TAUGHT BY A STARThe Greek Orthodox Nativity Troparion and the Hidden Zoroastrian Christ
"Your Nativity, O Christ our God, / Has shone 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!" — Greek Orthodox Apolytikion for the Nativity of Christ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I.
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"Your Nativity, O Christ our God, / Has shone 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!" — Greek Orthodox Apolytikion for the Nativity of Christ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I. INTRODUCTION: A HYMN THAT REVEALS TOO MUCH Among the most ancient and beloved hymns of the Greek Orthodox Church is the Apolytikion — the dismissal hymn — sung for the Feast of the Nativity of Christ. It is a masterpiece of Byzantine theology compressed into seven lines of poetry. And yet, examined carefully against the historical record of ancient Persia, it quietly confesses something that two millennia of Christian tradition have worked diligently to obscure.
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Gathas · Avesta