The Annunciation (or Evangelismos in Greek) to the Theotokos
The Holy Burning Bush of Sinai
Commemorated on March 25
Proclaim, O earth, the glad tidings of great joy, and ye heavens, praise the glory of God.
Verses
The Angel announced as Son to the Virgin, the Great Angel of the Father’s great counsel.
On the twenty-fifth the Angel spake of joy unto Mary.
Homily:
on the Most-holy Virgin, the Theotokos
by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič
“And Mary said: ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord’” (Luke 1:38).
Here indeed, brethren, is a true handmaid of the Lord! If a handmaid is she who exchanges her will completely for the will of her Lord, then the Most-holy Virgin is the first among all of the Lord’s handmaids. If a handmaid is she who, with intent and with complete attention, beholds her Lord, then again the Most-holy Virgin is the first among the handmaids of the Lord. If a handmaid is one who meekly and quietly endures all insults and trials, awaiting only the reward of her Lord, then again and again the Most-holy Virgin is the first and most excellent of all the handmaids of the Lord. She did not care to please the world, but only God; nor did she care to justify herself before the world, but only before God. She herself is obedience; she herself is service; she herself is meekness. The Most-holy Virgin could in truth say to the angel of God: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” The greatest perfection, and the greatest honor that a woman can attain on earth, is to be a handmaid of the Lord. Eve lost this perfection and honor in Paradise without effort, and the Virgin Mary achieved this perfection and this honor outside Paradise with her efforts.
Through the prayers of the Most-holy Virgin Theotokos, O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
The Prologue from Ohrid: Lives of Saints by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič
http://prologue.orthodox.cn/December26.htm
***
The Annunciation of the Theotokos
by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič
When the All-Holy Virgin completed the fourteenth year after her birth and was entering her fifteenth year, after having spent eleven years of living and serving in the Temple of Jerusalem, the priests informed her that, according to the Law, she could not remain in the Temple but was required to be betrothed and enter into marriage. What a great surprise to the priests was the answer of the All-Holy Virgin that she had dedicated her life to God and that she desired to remain a Virgin until death, not wanting to enter into marriage with anyone! Then, according to Divine Providence, Zacharias, the high priest and father of the Forerunner, under the inspiration of God, and in agreement with the other priests, gathered twelve unwed men from the Tribe of David to betroth the Virgin Mary to one of them to preserve her virginity and to care for her. She was betrothed to Joseph of Nazareth who was her kinsman.
In the house of Joseph, the All-Holy Virgin continued to live as she did in the Temple of Solomon, occupying her time in the reading of Sacred Scripture, in prayer, in Godly-thoughts, in fasting and in handiwork. She rarely went anywhere outside the house nor was she interested in worldly things and events. She spoke very little to anyone, if at all, and never without special need. More frequently she communicated with both of Joseph’s daughters.
When the fullness of time had come, as prophesied by Daniel the Prophet, and when God was pleased to fulfill His promise to the banished Adam and to the Prophets, the great Archangel Gabriel appeared in the chamber of the All-Holy Virgin and, as some priestly writers wrote, precisely at that same moment when she held open the book of the Prophet Isaiah and was contemplating his great prophecy: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son!” (Isaiah 7:13). Gabriel appeared in all of his angelic brightness and saluted her: “Rejoice, highly favored one! The Lord is with you” (St. Luke 1:28), and the rest in order as it is written in the Gospel of the saintly Luke.
With this angelic annunciation and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Virgin, the salvation of mankind and restoration of all creation began. The history of the New Testament was opened by the words of the Archangel Gabriel: “Rejoice, highly favored one” This is to imply that the New Testament was to signify joy to mankind and to all created things. It is from this that the Annunciation is considered not only a great feast, but a joyful feast as well.
The Prologue from Ohrid: Lives of Saints by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič
http://livingorthodoxfaith.blogspot.gr/2009/12/prologue-march-25-april-7.html
Saint Paisius the Athonite
The humble have all the spiritual aromas: simplicity, meekness, boundless love, kindness, impatience, sacrifice, obedience, etc. Because he has spiritual poverty, he also has all the spiritual wealth. He is also pious and silent, which is why he is related to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was very humble.
The Virgin Mary brought to the world the paradise’s joy. I wish the Virgin Mary to give you the joy of the Annunciation.
Today is the beginning of our salvation, The revelation of the eternal mystery! St Dimitry of Rostov – St Porphyrios the Kapsokalyvite
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2020/03/24/today-is-the-beginning-of-our-salvation-the-revelation-of-the-eternal-mystery-st-dimitry-of-rostov-st-porphyrios-the-kapsokalyvite/
The creation of the world is a great miracle of the word of God. For nothing will be impossible for God. Saint Nikolai Velimirovič
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2020/03/23/41749/
Imploring her to become a ladder, down which God will descend into the world… – Prayers by the Lake,Saint Nikolai Velimirovic
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2016/03/24/imploring-her-to-become-a-ladder-down-which-god-will-descend-into-the-world-prayers-by-the-lakesaint-nikolai-velimirovic/
“Thy will be done”, although nothing can happen without the Will of God. St. John of Kronstadt.
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2016/03/22/thy-will-be-done-although-nothing-can-happen-without-the-will-of-god-st-john-of-kronstadt/
All the prophets have from the beginning cried out to my soul… Poem XLVIII (48), Saint Nikolai Velimirovic
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2019/03/24/27934/
Troparion of the Annunciation, Tone 4
Today is the beginning of our salvation, the revelation of the eternal mystery! the Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin as Gabriel announces the coming of Grace. Together with him let us cry to the Theotokos: Rejoice, O Full of Grace, the Lord is with you.
THE NINTH ODE OF THE ANNUNCIATION CANON IN TONE FOUR
Proclaim, O earth, the glad tidings of great joy, and ye heavens, praise the glory of God.
The Theotokos, being the living tabernacle of God, shall never be touched by an unclean hand. But the lips of believers shall sing unto her ceaselessly with the voice of angels, crying joyfully: Rejoice, O full of grace. The Lord is with thee.
Tone Six (**Having laid up all their hope**)
Verse 4. From the morning watch until night, from the morning watch let Israel trust in the Lord.
Wheresoever God doth will, * there nature’s order is conquered, * spake he that is bodiless; * and that which exceedeth man * then is brought to pass. * O thou all-holy Maid, * purer than all telling, * now believe these truthful words of mine. * She cried aloud to him: * Be it unto me now as thou hast said, * and I shall bear the Fleshless One, * Who shall borrow flesh from me, so that He, * Who alone is able, * might lead man back up to his first estate * and ancient dignity once again * by His union with our race.
DOXASTICON FOR THE ANNUNCIATION IN TONE EIGHT
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad; for the co-eternal and co-beginningless Son of the Father, Who is of one throne with Him, taking pity and filled with man-befriending mercy, condescended unto the emptying of Himself according to the good pleasure and will of the Father, and He dwelt in the Virgin’s womb, which was purified before by the Spirit. O wonder! God is among men, the Uncontainable is in the womb, the Timeless One is in time; and wondrous it is that the conception is without seed, and the emptying ineffable, and the mystery so great! For God emptieth Himself, and becometh flesh, and is fashioned, the Angel having declared the conception unto the pure Virgin: Rejoice, O Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee, even He that hath Great Mercy.
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