Тропарь, глас 4:
Рождество Твое, Христе Боже наш,/ воссия мирови свет разума;/ в нем бо звездам служащии / звездою учахуся/ Тебе кланятися, Солнцу правды,/ и Тебе ведети с высоты востока.// Господи, слава Тебе.
Holy Hieromartyr Ignatius the Godbearer
According to tradition, Saint Ignatius was the little child that Christ held in his arms when He said Whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 18:4). Ignatius was a disciple of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John and became the second Bishop of Antioch. He governed the Church as a good shepherd and was the first to introduce antiphonal chanting with two alternating choirs, a method revealed to him by angels. When the Christ-hating Emperor Trajan passed through Antioch, he offered to make Ignatius a senator if only he would sacrifice to idols. Rejecting the blasphemy, Ignatius was shackled and sent to Rome to be thrown to wild beasts. Rejoicing in his suffering for the Lord, the saint prayed that nothing would interfere with his martyrdom. In the arena, the lions tore him to pieces leaving only his heart, upon which the pagans found inscribed in gold the name: Jesus Christ. Saint Ignatius joined God in the year 107.
Кондак, глас 3-й
Дева днесь пресу́щественнаго рождает,/ и земля вертепе неприступному приносит./ Ангели с пастырми словословят,/ волсви же со звездою путешествуют:/ нас бо ради родися Отроча младо,// превечный Бог.