Today, the Church celebrates the Annunciation to the Most Holy Mother of God. The date of the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25th, O.S.) is set to be exactly nine months before the Feast of the Nativity. The first known allusions to the celebration of the Annunciation can be found in a canon of the council of Toledo (656), and another of the Council in Trullo (692). These forbade the celebration in Lent of all other feasts except for the Annunciation. Even today, there are often liturgical peculiarities in the celebration of the solemnity that result from the fact that it usually falls within the fasting period. This year, it coincides with the Sunday of the Cross, meaning that the hymns of the Annunciation from the Festal Menaion are intermingled with those for the Cross from the Lenten Triodion. The account of the Annunciation in the Gospel (Luke 1:26–28) has found resonance in a very wide range of theological and liturgical texts throughout Christian History. In particular, the familiar exclamation Χαῖρε! (Ave!, often translated – incorrectly, but following the Slavonic Raduisia! – as “Rejoice!”, but actually meaning “Hail!”) occurs frequently in hymnographical texts and prayers to and about the Mother of God throughout the Church Year. The first Sticheron at Great Vespers for the feast, reproduced here, serves as an apt illustration of the richness of this hymnography: Gabriel stood before thee, O Maiden, revealing the pre-eternal counsel, saluting thee and exclaiming: “Rejoice, O earth unsown! Rejoice, O bush unburnt! Rejoice, O depth hard to fathom! Rejoice, O bridge leading to the heavens and lofty ladder, which Jacob beheld! Rejoice, O divine jar of Manna! Rejoice, annulment of the curse! Rejoice, restoration of Adam: the Lord is with thee!” Beyond such vivid symbolism and Old Testament imagery, writings on the feast often emphasize the humility of the Virgin Mary in accepting the will of God that she bear a Son “that shall be called the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32). The response of the Mother of God to the Angel’s command embodies the lofty ideal to which all Christians are called in following the will of God: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” Source: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), “Annunciation”, Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 2 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 78. |
