👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾Our #Lord’s #Birth in the Words of the #Fathers and #Scholars
Dear followers of the Orthodox teachings on John's Repentance website .we greet you with the peace of the Lord.Today , based on the topic mentioned above, we present to you the following important lesson.We encourage everyone to read it carefully and learn from it.
✍🏾Bethlehem and the Mystery of the Nativity
✍🏾 Saint John Chrysostom teaches that Bethlehem is like the Kingdom of Heaven.
In speaking about the birth of our Lord, the Second Adam, Christ revealed in Bethlehem the blessed life of the Kingdom that humanity lost through the first Adam. Through His Nativity, Christ restored our lost sonship and reconciled us with the Father.
For this reason, the prophet Micah foretold:
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for Me One who is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”(Micah 5:2)
✍🏾Saint Ephrem the Syrian on the Nativity
✍🏾 Saint Ephrem the Syrian, in his homilies on the Nativity, speaks of the great mystery of salvation revealed on this holy day:
“A great light has dawned on those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. God, who dwells among the saints, became man from a pure Virgin in order to save us. Come, behold this wonder and give thanks for the mystery revealed to us. He became man without ceasing to be God. The Word was united to the flesh, and the ageless Divinity clothed Himself in humanity.”
👉🏾The Nativity reveals the incomprehensible humility of God and His immeasurable love for mankind.
✍🏾The perfect forgiveness and reconciliation accomplished by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ began with His Nativity. The birth of our Lord holds a central place in the history of salvation and reveals the unique and incomprehensible wisdom of God, who became man in order to save the world.
✍🏾Through the Nativity, heaven and earth were united, and those who were once separated angels and human beings were joined together in praise. The tongues of the shepherds were made worthy to glorify God together with the angels. Even the animals, though without understanding, bore witness to the humility of the Creator.
✍🏾The heavenly hosts glorified Him as King of kings, whose authority has no end and whose kingdom is eternal. The kings of the earth approached Him with reverence, offering gold for His kingship, frankincense for His priesthood, and myrrh for His saving sacrifice.
✍🏾The Holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, together with the righteous Joseph, was granted this unique and divine honor. Thus, the Nativity of our Lord is truly wondrous, beyond human understanding, and full of glory, humility, and salvation for the whole world.
✍🏾Bethlehem means House of Bread.
This is the land that Caleb gave to Israel when they inherited the land during the time of Joshua, by the power of God, kebron is the land belonged to Judah and later became the city of David.
✍🏾First, Caleb married a wife named Kebita, and the place was called Kebita, which means house of praise. This was because Caleb understood, by the Spirit of God, that the birth of Christ would be revealed in this land and that angels would praise God there.
👉🏾Later, Caleb married a wife named Ephrathah, and after her name the place was called Ephrathah.
✍🏾Ephrathah means a fruitful tree, a tree that bears fruit. This is a symbol of Our Lady, the bearer of the Fruit of Life, because she gave birth to Christ, the Fruit of Life, as Saint Jared says in the Book of Revelation.
Continues 👇🏾