The Shepherd, March 2006
Adapted from
“THE HOUSE OF GOD AND THE CHURCH SERVICES, 1”
By the Priest N. R. Antonov
Continuation
§ 128. Services of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos (25th March). The feast was established to celebrate the Annunciation to the Most Holy Virgin Mary by the Archangel regarding the birth of Emmanuel, the Lord Jesus Christ. The origins of the festival itself reach back to the fourth and fifth centuries, although that the event was commemorated is attributed to the Apostles. The feast may fall between the Thursday of the third week of Great Lent and the Wednesday of Pascha Week.
If the feast falls on a Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, Friday or Saturday of any of the weeks in the Great Lent, its Vigil service begins with Great Compline. If, however, it falls on a Sunday or Monday, the Vigil follows the normal order. When the Annunciation falls within Pascha, there is no polyeleos, but the canon for the Annunciation is joined to that for Pascha, and after the Sixth Ode the Gospel is read.
The hymns tell the story of the Archangel Gabriel’s announcement to the Mother of God, and they pay particular attention to the humblemindedness of the Virgin Mary. They speak of the ineffable manner in which the Saviour’s Birth from the All-holy Virgin Mary was to come about. The Mother of God is compared to the Burning Bush, to the Ladder seen by Jacob, and so on. It speaks of the fact that, thanks to the Lord’s birth from the Theotokos, heaven has again been united with the earth, Adam has been renewed, Eve freed, and we are made communicants of the Divine, we have become a congregation, the Church of God. Heaven and earth are called upon to celebrate and chant hymns, because the Son of God, Who is enthroned with the Father, is, through His own goodness, manifest within the virgin womb, and voluntarily takes upon Himself the nature of man.
The Old Testament readings are the same as those which are read at the Birth of the Theotokos.
Troparion: 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 proclaimeth the good tidings of grace;
for this cause, we also cry to the Mother of God with him:
Rejoice, thou who art full of grace;
the Lord is with thee.
Contakion: 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 they womb,
I stand in awe and cry to thee:
Rejoice, thou Bride unwedded.
Another Contakion: 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.
The first of these contakia is not included in Fr Antonov’s work, but he does give a Russian translation of the Church Slavonic texts for those who would not understand the latter.
In the canon it speaks of God’s condescension to man in the Saviour’s becoming incarnate, and it tells of the greatness of the Most Holy Virgin, who received God into herself. The canon also brings to mind the prophesies and various Old Testament events and manifestations which proclaimed aforetime the incarnation of the Son of God from a Woman; it speaks of the power of the All-holy Spirit, which overshadowed the Mother of God by His descent, and it elucidates the brief but extremely significant words of the Archangel Gabriel to the All-holy Virgin Mary.
The prokeimenon is “Proclaim from day to day the salvation of our God.”
The Apostle reading (Heb. 2:11-18) tells that it is indispensable for the salvation of mankind that the Son of God should take human flesh.
The Gospel (Luke 1:24-38) contains the evangelical account of the Annunciation of the All-holy Virgin Mary.
The Megalynarion is:
O earth, announce good tidings of great joy:
ye heavens, praise the glory of God.
Let no profane hand touch the living Ark of God,
but let the lips of the faithful,
singing without ceasing the words of the Angel
to the Theotokos, cry aloud in great joy:
Rejoice, thou who art full of grace:
the Lord is with thee.
The communion hymn is: “The Lord hath elected Sion, He hath chosen her to be a habitation for Himself.”
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