John Chrysostom, On Christmas Day

In Christi natalem diem

On the birth of Christ.

61.737 Today the sun of righteousness has risen, and has covered the one that rose before; I have been delivered from the darkness, and I cannot bear the rays; to me the light has been born again, and I am dimmed by fear; I rejoice in the birth, and I am troubled by the manner; I see a new spring coming forth, and an old wound fleeing; I saw an infant being born, and heaven bowing down in adoration of him; a mother giving birth, and a womb not opening; a child sealing its own conception; a begetter without a husband, and a son without a father; a savior being born, and a star being created; an infant being wrapped in swaddling clothes, and sustaining the infinite; a manger being fashioned into a heavenly throne, and beasts representing the attendance of cherubim; a luminary appearing, and the wonder speaking; angels announcing beforehand, and shepherds prophesying; magi theologizing, and priests fighting against God; Herod falling, and death being lamented; Adam being loosed, Eve rejoicing, and the serpent mourning; captives being set at liberty, and tyrants in punishment; an infant being nursed, and nourishing the one who nurses him; being carried in arms, and carrying the one who carries him; creation recognizing, and nature being timid. Wherefore I too am amazed at the wonder, trembling at the mystery. I will take courage in Gabriel, and I put my fear to flight.

The words to Mary, interpreting wonders. What are these? And he says: Hail, full of grace, unharvested field of the heavenly ear of grain; hail, full of grace, true virgin mother of the true vine; hail, full of grace, unfailing net of the immutable divinity; hail, full of grace, spacious place of the uncontainable nature; hail, full of grace, bridegroom of the widowed world, O undefiled birth; hail, full of grace, you who wove for creation a crown not woven by hands; hail, full of grace, holy dwelling-place of fire, hail, full of grace, the return of the exiled world; hail, full of grace, inexhaustible treasury of the famished creation; hail, full of grace, the boundless grace of the holy virgin; hail, full of grace, torch-bearer adorned with many virtues, the unquenchable and brighter-than-the-sun light; hail, full of grace, the bait of the spiritual hook; hail, full of grace, spiritual ark of glory; hail, full of grace, the golden jar, which holds the heavenly manna; hail, full of grace, who has filled the thirsty with the sweet drink of the ever-flowing spring; hail, full of grace, the spiritual sea, which holds the heavenly pearl, Christ; hail, full of grace, the brilliant heaven, who holds in yourself the God uncontainable in the heavens, uncontainable and unconfined; hail full of grace, pillar-like cloud, who holds the God who in the desert guided Israel.

What shall I say and what shall I speak? how do I bless the all-rooted glory? For, apart from God alone, you are higher than all. But she was troubled at the word, and fleeing with her gaze, she stands with her body, figuring the sight in a cross-shaped manner, and she stood before the angel with doubts, neither daring to flee, nor having the courage to stand. Seeing the bodiless one standing as a man, she was ashamed to remain, honoring her virginity; she did not dare to question the one unlike herself. And her face, advancing, was a mirror of the virgin's fear, saying within herself, What manner of greeting might this be? or who is it that has greeted me? He outshines the sun, and converses with clay; from heaven

In Christi natalem diem

Εἰς τὴν Χριστοῦ γέννησιν.

61.737 Ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀνέτειλε σήμερον ἥλιος, καὶ τὸν πρὶν ἀνατέλλοντα ἐκάλυψεν· ἐλυτρώθην τοῦ σκότους, καὶ οὐ φέρω τὰς ἀκτῖνας· ἐτέχθη μοι πάλιν τὸ φῶς, καὶ ἀμαυροῦμαι τῷ φόβῳ· τὸν τόκον ἀγάλλομαι, καὶ τὸν τρόπον ταράττομαι· νέαν πηγὴν προϊοῦσαν ὁρῶ, καὶ ἀρχαίαν πληγὴν φεύγουσαν· βρέφος εἶδον τικτόμενον, καὶ οὐρανὸν κλινόμενον εἰς τὴν τούτου προσκύνησιν· μητέρα τίκτουσαν, καὶ μήτραν μὴ ἀνοίγουσαν· παιδίον τὴν ἰδίαν σφραγίζον κύησιν· γεννήτορα ἄνανδρον, καὶ υἱὸν ἀπάτορα· σωτῆρα τικτόμενον, καὶ ἀστέρα κτιζόμενον· σπαργανούμενον νήπιον, καὶ βαστάζων τὴν ἄπειρον· φάτνην ἐκτυπουμένην εἰς θρόνον ἐπουράνιον, καὶ κτήνη ἀπεικάζοντα χερουβικὴν παράστασιν· φωστῆρα φαινόμενον, καὶ τὸ θαῦμα φθεγγόμενον· ἀγγέλους προαναγγέλλοντας, καὶ ποιμένας προφητεύοντας· μάγους θεολογοῦντας, καὶ ἱερεῖς θεομαχοῦντας· Ἡρώδην πίπτοντα, καὶ θάνατον θρηνούμενον· τὸν Ἀδὰμ λυόμενον, τὴν Εὔαν χαίρουσαν, καὶ τὸν ὄφιν πενθοῦντα· αἰχμαλώτους ἐν ἀφέσει γενομένους, καὶ τυράννους ἐν κολάσει· βρέφος γαλουχούμενον, καὶ τρέφοντα τὴν τρέφουσαν· χερσὶ περιφερόμενον, καὶ φέροντα τὴν φέρουσαν· τὴν κτίσιν ἐπιγνοῦσαν, καὶ τὴν φύσιν δειλιῶσαν. Ὅθεν κἀγὼ ἐξίσταμαι τῷ θαύματι, τρέμων τὸ μυστήριον. Θαῤῥήσω τῷ Γαβριὴλ, καὶ φυγαδεύω μου τὸν φόβον.

