For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.'” (Luke 2:10-11) The Feast of the Nativity of Jesus is one of the most joyful days of the Orthodox Church. It ...

The icon and the feast also acknowledge a transition from barrenness to life. This was but another foreshadowing of what would be offered through Christ, the transformation from death to eternal life.

After the conclusion of the Liturgy, the priests stand before the icon of the feast in the middle of the Church, and glorify Christ with the singing of the troparion and the kontakion of the feast. In ...