This is a repost of a talk given at St-George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Montreal, originally posted in 2018.
The Nativity icon is not only the image of an event that happened two thousands years ago, but rather by its form and the hierarchy of its elements, shows us the inner working of how the Divine Logos creates the world and how His incarnation acts as the anchor, the fulcrum around which all manifestation holds together.  

Original YouTube version: https://youtu.be/i8xow567P74
Don’t forget to check out our Christmas Symbolism playlist of all the videos I made about Christmas over the years:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVX4HUUPrIY9MeGP5IILeRzu62Q1NPT4C

Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
01:10 - Intro music
01:34 - Introducing the talk
03:50 - The fast
05:29 - Elements of the nativity icon
08:04 - St. Joseph tempted by the devil
10:44 - The bullseye
13:24 - The ass and ox
15:40 - Why born in a cave?
20:31 - God with us
25:44 - The real question
32:44 - Q&A: The river gods
35:20 - Q: The axe
35:50 - Q: Early icons
37:08 - Q: Children baptized
38:12 - Q: Snakes under the door

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My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson.