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,

XI.  Mind, then, and sense, thus distinguished from each other, had remained within their own boundaries, and bore in themselves the magnificence of the Creator-Word, silent praisers24    Ps. xix. 1, 3. and thrilling heralds of His mighty work.  Not yet was there any mingling of both, nor any mixtures of these opposites, tokens of a greater Wisdom and Generosity in the creation of natures; nor as yet were the whole riches of Goodness made known.  Now the Creator-Word, determining to exhibit this, and to produce a single living being out of both—the visible and the invisible creations, I mean—fashions Man; and taking a body from already existing matter, and placing in it a Breath taken from Himself25    Gen. ii. 7. which the Word knew to be an intelligent soul and the Image of God, as a sort of second world.  He placed him, great in littleness26    Sc. a microcosm. on the earth; a new Angel, a mingled worshipper, fully initiated into the visible creation, but only partially into the intellectual; King of all upon earth, but subject to the King above; earthly and heavenly; temporal and yet immortal; visible and yet intellectual; half-way between greatness and lowliness; in one person combining spirit and flesh; spirit, because of the favour bestowed on him; flesh, because of the height to which he had been raised; the one that he might continue to live and praise his Benefactor, the other that he might suffer, and by suffering be put in remembrance, and corrected if he became proud of his greatness.  A living creature trained here, and then moved elsewhere; and, to complete the mystery, deified by its inclination to God.  For to this, I think, tends that Light of Truth which we here possess but in measure, that we should both see and experience the Splendour of God, which is worthy of Him Who made us, and will remake us again after a loftier fashion.

ΙΑʹ. Νοῦς μὲν οὖν ἤδη καὶ αἴσθησις, οὕτως ἀπ' ἀλλήλων διακριθέντα, τῶν ἰδίων ὅρων ἐντὸς εἱστήκεισαν, καὶ τὸ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ Λόγου μεγαλεῖον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἔφερον, σιγῶντες ἐπαινέται τῆς μεγαλουργίας, καὶ διαπρύσιοι κήρυκες. Οὔπω δὲ ἦν κρᾶμα ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων, οὐδέ τις μίξις τῶν ἐναντίων, σοφίας μείζονος γνώρισμα, καὶ τῆς περὶ τὰς φύσεις πολυτελείας: οὐδὲ ὁ πᾶς πλοῦτος τῆς ἀγαθότητος γνώριμος. Τοῦτο δὴ βουληθεὶς ὁ τεχνίτης ἐπιδείξασθαι Λόγος, καὶ ζῶον ἓν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων, ἀοράτου τε λέγω καὶ ὁρατῆς φύσεως, δημιουργεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον: καὶ παρὰ μὲν τῆς ὕλης λαβὼν τὸ σῶμα ἤδη προϋποστάσης, παρ' ἑαυτοῦ δὲ πνοὴν ἐνθεὶς (ὃ δὴ νοερὰν ψυχὴν καὶ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ οἶδεν ὁ λόγος), οἷόν τινα κόσμον δεύτερον, ἐν μικρῷ μέγαν, ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἵστησιν, ἄγγελον ἄλλον, προσκυνητὴν μικτὸν, ἐπόπτην τῆς ὁρατῆς κτίσεως, μύστην τῆς νοουμένης, βασιλέα τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς, βασιλευόμενον ἄνωθεν, ἐπίγειον καὶ οὐράνιον, πρόσκαιρον καὶ ἀθάνατον, ὁρατὸν καὶ νοούμενον, μέσον μεγέθους καὶ ταπεινότητος: τὸν αὐτὸν, πνεῦμα καὶ σάρκα: πνεῦμα διὰ τὴν χάριν, σάρκα διὰ τὴν ἔπαρσιν: τὸ μὲν, ἵνα μένῃ καὶ δοξάζῃ τὸν εὐεργέτην: τὸ δὲ, ἵνα πάσχῃ, καὶ πάσχων ὑπομιμνήσκηται καὶ παιδεύηται τῷ μεγέθει φιλοτιμούμενος: ζῶον ἐνταῦθα οἰκονομούμενον, καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ μεθιστάμενον, καὶ πέρας τοῦ μυστηρίου τῇ πρὸς Θεὸν νεύσει θεούμενον. Εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ ἐμοὶ φέρει τὸ μέτριον ἐνταῦθα φέγγος τῆς ἀληθείας, λαμπρότητα Θεοῦ καὶ ἰδεῖν καὶ παθεῖν, ἀξίαν τοῦ καὶ συνδήσαντος, καὶ λύσοντος, καὶ αὖθις συνδήσοντος ὑψηλότερον.