The perfection of the way of the Lord was foreknown when He was born in Bethlehem and the angels said to the shepherds, ‘This shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes?’ The binding of the infant from the beginning was interpreted by the Fathers as the sign of the Cross that the Lord would endure for the salvation of man. It prefigured the binding of the Lord in graveclothes when they sealed Him in the tomb.
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The binding of the infant with swaddling bands prefigures the mystery of the Cross of Christ and should render in us the mystery of continual deadening. That is, we must go through a deadening of the passions of the old man which is symbolised by the swaddling clothes of the infant in the cradle. It is as if the Church is telling us, now is the time to prepare yourself a new garment, a spotless raiment that will allow you to enter the Bridal Chamber of Christ.
Of course, we men find it difficult to humble ourselves and to surrender all our privileges and desires to the will of God. We are full of our evil self which separates us from God and from other men. We are always reluctant to accept the pain, the afflictions and the swaddling clothes that constrain and bind us and hold us captive and crucified for God.
— Excerpt from: Echoes of the Spirit • Humility: The Extreme Trial, The Time for the Lord to Act (p. 41, 43) • Archimandrite Zacharias (Zacharou)
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