I’m late to the Narnia party.

Growing up, I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. I even read it more than once. However, I was never able to get into the other books; despite many attempts (I can hear the gasps of horror from my Blog readers now). I also, having grown up in a non-religious household, never realized that Aslan was a Christ figure.

Cedric enjoyed reading some of the books (and once told me he knew the allegory), as we’d read “The Lion” and listened to “The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’” on a road trip once. For Pascha a year or two ago, I bought him the Single volume Chronicles that is in the “new order”


Putting aside the debate of which order is better, I picked the book up to read in advance of the movie and have been enjoying the book thoroughly. Of course now that I’m Orthodox, I find the Aslan figure fascinating (and yes, the allegory is indeed obvious) and am zipping through them, I’m just about done with Prince Caspian.

It was appropriate that I found Rebekah’s blogpost today about “Which character are you” and like her was Lucy.


You have a strong sense of responsibility toward others and a deep respect for other people, even strangers, though you are not always sure what the best course of action is. You are Lucy, the brave child who who is wise beyond her years and kind to all she meets.

I also found a wonderful article by Kh. Frederica
Mathewes-Green about CS Lewis, most of it was new information to me.

The weather here is downright Narnian, so I look forward to finishing the book this weekend. Let me know what you think, and which character you are.

I knew it! today is the next in Huw’s O Antiphon Challenge

O Clavis David,
et sceptrum domus Israël,
qui aperis, et nemo claudit,
claudis, et nemo aperuit:
veni, et educ vinctum
de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris,
et umbra mortis.

O Key of David,
and scepter of the house of Israel,
you open, and no one shuts,
you shut, and no one opens:
come, and lead the prisoner
from jail,
seated in darkness
and in the shadow of death.


In the Orthodox tradition, the icon of the name of the Parish is on the Iconostasis (the wooden screen in between the congregation and the altar with icons on it). Since I attend Holy Resurrection, I am continually reminded of the icon of the Resurrection, which interestingly isn’t of the Crucifixion, or even of the empty tomb, but of the Harrowing of Hell. We sing of this wondrous event when we sing the Troparion of Pascha “Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life”

So, what does this have to do with the Nativity of Christ? Today I got in my email from Father Thomas Moore at Holy Apostles'Church a reading from the book The Winter Pascha by Father Thomas Hopko that answers this question explicitly when he talks of the Orthodox Church being the church that asks you to “come and see”.

Come and see! You will witness the mystery of Christ's birth from the
Virgin, His manifestation at the Jordan in His baptism by John, His
victory over the devil in the desert, His proclamation of good news to
the poor, His announcement of liberty to the oppressed, His
declaration of the acceptable year of the Lord's grace. You will
witness His accomplish-ment of the signs of His messiahship: the blind
see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dumb talk. You will see the
winds cease and the seas calmed. You will behold the table spread "in
the wilderness" in the feeding of the multitudes (Ps 78:19). You will
witness the casting out of demons. And, most glorious of all, you will
see the dead being raised by the word of His power. You will know
indeed that "the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Mt 12:28), and you
will testify truly that "something greater than Jonah" and "something
greater than Solomon is here" (Mt 12:41-42). You will see what "many
prophets and righteous men longed to see . . . and did not see it, and
to hear . . . and did not hear it" (Mt 13:17). And ultimately you will
see the Son of God Himself being lifted upon the Cross in order to
give His broken body as food for His people, and His shed blood as
their drink, that their hunger and thirst for peace and joy and
righteousness, and indeed for life itself, might be forever satisfied.
You will "sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom
of heaven" which is brought to the world by the glorified Messiah (Mt
8:11).


He goes on to discuss that November 30th is St. Andrew’s Day, on which is sung the first of the Pre-festal songs of the Nativity:

When He who was proclaimed by the voice of John the Forerunner,

"The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,"
Came bringing life and salvation to all the earth
You, 0 holy Andrew, were the first to follow Him.
You were offered as the first-fruits of the human race.
You proclaimed to Peter your brother,
"We have found the Messiah
Pray that He may enlighten and save our souls.
Rejoice, 0 Isaiah, and receive the Word of God.
Prophesy to Mary the Maiden.
She is the Burning Bush unconsumed by the fire of divinity.
Adorn yourself, 0 Bethlehem.
Open your gates, 0 Eden.
Enter, 0 Magi, and see salvation swaddled in a crib.
Behold the star shining above the cave;
It announces the life-giving Lord who saves the human race.
Tell us, 0 Joseph, how you led the Virgin
Into the Bethlehem cave.
"After searching the scriptures and hearing the angel,"
he says,
"I am certain that Mary will wondrously give birth to God
Whom the wise men from the East will worship, Offering to Him their
precious gifts."
0 Lord, incarnate for our sake, glory to You



So, in short, today reminds us that to celebrate the Nativity is to celebrate the Incarnation, which is to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ.

I’m so late on Huw’s O Antiophon challenge that I think tomorrow is the next reading. Eeek. My apologies.

O ROOT OF JESSE, that stands for an ensign of the people, before whom the kings keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication: cone, to deliver us, and tarry not. Amen

O Radix Jesse,
qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos,
jam noli tardare

As we approach the Nativity of Christ, our readings remind us of how the entire Old Testament History was preparing us for Christ’s coming. He who was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be (to quote from a Western prayer).

One of the items I’ve done with Church School kids in the past is to make an Old Testament Patriarch mobile (can’t you just see it in your mind? It turns out so cute). Represented are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jesse and David.

The Church even sets aside the Two Sundays prior to the Nativity as “The Sunday of the Old Testament Patriarchs" (my Cedric Jacob's Patron Saint Day)and “The Sunday of the Forefathers of Christ”. From the latter date, the reading:


9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;
10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
18 of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called,"
19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.
23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king's command.

32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:
33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
35 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented-
38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,
40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

Hebrews 11:9-10, 17-23, 32-40

(icon from St. Isaac of Syria Skete)