Entering Jerusalem, the Wise Men asked, "Where is He Who was born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east, and came to do homage to Him." But after Herod the king heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him" (Matthew 2:3).

"The Magi sought the Lord Christ, born King of the Jews, among those from whose race they knew that Balaam, a Prophet from the Gentiles, had prophesied that He would come. The faith of the Magi is the condemnation of the Jews. The Magi believed in the authority of their soothsayer Balaam and the Prophet Daniel; but the Jews, from the testimony of many Prophets, refused to believe. Whereas the Magi acknowledged that the coming of Christ would terminate their profane knowledge and magical arts, the Jews would not accept the Lawgiver's doing away with their sacrifice and refused to accept the mysteries of the divine dispensation. The Magi confessed a Stranger; the Jews rejected their own."

Spyridon, our Holy Father among the Saints, the boast of the inhabited world, and the adornment of the faithful, flourished during the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great (Saint Constantine) [306-337 A.D.]. He hailed from the famous island of Cyprus. The Saint's virtue and divine conduct were such that his accomplishments shone forth brightly throughout the inhabited world, leaving no adult Christian who is not acquainted with his life. This is the same God-bearing Father who had taken part in the First Ecumenical Synod (325 A.D.). Who has not heard of his renowned demonstration at Nicaea? But his participation at that First Synod shall be triumphantly recounted later.

The Holy Bible is recognized by the Church as the written part of Christian Tradition. It contains the word of God. It is the source of religious truth and the unmistakable guide to Christian life. Holy Tradition as it is formed in the experience of the Church of Christ, in the Liturgical sources of interpreting the Bible, in the Church laws, in the objects of Religious art, the lives of the Saints, the writings of the Holy Fathers, is also a venerable guide to Christian faith and life, equal in value and authority with written Tradition, the Bible itself.

We chant: "He Who is equal in Honor with the Father and Spirit, out of compassion, has clothed Himself in our substance...and He Who before the morning star was begotten without mother of the Father, is today without father made flesh upon earth of thee" (Vespers Sticheron of Forefeast, Mode Four). Saint Paul confirms His manhood, saying, "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order that might redeem those under the law, that we might receive what is our due, the adoption as sons" (Galatians 4:4).

"O Creator, Thou makest new those born on earth by Thyself becoming clay. A manger and swaddling clothes and a cave are the mark of Thy lowliness. The betrothed of Thy Mother, Joseph, is thought by men to be Thy father according to the flesh" (Canon of Forefeast of Nativity, Ode Five. Mode Plagal Two).