"And when eight days had passed, before His circumcision, His name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, 'Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord'), and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, 'A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.'" (Luke 2:21-24 NASB)
"When they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth. The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him." (Luke 2:39-40 NASB)
Troparia:
Thou Who art by nature God, didst without change take human form,
O most compassionate Lord,
and in fulfilling the Law of Thine own will didst receive circumcision in the flesh,
to banish hades and roll away the veil of our passions.
Glory to Thy goodness; glory to Thy compassion;
glory to Thy condescension , O Word
Thou Who sittest with the Father
on a fiery throne in the heights
wast pleased to be born of a Virgin through the Divine Spirit on earth.
Wherefore Thou was circumcised as a man on the eighth day.
Glory to Thine all-gracious will; glory to Thy providence;
glory to Thy condescension, O only Lover of mankind.
Kontakion:
In undergoing circumcision
the Lord of all has circumcised the sins of mortal men.
On this day He gives salvation to the world.
And the Hierarch Basil, the Creator's lightbearer
and Christ's mystic, rejoices in the highest.
"For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you [the Church] have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (Colossians 2:9-14 NASB)
Posted by Clifton at January 1, 2003 01:10 PM | TrackBack