Τὰ πρὸς Μαρίαν ῥήματα, ἑρμηνεύοντα θαύματα. Ποῖα ταῦτα; Καί φησι· Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, οὐρανίου στάχυος ἀθέριστος ἄρουρα· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ἀληθινῆς ἀμπέλου ἀψευδὴς μήτηρ παρθένος· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ἀτρέπτου θεότητος σαγήνη ἀδιάπτωτος· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, τῆς ἀχωρήτου φύσεως χωρίον εὐρύχωρον· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, τοῦ χηρεύοντος κόσμου νυμφίε, τόκε ἀμίαντε· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ἡ τῇ κτίσει ὑφάνασα ἀχειρόπλοκον στέφανον· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, πυρὸς ἅγιον οἰκητήριον, χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ἡ τῆς φυγάδος οἰκουμένης ἐπάνοδος· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, τῆς λιμωττούσης κτίσεως ταμιεῖον ἀδαπάνητον· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ἡ χάρις ἡ ἀπέραντος τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, πολλῶν ἀρετῶν κεκοσμημένη λαμπαδηφόρε, τὸ ἄσβεστον καὶ τοῦ ἡλίου λαμπρότερον φῶς· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, τοῦ νοητοῦ ἀγκίστρου τὸ δέλεαρ· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, νοερὰ τῆς δόξης κιβωτέ· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ἡ στάμνος ἡ χρυσῆ, ἡ τὸ οὐράνιον ἔχουσα μάννα· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ἡ τὴν γλυκεῖαν πόσιν τῆς ἀεννάου πηγῆς τοὺς διψῶντας ἐμπλήσασα· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ἡ νοερὰ θάλασσα, καὶ τὸν οὐράνιον ἔχουσα μαργαρίτην Χριστόν· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ λαμπρὸς οὐρανὸς, ἡ τὸν ἀχώρητον ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἐν ἑαυτῇ ἔχουσα Θεὸν ἀχώρητον καὶ ἀστενοχώρητον· χαῖρε κεχαριτωμένη, στυλοειδὴς νεφέλη, ἡ τὸν Θεὸν ἔχουσα τὸν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καθοδηγήσαντα τὸν Ἰσραήλ.

Τί εἴπω καὶ τί λαλήσω; πῶς μακαρίζω τὴν ὁλόῤῥιζον δόξαν; Ὅτι, χωρὶς Θεοῦ μόνου, πάντων ἀνωτέρα ὑπάρχεις. Ἡ δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ λόγῳ διεταράχθη, καὶ τῷ βλέμματι φεύγουσα, τῷ σώματι ἵσταται, σταυροτύπῳ ἱστορίᾳ τυποῦσα τὴν θέαν, ἀμφιβόλοις δὲ προπαρίστατο τῷ ἀγγέλῳ, μήτε φυγεῖν τολμῶσα, μήτε ἵστασθαι θαῤῥοῦσα. Ὁρῶσα τὸν ἀσώματον ἱστάμενον ὡς ἄνθρωπον, παραμένειν ᾐδεῖτο, τιμῶσα τὴν παρθενίαν· ἐρωτᾷν οὐκ ἐτόλμα τὸν ἀνόμοιον. Καὶ ἦν τὸ φόβῳ ἔσοπτρον τῆς παρθένου προελθοῦσα τὸ πρόσωπον, λέγουσα ἐν ἑαυτῇ, Ποταπὸς εἴη ὁ ἀσπασμὸς οὗτος; ἢ τίς ὁ ἀσπασάμενός με; Ὑπεραστράπτει ἥλιον, καὶ πηλῷ διαλέγεται· ἐξ οὐρανοῦ