christmas – Mr. Greek Geek

An Ancient Greek Nativity Hymn by Gregory of Nazianzus

mgg — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:53:20 +0000

For your enjoyment this Christmas: a very old Greek Christmas hymn! This one was written by none other than Gregory of Nazianzus (Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός).

Χριστὸς γεννᾶται, δοξάσατε·
Χριστὸς ἐξ οὐρανῶν, ἀπαντήσατε·
Χριστὸς ἐπὶ γῆς, ὑψώθητε.
ᾌσατε τῷ Κυρίῳ, πᾶσα ἡ γῆ·
καὶ, ἵν᾿ ἀμφότερα συνελὼν εἴπω,
Εὐφραινέσθωσαν οἱ οὐρανοὶ,
καὶ ἀγαλλιάσθω ἡ γῆ,
διὰ τὸν ἐπουράνιον, εἶτα ἐπίγειον.
Χριστὸς ἐν σαρκὶ,
τρόμῳ καὶ χαρᾷ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε·
τρόμῳ, διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν·
χαρᾷ, διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα.
Χριστὸς ἐκ Παρθένου·
γυναῖκες παρθενεύετε,
ἵνα Χριστοῦ γένησθε μητέρες.
Τίς οὐ προσκυνεῖ τὸν ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς;
τίς οὐ δοξάζει τὸν τελευταῖον;

Christ is born, glorify ye Him.
Christ from heaven, go ye out to meet Him.
Christ on earth; be ye exalted.
Sing unto the Lord all the whole earth;
and that I may join both in one word,
Let the heavens rejoice,
and let the earth be glad,
for Him Who is of heaven and then of earth.
Christ in the flesh, rejoice with trembling and with joy; with trembling because of your sins,
with joy because of your hope.
Christ of a Virgin;
O ye Matrons live as Virgins,
that ye may be Mothers of Christ.
Who doth not worship Him That is from the beginning?
Who doth not glorify Him That is the Last?

The entire hymn is very long, this is just the first stanza. You can find the entire texts in Greek and English in the sources below, or you can listen to it sung on YouTube by the Greek Byzantine Choir MAKRIS.

The Greek text is licensed under CC BY SA 4.0, taken from https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/Λόγος_εις_τα_Θεοφάνεια

The English text is from https://earlychurchtexts.com/public/gregoryofnaz_oration_nativity_of_christ.htm

Featured image credit: Israhel van Meckenem (circa 1440–1503), licensed under CC0, via Wikimedia Commons, modified by Mr. Greek Geek.

Greek Christmas Verse Pics

mgg — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 17:42:27 +0000

Over the past few years, I have been creating Bible verse images from the Greek New Testament for various occasions and holidays. This year I thought I’d collect all of the Christmas ones in one place so you can easily find them and share them with your fellow Greek geeks!

These are all free to share; no attribution required. As far as I can recall, the photos are all from Pixabay (or a similar free image site), and the Greek text is from the Byzantine GNT, which is licensed as public domain. Enjoy!

(Click to open large/download)

Matthew 1:21

Matthew 2:10

Galatians 4:4-5

Luke 2:14

Matthew 1:21

ὦ νῦξ ἱερά (O Holy Night in Greek)

mgg — Fri, 25 Dec 2020 18:47:20 +0000

Ω ΝΥΞ ΙΕΡΑ

ὦ νῦξ ἱερά·
ἀστέρων ἐκλαμπούντων
τῇδε νυκτὶ σωτῆρος γεννηθέντος·
πάλ’ ἔκειτο ὁ κόσμος ἐν σκοτίᾳ
ἄχρι ἧς ἡμέρας εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐφάνη
αὐγὴν ἐλπίδος φερόμενος ἡμῖν δή,
ἐπέκεινα φανήσεται καινήν. [alt. ἐπέκειν’ ἐνεκαίνισε πάντα]

προσκύνησον· [alt. γονυπέτει]
τῶν ἀγγέλων ὑπακούων
ὦ νῦξ ἱερά
τῇδε νυκτί Χριστὸς ἐγγενήθη.
ὦ νῦξ, ὦ νῦξ ἱερά, ὦ νῦξ, νῦξ ἱερά.¹

Found a YouTube video of someone singing it!

Καλά Χριστούγεννα!

Credit goes to MuseScore user falsefruit for the music pictured in the featured image.

Sources:

Καλά Χριστούγεννα!

mgg — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 21:22:00 +0000

Matthew 1:21

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Matthew 1:21