Vespers. 1st Both now*.*

Isaias, dance, [1] receive the word of God; prophesy to Mary the Maiden that the bush is aflame with the beam of the Godhead and is not being burned by fire. [2] Bethlehem, make ready, [3] Eden open your gate; [4] and Magi make your journey to see salvation swaddled in a manger; whom the Star above the cave reveals as the Lord, the giver of life, who saves our race. [5]

Cave, make ready…

Cave, [12] make ready; for the Ewe-lamb [13] has come, bearing Christ in her womb.  Manger, receive the One who by a word freed us who are born of earth from irrational [14] action.  You Shepherds abiding in the fields, bear witness to the fearful wonder; and Magi from Persia, offer gold, frankincense and myrrh to the King; because the Lord has appeared from a Virgin Mother.  Bowing low like a slave his Mother worshipped him, and cried out to the One in her arms, ‘How were you sown in me, or how did you grow within me, my Redeemer and my God?’ [15]

Sunday before Christmas **

Bethlehem prepare; let the Manger make ready; let the Cave receive. The truth has come, [16] the shadow has passed away, and God has appeared among humankind from a Virgin, formed like us [17] and deifying the addition. [18] Therefore Adam is made new with Eve, as they cry, ‘Goodwill has appeared on earth, to save our race’.

Both Now. Of the Forefeast. Tone 6. See 6 December.

Virgin without bridegroom, where have you come from?  Who begot you?  And who is your mother?  How do you carry the Creator in your arms?  How was your womb not corrupted?  We see great marvels have come to pass on earth, All‑holy, and we make ready in advance that which fits your need: the Cave from the earth; and we ask heaven to provide the Star; [19] and Magi are advancing from the eastern regions of the earth towards the west, to look on the salvation of mortals being suckled as a babe. [20]

Cave make ready …

Bethlehem welcome…

Liti. Both Now. Of the Forefeast. Same Tone.

Prosomia of the Forefeast. Tone 1. All-praised Martyrs * . *

Tone 1. By Anatolios * . *

All-blameless Virgin, living Palace of God, you contained within yourself the One whom the heavens cannot contain; [21] beyond understanding you gave birth to him in the Cave, a beggar and incarnate, that he might make me divine [22] and enrich me, made a beggar by the incontinence of bitter eating. [23]

The same Tone, by the same.

Through compassion enrolled with slaves by Caesar’s decree, [24] long-suffering Christ, you came to give freedom, life and deliverance to ungrateful servants, who worship your saving Nativity, for you have come to save our souls.

The same Tone, by the same. [54]

The All-holy and blameless Virgin, realising that her child-bearing was beyond explanation and had made new the laws of nature, cried to her Son, ‘My Child, so much desired, I am amazed at the great mystery: I have born a child and yet remain a virgin by your power, who do all things by your will!’

Both now. See Lauds for 30 November.

Listen, O heaven, and give ear, O earth; [25] for see, the Son and Word of God the Father comes forth to be born from a maiden who has not known man, by the good pleasure [26] of him who begat him impassibly and by the co-operation of the Holy Spirit. Bethlehem, prepare; Eden, open your gate, for He Who Is [27] becomes what he was not, and the Fashioner of all creation is fashioned, he who grants the world his great mercy .

Peoples, let us celebrate the forefeast of the Nativity of Christ; and raising our minds, let us be taken up in spirit to Bethlehem, and let us contemplate with spiritual thoughts the Virgin, who hastens to give birth in a Cave to the Lord of all things and our God. Joseph, as he contemplated the greatness of the wonders, seemed to see a human, wrapped in swaddling clothes like an infant; while he understood from the things that came to pass that he was the true God, who grants our souls his great mercy.

Peoples, let us celebrate the forefeast of the Nativity of Christ; and raising our minds, let us be taken up in spirit to Bethlehem, and let us contemplate the great mystery in the Cave; for Eden has been opened, as God comes forth from a pure Virgin, he who is perfect in both divinity and humanity. [52] And so let us cry: Holy God, the Father without beginning; Holy Strong, the incarnate Son; Holy Immortal, the Advocate Spirit. [53] Holy Trinity, glory to you!

Listen, O heaven, and give ear, O earth; [55] for see, the Son and Word of God the Father goes forth to be born from a Maiden, who knows not man, by the good pleasure [56] of the One who begot him impassibly, and by the co-operation of the Holy Spirit. Bethlehem make ready, Eden open your gate; because the One Who Is [57] becomes what he was not, and the Fashioner of all creation is being fashioned, he who grants the world his great mercy.

Bethlehem welcome…