The Catalog of Good Deeds: The Nativity Infographic

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And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:17)

Jesus Christ begins his public ministry with a seemingly weird and unexpected action. He decides to go to the shore of the Jordan River to get baptized by Prophet John. In fact, people would come to John in order to admit that they were sinful and deprived of God’s grace. Those people yearned for spiritual renewal and repentance. It was precisely what St. John called them for: And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. (Luke 3:3-4).

Why did Lord Jesus go to the Jordan River to be baptized from John, given that He was absolutely sinless, according to the doctrine of the Orthodox Church based on Divine Revelation? We may find a very profound answer in some worship hymns of the Baptism of the Lord, following the time-honored maxim Lex orandi est lex credendi (the law of prayer is the law of faith).

1. Consecration of Waters

O ye faithful, let us hymn the magnitude of God’s benefactions toward us; for having become man for the sake of our transgressions, He Who alone is pure and incorrupt, Who sanctifieth me and the waters, and crusheth the heads of the serpents in the water, is purified in the Jordan with our purification. Wherefore, let us draw forth water with gladness, O brethren; for the grace of the Spirit is invisibly imparted to those who draw it forth with faith, by Christ God, the Savior of our souls. (Sticheron of the Baptism of the Lord, tone 6, during the great consecration of water)

During the entire service of the Baptism of the Lord, church hymns keep repeating that when the Savior descended into the waters of the Jordan, He purified waters by his divinity. What does it mean? And why does water need purification? In fact, the world is literally contaminated with sin and lies in wickedness. When Jesus walks into the waters of the Jordan, He performs his first exorcism, his first purification of the matter poisoned by the sin, his first transformation of the creation, which groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now (Romans 8:22). The Church of Christ keeps doing what her Head once did even now: She purifies everything; She transforms matter and the cosmos itself with her Sacraments and rituals, and brings it to God, for She deems it the purpose of a redeemed human to transform the matter and to dedicate it to the Creator.

2. Destruction of Evil Forces.

Thou didst bow Thy head before the Forerunner, and didst crush the heads of the serpents. Having come to the streams, Thou didst illumine all things, that they may glorify Thee, O Savior, the Enlightener of our souls. (Sticheron on Now and Ever: Lord, I Have Cried of the Theophany Vespers)

We often hear about the Lord crushing the heads of the serpents in water. What are those serpents? They are mentioned not only on Theophany Day but also during all blessings of water, including every Sacrament of Baptism. Do some spiritual entities or beings swim in the water font in the middle of a church before the consecration of water? That’s what Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, an outstanding liturgical scholar and theologian of our time, has to say about it: “Matter is never neutral according to Christian worldview. If it isn’t attached to God, i.e., not interpreted and used as a means to interact with God, as a way of living with him, it turns into a carrier and dominion of demonic powers. It is not surprising that the rejection of God and religion goes hand in hand with materialism, which claims that it possesses the latest scientific ‘knowledge’. The unprecedented war against God, which has taken hold of more and more of the so-called civilized world lately, happens in the name of that ‘scientific truth’. It is not accidental, either, that pseudo-religiosity and pseudo-spirituality are more often than not based on rejection of matter and therefore of the world itself: the matter is viewed as evil, which is a blasphemy against God’s creation. Only the Bible and Christian faith view the matter as something that’s essentially good but on the other hand also a tool of human downfall and enslavement to death and sin, by which the Satan stole the world from God. Only in Christ and by his power can matter be liberated and become the symbol of God’s glory and presence, the mystery of his action and unity with man, again.” (Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, Of Water and the Spirit).

