Sword in the Fire

The carols of Christmas have begun as we prepare for the birth of Christ.  Joyous old hymns celebrating “The First Noel”, honoring a “Silent Night”, and hearing angels beckon “Come All You Faithful” pulse through speakers of our local marketplace.  Orthodox songs are absent in popular American life, so we may be less familiar with the words and meanings.  Leading up to the Nativity, several hymns repeat each service, bringing to us the theology of the Church and helping us understand the fullness of the Incarnation.  No service of the Christmas season is more full of wonder and theology than the Royal Hours preceding the celebration of the Nativity of Christ.  Hymns explaining the mystery of God becoming Man through the womb of a Virgin are scattered among litanies, Psalms, and Readings of Scripture.  Yet throughout this service a strange phrase is repeated:   click here for the rest Theron Mathis

Hymns on the Nativity of Christ: Hymn 11 St. Ephraim the Syrian (The Virgin Mother to Her Child.) I shall not be jealous, my Son, that You are with me, and also with all men. Be God to him that confesses You, and be Lord to him that serves You, and be Brother to him that loves You, that You may gain all! When You dwelled in me, You also dwelled out of me, and when I brought You forth openly, Your hidden might was not removed from me. You are within me, and You are without me, O You that makes Your Mother amazed. For [when] I see that outward form of Yours before my eyes, the hidden Form is shadowed forth "in my mind," O holy One. In Your visible form I see Adam, and in Your hidden form I see Your Father, who is joined with You. Have You then shown me alone Your Beauty in two Forms? Let Bread shadow forth You, and also the mind; dwell also in Bread and in the eaters thereof. In secret, and openly too, may Your Church see You, as well as Your Mother. He tha...