The icon of the Nativity is not the result of the iconographers’ whims, but a faithful visual representation of a multi-layered message, which has its origins in the Gospel texts (Matthew and Luke), in Orthodox hymnography – with particular emphasis on the kontakion by Romanos the Melodist and the mention of the star’s ray – and in the iconographic canons codified by Dionysius of Furna. The study analyses each element of the icon (the star with its ray, the cave, the manger, the ox and the donkey, the Magi, the shepherds, Righteous Joseph, the midwives), tracing their scriptural, hymnographic and iconographic roots, and demonstrating that the iconographer acts as a visual translator of the written and sung word.