Cough

Behold, the servant of the Lord. Behold, the Servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word

On April 7, the Church celebrates the great twelfth feast of the Annunciation Holy Mother of God. About the history of the holiday, its spiritual meaning and special significance Archpriest Alexander Borisov, rector of the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Shubin, told “Thomas” for the Church.

A holiday in time

On April 7, Orthodox Christians celebrate one of the greatest holidays - the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It so happened historically that the Feast of the Annunciation often coincides with the time of Lent. The fact is that the entire earthly life of Christ is connected with the salvation that He brought to us. This salvation, precisely, begins with the moment the Archangel Gabriel brings the good news to the Virgin Mary, and ends with the suffering and atoning death of the Lord on the Cross. In the Annunciation, the good news came to the world that our liberation had appeared, the union of the Divine and human natures had taken place, which in to the fullest revealed itself precisely in the victory over death.

The holiday itself was established everywhere in the Church by the 6th century, that is, by the time when, starting from the end of the 4th - beginning of the 5th century, the Nativity of Christ was already celebrated separately from the Epiphany, that is, the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus Christ from John, and not together, as it was before.

Since the Nativity of Christ is called in the Church the birth of the Sun of Truth, namely on December 24-25 (January 6-7 according to the new style) the increase begins sunny day, then it was with this event that they decided to associate the birth of the Savior, because exact date we don't know this day. In this regard, the Annunciation, that is, virgin birth The Virgin Mary was taken nine months before the Nativity of Christ, which just happens to fall on March 25 (April 7). We can say that the Incarnation occurred in accordance with the laws of earthly existence, because all women in normal conditions give birth in the ninth month after conception.

“Behold the Servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word“

The Virgin Mary, of course, was a special person, otherwise the Lord would not have chosen Her for such an amazing event that changed all history - the union of the Divine and human natures in Her Son. The faith of the Virgin Mary was no less strong than that of many Christian women who chose the path of serving only the Lord, and about whom we know from the subsequent history of the Church. But her nature was especially open to the reception of the angel's message and the action of God's grace. One appearance of an angel could not accomplish the whole work; the consent of man, the consent of the Virgin Mary, to accept the will of God and become the Mother of the Savior was also required. The Mother of God gave her consent on behalf of all humanity: “ Behold the Servant of the Lord;let it be done to me according to your word”(Luke 1:38). Ultimately, a double event occurred - the manifestation of God's mercy towards people and man's acceptance of this mercy, the good news. Without the consent of the Mother of God, our salvation would not have occurred, since God never acts against the free will of man. God needs a person’s free love for Him, and not forced by any external circumstances. Therefore, in the Annunciation we see an example of God’s grace and human consent.

What did you do Holy Virgin, after hearing the good news from the angel? In the text of the Gospel of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26) there are the following words: “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Galilee, called Nazareth...”. Here we mean the sixth month from the conception of the righteous Elizabeth of her son - the future Prophet and Forerunner of the Lord John the Baptist. The Evangelist speaks about the sixth month, since this is the period when pregnancy can already be easily verified. The Virgin Mary, having accepted the good news, went to the righteous Elizabeth, saw that everything said by the angel was the truth and shared the joy with Her relative.

At their meeting, another amazing event happened - Elizabeth heard the greeting of the Virgin Mary and “the baby leaped in her womb.” Undoubtedly, this was evidence that in Elizabeth’s womb there was not just a baby, but the future John the Baptist - a man also related to the earthly life of the Savior. We can say that with this “leaping” the prophetic ministry of John the Baptist about the coming of Christ into the world had already begun, since the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary had already occurred by that time.

For us, among other things, this is also important evidence that a baby, even one in the womb, already feels well what is happening around him. For future parents, and for all people in general, this passage is an important indication of how carefully one should treat pregnant women and pregnancy in general. Scientists know that not only the conditions of fruiting, but even the circumstances of conception affect the future character and psyche of the baby. Well, and most importantly, from the moment of conception the life of a new person begins!

