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Prayers

Mary was enrolled with the elder Joseph

The troparion of Christmas Eve, a short hymn sung at each of the Royal Hours on the morning of 24 December. No one knows who wrote it.

Picture: James Tissot, The Journey of the Magi, about 1894

The words of the prayer

Plain English

Mary was once enrolled with the elder Josephin Bethlehem, as one of David’s line.She was carrying in her wombthe Child conceived without seed.The time came for her to give birth,and there was no room at the inn.But the cave was shown to the queenas a delightful palace.Christ is born, to raise upthe image that fell long ago.

Traditional wording, 1894

Once with Joseph the ancient, as of the seed of David,was Mary enrolled in Bethlehem,bearing in her womb her babe, not of seed;then came the time of her bringing forth;and there was no room in the inn:but as a delightsome palace for the Queen did the cave become.Christ is born, to raise the image that was formerly fallen.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek, with Robertson’s 1894 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: J. N. W. B. Robertson, The Divine Liturgies, 1894.

When it is said

It is the troparion of the Eve of the Nativity, the day before Christmas. It is sung at each of the Royal Hours, the four short services read on the morning of 24 December.

When Christmas Eve falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the Royal Hours move to the Friday before.

Where it comes from

No author known

The story in Luke

The hymn retells Luke’s Gospel. Joseph went up to Bethlehem to be enrolled in the census with Mary, who was expecting a child. There her Son was born, and she laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

Luke 2:4-7

Heard four times

The Greek service book sets it at each of the four Royal Hours, the First, Third, Sixth and Ninth, so it is sung four times that morning. A Serbian diocese describes the same order and prints the hymn in Serbian.

The Greek service of the Royal Hours of the Nativity; Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Timok, on the services of Christmas

What the words mean

The image that fell

Genesis says God made man in His own image. The hymn’s last line joins the fall of man to the manger: Christ is born “to raise up the image that fell long ago”.

Genesis 1:27

The Scripture in it

So Joseph also went up from Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, since he was from the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to him in marriage and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her Child to be born. And she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Luke 2:4-7 Echoed The census in Bethlehem, and no room at the inn.

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 1:27 Echoed Man made in God’s image, which Christ is born to raise up.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

In Greek

Ἀπεγράφετο ποτέ, σὺν τῷ πρεσβύτῃ Ἰωσήφ, ὡς ἐκ σπέρματος Δαυΐδ, ἐν Βηθλεὲμ ἡ Μαριάμ,

κυοφοροῦσα τὴν ἄσπορον κυοφορίαν.

Ἐπέστη δὲ καιρὸς ὁ τῆς γεννήσεως, καὶ τόπος ἦν οὐδεὶς τῷ καταλύματι·

ἀλλ' ὡς τερπνὸν παλάτιον, τὸ Σπήλαιον τῇ Βασιλίδι ἐδείκνυτο.

Χριστὸς γεννᾶται, τὴν πρὶν πεσοῦσαν, ἀναστήσων εἰκόνα.

From the Greek service of the Royal Hours of the Eve of the Nativity, on the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America’s liturgical texts site.

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Berean Standard Bible