Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the First Sunday after Christmas

Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:

“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace,
According to Your word;
For my eyes have seen Your salvation
Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,
And the glory of Your people Israel.”

And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:22–35)

Whence it seems wonderful that the sacrifice of Mary was not the first offering, that is “a yearling lamb” but the second since “she could not afford” the first. For as it was written about her, His parents came “to offer a sacrifice” for him, “according to what was written in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves and two young doves.” But in this the truth is also shown to be what was written, that Jesus Christ “although He was rich became a poor man.” Therefore, for this reason, He chose both a poor mother, from whom He was born, and a poor homeland, about which it is said, “And you, Bethlehem, you are the least among the tribes of Judah” and the rest.

Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 8.4.3

The Son came to the servant not to be presented by the servant, but so that, through the Son, the servant might present to his Lord the priesthood and prophecy that had been entrusted to his keeping. Prophecy and priesthood, which had been given through Moses, were both passed down, and came to rest on Simeon. He was a pure vessel who consecrated himself, so that, like Moses, he too could contain them both. These were feeble vessels that accommodated great gifts, gifts that one might contain because of their goodness, but that many cannot accept, because of their greatness. Simeon presented our Lord, and in Him he presented the two gifts he had so that what had been given to Moses in the desert was passed on by Simeon in the temple. Because our Lord is the vessel in which all fullness dwells, when Simeon presented Him to God, he poured out both of these upon Him: the priesthood from his hands, and prophecy from his lips. The priesthood had always been on Simeon’s hands, because of purifications. Prophecy, in fact, dwelt on his lips because of revelations. When both of these saw the Lord of both of these, both of them were combined and were poured into the vessel that could accommodate them both, in order to contain priesthood, kingship, and prophecy.

Ephrem the Syrian, Homily on Our Lord 53.1

Patristic Wisdom for Christmas Day

Drink this first; act swiftly, region of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, and the rest who are on the coast and across the Jordan, Galilee of the nations! People going in darkness, see a great light! Those inhabiting a region, a shadow of death, light will shine on you! The greatest part of the people that you led down in your gladness will also make merry before you, like those gladdened during the harvest and just like those who divide up the spoils, because the yoke laid on them and the rod on their neck has been taken away. For He shattered the rod of those demanding payment as in the day in the time of Midian, because they will return as an exchange every robe and garment collected by trickery, and they will be willing, if they became burnt. Because a child was born to us; a son was given to us whose leadership came upon His shoulder; and His name is called “Messenger of the Great Council,” for I will bring peace upon the rulers and health to Him. His leadership is great, and there is no limit to His peace on the throne of David and His kingdom, to establish and take hold of it by justice and by righteousness, now and forever. The eagerness of the Lord Sabaoth will do these things. (Isaiah 9:2–7 LXX)

This is the third time in the same prophecy where the son is also called child. Indeed the first time: “Look, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and you shall name him Emmanuel.” Then he added: “For before the child knows good or bad.” And the second time: “And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son.” Then he added: “For before the child knows how to call ‘father’ or ‘mother.’” And the third time is in the text at hand through the word which said: Because a child was born for us. For this very reason the child is this son, who was given as a gift from God to those who have believed in him and who has many more names than those stated above. And he has been named messenger of great counsel. And although this name may seem rather ordinary, it points to something beyond mortal nature, even angelic. For he addressed Him not simply as messenger, but as messenger of great counsel. And what else could the great counsel be except the counsel of the great God concerning the calling and salvation of all nations, which the messenger Himself, our Savior, would minister in the benevolent counsel of the Father? According to the Hebrew Scriptures He has been honored with greater forms of address than messenger, for it is said that He bears the government on His shoulder. For the government of the prophesied child (that is, the glory and the honor and the kingdom) is the government that is on His shoulder and over all (clearly, the government should be understood as the arm of the divinity in Him). He has been called messenger of great counsel because of His divinity, for He alone understands the secret things of the fatherly counsel, and He is the messenger to the worthy. …

