he mentions in Acts. 5:37. But this interpretation is opposed to 1) the fact that in this case the ήγεμονεύοντος must be preceded by the member τού; 2) the fact that there is nothing to support the assumption that both censuses were carried out by Quirinius. 4. To answer the question of why Josephus does not mention this census, we will briefly present the history of the last years of Herod's reign. In the last years of Herod's reign, he had displeasure with the Arabian king Gadfly, who, having taken a certain amount of money from Herod, did not return it to him at the appointed time, despite Herod's demand. In addition, at one time, several robber gangs from Arabia invaded Herod’s possessions and took with them several people from his subjects; Herod demanded satisfaction; but the robbers were taken under the protection of the king of Arabia and his minister Syllius. Herod referred this matter to the emperor's officials who were in Syria. Here it was necessary for both Herod and Gadfly to return those captured by both, and to the latter, in addition, the money - within 30 days: the deadline had passed; The Arabians did not fulfill the conditions; Minister Syllius went to Rome with a complaint against Herod. And Herod - with the consent of the officials of the empire - entered Arabia and defeated the troops of his enemy. Silly, notified of this, having been granted an audience with the emperor, informs him of Herod’s invasion of Arabia and his extermination of 2,500 Arabians along with their leader. Augustus asked Herod's friends who were in Rome whether it was fair that Herod attacked Arabia. And having ascertained the truth of the report, Syllia, without searching further for the case, sent a very cruel letter to Herod. Its essence was that “hitherto he (Augustus) treated Herod as his friend; but from now on he will treat him as his subject.” Herod sent ambassadors to Rome to justify himself: but they were not received; others too. At this time Gadfly died; His minister, who was the main source of displeasure, was also dissatisfied. The new king of Arabia, Aretas, having ascended the throne without asking the consent of the Roman emperor, sent an embassy against Sillius to Rome; but it was not accepted. Among such circumstances, says Joseph, the kingdoms of Judah and Arabia fell into a worse state day by day; of the two kings of these kingdoms, one was not a king in the exact sense; the other, Herod, having irritated the emperor by defending himself, had to endure all sorts of injustices. To stop these disasters, Herod sent Nicholas of Damascus to Rome, who actually managed to explain the whole matter to the emperor, expose Syllius and justify Herod. Augustus reconciled with him. After this, displeasure arose in Herod’s family itself. His eldest son Antipater entered into very close relations with Herod's brother, his uncle, Pheroras and his wife. Herod's sister, Salome, knowing about this alliance and fearing something bad would come from it for her brother, reported everything related to this subject to Herod. Herod himself had some information about this and suspected; but he did not know what Salome conveyed to him. Having told this, Joseph continues: meanwhile, there was a society of Jews who presented themselves as strict zealots of the law, as people pleasing to God, and to whom women were devoted. They are called Pharisees: these are people who are very strong in resistance to kings, cautious and ready for open confrontation and insults. These people, when the entire Jewish people swore allegiance to the emperor and king, among 6,000 people, refused to take the oath. And when the king imposed a fine on them, Pheroras’ wife herself paid it for them, in gratitude for this good deed (since they were considered to know the future by divine inspiration), they predicted to her that Herod and his descendants would soon be deprived of the kingdom by the decree of God and that the kingdom would pass into the hands of Pheroras and their children. Salome found out, and so did the king. At the same time, I also learned that some of the courtiers had also joined their side. As a result of this, he killed the main culprits among the Pharisees, the eunuch Bagoy and everyone from his house who was in agreement with the Pharisees. And Bagoya, Joseph adds, was respected by them (the Pharisees), because he, as they said, would be called the father and benefactor of the king who would rise at their command. For this king will have everything in his hands; he will give the eunuch the ability to marry and bear children (Antiquit: XVII, 2). From consideration of these circumstances of the last years of Herod's reign, it is revealed that the oath of which Joseph speaks is the same as the census of which Luke speaks; because if we allow the birth of Jesus Christ 12 or 15 months, or 2 years before the death of Herod, then this oath will have to be taken at the same time as the census. Many circumstances of this oath agree with