From antiochan.org, rongolini.com, biblegateway.com and dynamispublications.org:
Daily Readings:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: the Feast of the Nativity
Scriptural Readings:
Numbers 24:2-3, 5-9, 17-18 (12/25-1/7) Second Vesperal Reading: Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ
Balaam’s Prophecy: Numbers 24:2-3, 5-9, 17-18 SAAS, especially vs. 17: “I will show Him, but not now; I will bless Him, but He is not near. A Star shall rise out of Jacob; and a Man shall rise out of Israel.” Israel’s years in the wilderness concluded when finally they “...camped west of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho” (Nm. 22:1). Fearful at the presence of such a great horde, the King and the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian - the two nations east of the river Jordan - sent emissaries to the famous Prophet Balaam inviting him to come from his home in Mesopotamia near the river Euphrates and “...curse this people...for they are stronger than we” (Nm. 22:6). After consulting God, Balaam refused to join Balak, but King Balak of Moab persisted, offering greater honors. At that point God said to Balaam, “...rise and follow them; but the word that I speak to you - that you shall do” (Nm. 22:20). Balaam tried to oblige Balak, but under inspiration of God, he was not able to curse Israel. The present reading, from the last of four oracles is a Spirit-given prophecy of the coming of the Christ (Nm. 24:2).
Balaam declares: “A Man shall come forth from his [Israel’s] seed...” (vs. 7). This word established the expectation that the Messiah would be a man, and that proved true; for “when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman...” (Gal. 4:4).
Balaam also predicted that in the Lord Jesus’ future, He would “...rule many nations” (Nm. 24:7), and over a kingdom greater than Gog’s (one of the Scriptural names for Satan).
Further, the Lord Jesus’ Kingdom has been ‘enlarged’ or ‘increased’ and continues to expand over the face of the entire world, in the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa (vs. 7).
Although the Prophet did not speak of the flight of Joseph and the Virgin and the Christ child from Herod’s realm, he did foresee that “God led Him out of Egypt” (vs. 8). Years later a similar vision was given to the Prophet Hosea (Hos. 11:1), and fulfilled when Joseph, in Egypt, obeyed the angel: “....he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel” (Mt. 2:21).
Likewise Balaam prophesied the Lord’s power in overcoming nations and the adversaries of the Gospel: “He shall consume the nations of His enemies” (Nm. 24:8). This striking prophesy of the advance of the Lord and His Church over the centuries is steadily being fulfilled.
The Holy Spirit revealed to the Prophet how men would respond to the Messiah, and also how their responses to Him would affect them in turn: “Those who bless You are blessed, and those who curse You are cursed” (vs. 9). How tragic are those who serve false gods!
The Prophet foresaw all these things about the Christ Who would come, but he would only say, “I will show Him, but not now; I will bless Him, but He is not near” (vs. 17), for the coming of the Son of Man would occur during the age of imperial Rome.
Most wonderfully, Balaam was even given a hint of the star of Bethlehem: “a star shall come forth out of Jacob” (vs. 17), which, indeed, led the Magi from the East to the cave!
Balaam’s prophecy discloses that the true Messiah of Israel would ‘crush’ the enemies of the People of God, and all the traditional enemies of ancient Israel were named - Moab, Edom, and of Seth, also called Seir (vss. 17,18). As the true Israel that worships Christ, the Church is the living witness to Truth Himself - He Who was born in the cave to the Virgin Mother. He has dispossessed His enemies and established His People valiantly in many places. We are, blessed, Beloved, for we do not look ahead into the future as did Balaam. Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
Let us, therefore, praise and magnify Him, the God born in flesh from the Virgin, the King born in a cave, the God worshiped by the Magi, Who hath delivered us from the curse.
Galatians 4:4-7
Galatians 4:4-7 (King James Version)
4But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Matthew 2:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12 (King James Version)
Matthew 2
1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
3When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
5And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
6And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
7Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
8And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
9When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
11And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
12And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
The Synaxarion:
December 25
The Nativity According to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. Easter. Abstention from work for three days
The birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ was first liturgically commemorated in Egypt where it was celebrated during the night of January 5 to the 6. It took the place, among the Christians, of the nativity Ayon, the god of Alexandria, that the pagans celebrated during the winter solstice, established on January 6 according to the Egyptian calendar established by Amenemhet I, around 1991 before Jesus Christ. In the process of time, the date of the solstice was transferred to December 25, and it is upon this day that the Romans celebrated the "Natalis solis invicti", a feast instituted in 274 after Jesus Christ by Emperor Aurelian. In other regions of the empire, similar feasts were celebrated on the same date. For example, in Petra the Arab Nebataeans had the nativity of their god Dusara. The Hebrews celebrated the new dedication of the Temple on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev, which also corresponded to the winter solstice.
The Nativity of Jesus was in fact commemorated in the East as at Rome from the beginning of the Fourth century, but not an historic commemoration but above all a feast of notions; the Theophanies, that is the diverse "manifestations" of Christ: His birth, manifestation to the Magi, baptism. It remains thus today in the Coptic Church.
It is then in Rome that it first was made a separate feast apart from January 6, and established on December 25, without any doubt to "baptize" the Feast of the Sun which we spoke of above. At what date is this institution placed? It was certainly established in 354, perhaps even from the conclusion of the Council of Ephesus (431). But if Rome was the first to separate the Nativity from the Theophanies, it is from the liturgy of Jerusalem that she borrows the outline of its ceremonies as well as a great number of prayers. Jerusalem celebrated Theophany like Easter, by two Eucharistic sacrifices: one after the vigil, in the middle of the night, in the Basilica of Bethlehem; the other, on the day, in the Martyrion of the Holy Resurrection. In Rome also the Eucharist was celebrated first in the middle of the night, at Saint Mary Major, then on the day, at the tomb of Saint Peter. Later, a third Divine Liturgy was added to it. Other borrowings by Rome from the original Theophany are evident enough.
At Antioch, the feast of Christmas was introduced for the first time in the East by Saint John Chrysostom himself, as he attests in his homily for the day of the Savior's Nativity. It was from the beginning, much more than at Rome, a solemnity commemorative of an historic fact. Above all the marvel of the Virgin birth was insisted upon. This idea inspired a considerable part of the hymns of the Office, without doubt in repercussion of the Council of Ephesus. It did not take long to establish a special concomitant feast of the Theotokos, on December 26, a common synaxis feast in the Byzantine and Syrian Churches.
It is only later that the popular and poetic character of the oriental feast passed into the West where it was to take, above all by the influence of Saint Francis of Assisi, a very important place in the folklore of the Latin countries. It was of such importance that the feast of Christmas there, in fact, became the greatest one after Easter, and which on this point has supplanted Theophany, which remains only the feast of the adoration of the Magi is tied to the Savior's birth and is commemorated on December 25).
First Class Feast which, in occurrence with a Sunday, suppresses the whole proper of the Resurrection. Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. Antiphons of the Feast. Isodikon of the Feast. Troparion of the Nativity according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ (three times), the Hypakoi and the Kondakion of the Feast. Instead of the Trisagion: "All of you who have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. "Alleluia." Epistle and Gospel of the Feast. Hirmos (from the first Canon of the Feast). Kinonikon and, after Communion, Troparion of the Feast.
In occurrence with a Sunday or a Monday: Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great. All is from the Feast, as above, but the Hirmos is that of the Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great.
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