[Kafuuil]

I do believe the phrase you uttered was from the Holy Spirit, 'Jesus was born of the Spirit not of the flesh. In the creed of the Orthodox Church we recite the following:

Who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven and was incarnate
of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.

Fr David, Isn't this statement liable to slip into problems with gnosticism? Don't we proclaim that Jesus was born of the Spirit and the flesh? This seems to me a dangerous statement.

Jesus Christ is indeed born in the flesh. The statement from the creed quoted above makes that point quite clearly. He Who is "Light of Light, True God of True God ... of one essence with the Father" ... "was incarnate ... and became man". This clearly informs us that Jesus Christ is indeed the God/man - fully God and fully man. The Virgin Mary did not give birth to a "spirit" nor did she give birth to a "man who later was infused with the Spirit of God". She gave birth to the incarnate God - God become man - the God/man Jesus Christ. To say that "Jesus was not born of the flesh" contradicts the Creed and is not Orthodox - and in fact is not even Christan.

Fr David