This is 1500 years old, from Syria. I like and recommend it because of the "freshness" with which it comes to my ears.

B.

TRY CLICKING THE ARROW!

St. Romanos Nativity Kontakon

Posted Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Don't miss this rich and inspiring reading by Frederica of the entire Nativity Kontakion written by St. Romanos the Melodist and translated by Fr. Ephrem Nash. It was taken from the book On the Life of Christ: Kontakia, published in 1994 and available from Eighth Day Books.

http://ancientfaithradio.com/podcasts/frederica

(The basic Gospel text is Matthew 2.1-14.)

On the Nativity of Christ

Prelude

Today the Virgin gives birth to him who is above all being,

and the earth offers a cave to him whom no one can approach.

Angels with shepherds give glory,

and magi journey with a star,

for to us there has been born

a little Child, God before the ages.1 (Cf. Isaias 9.5, Psalm 73(74).12)

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Again, the most complete free online publishing is at   http://jbburnett.com/resources/romanos_nativity.pdf  And I got the Prelude from there.

Post Edited (PotOnWheel) : 12/15/2007 7:48:14 PM (GMT-6)

In case you or anyone else is having trouble with links, heres the first three verses after the prelude.

 

1

Bethlehem has opened Eden, come, let us see;

we have found delight in secret, come, let us receive

the joys of Paradise within the cave.

There the unwatered root2 whose blossom is forgiveness has appeared.

There has been found the undug well

from which David once longed to drink.3

There a virgin has borne a babe

and has quenched at once Adam’s and David’s thirst.

For this, let us hasten to this place where there has been born

a little Child, God before the ages.

 

2

The mother’s Father has willingly become her Son,

the infants’ saviour is laid as an infant in a manger.

As she who bore him contemplates him, she says,

“Tell me, my Child, how were you sown, or how were you planted in me?

I see you, my flesh and blood, and I am amazed,

because I give suck and yet I am not married.

And though I see you in swaddling clothes,

I know that the flower of my virginity is sealed,

for you preserved it when, in your good pleasure, you were born

a little Child, God before the ages.

 

3

“High King, what have you to do with beggars?

Maker of heaven, why have you come to those born of earth?

Did you love a cave or take pleasure in a manger?

See, there is no place for your servant in the inn,

I do not say a place, not even a cave,

for that too belongs to another.

To Sara, when she bore a child,4

a vast land was given as her lot. To me, not even a fox hole.5

I used the cavern where willingly you made your dwelling,

a little Child, God before the ages.”

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2 A double allusion to Isaias 11.1 and the virgin birth.

3 Cf. 2 Kingdoms (2 Samuel) 23.13-17, 1 Chronicles 11.17-19.

4 Isaac, the beloved son of Abraham, is one of the most frequent types of Christ.