Shepherds And Church

Καὶ ποιμένες ἧσαν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ αὐτῇ ἀγραυλοῦντες. Ποιμέσει δὲ πρῶτον ἀποκαλύπτεται τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων ὑμνούμενον μυστήριον, οἵτινες τύπον ἐπεῖχον τῶν τὰς Ἐκκλησίας μελλόντων ποιμαίνειν· αὐτοὺς γὰρ ἔδει καὶ πρώτους ἀκούειν τὸ, Ἐπὶ γῆν εἰρήνη, διότι καὶ οἱ πνευματικοὶ ποιμένες ἔμελλον τὴν εἰρήνην ἐπιφωνεῖν παντὶ τῷ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας πληρώματι· ἔτι δὲ τὸ τῶν ποιμένων πρόσωπον, καὶ ἡ γενομένη διὰ τῆς ἀποκαλύψεως αὐτοῖς χαρὰ σημαίνει σαφῶς, ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλανώμενον ἦλθε πρόβατον ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός· ποιμένας γὰρ οὐδεν οὕτως εὐφραίνειν οἶδεν, ὡς ἡ τοῦ ἀπολωλότος βοσκήματος εὕρεσις· ὅπερ οὐκ ἧν ἑτέρου τινὸς εὑρεῖν, ἥ τοῦ ἀρχιποίμενος Χριστοῦ. Εἶτα ἐπειδὴ βηθλεὲμ οἴκος ἄρτου ἑρμηνεύεται, ποῦ ἔμελλον οἱ ποιμένες μετὰ τὸ κήρυγμα τῆς εἰρήνης ἐπείγεσθαι, ἤ ἐπὶ τὸν πνευματικὸν οἴκον τοῦ οὐρανίου ἄρτου, τουτέεστι τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, ἐν ᾖ μυστικῶς καθ' ἐκάστην ἱερουργεῖται ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβὰς ἄρτος, καὶ ζωήν διδοὺς τῷ κόσμῳ; Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Ἐξὴγησις Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Λούκαν Εὐάγγελιον, Κεφ' Β' Source:  Migne PG 72.489a-b

And shepherds were pasturing their flocks in the fields... 1 To the shepherds the mystery is first revealed by the singing of the angels, they who are given as a type of those who shall in the future be shepherds of the Church; for certainly it befits that they first hear, 'Peace on earth', because the spiritual shepherds shall be proclaimers of peace to all the people of the Church. And then the person of the shepherds, elated by the joy of this revelation, signifies the good shepherd who has come directly to the wandering sheep. Indeed He knows that nothing more delights the shepherds than the finding of the lost one of the flock, which no one else was able to find but Christ the prince of shepherds. 2 Then because we understand Bethlehem to mean 'House of Bread', where should the shepherds gather after the proclaimation of peace, but in the spiritual house of the heavenly bread, that is, the Church, in which every day He is sacrificed who from heaven descended as bread to supply life to the world? Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint Luke, Chap 2 1 Lk 2.8 2 Mt 18.12–14, Lk 15.3–7