Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Celebration date: 25/03
Today our church celebrates the joyous message of the divine incarnation, which the evangelist Luke presents to us in such a clear way in his Gospel (chapter I verse 26-38). On this day, the God-sent archangel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary in Nazareth and announced to her that she would give birth to the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. And When the Virgin wondered how it was possible for her to conceive without a man, the archangel answered her that “the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” Then the modest daughter, the Virgin Mary, humbly answered him. “Behold, then, the handmaid of the Lord. Let His will be done.” and as Gabriel disappeared from before her, the greatest mystery of mankind was accomplished. in a supernatural way, the Virgin conceived in her immaculate womb, the Son and Word of God. He who, by his voluntary sacrifice on the Cross, saved the human race from the eternal death and destruction to which it had been led after the fall of the first-born from heaven and the appearance of sin in the world.
It is worth, however, to see how the inspired hymn singers of our Church sang the world-saving message: “Today, the Gospel of joy, virginal celebration, the lower and the upper are concluded; Adam is renewed, Eve of the first sorrow is freed, and the scene of our essence is the divinity of hired firma temple of God kehrimatiken. Oh mystery! method of voiding unknown, method of conception unclear. An angel works in the miraculous virgin womb welcomes the Son, the Holy Spirit is sent down, the Father from above prospers, and the exchange in common deals with the will of the saved, in harmony with Gabriel, to the Virgin we cry, rejoice, gracious, the Lord is after you, from of our salvation, Christ our God, having received a nature for us, repeated it to himself”.
The origins of the Feast of the Annunciation are not precisely known. The fact that St. Helen built a basilica in Nazareth, which traditionally included the house of the Virgin, where she received the Annunciation, may have influenced the establishment of a local holiday. The first testimonies about it are found in Saint Proclus, Patriarch of Constantinople, in 430 AD. and in the Paschal Chronicle (624 AD), where it is described as having been established on March 25 by the divine teachers. The magnificent celebration of the Annunciation was performed by the Byzantines in the temple of Chalkoprateia, where the emperors were also present.
