2. The Nativity of Christ. The Circumcision of the Lord. The Presentation of the Lord Jesus in the Temple. The Adoration of the Magi. The Flight of the Holy Family Into Egypt and Their Return to Nazareth

Upon Her return to Nazareth, the Most Holy Virgin Mary was to take up final residence in the home of Her betrothed Joseph; but when the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit became evident in Her by clear signs of pregnancy, this became a source of no small distress for Her. A suspicious rumor spread among the neighbors that She had violated Her vow of virginity, and when this rumor reached Joseph, he too was not a little troubled, and considering his role as the guardian of Her virginity now superfluous, was minded to leave Her entirely. As a righteous man, it was painful for him to do this, and he deliberated on what to do in this difficult situation. But his difficulty was soon resolved for him by the Angel of the Lord, who appeared to him in a dream and said: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, God with us” (Matt. 1:20–23). This revelation—which spoke so powerfully to such a righteous man who undoubtedly, together with many other righteous ones like him, had long and ardently awaited the salvation of Israel—fully reassured Joseph, and in order to free Mary from every shadow of reproach on the part of those around them, he took Her into his home, where the Most Holy Virgin awaited the fulfillment of the great promise. But circumstances shaped themselves so that the birth was to take place not in Nazareth, but in another city, far from it, which had been foretold by the prophets.

The Jewish people at this time were in subjection to the master of the world—Rome—and since the time of Pompey had been paying it tribute. The emperor who now sat upon the Roman throne was Augustus, who employed all the energies of his governing genius to establish order throughout an empire that had just suffered through the horrors of civil upheavals and internecine strife. Most in need of regulation were financial affairs, which had been thrown into complete disorder during the civil commotions, and to this end the emperor ordered a census of the population to be taken throughout all the provinces of the vast empire. The emperor was so absorbed in this important affair of state that he made a statistical summary of the entire empire with his own hand, noting citizens and allies, quantities of duties and taxes. Three such censuses were conducted under him: at the beginning of his reign—in the year 726 from the founding of Rome; in the middle of his reign—in the year 746; and at the end of his reign—in the year 767 from the founding of Rome. The second of these censuses was now taking place, and moving gradually from province to province, it reached at last Judea, which was likewise required to carry out the decree of the supreme ruler. Judea’s king at this time was Herod the Great, but as a Roman vassal he was entirely dependent upon the Romans; slavishly eager to fulfill every wish of Caesar, he issued throughout the country an order for everyone to immediately submit to the required census. In order not to provoke unnecessary and fruitless unrest and dissatisfaction among subject peoples, the Roman government customarily allowed each province to carry out its orders in whatever manner was most in accord with the national character and its customs. Therefore, even in Judea the census was conducted not in the Roman manner but according to the ancient Jewish way, by which each person was required to register not at his place of residence but in the city from which his family originated. Since Joseph traced his lineage to King David, he was required to go to Bethlehem—the birthplace of his great royal ancestor—in order to register his name. This appears to have been in late 749, consequently in winter. But since winter in Palestine is not always severe, and after the November rains flowers sometimes even appear on the fields, to which the flocks are driven out, Joseph decided, despite the length of the journey, to take Mary with him—She also being of the lineage of David and unable not to feel the desire to visit the birthplace of Her royal ancestor, especially now that the time was approaching for the birth of the promised Son of David.

The journey, as was customary, was made slowly, with frequent stops at the numerous villages and towns that at that time covered almost the entire surface of this now sparsely populated and desolate land. At last they passed Jerusalem, and about ten versts to the south, on one of the limestone ridges, rose Bethlehem, their ancestral home. To enter the town one had to make a rather difficult ascent up the hill, and this ascent was especially difficult in that damp winter season when the rains had softened and made slippery all the roads leading to it; and it was yet more difficult for the Most Holy Mary in Her burdened state. But so much the greater was the joy with which the travelers from Nazareth finally reached one of the roadside inns or caravanserais on the outskirts of the town, where they hoped to spend the night. When they arrived at the inn, however, it turned out to be already full of people who had come for the census, and there was no room for them. In order to find at least some kind of shelter from the approaching night, they decided in their extremity to spend the night in the cave adjoining the inn, which also served as a stable for domestic animals. And there, in those poor surroundings, the King of the world—Christ—was born!

The greatest event in the world’s history had taken place—an event destined to transform the world completely—yet the world knew nothing of what had happened and, exhausted by its cares over the unceasing troubles of the day, lay plunged in deep sleep. Only a few poor and simple-hearted shepherds of the neighboring village were awake, keeping watch by turns over the flock entrusted to them against wolves and robbers. Though these were quite ordinary men, yet as inhabitants of a village situated almost under the walls of the glorious birthplace of the great King David, and not far from Jerusalem with its Temple and its atoning sacrifices—for which, among other purposes, their flocks were chiefly intended—they were undoubtedly filled with the common expectation of the Messiah, and the idle hours of tedious cold nights they had more than once whiled away in simple-hearted discussions about His imminent appearance in the world, if only to overthrow the yoke of the pagans who were now subjecting the people of God to the shameful enumeration for the purpose of burdening with new taxes an already impoverished people. Around them reigned a dead silence broken only by the faint bleating of the sheep; above their heads spread a cloudless sky sprinkled with the pattern of brilliantly gleaming stars, gazing down silently—as they had gazed for thousands of years—upon the very same fields on which the royal David had once pastured his flock. And suddenly, amid this nocturnal silence, “the angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them” (Luke 2:9). This apparition struck them with extraordinary terror, but the angel immediately reassured them, saying: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10–12). Scarcely had they heard this extraordinary message, and not yet had time to reason it out with their simple minds, when they saw a new sign confirming what the angel had just told them. The night sky with its countless stars was suddenly illumined with an extraordinary radiance, in which there appeared a multitude of the heavenly host, and over the sleeping earth rang out the solemn angelic song: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14). When the angelic choir fell silent and the shepherds—struck by all they had seen and heard—came to themselves again, they at once resolved to go to Bethlehem to see what exactly had happened there and what the Lord had announced to them. On the way they stopped at the roadside inn and there “found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger” (Luke 2:16)—exactly as it had been announced to them—and were the first to worship the newborn Christ. They were also the first among men to become heralds of His coming, for immediately after this they began to tell everyone what “had been told them about this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary (to whom more than to anyone else were known the awesome circumstances of the mystery of His birth) kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them” (Luke 2:17–20).

The compassion of those around them for the young Mother with Her wondrous Infant apparently resulted in the holy family’s immediate removal to more suitable lodgings in the inn, or in one of the private homes of Bethlehem. There, on the eighth day, circumcision was performed on the holy Infant—as the seal of His admission into the chosen people—and He was given the name Jesus, meaning Savior. This name, especially in its simplified form Hoshea or Hosea, was very widespread among the Jews of that time. They held it dear as the name of their famous leader who had victoriously led them into possession of the Promised Land, and as the name of the high priest who had led the exiles returning from Babylon; but henceforth, not for the Jews alone but for all humanity, it was to receive an infinitely more sacred significance as the name of the Son of God in His earthly life. The Hebrew name “Messiah” and the Greek “Christ” signified His ministry as the anointed Prophet, High Priest, and King; but “Jesus” was the personal name He bore as the true Man among other men.

On the fortieth day after the birth, the Most Holy Virgin Mary—who by the Law was unable to leave the house until that time—brought the Infant to the Jerusalem Temple to be purified and to present Him to the Lord. In such cases the Law required the offering of a one-year-old lamb as a burnt offering and a young pigeon or turtledove as a sin offering (Luke 2:22; Lev. 12:1–8; Num. 18:16); but by the customary leniency that distinguishes the Mosaic legislation, those who were too poor to make such a costly sacrifice were permitted to offer instead two turtledoves or two young pigeons (Lev. 12:6–8). It was with precisely such a modest offering that Mary came to the priest in the Temple. At the same time Jesus, as the Firstborn Son, was presented to the Lord and, in accordance with the Law, was redeemed from the obligation of Temple service by the customary payment of five sacred shekels (Num. 18:15–16). The Gospel account gives no further details about the purification and presentation in the Temple, but this visit to the Temple was distinguished by the fact that during it the Infant was acknowledged as the Savior of the world by the righteous Simeon and Anna.

In Jerusalem at that time, as in other parts of the land, there were not a few particularly devout and believing people who felt most keenly the burden of the times and yearned above all to see at last the salvation of Israel. Among them was one Simeon, “a just and devout man, waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25). He was already a very old man who in his day had witnessed not a few great upheavals and had lived through not a few grievous soul-trials. There were moments of heavy doubt for him, which were all the harder to bear for so believing and righteous a soul, and one such moment served even as the instrument of his supreme testing and at the same time his supreme joy. According to tradition, while reading the famous prophecy of Isaiah about the birth of the Messiah from a Virgin, he doubted the possibility of this, and for this doubt “it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord” (Luke 2:26). The promise was an extraordinarily joyful one for him, but years passed one after another, laying ever more heavily upon him the burden of old age’s infirmity, while the Messiah still did not come. In the last years of his life he became an almost constant dweller in the Temple and its porticos, where he ceaselessly offered prayers for the speediest fulfillment of the promise given to him. And then the Most Holy Virgin appeared in the Temple with Her divine Infant. At the sight of this Holy Infant the God-enlightened soul of the righteous elder leaped with joy. By his prophetic spirit he understood that this was the consolation of Israel, that this was the Messiah, the Savior of the world. After the performance of the lawful rite over the Infant, Simeon took Him into his aged and feeble arms, gave thanks to God, and uttered that majestic speech which has become the beloved canticle of the Christian world: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples—a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel” (Luke 2:29–32). Joseph and Mary marveled at all they heard, and he, turning to them, blessed them, adding to the Most Holy Virgin herself momentous words whose full force She could understand only later. “Behold,” said Simeon, pointing to the Infant, “this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34–35).

When Simeon had finished his blessing upon the parents of the infant, there approached them an aged woman Anna, known to the visitors of the Temple by the name of prophetess. She was a righteous woman just as Simeon was; she was of the tribe of Asher, and consequently from Galilee. She was already eighty-four years old, and in her memory there had occurred not only the conquest and capture of Jerusalem by Pompey the Roman, but also the fierce struggle between the Hasmonean brothers Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, which had undermined the moral strength of the people and helped the cunning Idumaean Herod to seize the throne of David. The entire reign of Herod with its horrors and bloodshed had unfolded before her eyes and had stirred in her all the more powerful a desire to see the salvation of Israel. Naturally devout, she had, after living with her husband only seven years and upon his death, devoted herself entirely to “serving God night and day” (Luke 2:37). And for this self-sacrifice she too was accounted worthy to behold the Savior of the world. Upon seeing Him, “she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).

In the persons of the righteous Simeon and Anna, the Savior of the world was revealed to Israel as the chosen people; but He did not delay in revealing Himself also to the Gentiles, who were likewise to have a share in salvation, and this Epiphany to the Gentiles was accomplished under extraordinary circumstances.

While the holy family was living in Bethlehem, quietly dwelling there under the shelter of poverty and obscurity, nature itself had already announced the appearance of the Messiah to the distant ends of the earth. From the far East there arrived in Jerusalem distinguished travelers—the so-called Magi—who, to the astonishment of the inhabitants of the Jewish capital, were asking where the Christ had been born. These were Chaldean sages who, devoting themselves to learned observations of the heavenly bodies, were renowned for their predictions concerning events and upheavals taking place in the world—which were believed, in the view commonly held in antiquity, to be connected with changes in celestial phenomena. During their learned observations of the sky, well-known to them, their attention was seized by an extraordinary star never before seen by them. Every appearance of a new star, in their teaching, testified to the appearance upon earth of some great man destined to exercise a great influence on the fate of the world; but this new star was so extraordinary that it aroused in the Magi a particular interest. What could it presage? — They were aware of the famous prophecy of Balaam about a star that would rise from Jacob; moreover, owing to the dispersion of the Jews and the translation of the Old Testament into the widely spoken Greek language, the Gentiles were well acquainted with the Jewish expectation of the coming of the Messiah, so much so that even such well-known Roman historians as Tacitus and Suetonius report the current opinion that in Judea a King would soon arise who would subjugate the whole world; and finally, the Chaldean sages could have been especially well acquainted with this hope of Israel through the prophet Daniel, who belonged to their class and who predicted with particular expressiveness the coming of the Messiah, even determining the time of His coming by exact numbers (weeks of years). All this provided sufficient grounds for the Magi to interpret the appearance of the new and extraordinary star precisely as signifying the birth of the Messiah, and if they also received a special revelation at that time, they sent from among themselves three members to go and verify personally the occurrence of the great event and to bring gifts and worship to the newborn great King. When, however, they arrived in Jerusalem, no one there except a few chosen individuals yet knew of the appearance of this extraordinary King; but the arrival of the sages involuntarily attracted general attention, and the purpose of their visit was immediately reported to Herod. This news struck the suspicious king like a thunderbolt; at that time, burdened by old age and illness and feeling already the unbearable sting of conscience for all the sins and bloody crimes of his vicious life, he was in a state of almost insane frenzy. Having already shed whole rivers of blood to destroy all who had even the slightest claim to the throne he had seized, he was positively frightened by the news that now at last the Messiah had been born—the true Son of David, to whom the throne he illegally occupied rightfully belonged. Together with him all Jerusalem was troubled. To investigate so important a matter, Herod immediately “gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people” and demanded that they answer his question: “Where is the Christ to be born?” (Matt. 2:4). It was not difficult for the learned Jewish theologians to answer this question, since the prophet Micah had clearly foretold that Christ was to be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2). Then Herod, having secretly summoned the Magi and learned from them the time of the star’s appearance—so as to determine more precisely the time of the Messiah’s birth—sent them to Bethlehem with the treacherous commission: “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring word to me, that I may come and worship Him also” (Matt. 2:8). Knowing nothing of the bloodthirsty intent of the king, the Magi set out on their way and with great joy saw that the star they had seen in the East appeared before them again and led them precisely to the place where the newborn Messiah was. “And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (Matt. 2:11), thus rendering to the Infant in His lowly cradle honors they had not rendered even to Herod in his luxurious palace.

Having offered their gifts and worshiped the wondrous Infant, the Magi would naturally have returned to Jerusalem to share their joy with Herod and give him the opportunity also to worship the Messiah; but a revelation received by them in sleep revealed to them Herod’s bloodthirsty design, and they “departed for their own country by another way” (Matt. 2:12). At the same time Joseph also received a divine warning about the danger threatening the Infant, and by the angel’s direction hastily moved with his family to Egypt—which from ancient times had been the natural place of refuge for all who were persecuted in Palestine—and remained there until the death of Herod.

Meanwhile the king, finding himself deceived by the Magi and suspecting them of complicity with the royal Infant, was seized with still greater fury that took on a thoroughly sinister character. He had no means of identifying the royal Infant of the seed of David, and least of all would he think of looking for Him in an animal stall adjoining an inn. But he knew that the Infant on whom, as a result of the Magi’s visit, he had come to look as a future rival to himself or his house, was still a nursing child, and since in the East mothers customarily nurse their children for two years, he did not shrink from the most terrible crime and issued a bloodthirsty command to kill all male children in Bethlehem and its environs “from two years old and under” (Matt. 2:16). Nothing is known of the manner in which this command was carried out. The children may have been killed secretly, gradually, and in various ways; or, according to the commonly accepted supposition, the massacre may have been carried out at some particular appointed hour. The commands of tyrants such as Herod are usually shrouded in impenetrable darkness; they strike everyone with terror and numbness, in which it is not safe to speak even in a whisper. But it was impossible to silence the desperate wailing of the mothers from whom their nursing children were torn with such cruelty, and all who heard this wailing could not help imagining that it was as though once again their great ancestral mother Rachel was weeping—her tomb stands by the road some two versts from Bethlehem—and had added her voice to the weeping and wailing of the hapless mothers, inconsolably lamenting their slaughtered little ones.

But this was Herod’s last crime, and soon he died, departing in despair and in terrible torment from a loathsome disease. Receiving word of Herod’s death, Joseph returned from Egypt and wished to settle in Bethlehem, but learning that in Judea the throne had passed to Herod’s bloodthirsty son Archelaus, he proceeded, by the angel’s direction, to Galilee—which was under the rule of Herod’s second son Antipas—and settled once more in his former city of Nazareth.