3. Fulfillment of the Law.

Desiring to fulfill that which Thou hast established from before time, O Lord, Thou didst accept ministers of Thy mystery from among all creatures: Gabriel from among the angels, the Virgin from among men, the star from among the heavens, and the Jordan from among the waters, wherein Thou didst destroy the iniquity of the world. O our Savior, glory be to Thee! (Sticheron on Glory at Litya, tone 8. All-Night Vigil of Theophany)

Although the Lord didn’t need to be baptized because He had never committed any sin, He nevertheless allowed John the Baptist to baptize him, in spite of the fearful protest of the Forerunner - I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? (Matthew 3:14). He did it for our sake because our nature, which the Savior had assumed, was in need of Baptism and purification from the ancient curse. Also, the Lord came not in order to break the Law but to fulfill it. John’s Baptism was the last Old Testament ritual because John the Baptist was the greatest and the last prophet of the Old Testament who proclaimed God’s will, which all people had to abide by. The Lord replies to St. John, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness (Matthew 3:15).

4. Apparition of the Holy Trinity. Epiphany.

Christ is baptized. He cometh up out of the waters and leadeth the world up with Himself. And He beholdeth the heavens opening, which Adam closed to himself and to those with him. And the Spirit beareth witness to His divinity, for He maketh haste to come to His like. And a voice is heard from heaven; for the Savior of our souls is borne witness to from thence. (Sticheron on Litya of the All-Night Vigil. By Cosmas of Maiuma)

The Baptism of the Lord marked one of the greatest apparitions of the Godhead in the history of the humankind, hence the ancient name of this holiday, Epiphany. The Lord reveals himself as the Holy Trinity, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, while at the same time being One God. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is the most marvelous and majestic truth of Christianity made known by Jesus Christ. The Holy Trinity is the absolute plenitude of goodness, love, harmony, and agreement, which constitutes His greatest beauty and freedom. Most strikingly, every individual of any age and any rank is called to enter the relationship with the Triune God and let the Lord into their heart. The love of the Holy Trinity will animate everything and everyone around that person.

To sum up, we can say that the Lord was baptized by John in the waters of the Jordan River in order to purify water and to pave the way for the restoration and purification of the created world. Today, every Orthodox Christian who is vested with priestly grace can do what Jesus once did by putting his fingers into the baptismal font and making the sign of the cross with them. Moreover, all Christians are able to perform the great Sacrament of Baptism in extreme cases. If we recall that we are the universal royal priesthood, as Holy Apostle Peter said, we can transform the entire Cosmos with our prayer, multiply love, crush invisible serpents, and purify ourselves, our food, and our houses with the Holy Hagiasma, that precious gift that the Lord gives us on this day. Christ came to the world to fulfill the Law of God and to bring grace into the world. He came to us in order to reveal the Mystery of the Holy Trinity, to redeem us from our sins, and to pour God’s love into our hearts. Let us exclaim Amen happily and accept His gift.

By John Nichiporuk,

a Bachelor of Theology,

specialized in Biblical Studies.

The Catalog of Good Deeds, 2019

See full Nativity infographics here.

And the child grew, and waxed strong

in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the

grace of God was upon him. (Luke 2:40).

We know almost nothing about the early years of our Savior’s life. Holy Evangelists don't say anything about it, so it might have been God's will for the earliest years of Jesus Christ to remain hidden. The silence kept by canonical Gospels led many religiously unstable people in the first centuries of the existence of the Holy Church to concoct fake stories about our Savior's childhood. The stories are teeming with nonsensical miracles and evident inventions of their authors, which serves to confirm that they're fake and have no bearing on the genuine Church tradition.

Uninformed minds and hearts always yearn for miracles, and the more miracles they hear about, the better. People like those have a hard time accepting the simple words of Evangelist Luke, And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him (Luke 2:40). That's all there is! The Lord came into the world not to perform countless miracles but rather to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28).

This is why we have no idea of the early years of Jesus's life: it has nothing to do with our salvation. The Lord lived like a human child, hiding His Messianic dignity and divine nature from people and waiting until He finally made Himself known and began His redemptive ministry.

Jesus is God, so how could He grow up and wax strong in spirit? How could He become filled with wisdom, given that God already possesses full knowledge and perfection? That’s what Saint Cyril of Alexandria, a great saint, a pillar of Orthodox faith and a Doctor of the Church, responds to these questions:

“To say that the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him, must be taken as referring to His human nature. And examine, I pray you, closely the profoundness of the dispensation: the Word endures to be born in human fashion, although in His divine nature He has no beginning nor is subject to time: He Who as God is all perfect, submits to bodily growth: the Incorporeal has limbs that advance to the ripeness of manhood: He is filled with wisdom Who is Himself all wisdom. And what say we to this? Behold by these things Him Who was in the form of the Father made like unto us: the Rich in poverty: the High in humiliation: Him said to "receive," Whose is the fulness as God. So thoroughly did God the Word empty Himself! For what things are written of Him as a man shew the manner of the emptying. For it were a thing impossible for the Word begotten of God the Father to admit ought like this into His own nature: but when He became flesh, even a man like unto us, then He is born according to the flesh of a woman, and is said also to have been subject to the things that belong to man's state: and though the Word as being God could have made His flesh spring forth at once from the womb unto the measure of the perfect man, yet this would have been of the nature of a portent: and therefore He gave the habits and laws of human nature power even over His own flesh” (Exegesis on the Gospel according to Luke).

We know of precisely one story from the life of a twelve-year-old Jesus accounted of in a canonical Gospel. The story goes that Saint Joseph the Betrothed and the most holy Virgin Mary were on their way home after celebrating Passover in Jerusalem. They were thinking that Jesus was traveling with His other relatives but He wasn’t. They had lost the young Jesus in Jerusalem. They had to return and spent three days looking for Him until they finally found Him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. (Luke 2:46-50).

His response implicitly communicates the fact that He is extremely close to the Heavenly Father because the Jews never dared to call God “my Father”. If they had to use the word Father to indicate God, they would always say Our Father or Our Father in Heaven.

Mary and Joseph, like other disciples of Christ, didn’t understand His words and actions during the first years of His ministry up to the point at which the Savior finally accomplished the purpose of His coming to the world. The Lord poured out the Holy Spirit on the great day of the Pentecost on His disciples and apostles, laying the foundation of his Church and essentially making us the Father’s children who worship Him in Spirit and in Truth and call Him Abba, Father (See Mark 14:36).

We can figure out certain biographical facts of the Savior’s life prior to His public ministry only putatively. We read in the life of the Holy Apostle Judas, son of James, that Joseph the Betrothed decided at his deathbed to divide his land among his sons from his first marriage and Jesus, Son of Mary. However, the older brothers, including Judas Thaddaeus, vehemently opposed the father’s decision. Only James, the Lord’s brother, was inclined to share his part with Jesus. When Lebbaeus Thaddaeus (Judas Thaddaeus’ alternative name) found out that Jesus truly was the promised Messiah, he was really sorry for his past actions. The Lord later chose him as one of the Twelve Apostles but Lebbaeus, forever ashamed of his sin, never dared to call himself the Lord’s brother, like James. Instead, he referred to himself as Judas the brother of James.

Biblical scholars still argue about the lineage of Lebbaeus Thaddaeus and whether he really was James’s brother or son. Medieval authors tended to confuse him with James the son of Alphaeus. It is also dubious that Jesus could have inherited any property from Joseph. The Lord himself claimed, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head (Luke 9:58). It is hardly likely that Joseph, who was a simple carpenter from the poor village of Nazareth, had enough land to divide it among his sons. Joseph was so poor that he was allowed to bring only two doves to the Temple as the offering for Mary’s purification as prescribed by the Law of Moses.

Therefore, we should treat even those stories that we read in the lives of the Apostles clearheadedly and cautiously, especially if they contradict the Word of God somehow.

Given that the Holy Evangelists didn’t leave us any memories or details about the Savior’s childhood and adolescence years, while various narratives of the life of Jesus prior to His public ministry don’t always tally with the absolute authority of the Holy Scripture, we can safely assume that Jesus lived a modest life in Nazareth with His most holy Mother and the righteous Joseph. The Scripture says that Jesus was subject unto them (Luke 2:51). Following His own commandment of honoring one’s parents, He helped Joseph and learned to be a carpenter. Let us follow the Lord’s example and hearken to the words of Apostle Paul, Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:1-4).

By John Nichiporuk,

a Bachelor of Theology,

specialized in Biblical Studies.

The Catalog of Good Deeds, 2019

See full Nativity infographics here.

Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive. (Exodus 1:22)

When the Three Wise Men brought their gifts to the Divine Baby, they were warned by God not to return to Herod but departed into their own country another way (Matthew 2:12). According to an unnamed interpreter of the distant past, it wasn’t appropriate for the wise men, who had seen the Heavenly King and worshipped him, to return to the earthly king and bow before him.

The Gospel narrative goes as follows, Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. (Matthew 2:16). This passage is hard to read without feeling terrified and outraged. Herod was so scared of losing his power! He was so afraid of the newborn baby whom the three wise men had inquired about and became so insane as to commit this heinous crime. The death toll of the babies is unknown. Blessed Jerome believes there were thousands of the innocent babies slaughtered at the behest of the cruel king. Syriac sources speak of sixty-four thousand babies. Some Western sources count as many as 144 thousand massacred babies. Traditionally, the Orthodox Church commemorates fourteen thousand Bethlehem babies. Regardless of how many children were murdered on that day, this tragedy exceeds any description.

According to some versions of Apostle Nathaniel’s biography, that disciple of Christ almost died at the hands of Herod’s soldiers but his mother managed to hide him under a fig tree. In that case, the Savior’s words Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee (John 1:48) acquire a totally different angle. The future apostle immediately recognizes Jesus as the Son of God because he must have remembered his mother telling him how he was miraculously saved under the fig tree. However, Saint John the Evangelist writes that Apostle Nathaniel hailed from Cana of Galilee, a town next to the Sea of Galilee, that is, far from Bethlehem and nearby villages. The testimony of the Lord’s beloved disciple should be more trustworthy for us.

Many Holy Fathers and exegetes of the Holy Scripture have attempted to explain why God had allowed such an appalling act of terror to happen. Saint Peter Chrysologus, Bishop of Ravenna (†450) expressed the general opinion of the Fathers:

What did Jesus do? He who foresaw the future in advance and knew all secrets, He who judges intentions and supervises thoughts, why did he abandon those who, as He knew, would be searched because of him and then killed? The Newborn King, the King of Heaven, why did He neglect his soldiers for his own safety? Why did He neglect the army of his peers? Why did He abandon the guards, taken out of their beds, so that the enemy, sent to find only the King, had to attack the entire army? Brethren, Christ didn’t give up his soldiers; rather, He exalted them. He made it possible for them to triumph before they even started to live; He allowed them to gain victory without going into the battle; He granted them crowns before they got their bodies. He let them skip vices and acquire the heavenly before the earthly. Consequently, what Christ did was sending his troops in front of him and not giving them up; He accepted command over his army, not refused it. (Homilies 152.7)

Although Bethlehem babies were crowned with glorious crowns of the first martyrs for Christ and are now jubilant together with all saints in the heavenly abode, the parents and families of those innocent martyrs had to endure immense suffering. Holy Evangelist Matthew sees it as the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy, “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.” (Jeremiah 31:15; Matthew 2:18)

Shocked by the crime of King Herod, we can’t help recalling a similar story, which had happened long before but pointed at Christ like everything else in the Old Testament. When Pharaoh saw that Jewish population had multiplied too much in his land, he ordered his subjects to throw newborn Jewish boys into the Nile and leave only girls alive. There was a Jewish mother who managed to keep her male baby alive by putting him into a basket and leaving him on the riverbank. The Pharaoh’s daughter found the baby and decided to adopt him. Like Moses, Baby Jesus was rescued from deep water, i.e., the threat of a new Pharaoh who was afraid to lose his power. Thousands of innocent children suffered both at the times of Moses and the times of Christ. The Satan used the Pharaoh in an attempt to kill the future leader of the Israeli people and Herod in an attempt to kill Baby Jesus.

The dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. (Rev. 12:4-6)

As soon as Jesus was born, the chthonic and ruthless ancient evil was agitated. Massacre of thousands of innocent babies—that was how the world that lies in darkness responded to the light that shone from the Heaven. Darkness had prevailed in the world for centuries but thirty years from that moment, people saw heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man (John 1:51), the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. (Is. 9:2). Jesus Christ appears and wields a mighty blow to the dark forces when He descends into the water of the Jordan and, as the Orthodox Church sings, “The Lord, the King of the ages, restoreth corrupted Adam with the streams of the Jordan and crusheth the heads of the serpents who make their nest therein, for He hath been glorified.” (Troparion of Ode 1 of the Theophany Matins Canon by St. Cosmas of Maiuma). Now, the Light wins.

By John Nichiporuk,

a Bachelor of Theology,

specialized in Biblical Studies.

The Catalog of Good Deeds, 2019

See full Nativity infographics here.

I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1).

According to Holy Apostle Matthew’s Gospel, King Herod asked the wise men from the Orient, who had come to worship the King of Israel, to inform him about the exact location of the divine Baby, allegedly to come and worship him. However, he had ill intentions. He wanted to murder the Baby instead of worshipping him, because he was scared at the thought of losing his royal status and power.

The wise men received a revelation from God in a dream and departed into their own country another way. Note how the wise men are guided not by astronomical phenomena, like many other pagan sages, but instead receive a revelation from God like the Righteous Joseph and other virtuous men of the Old Testament. The encounter with Jesus was spiritually transformative for those men from the East.

Meanwhile, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. (Matthew 2:13).

Canonical Gospels don’t describe the life of the Holy Family in Egypt; they simply state that they remained there until King Herod’s death. That’s understandable: the Gospels aren’t merely a biography of our Savior; rather, they are an icon that shows us the salvific ministry of the Messiah and his teachings about the Heavenly Kingdom.

And yet, we can learn something about the life of the divine Child and his family in Egypt from literary sources that didn’t make it into the sacred canon of the Scripture. This set of data isn’t authoritative for us neither from the doctrinal nor from historical standpoint. Anyway, those sources contain certain facts about the life of the Holy Family in Egypt, which were accepted as true by some Fathers of the Church and are even mentioned in worship texts.

1. Taming of Wild Beasts

The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, written in the 4th century, claims that the Holy Family was accompanied by three young men, allegedly St. Joseph’s sons, and a midwife called Salome. They had two oxen and a cart with their possessions. Along the way, they stopped at a certain cave where they intended to rest. Suddenly, many dragons came out of the cave, obviously scaring the children to death. Jesus stood on his feet before the dragons, and they also adored him and left peacefully. This also fulfilled a prophecy by David who said, Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps (cf. Ps. 148:7).

2. Destruction of Idols

According to the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, upon arriving in the city, Mary and Jesus went into the temple, and all the 175 idols prostrated themselves before him. In the process, many of them broke into tiny pieces. As soon as the pagan priest who was in the temple saw the idols lying on their faces before Jesus, he confessed Jesus as Lord. This story influenced church tradition, too; in particular, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem pointed out that it was according to God’s plan that Christ went to Egypt to destroy the man-made Egyptian gods (Cathech. 10. 10). Traces of the same story can be found in various liturgical texts, too. For instance, Ikos 6 of the Akathist of the Most Holy Theotokos says, By shining in Egypt the light of truth, Thou didst dispel the darkness of falsehood; for its idols fell, O Savior, unable to endure Thy strength.

