“In heaven he is the one only-begotten of the One Father, and on earth he is the one only-begotten of one Virgin.” (St. John Chrysostom)
The feast of the Nativity of Christ places before us God’s great plan for the redemption of the human race. The Son of God, out of infinite love for us, became a small child. For his mother he chose the Most Pure Virgin Mary. Thanks to the Most Holy Mother of God, His plans became a reality. Without her, there would be no Nativity of Christ, no redemption. The renowned church writer, Father M. Meschler, meditating upon the mystery of the Incarnation of Christ and the role the Most Pure Virgin Mary played in it, exclaims:
“O wonderful, sublime creature, in whose hand and heart God laid our redemption, on whose consent He made everything depend! Without her, we would not have Jesus, we would not be redeemed. She gave her consent, and gave it freely, with boundless love for us… The immediate effect of the Incarnation upon Mary was that she really became the Mother of God. Mary is really the Mother of God, precisely because she is the Mother of Jesus”.
(The Life of Jesus Christ in Meditations, Vol. I) The Eastern Church, conscious of the dignity of Divine Motherhood, dedicated the day following the Nativity of our Lord, to the dignity of the Most Holy Mother of God.
The Period of Twelve Days
The period from the feast of the Nativity of our Lord to the feast of the Theophany lasts twelve days; hence, it has the name “The Twelve Days” from the Greek word “dodekameron”. Just as in ancient times the feast of the Pasch was celebrated for a whole week until the Sunday of St. Thomas, so also, the feast of the Nativity of our Lord was celebrated for twelve days to the feast of the Theophany.
The celebration of the Twelve Days is substantiated by the Typicon of St. Sabbas the Sanctified (+530), where it is stated that during that time “there is no fasting – hence, the origin of our Privileged Days nor kneeling in church or in the cells.” The Codex of Emperor Justinian published in 535, dictates an observance of the Twelve Days. The historian, George Cedrenus (12 c), relates that Emperor Justinian himself celebrated the twelve days of the feast with particular devotion and generously distributed alms at that time. The Second Synod of Tours, France, which took place in 567, regards as feastdays all the days from the feast of the Nativity to the Theophany. Of the original twelve days, two are still celebrated in our Church as festal days: the Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God and the feast of St. Stephen Protomartyr.
The Institution of the Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God
After a great feast, the Eastern Church traditionally honors the memory of those persons who played a chief role in the events commemorated by the feast. The Most Holy Mother of God occupies first place after Christ, in the events connected with the Nativity of our Lord. For this reason, in the first centuries, the faithful assembled on the day following the Nativity to express their gratitude to the Most Pure Virgin Mary for having given us the Saviour and to honor her as the Mother of God. From this gathering of the faithful, the feast itself received the name Synaxis which is a Greek word for “gathering”.
It is difficult to determine in which century the feast of the Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God became a universal practice of the Church. Some of the Fathers of the fourth century, such as St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Epiphany of Cyprus and St. John Chrysostom, on the occasion of the feast of the Nativity of our Lord, praise in their sermons the Most Holy Mother of God. Perhaps at one time, the feast of the Synaxis and the commemoration of St. Stephen the Protomartyr were also celebrated on the same day, for it was not until the seventh century that the commemoration of St. Stephen was transferred to the third day following the feast of the Nativity.
There is an allusion made to the celebration of the Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God on the day after the Nativity of our Lord in the 79th rule of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, which met at Constantinople in 691. During that time, in certain localities, a custom was introduced where on the second day after Christmas the faithful exchanged baked goods as though in honor of the travail that the Most Pure Virgin Mary underwent in giving birth to Jesus Christ. The Synod condemned and forbade this practice.
“The divine birth by the Virgin,” says the Synod, “which was without seed, we profess to have been painless, and this we preach to all the faithful. Hence, we wish to correct those who through ignorance are doing something improper. For there are some who, the day after the feast of the Nativity of Christ our God, prepare baked goods and exchange them among themselves and present them as gifts to one another in honor of the labor during the childbirth of the all Pure Virgin Mary. We decree that the faithful not do anything similar. This does not bring honor to the Virgin when they designate and represent her marvelous childbirth as an ordinary birth such as the kind we know; because in fact, she gave birth to the uncontainable Word in a manner that is beyond all understanding and expression. If therefore, from this moment on anyone should do this, let the cleric be deprived of his dignity, and the layperson be excommunicated.”