the gospel story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Luke says: the commandment came from Caesar Augustus to rewrite the entire universe. The essence of the oath, according to Josephus, was a promise of allegiance to the emperor and king. Oath means allegiance; citizenship could not be depicted in anything like a census. Luke says: and I am going to write everything; It’s amazing how Joseph agrees with this when he says that the entire Jewish people, with the exception of 6,000 Pharisees, took this oath. The same incident is associated with the census and the oath - indignation. When asked by the Magi, where is the king of the Jews born? all Jerusalem was in motion. Joseph's legend seems to be a commentary on these words of the Evangelist Matthew. The indignation of Jerusalem in both narratives was revealed over the rumor that had spread about a new king. The high priests and scribes of Matthew, whom Herod asked about the birthplace of the Messiah, are, of course, those Pharisees whom Josephus meant in the story of the rebellion. The new king about whom the Pharisees prophesy in Josephus is obviously the Messiah: for it is said about him that everything will be in his hands, and the words of the prophet Isaiah are attached to him (56:1-5). In Joseph, the Pharisees prophesy that God will put an end to Herod's rule. At ev. Matthew, the priests and priests also extract from the prophets a prediction about the birthplace of the Messiah. At ev. Luke, in addition, prophesies Simeon and Anna. Herod, according to the legend of Ev. Matthew, seeing that he had been deceived by the wise men, sent to destroy all the infants of Bethlehem. Josephus also mentions more bloodshed. And although we from St. It is not known in the books that Herod committed cruelty anywhere else regarding the rumor that had spread about the birth of the Messiah, but it is likely that a man as suspicious as Herod, after being deceived by the Magi, suspected the same of the scribes and Pharisees whom he asked about the Messiah and therefore also poured out his rage on them. Since I consider Joseph to be an ardent Jew, the very image of his narration about the indignation of the Pharisees serves as proof to me that he is talking about the events that took place in Jerusalem on the occasion of the birth of Jesus Christ. Is it not surprising that Joseph mocks the Pharisees, who boasted of the gift of prophecy, while he himself is a Pharisee and is himself subject to the same reproach, since he repeatedly applies the prophecy about the Messiah to the face of Emperor Bespasian? Mocking the Pharisees would be completely inappropriate in such a description, which presents a scene of cruelty and great misfortune. And for what? Was it because they refused their oath to Caesar? No. They would have paid off this with money if Herod had not inflicted some other insults. Which ones? – Prediction and expectation that the kingdom of Herod should pass, according to God’s determination, to another family from Herod’s. This is what really happened at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ. To put it briefly, it is impossible to imagine that the one who everywhere calls Herod cruel began to mock the Pharisees with the cruelty of Herod, unless we assume that in this case he means to ridicule the faith in the Messiah, whom he did not want to recognize as the Messiah. It will be said that the predictions mentioned by Joseph do not refer to Jesus, but to the wife of Pheroras and her children. “I don’t deny that she, as well as others, took part in what the Pharisees said then.” But it is impossible to believe that she herself, or Pheroras, or any of their descendants was the person we are talking about here, because it contradicts everything else that Joseph said. If Pheroras’s wife had attracted attention most of all in this matter, as Josephus apparently claims, then it cannot be that she would have been saved from Herod’s cruelty, from which those closest to Herod had fallen. They will say: they were preserved by the universal love of the people for them; but what kind of favor did Antipater enjoy? And why would this Antipater, who craved the throne so much, go to Rome, leaving things in this situation? - By going to Rome, did he not leave Ferrora and his wife with the duty of killing his father with poison and thus exposed himself to the danger of losing the inheritance to the throne? – And doesn’t Josephus contradict himself when he said that the Pharisees, in gratitude to Pheroras’ wife for her good deeds shown to them, predicted to her that God had determined to transfer the throne of Herod to Pheroras, her husband and their children, at the end of the story he speaks of the king who, according to their prophecy, should rise as one specific king? How could Pheroras wife, Pheroras and their children be these kings? – If it is impossible to explain the whole story about this oath and indignation according to the history of the Gospel: