 As he slept, the Theotokos (Mother of God) appeared to him with a scroll in her hand.She commanded him to eat the scroll, and as soon as he did so, he awoke.He immediately received a blessing from the Patriarch, mounted the ambo (pulpit), and chanted extemporaneously his famous Kontakion of the Nativity, "Today the Virgin gives birth to Him Who is above all being…."