This is a repost of a talk given at St-George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Montreal, originally posted in 2018.

The Nativity icon is not only the image of an event that happened two thousands years ago, but rather by its form and the hierarchy of its elements, shows us the inner working of how the Divine Logos creates the world and how His incarnation acts as the anchor, the fulcrum around which all manifestation holds together.

Don’t forget to check out our Christmas Symbolism playlist of all the videos I made about Christmas over the years: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVX4HUUPrIY9MeGP5IILeRzu62Q1NPT4C

Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction 01:10 - Intro music 01:34 - Introducing the talk 03:50 - The fast 05:29 - Elements of the nativity icon 08:04 - St. Joseph tempted by the devil 10:44 - The bullseye 13:24 - The ass and ox 15:40 - Why born in a cave? 20:31 - God with us 25:44 - The real question 32:44 - Q&A: The river gods 35:20 - Q: The axe 35:50 - Q: Early icons 37:08 - Q: Children baptized 38:12 - Q: Snakes under the door

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Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/ My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson.