quote:

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Bethlehem has opened Eden:
come, and let us see.
We have found joy in secret:
come, and let us take possession
of the paradise that is within the cave.
There the unwatered Root has appeared,
from which forgiveness flowers forth:

there is found the undug Well,
whence David longed to drink of old.
There the Virgin has borne a Babe,
and made the thirst
of Adam and David
to cease straightway.
Therefore let us hasten to this place
where now is born a young Child,
the pre-eternal God.

(from Nativity Canticle Six, The Festal Menaion)

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