nevertheless, their similarity is obvious, and the first serves us a lot to explain some events related to the latter: for example. the rapid spread of rumors about the birth of John: the extraordinary movement in Jerusalem regarding the first rumors of the Messiah; Herod's cruelty; the necessity of Jesus' flight from Judea; legends about the death of Zechariah - about Elizabeth’s departure with her son into the desert. Since Mary lived in Nazareth and in Nazareth she had a revelation from an angel, one could think that here her Son, preached by the angel, would be born. But the One who controlled all the circumstances of the birth of this Son had reasons to somewhat change their course. The Messiah, as the son of David, had to be born in the city of David: it was necessary that His descent from David be presented to everyone in immediate clarity and certainty, especially since the humiliated descendants of David were forced to leave their hereditary city and live in a part of the kingdom of Judah, despised in the eyes of the proud Jerusalemites, Galilee. In addition, everyone knew the ancient prediction, given even before the captivity of Babylon, that Bethlehem should be the fatherland of the glorious Leader of Israel, which came from the beginning - from the days of the century (Mic. 5:2). True, Bethlehem was then no longer a city, but a village: but nevertheless, the eyes of the people turned there when they were looking for the Messiah (See Matt. 2:5–6; John 7:42). Providence, however, did not need to use any supernatural measures in order, on the one hand, to bring the parents of Jesus to Bethlehem, on the other, to reveal to everyone that they come from the house of David. Both should have been fulfilled by themselves during the national census, which at the end of the reign of Herod was ordered to be carried out by the Roman government in Judea. Since this was an expression of Augustus’s displeasure towards the king of the Jews, and Herod greatly valued the favor of the Roman emperor, the announced census had to be carried out with particular haste, although no small difficulty in this was that, in accordance with the laws of the Jews, everyone should be registered not in the city where he lives, but in the one where his family came from. Therefore, Joseph, despite the fact that domestic circumstances disposed him to delay for some time in Nazareth, immediately went with Mary to Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem: but here it was so crowded from the multitude of those who had gathered for the registration (Bethlehem, formerly famous and populous, had to give a lot of surnames), that the Nazareth newcomers, poor, although noble by birth, but not noble in their real position, had no place left in the guest house that would be more comfortable for Mary in the last days of her pregnancy: they settled in one cave 13 , located near the village, probably in the very mountain on which it was located - in this cave at other times the herds settled, for which the Bethlehem surroundings were very convenient from ancient times (1 Sam. 17:15). This is where the Lord deigned to be born! Tradition tells that light filled the entire cave when Jesus was born, that a luminous cloud surrounded it and blinded those who entered the cave with its brilliance. But the chosen one will worship Christ even without this light; and the baby also needs intimacy. Mary herself received the baby, swaddled Him herself and placed Him where it was more convenient to place Him in the manger. We leave it to everyone to guess what the earthly witnesses of the divine birth thought and felt within themselves. One might think that in their state of mind there was more bewilderment than solemn joy. The Son of the Most High - in such a humiliated form! The one in whom John prophetically rejoiced even in his mother’s womb should lie in a simple stable, in a manger. When John, His destined herald, was born, all the relatives gather to his mother and rejoice with her - and Mary is alone with her baby: the Messiah is the liberator of the people from enemies - and the census now being carried out promises only that alien dominion will become even more strengthened in its grip on the people of God: whoever would not be occupied by such ideas at the present spectacle and no matter how much delight they would cool in those who were still little acquainted with the fate of this new alien of the world. So it is very natural to expect that Providence will not soon abandon the perplexed in those high promises that were given regarding the baby Jesus. And in fact, several shepherds were chosen to do this, who, at some distance from Bethlehem, were guarding their flocks on the night when Jesus was born. Providence carefully chose the persons whom it made participants in the great mystery: the poor shepherds in the simplicity of their hearts could accept the gospel of the heavenly messenger and not be at all tempted by the cave and the manger