What Connects the Nativity with the Two Robbers Crucified with Christ
The Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord is among the most beloved and familiar moments of the Church year. Its images and words are known by heart; its joy returns unfailingly each winter. And yet, the mystery of Christ’s birth is never exhausted. Each year, the story of Bethlehem reveals new depths, inviting us to look again and to see more clearly.
Holy Tradition, early Christian writings, iconography, and even ancient legends preserved on the margins of the Gospel narrative help us perceive the Nativity not as an isolated event, but as the beginning of a single saving path — one that leads inexorably to Golgotha and beyond.
The Church has long read the Nativity in the light of Pascha, discerning in its images the promise of the Cross and the Resurrection. The cave and the manger foreshadow the tomb; the swaddling cloths recall burial linens. Even the star that guides the Magi has been interpreted by some of the Fathers as a sign that quietly prefigures the Cross. From the very start, Christ enters the world not in triumph, but in humility — and with His saving Passion already in view.
Within this same framework there exists an ancient tradition, preserved not in the canonical Gospels but in early Christian writings such as the so-called childhood gospels and the Gospel of Nicodemus. This tradition links the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt with the two robbers who would later be crucified alongside Christ.
According to these sources, the robbers were named Dismas and Gestas, and their first encounter with the Lord occurred many years before Golgotha, in the Judean wilderness. Travel in those days was dangerous; roadside bandits were a constant threat. One version of the story tells how the Holy Family encountered such a group, and while Gestas prepared to attack, Dismas intervened. He paid his companion off and allowed the travellers to pass unharmed. Moved by his compassion, the Most Holy Theotokos promised that the Child would remember him in the hour of his greatest need.
Another version recounts that the Holy Family was briefly held captive by robbers, and that the Mother of God, by Her own milk, nursed the infant son of the band’s leader — a child who would later grow up to become Dismas. Whatever form the tradition takes, its meaning is clear: mercy is encountered long before repentance is fully understood, and grace quietly prepares the heart even when life takes a dark and crooked path.
The Gospel narrative brings this ancient memory to its fulfilment. On Golgotha, two robbers are crucified with Christ, one on His right and the other on His left. One joins the mockery of the crowd. The other — Dismas — turns toward the Crucified Lord with words of repentance and hope: “Remember me, Lord, when You come into Your Kingdom.” Christ answers him with the promise that embodies the hope proclaimed by the Gospel: “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Seen in this light, the Nativity already contains the Cross, and the Cross reveals the true meaning of the Nativity. From the beginning, Christ enters a world divided not between the righteous and the wicked, but between hearts that open themselves to mercy and hearts that refuse it. Bethlehem and Golgotha together proclaim the same truth: salvation is offered freely, but it is received personally — in humility, repentance, and trust.
Thus, the story of the newborn Child and the story of the repentant thief are not two separate episodes, but one continuous revelation of God’s love: a love that seeks out the lost, waits patiently, and opens Paradise even at the final hour.
Translated by the Catalogue of Good Deeds
Catalogue of Good Deeds is a highly polished MP website
https://catalog.obitel-minsk.com/blog/2026/01/what-connects-the-nativity-with-the-two-robbers-crucified-with-christ
Metropolitan Philaret of Minsk and Slutsk
Philaret Vakhromeyev was born Kirill Varfolomeyevich Vakhromeyev, 1935, Кирилл Варфоломеевич Вахромеев). The KGB recruited Filaret as an agent some time before 1969, assigning him the code name Ostrovsky.
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