It is December 26th, and I thought that since we were one day after Christmas, we could

do a little meditation on the Christmas Troparion, which is a hymn that we sing in the Orthodox

Church on every Christmas, one of the main hymns.

And we can look at how this hymn shows the transformation that Christianity brings

in the pagan world, the transformation it brings on the manner in which

the different gods are perceived, the way that the heavens are perceived, and how in a way it's a

continuation of the ancient world, of the ancient pagan world, but it's also a transformation

of the order of it and the way that it lays itself out.

This is Jonathan Pajot. Welcome to the symbolic world. So the Nativity Troparian goes like this. Your Nativity,

Christ, our God, has shown to the world the light of wisdom. For by it those who worshipped, the stars were taught by a star to adore you,

Son of righteousness, and to know you the Orient from on high,

or Lord, glory to you.

Of course, there are several translations of this.

We're going to use this one.

It's totally fine.

You can find other translations online that are completely fine as well,

even though they're different. And so what is happening in this Troparian? So of course,

it is referring to the wise men to the mages who come from the east guided by a star in order

to find Christ born in Bethlehem. Now, when they arrive, of course, they don't

arrive, it seems, arrive when he's born in the manger, in the cave. But the way it's represented

in the icon of the nativity will tend to unite all those elements together into one, which is

not only completely fine, but shows the deepest aspect of this mystery.

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