2,019 years ago…

This year marks 2,019 years from that blessed day when the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, the Saviour of mankind, came down to us on earth. In order to appreciate this miracle more fully, we would do well to acquaint ourselves in greater detail with the circumstances surrounding the Nativity of Christ. These details are not present in the Gospel readings which we hear in church, but we find them in the so-called “apocrypha,” i.e. writings about the life of the Saviour on earth, particularly during His infancy and youth. These writings appeared in the first centuries of Christianity, and although they were not included in the New Testament, they were accepted by the Church as pious memoirs of the earthly life of Jesus Christ. The most prominent piece of apocryphal literature was the “Infancy Gospel of James,” on which the Church based its detailed narrative concerning the Nativity of Christ.

Christ was born after His Mother, the Holy Virgin Mary, was betrothed to the righteous Joseph, who was 80 years old at that time. The Virgin Mary was given to Joseph under the guise of matrimony, in order for him to protect Her virginity and take care of Her. The venerable Joseph became Mary’s husband at a time when She had already conceived of the Holy Spirit, because the Lord wished to conceal from Satan the mystery of His incarnation from the Most-pure Virgin. For this reason He hid Her virginity within matrimony, so that the enemy would not know that this was the very Virgin of Whom the prophet Isaiah had said: Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, and in order that the devil would have no knowledge of the manner in which God would reside among men, for ever since Isaiah announced his prophecy, the devil watched over all maidens with great vigilance, lest one of them conceive without a husband and give birth while remaining a virgin.

When the Virgin Mary’s pregnancy became apparent, the venerable Joseph was greatly bewildered and, thinking in human terms, began suspecting that Her conception was the result of sin. However, being a just man, he did not wish to denounce Her, so that She would not be subjected to stoning in accordance with the law of Moses, but decided to either secretly let Her go, or to leave Her and go far away himself. But as he was pondering thus, an angel appeared to him in a dream and said: “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife.” The angel named Mary the wife of Joseph in order to refute the thought of possible adultery, and also in order to honor lawful matrimony on a par with chastity. Saint Basil the Great says: “The angel named Mary both a Virgin and an espoused wife, in order to honor chastity and, at the same time, hold matrimony beyond reproach. Virginity was chosen as being necessary for the holy birth, while lawful espousal – as the beginning of matrimony – was performed so that no one would think that the birth was the product of sin.”

After that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus to take a census of the entire Empire, and all the people went to be registered, each into his own city. Thus Joseph, together with the Virgin Mary, went forth from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, into the city of David which was called Bethlehem, because they were from the house and lineage of David. Bethlehem is a small town not far to the south from Jerusalem, at a distance of three days’ travel from Nazareth. It is called the city of David, because David was born there and anointed king there. And near Bethlehem, to the east, there was a cave in a rocky hill on which the city of Bethlehem is situated. Not far from this cave there was a field belonging to a certain Salome, who lived in Bethlehem and was a relative of both Joseph and the Virgin Mary.

The field of Salome, later called the “shepherds’ field”;
here the angels appeared to the shepherds with the glad tidings of Christ’s Nativity.

When Joseph and Mary were approaching the city, the time came for the Holy Virgin to give birth, and Joseph began searching for a place to stay the night. However, there was no place at the common inn, because not only the inn, but the entire city was filled due to the multitude of people who had come for the census. For this reason Joseph went to the cave near the field of his relative Salome. This cave served as shelter for the cattle that grazed in the field, and in this cave, at midnight, the Holy Virgin painlessly gave birth to our Lord Jesus Christ. Saint Gregory of Nicea says of the extraordinary birth of the Saviour: “A Virgin conceived, a Virgin carried in Her womb, a Virgin gave birth, a Virgin remained virgin; never on earth has there been a miracle such as this.”

Church of the Nativity of Christ, situated over the cave of Bethlehem.
Everyone who enters the church must bend low as a sign of humility,
 in order to pass through the low door.

The Holy Virgin gave birth to Christ without a husband just as Adam produced Eve without a wife; Saint John Chrysostome speaks of it thus: “Just as Adam produced a woman without a wife, so the Virgin gave birth to a Man without a husband, repaying Eve’s debt. Just as Adam remained whole after a rib was removed from his body, so the Virgin remained incorruptible after the birth of the Infant.”

The birth of the Saviour also took place without the customary aid of a midwife. This is mentioned by Saint Athanasius of Alexandria: “Behold the mysterious birth by the Virgin: She gave birth by Herself, She swaddled the Infant by Herself, not allowing anyone to touch the Most-pure Issue with unclean hands; She Herself served the One Who was born from Her, and swaddled Him, and placed Him in the manger.” Thus the Virgin Mary Herself took care of Her Divine Infant as She awaited the arrival of Her relative Salome, whom Joseph had gone to summon in order to provide help to Mary. But Salome arrived when everything was already done and, unable to believe that the birth had been virginal and painless, she tried to determine with the aid of a midwife’s customary methods whether this was truly so. But she was immediately punished for her audacity – her probing hand became suddenly inflamed and withered. However, when she placed her struck hand upon the Divine Infant, the hand was immediately healed and became completely well. Then Salome believed that the Mother was a Virgin and that the Infant was God.

After that the Holy Virgin, having wrapped Her most precious Infant in fine white linen swaddling clothes which had been prepared in advance and brought with them from Nazareth, and having placed Him in a manger which stood in that cave, kneeled on the ground and bowed to Him as to Her God and Creator.

A star marks the place where Jesus Christ was born

To the manger were tethered an ox and a donkey, whom Joseph had brought with them from Nazareth. The donkey carried the pregnant Virgin while they traveled, and the ox was to be sold in order to buy all that was necessary and also to pay Caesar’s tax. Both of these mute animals, standing at the manger, warmed the Infant with their breath, it being wintertime.

Concerning the time of Christ’s Nativity, the 6th Ecumenical Council says that it was midnight from Saturday to Sunday, “for on that day God created light; on that same day the Lord was born; on that same day He arose from the dead; and on that same day He poured out His Holy Spirit upon His disciples.” Just as the Lord was conceived on a Friday during the annunciation, and on a Friday He was crucified; so was He born on a Sunday, and on a Sunday He arose from the dead.

At the time of Christ’s Nativity various miracles took place in the world. At the very moment of Christ’s birth, a spring of water issued from a rock in the cave of Bethlehem (for the Virgin Mary to be able to bathe Her Most-pure Infant), while in Rome a pagan temple, considered to be eternal, crumbled together with its idols, and three suns appeared in the sky, while in Judea, despite wintertime, the vineyards flowered. Most extraordinary of all was the appearance of the angels as described in the Gospel.

Opposite the cave in which Christ was born, there stood a high tower in which the shepherds lived. During that night three of them did not sleep, but watched over their flock, and suddenly a bright angel appeared to them, shining with radiant glory; seeing the angel, the shepherds were greatly afeared. But the angel, bidding them to leave their fear, brought them glad tidings of the joy which had come to the entire world through the birth of the Saviour. At the same time he gave them a sign of the veracity of his tidings: ye shall find, he said, a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. As the angel was speaking to the shepherds, suddenly the singing of a multitude of angels was heard in the air, glorifying God and chanting: glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill among men. After this wondrous appearance and singing of the angels, the shepherds hurried toward the cave in order to see whether the angel’s words were true. Upon entering the cave, they saw the Most-pure Virgin Mary, and the righteous elder Joseph, and also the swaddled Infant lying in the manger. And believing without doubt that this was the Lord Jesus Christ, the awaited Messiah, they knelt before Him and told of everything that they had seen and heard, and of all that the angel had said to them about this Infant. And all those who were present (Joseph, Salome, and other friends and relatives who had come there in the meantime) marveled at the shepherds’ words, especially the Holy Mother of God, Who kept all the words in Her heart. And the shepherds returned to their own place, glorifying and praising God.