3. Two Thieves

According to the Arabic Infancy Gospel, which dates back to the 6th century, two thieves met the Holy Family on their road to Egypt. One of the thieves convinced the other one to let the travelers go. According to that source, they were the same two thieves who would later be crucified with the Savior, one to the right and the other to the left side of the Lord. The thief who hadn’t robbed the travelers went to the paradise.

We don’t know what miracles (if any) Baby Jesus performed in Egypt: this isn’t the main topic of the Gospel. An Orthodox Christian must feed his or her faith with the Word of God and prayer, participation in the life of the Church, and acts of love. The aforementioned narratives weren’t included in the Scripture because the Lord never works miracles for miracles’ sake. He performs miracles for our sake and for the salvation of our souls. The main lesson that we should take out of these stories and commit to memory is that I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1). That prophecy initially referred to Jesus but we can apply it to ourselves, too. God, our Heavenly Father, has saved each and every one of us from Egypt, that spiritual land of death, thanks to his great love. He continues to deliver us, his sons and daughters, from Egypt every day and every hour. He rescues us from the snares of sin so that we could live with God in his Kingdom.

By John Nichiporuk,

a Bachelor of Theology,

specialized in Biblical Studies.

The Catalog of Good Deeds, 2019

See full Nativity infographics here.

The Meeting of our Lord is an amazing and wonderful holiday. It is as remarkable as a genuine meeting of God and man, the Creator and His wayward creation, can be.

There was an old man who was really old. He had seen a lot in his lifetime. Perhaps, he had experienced a fair share of happiness but also plenty of grief, sorrows, and troubles. The Lord never abandoned that old man; on the contrary, He would always comfort and support him. Despite that, God delayed the greatest comfort and the greatest joy in the life of the holy elder whose name was Symeon—the comfort, which made it into the history of our salvation and which we remember at every Vespers service and after every Eucharist—until the man's last days. The holy elder devoted his simple life to persistent anticipation of this great God's gift.

According to the Gospel, the Lord had promised the righteous man that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ (Luke 2:26). The godly elder spent many years waiting for the miraculous encounter. Finally, he met the long-anticipated Messiah in the holy city of Jerusalem. The most holy Virgin and Saint Joseph the Betrothed brought Baby Jesus into the Temple of the Lord on the 40^th day in keeping with the Mosaic Law: And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest (Leviticus 12:6).

The Holy Gospel tells us that the righteous elder was moved by God to go to the Temple that day.

And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,

according to thy word:

for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

a light to lighten the Gentiles,

and the glory of thy people Israel.

And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. (Luke 2:27-33).

How amazing is that?! What a great encounter of a man advanced in years and worn out by hard work and afflictions, and God, who was looking at the old man with the clear eyes of an innocent baby! It wasn't just a meeting of Baby Jesus and the Righteous Symeon who had been waiting for the consolation of Israel (cf. Luke 2:25)—it was an encounter of the Eternal God and the aging humankind, burdened by wars and iniquities, exhausted from injustices and illnesses, lost in its human wisdom, and tired of looking for God, His truth and love.

The Good God visited Elder Symeon and the entire human race at last. Finally, the miraculous encounter of God the Savior and the dying Man occurred. The twinkling Star of Bethlehem, which only the select few had been able to see, gradually sheds Its gracious light upon Adam's descendants until It finally becomes an inextinguishable, all-penetrating, and ever-shining Sun of Righteousness that incinerates all sins.

The Orthodox Church prays on the day of the Meeting of our Lord, “Receive, O Symeon, Him whom Moses beheld in the gloom on Sinai giving the law, and Who hath become a babe submitting to the law; He is the One who speaketh through the law; He is the One spoken of by the prophets. Who for our sake has become incarnate and saveth man. Him let us worship!” (Sticheron on Lord I Have Cried, by Patriarch Herman).

Let us pray to our Lord Jesus Christ so that our encounter with Him would bring us joyful knowledge of God and help us to lead fruitful lives. Also, let's pray for those who are still seeking the Truth.

By John Nichiporuk,

a Bachelor of Theology,

specialized in Biblical Studies.

The Catalog of Good Deeds, 2018

See full Nativity infographics here.

Every male Jewish baby was to be circumcized on the eighth day of his life, in accordance with the Mosaic Law. Circumcision was a sign of his belonging to the God's chosen people. Our Lord Jesus Christ went through that ritual, too, For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:18). The Lord came not to break the Law but to fulfill it because He is the Lawmaker. It was him that Moses concluded the Covenant on Mt. Sinai with.

The Church of Christ hailed the Lord for his wise stewardship and utmost condescension to us with unparalleled beauty and theological depth. The Bride of the Lamb conveys the immense experience of prayerful contemplation and spiritual insight, which inspired her best sons. Let's quote some of such spiritual insights and be amazed at the bountiful wisdom of God, which enlightened the hearts and minds of the greatest Orthodox authors.

The all-good God was not ashamed to be circumcized. He gave himself as the image and example for the salvation of all: for the Lawmaker submits to the law and the prophecies of the prophets. O Lord who holds everything in his hand and is swaddled in cloth, glory to You!

This wonderful sticheron by a monk named John is sung during the Vespers of the holiday. The holy father aptly underlines God's goodness and the fact that He wasn't ashamed of this ritual but performed it for the sake of our salvation, as ancient prophets had foretold. The book of Psalms contains the following words, Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart (Ps. 40:7-8). God came to earth and although He holds all universe firmly in his hand, He willed to be born as a small and vulnerable baby, wrapped in cloth.

Not as a God-opposer but as the performer of the Law, the incarnated Christ appeared and voluntarily submitted himself to circumcision on the eighth day.

This troparion of Ode 3 of the feast canon stresses a very important fact of the Christian faith, which was frequently doubted both in ancient times and nowadays. The Lord goes through circumcision, which means that He doesn't oppose Old Testament regulations. He does not oppose the God of the Old Testament: in fact, He came to accomplish his Father's will. We often hear, “The God of the Old Testament is bitter and angry, while in the New Testament God is gentle and merciful, and therefore they are two different gods.” We can't agree with that because the entire Old Testament preaches the imminent coming of the Messiah and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. I and my Father are one, said Jesus. Moreover, according to the Christian revelation, the God of Old Testament spoke with the forefathers and prophets via his Son, his divine Logos.

The Master is circumcized on the eighth day as a baby and adopts the name of Jesus, for He is the Savior of the world and its Lord.

The Lord takes the name ‘Jesus’ which means ‘God saves’. The Church instructs parents of newborn babies to name them on the eighth day of their lives, the day when the Lord was circumcized. What is the connection between the name of God and naming of a baby on the eighth day? The answer lies in the prayers from the Book of Needs. Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann explains the meaning of the Sacrament of Baptism and related rites and points out that the eternal life, the overabundant life consists of knowing the Name of God and glorifying it with one's entire life. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent (John 17:3). It is for the sake of this life that we get a name on the eighth day, the day that symbolizes eternity and plenitude, which means that our names and our personalities must be sanctified by the Name of God and lit up by the knowledge of God and his will. That's why the Lord came into this world and willingly submitted himself to circumcision and swaddling. Let's praise his holy Name and do everything we can to please God.

By John Nichiporuk,

a Bachelor of Theology,

specialized in Biblical Studies.

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Four Main Reasons of the Lord's Baptism

Childhood Years of Jesus Christ

First Soldiers of Christ Hail Their King

Egyptian Dragons Praise Baby Jesus

"Elder Holds Him That Stretched out the Earth Above the Waters": the Mystery of the Meeting with God

"God Isn't Ashamed of His Law": the Role of Circumcision

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