The Nativity and the Manger (Luke 2:1–7)

The texts below are quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations; nothing is paraphrased.

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St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Homilies, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Luke (on Luke 2:1–7) Trans. J. H. Newman, Oxford 1841–1845. Public domain. Full text: https://archive.org/details/CatenaAureaNewEdV4

On the decree of Caesar Augustus and the providence that carried the Virgin to Bethlehem:

It was the Lord who directed Augustus to give this edict, that he might minister to the coming of the Only-begotten; for it was this edict that brought Christ's mother into her country as the prophets had foretold, namely, to Bethlehem of Judea, according to the word, to a city of David, which is called Bethlehem.

On why the King of all was born not in majesty but in poverty:

Surely if He had so willed it, He might have come moving the heavens, making the earth to shake, and shooting forth His thunderbolts; but such was not the way of His going forth; His desire was not to destroy, but to save; and to trample upon human pride from its very birth, therefore He is not only man, but a poor man, and has chosen a poor mother, who had not even a cradle where she might lay her new born Child; as it follows, and she laid him in the manger.

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St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444)

Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 1 (on Luke 2:1–7) Source: trans. R. Payne Smith, Library of Fathers, 1859. Public domain. Full text: https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_luke_01_sermons_01_11.htm

On "With Mary, his espoused wife", and the virginal conception:

The sacred Evangelist says that Mary was betrothed to Joseph, to shew that the conception had taken place upon her betrothal solely, and that the birth of the Emanuel was miraculous, and not in accordance with the laws of nature. For the holy Virgin did not bear from the immission of man's seed.

On "she laid him in the manger", the place of food:

He found man reduced to the level of the beasts: therefore is He placed like fodder in a manger, that we, having left off our bestial life, might mount up to that degree of intelligence which befits man's nature; and whereas we were brutish in soul, by now approaching the manger, even His own table, we find no longer fodder, but the bread from heaven, which is the body of life.

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St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–395)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Luke (on Luke 2:6–7) Trans. J. H. Newman, Oxford 1841–1845. Public domain. Full text: https://archive.org/details/CatenaAureaNewEdV4

On the true humanity of Christ, and the virgin birth without defilement:

Though coming in the form of man, yet not in every thing is He subject to the laws of man's nature; for while His being born of a woman, tells of human nature; virginity becoming capable of childbirth betokens something above man. Of Him then His mother's burden was light, the birth immaculate, the delivery without pain, the nativity without defilement, neither beginning from wanton desire, nor brought to pass with sorrow.

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St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 339–397)

Exposition of the Gospel according to Luke, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Luke (on Luke 2:1–7) Trans. J. H. Newman, Oxford 1841–1845. Public domain. Full text: https://archive.org/details/CatenaAureaNewEdV4

On the census of Caesar as figure of a census of souls:

There is described a secular registration, implied a spiritual, to be laid before the King not of earth but of Heaven; a registering of faith: a census of souls. For the old census of the Synagogue was abolished, a new census of the Church was preparing. And to decide that the census was not of Augustus, but of Christ, the whole world is ordered to be registered. For who could demand the registration of the whole world but He who had dominion over it, for the earth is not of Augustus, but the earth is the Lord's?

On what the poverty of the newborn Lord won for us:

On your account then am I weak, in you am I strong. On your account am I poor, in you am I rich. Consider not what you see, but acknowledge that you are redeemed. I owe more, O Lord Jesus, to Your sufferings that I am redeemed, than to Your works that I am created. It were no advantage to be born, had it not advantaged me to be redeemed also.

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St. Gregory the Great (c. 540–604)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Luke (on Luke 2:4–7) Trans. J. H. Newman, Oxford 1841–1845. Public domain. Full text: https://archive.org/details/CatenaAureaNewEdV4

On Bethlehem, the house of bread, as the birthplace of the Bread of life:

Bethlehem is by interpretation the house of bread. For it is the Lord Himself who says, I am the bread of life which came down from heaven. The place therefore where the Lord was born was before called the house of bread, because it was there that He was to appear in His fleshly nature who should refresh the souls of the elect with spiritual fullness.

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St. Bede the Venerable (c. 673–735)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Luke (on Luke 2:7) Trans. J. H. Newman, Oxford 1841–1845. Public domain. Full text: https://archive.org/details/CatenaAureaNewEdV4

On the swaddling clothes that wrap the Maker of all:

He who clothes the whole world with its varied beauty, is wrapped up in common linen, that we might be able to receive the best robe; He by Whom all things are made, is folded both hands and feet, that our hands might be raised up for every good work, and our feet directed in the way of peace.

On "there was no room for them in the inn":

He who sits at His Father's right hand, finds no room in an inn, that He might prepare for us in His Father's house many mansions; He is born not in His Father's house, but in an inn and by the way side, because through the mystery of the incarnation He was made the way by which to bring us to our country, (where we shall enjoy the truth and the life.)