in which the future Redeemer lay - in order to give praise to God; but together, as having no external importance, they could not spread the rumor far about the birth of the promised one. While the baby, already wrapped in swaddling clothes, lies in the manger: these shepherds (maybe the owners of the cave) come into the cave and, looking around in surprise, looking at Jesus, Mary, and especially paying attention to the manger, they begin with reverent joy to tell the astonished Joseph and Mary why they came here at such a time (at night), and what they want to see, like an angel clothed light, announced to them about the birth of Christ the Lord that night and, of course, with the intention of leading them to himself, he showed them the place where he was born and the signs by which he could be recognized; how, following this gospel, they witnessed an even more wonderful event: they heard the song of angels singing the praises of God. And the amazement of the shepherds and the joy of the inhabitants of heaven became the amazement and joy of the holy mother of the baby and the elderly Joseph. The shepherds left them; but these words made such a deep impression on Mary that she began to notice with even greater care all the circumstances concerning her Son and to reason about them in secret. In fact, how did both of these appearances of the angels, which the shepherds were honored, agree with the previous service of the angels to the mystery of the birth of Jesus: did they not appear to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph? So, there is no reason to doubt that the shepherds also experienced such apparitions, no matter how majestic some of the circumstances of these apparitions were in comparison with the previous ones! Yes, more majestic! How majestic this song is: glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. It embraces heaven, earth, and people: it connects with the event of the cave of Bethlehem everything that is brightest in heaven, most desirable on earth, most gracious for people; the glory of God, peace or complete bliss, the favor of God. Here the confirmation of everything that had hitherto been said about the Messiah was obviously revealed: but how will this be carried out? This question should have touched Mary’s heart most closely, and Mary knew too little how it would be resolved. This was a new incentive for her to enter into reflection on the great work of divine Providence. She saw nothing in her circumstances and Joseph's that could throw any light on that great day when the kingdom of the Messiah was to be revealed: but this did not destroy her confidence that it should one day be revealed; she repeated to herself the sayings of the angel who preached to her the birth of the Son of the Most High, repeated those wonderful events that had already happened, and looked with hope to the future. When Mary looked at the present state of the kingdom of Judah, the thought might have occurred to her: “How many more great upheavals must happen before the kingdom of her Son comes? Could she, with pious reflection, not turn to those ancient prophecies and promises that are so often read and explained in the synagogues, especially to those passages of the prophets that contained a direct indication or close resemblance to what happened to her? How much food for her thought there must have been when, for example. Now or later, the words of the prophet Isaiah came to her mind: behold, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel. How many subjects for reflection there were in other prophetic passages, to which the words of the angels pointed to Joseph, her and the shepherds! - Mariam kept all these words, composing them in her heart. On the eighth day the baby was to be circumcised and named 14. It had already been predicted by an angel - and then it was not unusual among the Jews; The only extraordinary thing was that this baby in his entire pedigree (from the beginning of the world) did not have anyone who bore such a name; and it was most significant in relation to the future actions and fate of this baby; it expressed everything that the Jews, everything that the rest of the world could expect from Him; - this was the name before which every knee of heaven and earth and hell had to bow. And it was placed by the old man and the young virgin on the One to whom it belonged. Where this was done - whether in the same cave, or in another place (Matthew 2:9-11) - we do not know. Only the Bethlehem cave later became an object of reverent veneration for Christians. Already in the time of Origen, the pagans themselves said: “here is the cave where Jesus was born, whom Christians reverence and adore” (Contr. Cels. Lib. 1). During the time of Constantine the Great, a church was already built there. Jerome retired here from the west for his learned works and to practice deeds of piety. “Where will I get the words,” he wrote from here to one of his acquaintances in Rome, where will I get the eloquence to describe to you the cave of the Savior and the manger in which he cried as a baby? No! I would rather honor this place with silence than with weak words. There are no lush porticoes, no gilded ceilings. Bethlehem... it was in this cleft of the earth that the Creator of the sky was born. Here He is wrapped in swaddling clothes; the shepherds saw Him here; here He was indicated by a star; here the wise men worshiped Him. And I think this place is holier than the Tarpeian rock, which was not for nothing so often struck by lightning - apparently, it was not pleasing to God. I know there is a holy church there, there are trophies of the apostles and martyrs; The name of Christ is truly confessed, the faith is preached by the apostles, paganism is trampled underfoot and the Christian name is exalted every day. Ambition, predominance, urban splendor, these cases - always being visible and seeing others, receiving visits from others and visiting yourself, praising and blaming, either listening or speaking, always seeing such a crowd of people in front of you - all this is far alien from the vows and peace of a monastic... But in the village of Christ everything is done in a village way. Apart from the singing of psalms, nothing breaks the silence. But wherever you turn, everywhere you hear only them: there is a farmer, holding the handle of his plow, singing: hallelujah; here the weary reaper strengthens himself with psalms; and there the vinedresser, pruning the branches of the grapes with his crooked knife, sings something from David. These are the songs that are sung in our region!” 15 Of the four persons who (Mark 6:3) are called brothers of Jesus Christ, one (Matthew 10:3) is called Alpheus, and Alpheus and Cleopas are one name, of course, and one person, i.e. the husband of Mary, the sister of the Mother of God (John 19:25). The different sounds of words: Alpheus and Cleopas depend on different Greek pronunciations of the same Hebrew word (Mark 15:40). The same Mary is called the mother of James and Josiah The differences in the genealogy of Jesus Christ - as given by St. Matthew and Luke are more likely explained from the assumption that Matthew wrote a genealogy according to his imaginary father; Luke - after his true mother. This is also confirmed by the fact that in the events of the birth and infancy of I. Christ, in general Joseph is more prominent in Matthew, and Mary in Luke. There are four known verses that represented the entire genealogy of the house of David at the time of Jesus Christ in this form. Onion. 1:33, Είς πόλιν Ίούδα - according to some here it means Hebron - which lay exactly in the mountainous part of Judea and belonged to the priests. – According to others, Utah is near Hebron: but in this case it would be necessary to write Ίούτα; also a priestly city in the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:55; 21:16) That Elizabeth knew something of this story is evident from Luke. 1 The Holy Spirit is the Power of the Most High. In vain do some distinguish the meaning of these two parallel sentences: the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the Power of the Most High will overshadow you; as if the first means the preparatory action of the Holy Spirit, and the last means the very insertion of God the Word into the womb of the mother Mary, meaning by the power of the Most High Jesus Christ, as 1 Cor. 1:24 ; Is. 9:6. The explanation is intense! This interpretation gave rise to some heretics calling the Holy Spirit the matter of Jesus Christ. – It is known that the Evangelist’s words: the Holy Spirit generally mean the omnipotence of God Matt. 12:28 ; Onion. 11:20, Photius: ad eos, qui forte querant: quamobrem ex Spiritu Sancto conceptus dicatur Christus, non enim filius Spiritus, sed Patris-Christus? – sic occurritur Spiritum dici Deitatem omnem, juxta quod Salvator ait: Spiritus est Deus, Proprie tamen et rationaliter dicitur Spiritus Sanctus – una persona Trinitatis, Ceterum hoc loco mentione Spiritus Sancti licet intelligere virtutem Filii, nam et Filius Spiritus vocatur et pari Deus. - He will find you - see Acts. 1:8. Overshadows you, ίπισκιάσει - better taken from Greek as jealously meaning Hebrew: רֶחֵם Gen. 1:2; Deut. 32:11 than with Rosenmiller for the equivalent ίνδύεσϑαι Luke. 24:49 and V. Manager Judges 6:34; 1 Par. 12 The song of Zechariah (Luke 1:68–79) was uttered by him not on the occasion of naming his son, but after: this can be seen from the fact that Ev. Luke, in the order of the narrative, separates it completely from history The legend that the Lord was born in a cave is confirmed by ancient church writers - Justin (in dialog. cum Tryphon: έν σπηλαίω τινί σύνεγγυς τής κώμης κατέλυσε). Origen (Contr. Cels. Lib. 1), Epiphanius (Haeres. 51), Gregory of Nyssa (Orait. de nativit. Christi), Jerome (141, 17 et 18) The custom of naming babies on the day of circumcision dates back to the time of Abraham. You might be interested in: