Sorrow and Joy

A Word for the Day of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos

Your Nativity, O Virgin Theotokos, has proclaimed joy to the whole universe: for from you has shone forth the Sun of righteousness, Christ our God (Troparion of the feast)

Dear brothers and sisters, we celebrate with solemnity the Nativity of the Most Holy Virgin Mary from her childless parents, the pious Joachim and Anna. Already in the first centuries of the Christian faith the Holy Church established this feast. The event we celebrate—the birth of the Maiden chosen by God—brought joy to the whole world, for Christ Jesus, the God-man, who shone forth from her, destroyed the curse of God that weighed upon the transgressing and accursed race of mankind and brought down upon it the blessing of God; and, by trampling underfoot the death common to all mankind, He granted people eternal life. This is how the Holy Church makes clear the cause of our present joy.

The righteous parents of the Ever-virgin grieved long over their barrenness; long and fervently they prayed to the Lord for the loosening of their barrenness, which was regarded as a punishment from God for sins; they performed many alms in order to incline to mercy the All-merciful One, and they endured abuse from their kinsfolk—and in this sorrow, in this unceasing prayer and doing of good, they were little by little purified in spirit and kindled more and more with love and devotion to God, and thus they were being prepared by the Providence of God for the blessed birth of the Most Blessed Daughter, chosen out of all generations to become the Mother of the Word made flesh.

By a narrow and sorrowful path the Lord leads His chosen ones to glory and blessedness—for even the Mother of the incarnate God had been foretold by Simeon that a sword would pass through her soul and that she would endure grievous sorrows of soul during the suffering life of her Son, so that the thoughts of many human hearts might be revealed[1]. So sorrowful and narrow is the path of all God’s chosen ones: for the world and the ruler of the world, that is, the enemy of God and of men, presses hard upon the people of God; and the Lord Himself allows them to walk the narrow path, since it helps them to strive toward God and to place their hope in Him alone.

But let us turn our gaze from sorrow to joy. What joy, then, does the Nativity of the Mother of God bring us? – We shall set forth more fully the church hymn that explains the reasons for the joy of the feast. – Through the birth of the Ever-Virgin, through her only-begotten Son and God, accursed and cast-off humanity was reconciled to God, whom their sins had immeasurably offended, for Christ became the Mediator of reconciliation[2]; it was delivered from the curse and from eternal death, and was made worthy of the blessing of the heavenly Father; it was joined and commingled with the Divine nature, and raised to its first estate by this commingling, in the words of the church hymn; man, formerly cast off, was made worthy of adoption to the heavenly Father, and received the promise of a glorious resurrection and eternal life in heaven together with the angels. All this has been accomplished, and is being accomplished, by the Son of God incarnate of the Most Pure Virgin by the Holy Spirit, and through the intercession of His Most Pure Mother. How honored and exalted is humanity through the holy Virgin Theotokos; for she was made worthy of renewal and of adoption to God; and she herself, by her boundless humility and her greatest purity and holiness, was made worthy to be the Mother of the God-Man! She ever remains the mightiest Intercessor and Protectress of the Christian race before her Son and God! She is our unashamed Hope; she turns away from us the clouds of God’s righteous wrath, and opens the ancient paradise to us by her mighty intercession; she upholds the thrones of kings and keeps them unshaken forever. She has saved Russia a thousand times over, from the beginning even to this day, and she saves it still; she exalted it, glorified it, established it, and establishes it still; she is the Surety of sinners for their salvation. To her Christians offer their countless prayers, petitions, praises, hymns of glory, and thanksgivings; she has worked, and works even now, countless miracles in the Church, beneficent in every corner of the world.

So let us all celebrate the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Virgin Mary joyfully, adorning ourselves with every manner of Christian virtue. Amen.