Even in Eastern Ukraine, a similar custom prevailed. In the villages, on the day of the Synaxis, the women brought to church “phrohy” (potato dumplings), thinking that in this manner they would honor the Most Holy Mother of God, as was generally the custom when someone gave birth to a child. The Kyivan Metropolitan Michael Rahoza prohibited such a practice in 1590.
The Nativity of Our Lord and The Dignity of the Divine Motherhood
The Incarnation of our Lord bestowed upon the Most Pure Virgin Mary the dignity of dignities – that of being the Mother of God. By giving birth to Jesus Christ, she became the real Mother of God without ceasing to be a Virgin. This dignity is the source of all privileges and graces bestowed upon her.
St. Ephrem the Syrian (+373), the great eulogist and venerator of the Mother of God, in his Nativity hymns, very beautifully sings the praises of the mystery of the Incarnation, the Virginity, and Divine Motherhood of Mary:
“No one knows,” he says, “what to call your Mother O Lord! She is called a virgin, though she has a child; she is called a Bride, though she knew no man! If one cannot comprehend your mother, how then can they understand you!” (Hymn, XI, 1) “Your Mother, She is a wonder! The Lord, entering Her becomes a servant. The Almighty through a word enters her, and becomes mute. The Ruler of thunder entered and his voice became silent. The Supreme Shepherd enters and in her becomes a lamb which saw the light of day amid crying.”
(Hymn XI, 6)
St. John Chrysostom in a sermon on “The Holy Virgin and Mother of God, Mary,” meditating on her being chosen the Mother of God, said:
“Nothing can be found among men like the Mother of God, Mary. Consider, O man, all creatures and see is there anything equal or greater than the holy God-bearer Mary? Go around the earth, plumb the sea, search thoroughly the air, examine in spirit heaven, consider all the visible and invisible forces and tell me is there a wonder similar among all the creatures?… She alone miraculously conceived in her womb Him Whom all creatures praise in fear and trembling. Blessed are women, for they no longer labor under the curse. She gave birth to a child through whom she surpasses all the angels in glory… Therefore, let us say to her: ‘Blessed are you among women! You alone removed the grief of Eve; you alone wiped away her tears; you alone brought redemption to mankind; to you alone was the most precious Pearl entrusted; you alone were conceived without concupiscence and gave birth without travail, you alone gave birth to Emmanuel according to His pleasure.”’
(Works, Vol. 8, pp. 906-907)
Our Church on the day of the Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God calls upon the faithful to praise the Mother of God: “Come, let us extol the Mother of the Saviour,” we sing at the Sticheras of the Praises in Matins, “who, even after giving birth, remained a Virgin. Rejoice, O living garden of the King and God, in which Christ dwelt, and accomplished our salvation. With Gabriel let us offer praise and with the shepherds let us give glory, saying: ‘O Mother of God, pray to Him who became incarnate of you for our salvation.”’
The feast of the Synaxis does not have much of its own service. Its service is the service of the Nativity of our Lord. The Menology of Emperor Basil mentions on this day the flight of the Most Holy Mother of God with the Child Jesus into Egypt. The Gospel of this day also speaks of the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt.
The Synods of Zamost and Lviv list among the feasts of the Liturgical Year, the Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God and St. Joseph. The Eastern Church does not commemorate St. Joseph in the Synaxis, but honors him on the Sunday after Christmas together with the holy ancestors, King David and the Apostle James, the brother of the Lord. For the Sunday after Christmas, Father Isidore Dolnytskyj composed a beautiful service in honor of St. Joseph, the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In regard to the service of the Synaxis, he says in his Typicon: “St. Joseph has nothing in this service except the troparion and the kontakion, and this only in our breviaries and Slyzhebnyks” (liturgicons-missals). (p. 196)
