For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God"    (Eph 2:8)

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 1 (Col 3:12-14)

The truth of things revealed you to your flock as a rule of faith,  a model of meekness, and a teacher of temperance. Through humility, you attained the heights;  and through poverty, riches.  O Father and Hierarch Nicholas, intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved. (Troparion)

O Holy Father, heavenly Physician of our souls and bodies, Who hast sent Thine Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to heal all our ailments and deliver us from death, grant us release from pain and restoration to good health and vigor, by the grace of Thy Divine Son, for Thou art the Fountain of all cures and the source of all healing, and through the intercessions of our Most Holy Queen Ever-virgin Mary, the Mother of God, and all the saints, that we may give thanks unto Thee and bless Thy Holy Name, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and forever, and unto ages of ages.   Amen.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col 3:16-17)

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph 4:31-32)

They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet: 'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel.'" (Matt 2:5-6)

Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.    (Eph 6:18)

Let all the earth worship Thee and praise Thee.  Let it praise Thy Name, O Most High!     (Prokeimenon)

Out of the womb, before the morning star, have I begotten Thee!  The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind.  Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizadek. 

Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One, and the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One!  Angels, with shepherds, glorify Him!  The wise men journey with the star!  Since for our sake the eternal God was born as a little child!

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56 and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God."   But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him.  Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.  And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."  And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:55-60)

I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart;  I will make all Thy wonders known.  (The First Antiphon)

I behold a strange, most glorious mystery!  Heaven - the cave!  The cherubic Throne - the Virgin!  The manger - the place where Christ lay, the uncontainable God whom we magnify in song!