The Nativity of Christ is the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth in the flesh. It’s one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church, and at St. Michael we celebrate it on December 25.
You may have heard of “Orthodox Christmas” on January 7. Some Orthodox churches keep the older Julian calendar, which runs thirteen days behind the civil calendar, so their December 25 falls on January 7. The Antiochian Archdiocese keeps the fixed feasts on the Revised Julian calendar, so our December 25 is the same day as everyone else’s. It’s one feast either way.
Why This Feast Matters
The Nativity isn’t just a birthday party for Jesus. It’s the moment when God became man.
The eternal Son of God took on human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary and was born in a cave in Bethlehem. Fully God and fully man, united in one Person. This is the Incarnation. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote that Christ’s birth abolished death, defeated demonic powers, and re-created the world. That’s not sentimental language. It’s what actually happened when God entered human history as an infant.
The prophecies were fulfilled. The star appeared. Angels sang to shepherds. And heaven touched earth in a way it never had before.
Getting Ready: The Nativity Fast
We don’t just show up on December 25 unprepared. The Church gives us forty days to get ready, starting November 15th. We call it the Nativity Fast, though some people know it as Advent.
During this fast, we abstain from meat and dairy. Fish is allowed on some days. From December 13th through Christmas Eve, the fast gets stricter. No fish, and in the traditional rule limited oil and wine; at St. Michael, oil and wine are allowed on fast days. On Christmas Eve itself, we keep a full strict fast until after the Liturgy.
The fast is preparation, not punishment. Fasting quiets the noise. It makes space for prayer, for reading Scripture, for almsgiving. You’re training your soul to receive Christ. And honestly, if you’ve never fasted before, those forty days teach you how much your appetites run your life. That’s useful knowledge.
Here in Southeast Texas, this means you’re fasting through Thanksgiving. That’s hard. But the Church knows what she’s doing. The discomfort is part of the point.
The Services
Christmas Eve, we serve Vesperal Liturgy. Then on the morning of the Nativity itself, we celebrate the full Divine Liturgy. The services are full of joy. We sing the Nativity Canon at Orthros: “Christ is born, glorify Him! Christ is come from heaven, receive Him! Christ is on earth, be ye lifted up.”
You’ll hear the angelic hymn from the Gospel of Luke over and over: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” The angels sang it to the shepherds. We sing it now because we’re joining that same moment. The Liturgy doesn’t just commemorate Christ’s birth. It makes it present to us.
When you commune on the Nativity, you’re receiving the same Christ who was laid in the manger. The Incarnation didn’t end. He’s still God and man, and He gives Himself to us in the Eucharist.
How We Celebrate
The fast ends after the Christmas Eve Liturgy. Families gather. We eat. We greet each other with “Christ is born!” and the response “Glorify Him!” We keep saying that through the leave-taking of the feast on December 31.
The celebration isn’t one day. The feast continues for several days, and then we move right into Theophany on January 6. In parts of the early East, the Nativity and Theophany were celebrated together as one feast. They got separated later, but they’re still connected. The Nativity begins the Incarnation. Theophany reveals the Trinity fully when Christ is baptized in the Jordan.
What This Means for You
The date is the same as your neighbors’ Christmas, but the weeks before it look different. The office parties and holiday buffets fall in the middle of the fast. Your coworkers may think you’re odd for passing on the ham.
But there’s freedom in it too. You’re not swept up in the commercial frenzy. You can actually prepare spiritually instead of just shopping and stressing. And when December 25 comes, you’re ready. You’ve fasted. You’ve prayed. You’ve waited. And then Christ is born, and the joy is real.
The Nativity isn’t about nostalgia or sentimentality. It’s about God becoming man so that we could become like God. That’s theosis. That’s why we’re here. And it all starts in that cave in Bethlehem, with a young mother and her newborn son who is also the Creator of the universe.
If you’ve never been to an Orthodox Nativity service, come to St. Michael’s this year. The services are long, but they’re worth it. And you’ll understand why we say Christ is born and mean it in the present tense.
