My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
25th – THE ANNUNCIATION OF OUR HOLY MOST HOLY LADY,
THE THEOTOKOS AND EVER-VIRGIN MARY.
Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. Fourth Tone
TODAY is the fountainhead of our salvation and the manifestation of
the mystery which was from eternity. The Son of God becometh the
Virgin’s Son, and Gabriel announceth the good tidings of grace; for this
cause, let us cry to the Mother of God with him: Rejoice, thou who art
full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Kontakion. Plagal of Fourth Tone
WHEN the bodiless one learned the secret command, in haste he
came and stood before Joseph’s dwelling, and spake unto the
Maiden who knew not wedlock: The One Who hath bowed the
Heavens by His descent is held and contained unchanging wholly
in thee. Seeing Him receiving the form of a servant in thy womb,
I stand in awe and cry to thee: Rejoice, thou Bride unwedded.
Another Kontakion. Fourth Tone
TO THEE, the Champion Leader, we thy flock dedicate a feast of
victory and of thanksgiving as ones rescued out of sufferings, O
Theotokos; but as thou art one with might which is invincible,
from all dangers that can be do thou deliver us, that we may cry
to thee: Rejoice, thou Bride unwedded.
Six months after Saint John the Forerunner’s conception, the Archangel Gabriel was sent by God to Nazareth, a town of Galilee, unto Mary the Virgin, who had come forth from the Temple a mature maiden (see November 21st). According to the tradition handed down by the Holy Fathers of the Church, she had been betrothed to Joseph for four months. On coming to Joseph’s house, the Archangel declared: "Rejoice, thou Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." After some consideration, and turmoil of soul, and fear because of this greeting, the Virgin, when she had finally obtained full assurance concerning God’s unsearchable condescension and the ineffable dispensation that was to take place through her, and believing that all things are possible to the Most High, answered in humility: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." And at this, the Holy Spirit came upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her All-Blameless womb, and the Son and Logos/Word of God, Who existed before the ages, was conceived past speech and understanding, and became flesh in her immaculate body (Luke 1:26-38).
Bearing in her womb the Uncontainable One, the Blessed Virgin went with haste from Nazareth to the hill country of Judea, where Zacharias has his dwelling; for she desired to find Elizabeth her kinswoman and rejoice together with her, because, as she had learned from the Archangel, Elizabeth had conceived in her old age. Furthermore, she wished to tell her of the great things that the Mighty One had been well-pleased to bring to pass in her, and she greeted Elizabeth and drew night to her. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, she felt her six-month old babe leap in her womb for joy. By leaping thus even before he had beheld the Light of Life, her babe, Saint John the Baptist, prophesied of the dawning of the spiritual Sun. Immediately, the aged Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and recognized her as the Mother of the Lord, and with a great voice blessed her and the Fruit that she held within herself. The Virgin also, moved by a supernatural rejoicing in the spirit, glorified her God and Savior, saying: "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior," and the rest, as the divine Luke hath recorded (I:39-55). [Resources: The Great Horologion]
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE ANNUNCIATION
When the Most Holy Virgin had lived and served in the Temple at Jerusalem for 11 years, and was by then 14 years old — whe, that is, she entering on her 15th year — the priests informed her that, according to the Law, she could no longer remain in the Temple but must be betrothed and marry. But, to the great surprise of all the priests, the Most Holy Virgin replied that she had dedicated herself to God and wished to a maiden remain till death and enter into wedlock with no-one. Then, by God’s Providence and under His inspiration, Zacharias, the high priest and father of the Forerunner, in consultation with the other priests, chose 12 unmarried men from the Tribe of David so that they might entrust the Virgin Mary to one of them to preserve her virginity and care for her. She was thus ENTRUSTED TO JOSEPH, AN OLD MAN FROM NAZARETH AND A KINSMAN OF HERS. In his house, the Most Holy Virgin continued to live in the same manner as in the Temple of Solomon, passing her time in the reading of the Sacred Scripture, in prayer, in pondering on the work of God, in fasting, and in handiwork. She scarcely ever left the house, nor too, an interest in worldly matters or events. She generally conversed very little with anyone, and never without a particular need. She was intimate only with the two daughters of Joseph. But when the time prophesied by the Prophet Daniel had come and when God was pleased to fulfil the promise made to Adam when He drove him out of Paradise, and to the Prophets (the mighty Archangel Gabriel appeared in the chamber of the Most Holy Virgin, at the precise moment (as some priestly writers have related) that she was holding open on her lap the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and pondering on his great prophecy: ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.’ Gabriel appeared to her in Angelic Light and said to her: ‘Rejoice, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee!’, and so forth, just as is related in the Gospel of the divine Luke. With this Angelic greeting and the descent of the Holy Spirit, THE SALVATION OF MANKIND AND THE RENEWAL OF CREATION WERE SET IN MOTION. The Archangel turned the first page of the story of the New Testament with the word ‘REJOICE!’, to show by this the joy that the New Testament signifies for mankind and for all things created. And therefore the Annunciation is looked upon AS A JOYOUS, AS WELL AS A GREAT, FEAST. [Resources: The Prologue from Ochrid]
[Please note:On the Great Feast of the Annunciation
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 