Celebrating A Birth

Νυνὶ δέ μοι δέξαι τὴν κύησιν, καὶ προσκίρτησον· εἰ καὶ μὴ ὡς Ἰωάννης ἀπὸ γαστρὸς, ἀλλ' ὡς Δαβὶδ ἐπὶ τῇ καταπαύσει τῆς κιβωτοῦ. Καὶ τὴν ἀπογραφὴν αἰδέσθητι, δι' ἣν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἐγράφης· καὶ τὴν γέννησιν σεβάσθητι, δι' ἣν ἐλύθης τῶν δεσμῶν τῆς γεννήσεως· καὶ τὴν Βηθλεὲμ τίμησον τὴν μικρὰν, ἥ σε πρὸς τὸν παράδεισον ἐπανήγαγε· καὶ τὴν φάτνην προσκύνησον, δι' ἣν ἄλογος ὢν, ἐτράφης ὑπὸ τοῦ Λόγου. Γνῶθι, ὡς βοῦς, τὸν κτησάμενον, Ἡσαΐας διακελεύεταί σοι, καὶ, ὡς ὄνος, τὴν φάτνην τοῦ Κυρίου αὐτοῦ· εἴτε τῶν καθαρῶν τις εἶ, καὶ ὑπὸ τὸν νόμον, καὶ μηρυ κισμὸν ἀναγόντων τοῦ λόγου, καὶ πρὸς θυσίαν ἐπιτηδείων· εἴτε τῶν ἀκαθάρτων τέως, καὶ ἀβρώτων, καὶ ἀθύτων, καὶ τῆς ἐθνικῆς μερίδος. Μετὰ τοῦ ἀστέρος δράμε, καὶ μετὰ Μάγων δωροφόρησον, χρυσὸν, καὶ λίβανον, καὶ σμύρναν, ὡς βασιλεῖ, καὶ ὡς Θεῷ, καὶ ὡς διὰ σὲ νεκρῷ. Μετὰ ποιμένων δόξα σον, μετὰ ἀγγέλων ὕμνησον, μετὰ ἀρχαγγέλων χόρευσον. Ἔστω κοινὴ πανήγυρις οὐρανίων καὶ ἐπι γείων δυνάμεων. Πείθομαι γὰρ κἀκείνας συναγάλλεσθαι καὶ συμπανηγυρίζειν σήμερον· εἴπερ εἰσὶ φιλάνθρωποι καὶ φιλόθεοι, ὥσπερ ἃς Δαβὶδ εἰσάγει μετὰ τὸ πάθος συνανιούσας Χριστῷ, καὶ προσυπαντώσας, καὶ διακελευομένας ἀλλήλαις τὴν τῶν πυλῶν ἔπαρσιν. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός, Λόγος ΛΗ', Εἰς τὰ Θεοφὰνια, εἴτουν Γενέθλια τοῦ Σωτῆρος Source: Migne PG 36.329d-332b

And now accept His conception and leap about, if not like John in the womb, 1 yet like David, because of the resting of the Ark. 2 Revere the registration by which you were written in heaven, and adore the birth by which you were freed from the chains of your birth, 3 and honour little Bethlehem which has led you back to Paradise, and worship the manger by which you without sense were fed by the Word. Know, like the ox your owner, as Isaiah exhorts you, and like the ass the manger of your Lord, if you be one of those clean beneath the law, who chew the cud of the word and are fit for sacrifice, or if you are one of those yet unclean and inedible and unfit for sacrifice, and of the portion of the Gentiles, run with the star and bear your gifts with the Magi, gold and frankincense and myrrh, 4 as to a King, and as to God, and to One Who is dead for you. With shepherds give Him glory, with angels sing; with archangels be in chorus. Let this Festival be common to the powers in heaven and to the powers on earth. 5 For I am persuaded that they join in our exultation and keep the festival with us today, because they are lovers of men and lovers of God, just like those whom David introduces after the Passion ascending with Christ and coming to meet Him, and bidding one another to lift up the gates. 6 Saint Gregory Nazianzus, from Oration 38, On The Theophania, or On The Birth of the Saviour   1 Lk 1.41  2 2 Kings 6.14  3 Lk 2.1-5  4 Isaiah 1.3  5 Lk 2.14-15 6 Ps 23.7-9