Laying In A Manger

Καὶ ἀνέκλινεν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ φάτνῃ.  Εὗρεν ἀποκτηνωθέντα τὸν ἄνθρωπον·  διὰ τοῦτο ἐν φάτνῃ ὡς ἐν τάξει τροφῆς τέθειται, ἵνα τὸν κτηνοπρεπῆ μεταμείψαντες βίον, εἰς τὴν ἀνθρώπῳ πρέπουσαν ἀνακομισθῶμεν σύνεσιν·  καὶ οἱ κτηνώδεις τῇ ψυχῇ, προσελθόντες τῇ οἰκείᾳ τραπέζῃ τῇ φάτνῃ, εὕρωμεν μηκέτι χόρτον, ἀλλ' ἄρτον τὸν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, τὸ τῆς ζωῆς σῶμα. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Ἐξὴγησις Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Λούκαν Εὐάγγελιον, Κεφ. Β'

And she laid him in the manger. 1 He found man reduced to the level of beasts, thus He was placed like fodder in a manger, that we, being done with our bestial life, might rise to that intelligence which is proper to man; and though being like beasts in soul, approaching the manger, His table, we find no longer fodder, but the bread which is from heaven, the body of life. Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Chapter 2 1 Lk 2.7