The Nativity of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

Reading from the Synaxarion:

The incomprehensible and inexplicable Nativity of Christ came to pass
when Herod the Great was reigning in Judea; the latter was an
Ascalonite on his fathers's side and an Idumean on his mother's. He was in
every way foreign to the royal line of David; rather, he had received
his authority from the Roman emperors, and had ruled tyrannically
over the Jewish people for some thirty-three years. The tribe of
Judah, which had reigned of old, was deprived of its rights and stripped
of all rule and authority. Such was the condition of the Jews when
the awaited Messiah was born, and truly thus was fulfilled the
prophecy which the Patriarch Jacob had spoken 1,807 years before: "A ruler
shall not fail from Judah, nor a prince from his loins, until there
come the things stored up for him; and he is the expectation of the
nations" (Gen.49:10).

Thus, our Saviour was born in Bethlehem, a city of Judea, whither
Joseph had come from Nazareth of Galilee, taking Mary his betrothed, who
was great with child, that, according to the decree issued in those
days by the Emperor Augustus, they might be registered in the census
of those subject to Rome. Therefore, when the time came for the
Virgin to give birth, and since because of the great multitude there was
no place in the inn, the Virgin's circumstace constrained them to
enter a cave which was near Bethlehem. Having as shelter a stable of
irrational beasts, she gave birth there, and swaddled the Infant and laid
Him in the manger (Luke 2:1-7). From this, the tradition has come
down to us that when Christ was born He lay between two animals, an ox
and an ass, that the words of the Prophets might be fulfilled:
"Between two living creatures shalt Thou be known" (Abbacum 3:2), and "The
ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master's crib" (Esaias 1: 3).

But while the earth gave the new-born Saviour such a humble
reception, Heaven on high celebrated majestically His world-saving coming. A
wondrous star, shining with uncommon brightness and following a strange
course, led Magi from the East to Bethlehem to worship the new-born King.
Certain shepherds who were in the area of Bethlehem, who kept watch while
tending their sheep, were suddenly surrounded by an extraordinary light,
and they saw before them an Angel who proclaimed to them the good
tidings of the Lord's joyous Nativity. And straightway, together with
this Angel, they beheld and heard a whole host of the Heavenly Powers
praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will towards men" (Luke 2:8-14).

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath shined the light of knowledge
upon the world; for thereby they that worshipped the stars were
instructed by a star to worship Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know
Thee, the Dayspring from on high. O Lord, glory be to Thee.

Kontakion in the Third Tone
Today, the Virgin bears Him who is transcendent, and the earth presents
the cave to Him who is beyond reach. Angels, along with shepherds
glorify Him. The Magi make their way to Him by a star. For a new child
has been born for us, the God before all ages.