For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.'” (Luke 2:10-11) The Feast of the Nativity of Jesus is one of the most joyful days of the Orthodox Church. It ...

He was in every way foreign to the royal line of David; rather, he had received his authority from the Roman emperors, and had ruled tyrannically over the Jewish people for some thirty-three years.