After saying this concerning the child who was born, he adds yet also these things concerning him: on the throne of David and his kingdom, to make it prosper. And he accurately preserves how it was said that He would take his seat not just on the throne of David, but more generally on the throne of David and His kingdom, to make it prosper, which we understand to imply that He will come in order to prosper the throne of David and “the booth of David that is fallen.” For after the kingdom of David had been subjected and overthrown from the time of the captivity of the people in Babylon, there were also prophecies foretelling that the throne of David would shine forth in righteousness as the light of the sun throughout all civilization. This same promise has come to be fulfilled in Him who was descended “from David according to the flesh” and who shines over the souls of people and consolidates his kingdom through all the nations of the entire empire. For in this way He restored the throne of David, not in arms and staves but with judgment and with righteousness. And He did so from this time onward and forevermore, on the one hand from now, signifying the time when the rule had been ordained, through to the time of the advent of His sojourn among humanity, and forevermore, indicating His boundless and lasting kingdom.

One should note first that it was foreknown and announced that He “would be born of a virgin,” second that, concerning the question before us, as it were, the Lord introduced how this will happen when he said: “And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son,” and third that he does not mention the virgin conception or the manner of the incredible pregnancy according to God. We learned these things concerning this child in advance, and he instructs us in detail in the secrets of His theology, and all these things are said concerning the advent of the little child. I do not know how those of the circumcision who do not wish to receive our Savior would understand these words, for the works testify concerning Him and the accomplishment of the deeds is confirmed. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do these things. What could the zeal be if not the good after which He strove, since it was fitting for Him to save all those who were oppressed by the devil and who had been drawn down into godlessness?

Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on Isaiah 9.6–7

Patristic Wisdom for Christmas Eve

Moreover the Lord added this to Ahaz, saying, “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I tempt the Lord.” Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, O house of David, is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary the Lord also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:10–14 LXX)

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus. (Matthew 1:18–25)

He who was going to consecrate a new order of birth, must Himself be born after a novel fashion, concerning which Isaiah foretold how that the Lord Himself would give the sign. What, then, is the sign? “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” Accordingly, a virgin did conceive and bear “Emmanuel, God with us.” This is the new nativity; a man is born in God. And in this man God was born, taking the flesh of an ancient race, without the help, however, of the ancient seed, in order that He might reform it with a new seed, that is, in a spiritual manner, and cleanse it by the removal of all its ancient stains.

Tertullian, On the Flesh of Christ 17

Thus the evangelists help us to recognize the divine and corporeal birth of the Lord, which they describe as a twofold mystery and a kind of double path. To be sure, both births of the Lord are indescribable, but that from the Father vastly exceeds every mode of narration and wonder. The bodily birth of Christ is in time; His divine birth is before time. The former is in this world, the latter before the ages. The former from a virgin mother, the latter from God the Father. Angels and men stood as witnesses at the corporeal birth of the Lord; at his divine birth there was no witness except the Father and the Son, because nothing existed before the Father and the Son. But because God the Word could not be seen in the glory of His divinity, He assumed visible flesh to show His invisible divinity. He took from us what is ours, in order to lavish upon us what is His.

When therefore saint Mary had conceived by the Holy Spirit in accordance with the announcement of the angel and showed herself to be well along in her pregnancy, saint Joseph, to whom the same Virgin Mary had been betrothed, not knowing about the secret of such a great mystery, wanted to dismiss her secretly. … He thought that she who even while pregnant remained a virgin was an adulteress; he reckoned to be defiled she who was the mother of virginity; and he believed that she who had conceived the author of life was worthy of death. Yet consider the resolve of the just man. Although he thought saint Mary was an adulteress, yet he was not disposed to offer her up for condemnation, lest he should stain his own holy conscience with the blood of someone else.

