Like Pascha, the feast of the Nativity is preceded by a 40-day fast, which is, however, not as strict as that of Great Lent. In the Nativity fast, fish is allowed on most weekends, and also on some weekdays, and there are more days when wine and oil are allowed.
In his book The winter Pascha, Father Thomas Hopko points out more parallels between Pascha and the Nativity. The Nativity fast begins on the feast of St Philip, and the Nativity fast is thus sometimes called the Fast of St Philip. St Philip is one of the first apostles called by Jesus, and, when telling Nathanael about his encounter with Jesus, Philip says to him, "Come and see" (John 1:43-51).
As in other encounters described by St John, Philip and Nathanael first encounter Jesus as a man, and then discover that he is more than a man. He is more than a prophet, more than a teacher, he is the Anointed One (Messiah, Christ) of God, he is the King Of Israel, he is the Son of God, he is God himself in human form.
We too first come to see Jesus as a man. As Fr Hopko points out, "We must come to know Him as a concrete human being, a Jew, a rabbi, a prophet. We must come to meet Him as Mary's child, the carpenter's son, the Nazarene. Then, in this encounter, when our eyes are open and our hearts are pure, we can come to see 'greater things.' We can come to know Him not simply as a teacher, but the Teacher; not simply as a prophet, but the Prophet; not merely as a son of man, but as the Son of Man foretold by the prophet Daniel. We can come to see Him not simply as a son of God, but as the Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages. We can come to recognize Him as God's word in human flesh, as God's image in human form. And finally, we can come to see Him as God Himself; not the Father, but the Father's Son, divine with the Father's own divinity, sent into the world for its salvation."
