March 25. The Annunciation of the Most Holy Mother of God
“Today is the beginning of our salvation and the revelation of the eternal mystery”—so begins the troparion of the feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Mother of God. In these words, “our salvation” refers to the incarnation of the Word of God—His coming into the world in the flesh, in human nature and form—as the only-begotten Son of the Father, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is what we read in the Creed: “Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man.”
The “beginning of salvation” refers to the conception of Christ in the sacred womb of His Mother, the Most Holy Virgin Mary—just as conception is the beginning of life for every human being. And the “eternal mystery” is to be understood as the Eternal Counsel of the Holy Trinity—that is, the primordial plan of the Triune God, before all time, concerning the incarnation of the Word of God for the deification of man. The Holy Fathers—beginning with the first martyr Irenaeus of Lyons, and later Saint Athanasius the Great and others—unanimously proclaim: “God became man, that man might become god,” meaning that man might fully realize the likeness of God which was given him at creation. For this reason the Son of God, the One of the Trinity, assumed human nature.
It astonishes the mind to consider that this universal, cosmic, divine plan could only be fulfilled with the consent of a human being. Even more wondrous is the fact that this consent, on behalf of the millions upon millions of descendants of Adam and Eve, across all ages and all lands, was given by a young Virgin in a small and enslaved land, in the obscure town of Nazareth—more like a village—within the house of a poor carpenter, called her husband. The eternal mystery concerning the highest destiny of the world—the Incarnation, the Cross, and the Resurrection of the Son of God, and the majestic calling of man—was thus revealed not in the capitals of empires, amid royal splendor and the clamor of arms, nor in the centers of science and wisdom amid philosophical debates, but in silence and obscurity, among poverty and humility.
The Gospel recounts this event in only a few words, without describing in detail its outward circumstances. Church tradition, however, conveys various accounts of these circumstances, and we see this variety reflected in icons. On some icons, the Virgin is depicted at the moment of receiving the divine message as sitting at a spindle; on others, as drawing water from a well; and on still others, as reading the book of the prophet Isaiah, opened to the words: “Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23). What is beyond dispute is that the Archangel Gabriel, the messenger of God’s mysteries, appeared to the Virgin in the house of Joseph in Nazareth and addressed her with the words: “Rejoice, O Full of Grace! The Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.”
Saint Andrew of Crete explains this greeting as follows: “The angel not only proclaims joy but also points to the Cause of that joy, who is in the Virgin’s womb; for the words ‘The Lord is with thee’ clearly signify that the King Himself is present, wholly incarnate in her and yet not departing from His glory. […] Rejoice, O instrument of joy, by whom the curse is annulled and the right to rejoice is restored. […] I bring thee good tidings from heaven, and not just any tidings, but tidings of joy. […] ‘The Lord is with thee,’ the Giver of every joy, the Savior of the whole world—He is with thee, who, without departing from the bosom of the Father, has entered thy womb. I called thee ‘Full of Grace’ to express the joy of the mystery hidden within thee. I called thee ‘Full of Grace,’ for thou bearest within thee all this joy” (Homily on the Annunciation of the Most Holy Mother of God).
She, however—as the Gospel continues—“when she saw him, was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest […] and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:28–33). The purity of Mary’s heart, her deep faith, and love for the will of God, which lived in her from infancy, revealed to her that the one standing before her was not a deceiver, as had once beguiled Eve in Paradise, but a messenger of a divine mystery. Therefore, she neither feared nor suspected deceit, but simply asked: “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” Neither the experience of others, nor anything in the Scriptures, could bring to her mind a single instance in which a child had been born without the involvement of a man. Gabriel answered her: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). To show Mary the possibility of such a miraculous birth, beyond the laws of nature, he cited the example of her kinswoman Elisabeth, who, though barren for many years, had in old age conceived a child—the future prophet and Forerunner of the Lord, John. And Mary asked for no further proof but readily responded: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38).
However, in the stichera and troparia of the feast’s canon, the dialogue between the Mother of God and the Archangel is portrayed in much more detail, presented as a prolonged exchange, in which Mary expresses hesitation and Gabriel persistently persuades her. This outward difference from the Gospel account is not a contradiction and should not provoke doubt. Under the guise of this dialogue, the hymnographers—foremost among them St. John of Damascus, the renowned theologian, expositor of dogma, and preacher—used the opportunity to convey to the faithful many dogmatic truths, thereby fulfilling one of the most important tasks of liturgical worship: to edify believers in piety.
The consent of the Most Holy Virgin to the will of God—no matter how far that will exceeded the grasp of human understanding—opened the way for the fulfillment of the greatest divine purpose, which encompassed all the wisdom of creation and the whole of human history from the first to the last day. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Christ, “made man of the Virgin Mary,” the only-begotten Son of God, “gave power to become the sons of God” to them that received Him, “even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12–13). The virginal conception of the Word of God in the flesh by the Virgin was a foreshadowing of God’s indwelling in the human soul, which becomes a new birth—not into a fleeting earthly life ending in death, but into eternal and blessed life. And the Virgin herself became the personification, the beginning, and the protectress of the Church—the pure Bride of Christ and Mother of all who inherit salvation. Thus the feast of the Annunciation becomes the celebration of the good news of Christ proclaimed to all mankind.
At Vespers, Stichera, Tone 6
The Archangel Gabriel was sent from heaven to announce the conception to the Virgin. And arriving in Nazareth, he pondered within himself, marveling at the wonder: How shall He who is incomprehensible in the heights be born of a Virgin? He who has the heavens for a throne and the earth for a footstool is contained within a Virgin’s womb! He whom the six-winged and many-eyed ones cannot bear to look upon, by a single word has willed to be made flesh from her. It is indeed the Word of God. Why then do I tarry, and not say to the Maiden: Rejoice, O full of grace! The Lord is with thee; rejoice, O pure Virgin; rejoice, unwedded Bride; rejoice, O Mother of Life, blessed is the fruit of thy womb!
At the Litia, Tone 8
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad! For He who is co-eternal, co-unoriginate, and co-enthroned with the Father, taking upon Himself compassion and the mercy of His love for mankind, determined within Himself, by the good pleasure and counsel of the Father, to be poured out for our sake. And He made His dwelling in the womb of the Virgin, made pure by the Spirit. O wonder! God among men! The Uncontainable in the womb! The Ageless One enters time! And what is more glorious still: that the conception is without seed, the self-emptying inexpressible, and the mystery beyond words! For God is emptied, being incarnate, and is fashioned anew, while the angel says to the Pure One who has conceived: Rejoice, O full of grace, the Lord is with thee, who hast found great mercy.
At the Litia, Tone 2
Gabriel announceth today to the one full of grace: Rejoice, O unwedded Maiden and untouched by man! Be not amazed at my strange appearance, nor be afraid—for I am an Archangel. The serpent once beguiled Eve; now I bring thee tidings of joy. And thou shalt remain incorrupt, having given birth to the Lord, O Pure One.