One of the titles of the Messiah in the prophetic writings of the Bible is the Sun of Righteousness. It is found in the prophet Malachi.
For behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. (Mal 4: 1-3)
God Himself is called the Sun in the biblical writings (see Ps 84:11). As the source of light, and Light itself, God gives this same title to His only-begotten Son who appears on earth as the dawn of a new day, the Day of the Lord which enlightens those who sit in darkness and in the land of the shadow of death (see Is 9:2, 42:6-7). An eloquent witness to this teaching is found in Saint Luke’s gospel, in the song of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
For you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways,
To give knowledge of salvation to His people
In the forgiveness of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God,
When the day shall dawn upon us from on high
To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace. (Lk 1:76-79)
This translation of the text is a bit free in its rendering. Literally it says that the “Orient from on high” shall visit us in the world, referring to Jesus Christ. This expression is used in the main hymn of the feast of the Nativity in the Orthodox Church, and for a very specific historical reason.1
Originally there was but one festival in the Christian Church for the Lord’s appearing. It was called the “festival of lights” and it was connected both to the Jewish festival of the season, as well as to the pagan celebration which took place at the time of year when the sun stopped its southern march and began to move again towards the north, symbolizing the victory of light over darkness in the natural order. This feast for the Christians was the feast of Epiphany, which literally means “appearing” or “manifestation,” also called Theophany, which literally means the appearance or the manifestation of God, and was kept on January 6.2 It was given this name, obviously, because God appeared on earth in the person of His Son, and manifested His glory in Him who called Himself the “light of the world.”
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jn 8: 12)
“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (Jn 9: 5)
“I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness.” (Jn 12:46)
These words from Saint John’s gospel hark back to the prologue of the same book where Jesus is identified with God’s divine Word, an identification made many times in the liturgical services of the Winter Pascha.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world…. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (Jn 1: 1-14)
The separate celebration of Jesus’ nativity apart from the one general celebration of His appearance on earth-which originally included all aspects of His coming, from His birth to His public manifestation at His baptism in the river Jordan-was consciously done by the Christian Church, first in the West and later in the East, to offset the pagan holiday of the “Nativity of the Invincible Sun.” This pagan festival was celebrated on the twenty-fifth of December. It was a day of religious observance for those who worshipped the heavenly bodies, particularly the sun, as gods. When pagans were liberated from this worship and were blessed to adore the true God as Christians, it was only natural that the Church would replace the erroneous festival with the true one, thus giving genuine significance to a day which was already special in the life of many of its new members. It appears that the main hymn of the feast of Christ’s Nativity in the Eastern
Church was formulated as a conscious polemic against paganism, with a very pointed flaunting of the fact that those who formerly worshipped the stars, including the sun, were taught by a star to worship the True Sun, God’s Son Jesus, who gives, and is, the True Light.
Your Nativity, O Christ our God,
Has shown to the world the light of wisdom
For by it those who worshipped the stars
Were taught by a star to adore You,
The Sun of Righteousness,
And to know You, the Orient from on high.
O Lord, glory to YOU!3
Some people fault the Christian Church for establishing the feast of Christ’s birth on the day of the “birth of the sun.” Certain Christian sects even oppose the celebration. Orthodox Christians believe that it was an act inspired by the Holy Spirit. God has sent His Son into the world for its sanctification and salvation. The Messiah has come “not to condemn the world,” with its feeble and misguided attempts to find life’s meaning, “but that the world might be saved through Him” (In 3: 17). For, as the apostle Paul has written, “it is the God who said ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face [literally, person] of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6).
The Magi who had been led on their way by a divine star
Stood before You in wonder at Your marvelous birth;
And bearing gifts, they see the Sun
Who rose from the virgin cloud.
Let the people who sat in darkness
See shining forth the Light that knows no evening,
Him whom the star once manifested
To the fire-worshipping Persian kings.4
You have shone forth a Virgin,
O Spiritual Sun of Righteousness,
And a star revealed You,
Whom nothing can contain,
Contained with a cave.
You have led the Magi to worship You,
And joining with them we magnify You.
O Giver of Life, glory to YOU.5
Our Savior, the Dayspring from the East,
Has visited us from on high;
And we who were in darkness and shadow
Have found the Truth.
For the Lord is born of a Virgin!6
~Adapted from Thomas Hopko, The Winter Pascha: Readings for the Christmas-Epiphany Season
1 The word “orient” is anatolia in Greek, which literally means “east.” The King James version of the Bible translates it as “dayspring.”
2 The Armenian Church to this day celebrates but one festival of the lord’s Coming, on January 6. This should not be confused with the celebration of Christ’s Nativity on January 7 by some Orthodox Churches, for example those in the USSR, which is December 25 according to the Julian calendar which these churches still use.
3 Troparion of the feast of the Nativity. The name “Orient” for the Messiah is also proclaimed in a popular Orthodox church hymn which is sung at many services, but is most widely identified with weddings and ordinations: Rejoice, O Isaiah, a virgin is with child, and shall bear a son, Emmanuel, both God and man. And Orient is His Name, whom magnifying, we call the Virgin blessed.
4 Matins of the final day of the prefeast of the Nativity, December 24. See Rev 21: 23·25: “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb [i.e., Christ]. By its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it, and its gates shall never be shut by day-and there shall be no night there . . . “
5 Vespers of the feast of the Nativity.
6 The hymn of light at matins of the feast of the Nativity. See above, note 1.
