OPENING CHANT

Your Nativity, O Virgin, Has proclaimed joy to the whole universe! The Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God, Has shone from You, O Theotokos! By annulling the curse, He bestowed a blessing. By destroying death, He has granted us eternal Life.

COLLECT

Impart to your servants, we pray, O Lord,
the gift of heavenly grace,
that the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin
may bring deeper peace
to those for whom the birth of her Son
was the dawning of salvation.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

FIRST READING   Micah 5:1-4a

The LORD says:
You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah,
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
From you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel;
Whose origin is from of old,
from ancient times.
(Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time
when she who is to give birth has borne,
And the rest of his brethren shall return
to the children of Israel.)
He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock
by the strength of the LORD,
in the majestic name of the LORD, his God;
And they shall remain, for now his greatness
shall reach to the ends of the earth;
he shall be peace.

RESPONSORY

O most strange wonder! The fount of
life is born of a barren woman, and grace
begins gloriously to bear its fruit. Rejoice, O
Joachim, inspired by God, who hast become
the father of the Theotokos. There is no other
father in mankind like unto thee, for through
thee has been given to us the maiden in
whom God came to dwell, the tabernacle of
God, the most holy mountain.

GOSPEL          Matthew 1:18-23

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel.

RESPONSORY

O most strange wonder! At the behest
of the Almighty Maker of all, a fruit has
shone forth from a barren womb that has
fully ended the world’s barrenness in good.
Ye mothers, dance with the mother of the
Theotokos and cry: “Rejoice, thou who art full
of grace, the Lord is with thee, granting the
world through thee great mercy.”

HOMILY OF ST. GREGORY PALAMAS

“The time is always right to make a beginning of a way of life that will lead to salvation (cf. 2 cor 6:2, Rom 13:12-13). . . .  If, however, it were necessary to name the most appropriate season of all, and if, just as there is a time to sow and a time to reap, a time to plant and a time to harvest, and a time for everything else (cf. Eccl. 3:1-8), you are looking for a season especially suited for beginning a good work, then it is autumn, particularly this month, which is our first month and the start of the year, when our salvation had its origin, as we celebrate today.  This sacred feast and holiday that we are keeping is the first to commemorate our recall and re-creation according to grace, for on it all things began to be made new, enduring precepts began to be brought in instead of temporary ones, the spirit instead of the letter, the truth instead of shadows.  Today a new world and a mysterious paradise have been revealed, in which and from which a New Adam came into being, re-making the Old Adam and renewing the universe.  He is not led astray by the deceiver, but deceives him, and bestows freedom on those enslaved to sin through his treachery.  Today a paradoxical book has been made ready on earth, which in an indescribable way can hold, not the imprint of words, but the living Word Himself; not a word consisting of air, but the heavenly Word; not a word that perishes as soon as it is formed, but the Word Who snatches those who draw near Him from perdition; not a word made by the movement of a man’s tongue, but the Word begotten of God the Father before all ages.  Today the living Tabernacle of God not made with hands appears, the inspired human Ark of the true Bread of Life sent down from heaven for us (cf. John 6:32ff).  Today, according to the Psalms, ‘Truth has sprung up from the earth,’ the true image of human nobility which comes from above, ‘and righteousness has looked down from heaven’ (Ps. 85:11 LXX).  This righteousness has deposed the unrighteous ruler from his unjust dominion, after being wrongfully condemned by him and rightly condemning him, and having bound the strong and evil one, plundered his goods (cf. Matt. 12:29), and transformed them, rendering them receptive to divine righteousness.  Thus Christ took sin’s prisoners to live with Him for ever, justifying them by faith in Him, but He bound the prince of sin with inescapable bonds, and delivered him to eternal fire without light.  Today, as prophesied, out of the ‘stem of Jesse’ a rod has come forth (cf. Isa. 11:1), from which a flower has grown which knows no wilting.  This rod recalls our human nature, which had withered and fallen away from the unfading garden of delight, makes it bloom again, grants it to flourish for ever, brings it up to heaven, and leads it into paradise.  With this rod the great Shepherd moves His human flock to eternal pastures, and supported by this rod, our nature lays aside its old age and feeble senility, and easily strides towards heaven, leaving the earth below for those who, devoid of support, are plunging downwards.  But who is the new world, the mysterious paradise, the paradoxical book, the inspired Tabernacle and Ark of God, the truth sprung from the earth, the much extolled rod of Jesse?  It is the Maiden who before and after childbearing is eternally virgin, whose birth from a barren mother we celebrate today.”

RESPONSORY

Living pillar of chastity and bright vessel
shining with grace, glorious Anna has brought
into the world an offspring that is truly the
divine flower of virginity, and who bestows
the beauty of virginity on all who are virgins
and desire this gift of grace, granting the
faithful great mercy.

CONCLUDING CHANT

My soul doth magnify, magnify the Lord,
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
More honorable than the Cherubim and
more glorious beyond compare than the
Seraphim, without corruption thou gavest birth
to God the Word, true Theotokos, thee do we
magnify.
For He hath regarded the low estate of His
handmaiden; henceforth all generations will
call me blessed.
More honorable...
For He that is mighty has done great
things for me, and holy is His name, and
His mercy is on those who fear Him from
generation to generation.
More honorable..