Oration XXXVIII. On the Theophany, or Birthday of Christ.

 I.  Christ is born, glorify ye Him.  Christ from heaven, go ye out to meet Him.  Christ on earth be ye exalted.  Sing unto the Lord all the whole ear

 II.  Again the darkness is past again Light is made again Egypt is punished with darkness again Israel is enlightened by a pillar.   The people tha

 III.  Of these on a future occasion for the present the Festival is the Theophany or Birth-day, for it is called both, two titles being given to the

 IV.  This is our present Festival it is this which we are celebrating to-day, the Coming of God to Man, that we might go forth, or rather (for this i

 V.  And how shall this be?  Let us not adorn our porches, nor arrange dances, nor decorate the streets let us not feast the eye, nor enchant the ear

 VI.  Let us leave all these to the Greeks and to the pomps and festivals of the Greeks, who call by the name of gods beings who rejoice in the reek of

 VII.  God always was, and always is, and always will be.  Or rather, God always Is.  For Was and Will be are fragments of our time, and of changeable

 VIII.  And when Infinity is considered from two points of view, beginning and end (for that which is beyond these and not limited by them is Infinity)

 IX.  But since this movement of self-contemplation alone could not satisfy Goodness, but Good must be poured out and go forth beyond Itself to multipl

 X.  Thus, then, and for these reasons, He gave being to the world of thought, as far as I can reason upon these matters, and estimate great things in

 XI.  Mind, then, and sense, thus distinguished from each other, had remained within their own boundaries, and bore in themselves the magnificence of t

 XII.  This being He placed in Paradise, whatever the Paradise may have been, having honoured him with the gift of Free Will (in order that God might b

 XIII.  And having been first chastened by many means (because his sins were many, whose root of evil sprang up through divers causes and at sundry tim

 XIV.  To this what have those cavillers to say, those bitter reasoners about Godhead, those detractors of all that is praiseworthy, those darkeners of

 XV.  He was sent, but as man, for He was of a twofold Nature for He was wearied, and hungered, and was thirsty, and was in an agony, and shed tears,

 XVI.  A little later on you will see Jesus submitting to be purified in the River Jordan for my Purification, or rather, sanctifying the waters by His

 XVII.  Now then I pray you accept His Conception, and leap before Him if not like John from the womb, yet like David, because of the resting of the A

 XVIII.  One thing connected with the Birth of Christ I would have you hate…the murder of the infants by Herod.   Or rather you must venerate this too,

IV.  This is our present Festival; it is this which we are celebrating to-day, the Coming of God to Man, that we might go forth,12    Ephes. iv. 22, 24. or rather (for this is the more proper expression) that we might go back to God—that putting off the old man, we might put on the New; and that as we died in Adam, so we might live in Christ,13    1 Cor. xv. 22. being born with Christ and crucified with Him and buried with Him and rising with Him.14    Col. ii. 11.  For I must undergo the beautiful conversion, and as the painful succeeded the more blissful, so must the more blissful come out of the painful.  For where sin abounded Grace did much more abound;15    Rom. v. 20. and if a taste condemned us, how much more doth the Passion of Christ justify us?  Therefore let us keep the Feast, not after the manner of a heathen festival, but after a godly sort; not after the way of the world, but in a fashion above the world; not as our own but as belonging to Him Who is ours, or rather as our Master’s; not as of weakness, but as of healing; not as of creation, but of re-creation.

Δʹ. Τοῦτό ἐστιν ἡμῖν ἡ πανήγυρις, τοῦτο ἑορτάζομεν σήμερον, ἐπιδημίαν Θεοῦ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους, ἵνα πρὸς Θεὸν ἐνδημήσωμεν, ἢ ἐπανέλθωμεν (οὕτω γὰρ εἰπεῖν οἰκειότερον), ἵνα τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀποθέμενοι, τὸν νέον ἐνδυσώμεθα: καὶ ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ ἀπεθάνομεν, οὕτως ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ ζήσωμεν, Χριστῷ καὶ συγγεννώμενοι, καὶ συσταυρούμενοι, καὶ συνθαπτόμενοι, καὶ συνανιστάμενοι. Δεῖ γάρ με παθεῖν τὴν καλὴν ἀντιστροφήν: καὶ ὥσπερ ἐκ τῶν χρηστοτέρων, ἦλθε τὰ λυπηρὰ, οὕτως ἐκ τῶν λυπηρῶν, ἐπανελθεῖν τὰ χρηστότερα. Οὗ γὰρ ἐπλεόνασεν ἡ ἁμαρτία, ὑπερεπερίσσευσεν ἡ χάρις: καὶ εἰ ἡ γεῦσις κατέκρινε, πόσῳ μᾶλλον τὸ Χριστὸν παθεῖν ἐδικαίωσεν; Τοιγαροῦν ἑορτάζωμεν, μὴ πανηγυρικῶς, ἀλλὰ θεϊκῶς: μὴ κοσμικῶς, ἀλλ' ὑπερκοσμίως: μὴ τὰ ἡμέτερα, ἀλλὰ τὰ τοῦ ἡμετέρου, μᾶλλον δὲ τὰ τοῦ Δεσπότου: μὴ τὰ τῆς ἀσθενείας, ἀλλὰ τὰ τῆς ἰατρείας: μὴ τὰ τῆς πλάσεως, ἀλλὰ τὰ τῆς ἀναπλάσεως.