The Orthodox Church celebrates the Synaxis of the Holy Archangel Gabriel on March 26th (O.S.) / April 8th(N.S.). Following immediately on the heels of the Feast of the Annunciation, the Typicon of the Orthodox Church prescribes the celebration of the Archangel Gabriel (whose Hebrew name literally means “Man of God”). As one of the leaders of the Bodiless Hosts and a servant of the Most High, Gabriel was chosen by God to deliver the good tidings of the Annunciation to the Virgin. The Archangel Gabriel also intervened at other points in the history of salvation and God’s Chosen People, appearing to the Prophet Daniel (Dan. 8:16, 9:21–24) and to Saint Anna, the mother of the Virgin Mary. In liturgical terms, the celebration of this feast one day after the Annunciation follows a common principle that one sees in other places in the church calendar, too: that the “cause” of the feast (whether person or angel) is celebrated the day after the feast itself. For example, the Synaxis of the Mother of God (December 26/January 8) falls one day after the Nativity; the memory of the Holy Forebears of God, Joachim and Anna, is kept one day after the commemoration of the Nativity of the Mother of God; and so on. It is difficult to ascertain exactly when this pattern was established in the history of the church calendar, but its existence is undeniable. Source: “Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel”, Orthodox Church in America, https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/03/26/100886-synaxis-of-the-archangel-gabriel. |