While saint Joseph then was still unaware of so great a mystery and wanted to put Mary away secretly, he was warned in a vision by an angel, who said to him, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that which is born from her is of the Holy Spirit.” Saint Joseph is made aware of the heavenly mystery, lest he think otherwise about Mary’s virginity. For it would not have been right for a just man to be in error over such great virginity. He is also made aware of it for this purpose, to exclude the evil of suspicion and receive the good of the mystery. The following words were said to him: “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that which will be born from her is of the Holy Spirit,” so that he would recognize the integrity of his spouse and the virgin birth.

Chromatius of Aquileia, Tractate on Matthew 3.1–3

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday in Advent

Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:39–45)

Not yet born, already John prophesies and, while still in the enclosure of his mother’s womb, confesses the coming of Christ with movements of joy since he could not do so with his voice. For Elizabeth says to holy Mary: As soon as you greeted me, the child in my womb exulted for joy. John exults, then, before he is born, and before his eyes can see what the world looks like he can recognize the Lord of the world with his spirit. In this regard I think that the prophetic phrase is apropos which says: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you. Thus we ought not to marvel that, after he was put in prison by Herod, from his confinement he continued to announce Christ to his disciples, when even confined in the womb he preached the same Lord by his movements.

Maximus of Turin, Sermon 5.4

Believe what says the angel who was sent
From the Father's throne, or if your stolid ear
Catch not the voice from heaven, be wise and hear
The cry of aged woman, now with child.
O wondrous faith! The babe in senile womb
Greets through his mother's lips the Virgin's Son,
Our Lord; the child unborn makes known the cry
Of the Child bestowed on us, for speechless yet,
He caused that mouth to herald Christ as God.

Prudentius, The Divinity of Christ 585–93.

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Third Sunday in Advent

Rejoice, O daughter of Zion!
        Make a proclamation, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Rejoice and enjoy yourself from your whole heart,
    O daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away your injustices;
        he has ransomed you from the hand of your enemies.
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst,
        you shall not see evil any longer.
In that time the Lord will say to Jerusalem,
“Take courage, Zion!
        Do not let your hands get weak.
The Lord your God is among you;
        the Mighty One will save you.
And he will bring upon you the festivity
        and renew you in his affection,
and he will rejoice because of you in delight
        as in a day of festival.
And I will gather together those who are crushed.
        Alas, who took up a reproach against her?
Behold, I will act among you for your sake
        in that time,” says the Lord.
“And I will save the oppressed one
        and the rejected one.
I will gather them for glory,
        and they will be renowned in all the earth.
And they will be ashamed in that time,
        when I do well for you,
and in the time when I will gather you,
        because I will give you renowned ones,
and for glory among all the peoples of the earth,
        when I return your captives before you,” says the Lord.

(Zephaniah 3:14–20 LXX)

As far as the factual account goes, he clearly promises them peace after the return from Babylon, when their former faults are forgotten and God promises to accompany and protect them. On the other hand, as far as the deeper meaning goes, he necessarily ordered them to rejoice exceedingly, and as well to be glad with their whole heart at the removal of their sins—through Christ, obviously. That is to say, the spiritual and holy Zion, that is, the Church or vast company of the believers, has been justified by Christ and by Him alone; we have been saved through Him and by Him, escaping harm from the unseen foe, with Him as our mediator appearing in a form like ours as God and King of all, the Word of God the Father. Because of Him, we shall witness troubles no longer, that is, we shall be liberated from everyone able to do harm; after all, He is the instrument of benevolence, He is peace, the wall, the provider of immortality, the dispenser of crowns, who repels war waged by the spiritual Assyrians and annuls the schemes of the demons.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Zephaniah 3.14

I am aware that some commentators understood this of the return from Babylon and the renovation of Jerusalem, and I do not contradict their words: the prophecy applies also to what happened at that time. But you can find a more exact outcome after the Incarnation of our Savior: then it was that He healed the oppressed in heart in the washing of regeneration, then it was that He renewed human nature, loving us so much as to give His life for us. After all, “greater love than this no one can show than for one to lay down one's life for one's friend,” and again, “God so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son so that everyone believing in Him might not be lost but have eternal life.” … The salvation of human beings rests with divine lovingkindness alone: we do not earn it as the wages of righteousness; rather, it is a gift of divine goodness. Hence the Lord says, “on your behalf I shall save and welcome” and make My own what has become another's, render it conspicuous, make it more famous than all others, free it from its former shame, and from being captives and slaves I shall make them free people and My own. Now, as I have said, this He both made a gift of to those returning from Babylon at that time and also granted to all people later: we who were once in thrall to the devil, but are now freed from that harsh captivity and unmindful of the error of polytheism, have become God's own, being famous beyond pagans and barbarians, according to the prophecy, and we who were once far off have become near, according to the divine apostle.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Zephaniah 3.16–20

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday in Advent

St John the Baptist Preaching in the Desert, Claes Corneliszoon Moeyaert

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will observe the way before my face. And immediately, the Lord, whom you seek, will come into his own temple. And the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes,” says the Lord Almighty. “But who will endure the day of his entrance, or who will stand in his appearance? Because he enters as a fire of a furnace and as a kind of cleansing. He will sit, smeltering and cleansing, as if it were silver and as if it were gold; and he will purify the children of Levi and pour them out just like gold and like silver, and they will become those who bring to the Lord a sacrifice in righteousness. And the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord, just as in the days of old and just as the previous years. And I will approach you with justice, and I will become a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulteresses and against the ones who swear oaths in my name, against liars and against the ones who withhold wages of workers and the ones who oppress the widow and the ones who maltreat orphans and the ones who pervert justice of the resident alien and the ones who do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty. “Because I am the Lord, your God, and I do not change. (Malachi 3:1–6 LXX)

And so, that we might not inquire of what God the Word became flesh, He Himself teaches further, There was a man, one sent from God, whose name was John. He for testimony, to bear witness to the light … he was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. By what God, then, was John sent—the forerunner who bore witness concerning the light? It was indeed by that God of whom Gabriel is the messenger, who also announced the good news of His birth. By the God who also promised through His prophets that He would send His messenger before the face of His Son, and He would prepare His way, that is, bear witness concerning the light in the spirit and power of Elias. And Elias, in turn, of what God was he servant and prophet? Of Him who made heaven and earth, as he himself acknowledges. Therefore, if John was sent by the Creator and Maker of this world, how could he bear witness concerning that light which descended from the beings that are unnameable and invisible? For all the heretics have given out as certain that Demiurge is ignorant of the power that is above him, of which John is recognized to be the witness and the revealer. On this account the Lord said He considered him more than a prophet. For all the other prophets announced the coming of the Father’s light; moreover, they desired to be worthy of seeing Him whom they prophesied. But John both foretold Him, just as the others had, and saw and pointed Him out when He came, and persuaded many to believe in Him, so that he held the office of both prophet and apostle. In this he is more than a prophet, because first are apostles, then prophets. But all things come from one and the same God.

Irenaeus of Lyons, Against the Heresies, 3.11.4

Of these two comings the Prophet Malachi says: “And suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek”; that is one coming. Of the second coming he says: “And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye. He will sit refining and purifying.” In what immediately follows the Savior Himself says: “I will draw near to you for judgment, and I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, adulterers, and perjurers.” It was with this in view that Paul says in due warning: “But if anyone builds upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—the work of each will be made manifest, for the day of the Lord will declare it, since the day is to be revealed in fire.” Paul indicates these two comings also in writing to Titus in these words: “The grace of God our Savior has appeared to all men, instructing us, in order that, rejecting ungodliness and worldly lusts, we may live temperately and justly and piously in this world; looking for the blessed hope and glorious coming of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Do you see how he speaks of a first coming, for which he gives thanks, and of a second we are to look for? We find the same lesson in the wording of the Creed we profess, as delivered to us, that is, to believe in Him who “ascended into heaven and sat down on the right of the Father, and is to come in glory to judge living and dead, of whose kingdom there will be no end.”

Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 15.2