When it is said
A canon is a chain of odes, songs modeled on songs of the Bible. Each ode opens with a model verse, its irmos, and these are the irmoi of the Christmas canon.
They are sung as the katavasia from 21 November, the feast of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple. The katavasia is the verse that closes each ode, and it is the custom to sing these at each great vigil until Christmas.
On Christmas Day the whole canon is sung at Matins, and the ninth ode opens with the feast’s refrain.
Where it comes from
Author by tradition
The canon of St Cosmas
The Greek service books and the OCA both credit the canon to St Cosmas. He was born in Jerusalem and raised by the parents of St John of Damascus with their son. He became bishop of Maiuma in AD 743. The first letters of the canon’s verses spell out a line in Greek: “Christ, made mortal, remains what He was: God.”
The Greek Menaion, 25 December; Orthodox Church in America, St Cosmas the Hymnographer
How it relates to “Christ is born”
“Christ is born, glorify Him!” is the canon’s first irmos. It has a page of its own, because its first words are also how the Orthodox greet each other at Christmas. Here it stands with the other seven, the way the eight are sung as the katavasia.
Orthodox Church in America, Matins of the Nativity, service texts
Songs from the Bible
Each ode follows one of the songs of the Bible, from the song of Moses to the Virgin’s own. The sixth recalls Jonah, spat out by the sea monster unharmed. The seventh and eighth recall the three young men in the furnace. The fire did not burn them, and the eighth ode sees the same wonder in the Virgin: the fire of God entered her womb and did not burn her.
Thomas Hopko, The Winter Pascha, on the St Sophia Cathedral site
What the words mean
A horn, and an angel
Two old pictures need a word. In the third ode a horn lifted up means strength, as in Hannah’s song after the birth of her son. In the fifth, “the Angel of great counsel” is Christ. It is how the Greek Bible words one of Isaiah’s names for the promised Child.
1 Samuel 2:1; Isaiah 9:6
Why the numbers skip
The service books number the odes one, then three to nine. The Christmas canon has no second ode, so its katavasia has eight verses, not nine.
Isabel F. Hapgood, Service Book (1906), the Nativity of Christ; The Greek Menaion, 25 December
The Scripture in it
Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
At that time Hannah prayed: “My heart rejoices in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, for I rejoice in Your salvation.”
Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
“Look!” he exclaimed. “I see four men, unbound and unharmed, walking around in the fire—and the fourth looks like a son of the gods!”
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
Χριστὸς γεννᾶται, δοξάσατε. Χριστὸς ἐξ οὐρανῶν ἀπαντήσατε. Χριστὸς ἐπὶ γῆς, ὑψώθητε, ᾌσατε τῷ Κυρίῳ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ, καὶ ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ, ἀνυμνήσατε λαοί, ὅτι δεδόξασται.
Τῶ πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων, ἐκ Πατρὸς γεννηθέντι ἀρρεύστως Υἱῷ, καὶ ἐπ' ἐσχάτων ἐκ Παρθένου, σαρκωθέντι ἀσπόρως, Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ βοήσωμεν· ὁ ἀνυψώσας τὸ κέρας ἡμῶν, ἅγιος εἶ Κύριε.
Ῥάβδος ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης Ἰεσσαί, καὶ ἄνθος ἐξ αὐτῆς Χριστέ, ἐκ τῆς Παρθένου ἀνεβλάστησας· ἐξ ὄρους ὁ αἰνετὸς κατασκίου δασέος ἦλθες σαρκωθεὶς ἐξ ἀπειράνδρου, ὁ ἄϋλος καὶ Θεός. Δόξα τῇ δυνάμει Σου Κύριε.
Θεὸς ὢν εἰρήνης, Πατὴρ οἰκτιρμῶν, τῆς μεγάλης Βουλῆς Σου τὸν Ἄγγελον, εἰρήνην παρεχόμενον ἀπέστειλας ἡμῖν· ὅθεν θεογνωσίας, πρὸς φῶς ὁδηγηθέντες, ἐκ νυκτός ὀρθρίζοντες, δοξολογοῦμέν Σε Φιλάνθρωπε.
Σπλάγχνων Ἰωνᾶν, ἔμβρυον ἀπήμεσεν ἐνάλιος θήρ οἷον ἐδέξατο· τῇ Παρθένῳ δέ, ἐνοικήσας ὁ Λόγος, καὶ σάρκα λαβὼν διελήλυθε φυλάξας ἀδιάφθορον· ἧς γὰρ οὐχ ὑπέστη ῥεύσεως, τὴν τεκοῦσαν κατέσχεν ἀπήμαντον.
Οἱ Παῖδες εὐσεβείᾳ συντραφέντες, δυσσεβοῦς προστάγματος καταφρονήσαντες, πυρὸς ἀπειλὴν οὐκ ἐκπτοήθησαν, ἀλλ' ἐν μέσῳ τῆς φλογὸς ἑστῶτες ἔψαλλον· Ὁ τῶν Πατέρων Θεός, εὐλογητὸς εἶ.
Θαύματος ὑπερφυοῦς ἡ δροσοβόλος, ἐξεικόνισε κάμινος τύπον· οὐ γὰρ οὓς ἐδέξατο φλέγει νέους, ὡς οὐδὲ πῦρ τῆς Θεότητος, Παρθένου ἣν ὑπέδυ νηδύν· διὸ ἀνυμνοῦντες ἀναμέλψωμεν. Εὐλογείτω ἡ κτίσις πᾶσα τὸν Κύριον, καὶ ὑπερυψούτω, εἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας.
Μεγάλυνον ψυχή μου, τὴν τιμιωτέραν, καὶ ἐνδοξοτέραν τῶν ἄνω στρατευμάτων.
Μυστήριον ξένον, ὁρῶ καὶ παράδοξον! οὐρανὸν τὸ Σπήλαιον· θρόνον Χερουβικόν, τὴν Παρθένον· τὴν φάτνην χωρίον· ἐν ᾧ ἀνεκλίθη ὁ ἀχώρητος, Χριστὸς ὁ Θεός· ὃν ἀνυμνοῦντες μεγαλύνομεν.