The Nativity of Christ — Christmas
In short: On December 25, the Church celebrates the Nativity of Christ: the Son of God becomes man and is born as a little child in Bethlehem. We do not only celebrate the memory of a distant birth, but God's entry into our world — the beginning of salvation. The feast is prepared by forty days of fasting.
What we celebrate
The Gospels according to Matthew and Luke tell of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem: Mary and Joseph arriving for the census, no room at the inn, the child laid in a manger, the shepherds called by angels, then the magi coming from afar. Everything happens at the margins, in poverty, almost unnoticed by the great world.
The Gospel according to John says the same thing looking from above: "The Word became flesh" (John 1:14). The One through whom all things were made receives our whole human nature — body, soul, growth, weariness. The eternal God does not enter the world with power and noise, but in the greatest humility: a little child, in a manger.
What the feast says about God
Christmas says that God does not save from a distance. He is not content to send a message or a law: He comes Himself. He takes upon Himself everything that is ours, down to hunger, tears and death, in order to give us what is His — the divine life. Saint Athanasius the Great summed up this mystery by saying that God became man so that man might be deified, that is, united to God by grace.
That is why the Nativity is not a sentimental winter tale. It is the foundation of everything that follows: without the manger there is no Cross, and without the Cross no Resurrection. When the Church bends over the manger, she already sees the whole work of salvation.
How to prepare for the feast and live it
The Church prepares for Christmas with forty days of fasting, from November 15 until the eve of the feast — a fast gentler than Great Lent, which clears the heart so that it can receive. The exact way of fasting varies with each person's strength and situation; it is best worked out in conversation with a priest.
In the Romanian tradition, the news of the birth goes from house to house through the colinde, the carols — a sung catechism, carried by children and elders alike. And on the day of the feast, the place of celebration is the church: at the Divine Liturgy, the Church does not merely commemorate an event of long ago, she sings "today" — today Christ is born.
- Find December 25 in the Orthodox calendar, and look also at the days before it, the days of the fast.
- On the day of the feast, read its Gospel in the readings of the day.
- Best of all, go to the festal Divine Liturgy: Christmas is lived in church, not only around the table.
Sources
- Luke 2:1-20 and Matthew 1:18 – 2:12 — the accounts of the Nativity
- John 1:14 — "The Word became flesh"
- Saint Athanasius the Great, On the Incarnation of the Word (ch. 54)
- The Menaion for December, the 25th day — the service of the feast