Special day

At the Liturgy of the Annunciation, the passage from the Gospel is read which tells us about the very essence of the holiday. The event that is directly connected with this - the story about the journey of the Virgin Mary to Her relative Elizabeth, although it happened chronologically later, is read on the eve of the Annunciation at the All-Night Vigil. This is not surprising, because approximately the same thing happens in icon painting, when events from different times are placed in one visible space. All of them, one way or another, are interconnected, but the event to which the icon itself is dedicated is placed in the center. We see this in the icon of the Nativity of Christ, and in the image of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and in many others.

The Annunciation has other liturgical features. So, for example, if the Annunciation falls on Lent, then these two events are combined in worship. The Church does not put “either, or” between the holiday and fasting; it says “and, and,” that is, it is both a holiday and fasting at the same time. In terms of liturgy, the day of the Annunciation, which falls during Lent, is always a rather eventful event. Easter the cycle goes on By lunar calendar, and the Annunciation, like the Nativity of Christ, is according to the sun, which is why the combination of individual parts of the services takes place in a single Lenten service of the holiday.

There is also such a rare and amazing service as Kyriopascha, that is, the dominant Easter is the feast of the Annunciation, which falls on Easter of Christ. Last time such an event occurred in 1991. One can probably see a special spiritual meaning in this, since this was the time when the atheistic regime fell in our country and freedom of faith was re-established. I suppose that Kyriopascha 1991 brought our country a kind of spiritual renewal.

Speaking about the features of the celebration of the Annunciation, it should also be noted that on the Annunciation in Lent, eating fish is allowed, but if the holiday falls on Holy Week, then we are no longer talking about fish. In the charter for this day there is an indication that only eating oil, that is, food with vegetable oil. Thus, abstinence from fish extends throughout Holy Week, regardless of the holiday.

In addition, birds are traditionally released at the Annunciation, usually white doves. This custom is widespread not only throughout Slavic Orthodox world, but also among other nations. True, among the latter this tradition is not connected with the Annunciation, but has pagan roots. But for us this, of course, is not paganism, but a certain symbol - good news, liberation of the soul, the joy of meeting God, that is, the same thing: “God is the Lord and appear to us.”

The All-Holy Virgin said: Behold the servant of the Lord, wake me according to your word, thus expressed the following: I am the tablet on which the Scribe writes whatever pleases Him. Let the Lord of all write and do whatever he wants. And the Angel, having received this confession of faith from the all-holy Virgin, leave her.

St. Gregory Palamas

In Her turn, She runs to God and extends herself in prayer to Him, saying to the Archangel: if the Holy Spirit, as you say, comes upon Me, further purifying and strengthening My nature so that I can accept the Saving Fruit; if the power of the Most High overshadows Me, forming in Me as a man the One Who is the Existing God, and creating a seedless birth; if the Begotten is Holy and the Son of God, and God and the Eternal King, for with God not a single word will remain powerless, then - “Behold the Servant of the Lord, be unto Me according to Thy word”. And the Angel departed from Her, leaving in Her womb the Creator of all, who was combined with flesh, and through such combination (with flesh), Whom She served, who gave salvation to the world.

Omilia 14. On the Annunciation of our Most Pure Lady Theotokos.

St. Filaret (Drozdov)

Then Mary said: Behold, the Servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word. And the Angel departed from Her

Why was the Archangel dissatisfied with uttering the word of annunciation to her, but used, one might say, urgent means to achieve a word of her consent? Is it possible that without this word from Mariam the incarnation of the Son of God would not have taken place? Does the omnipotent will of God really need the permission of the human will? – The questions are apparently difficult: but they can be resolved simply. Their resolution can be found in the same place from which they were borrowed - in the Gospel narrative. Archangel Gabriel, without a doubt, did exactly what God's commanding verb inspired him to do. But the Archangel, not limiting himself to the word of annunciation, did not stop his conversation with the Most Holy Virgin until he heard from her a word of agreement: wake me according to your word. Consequently, it was God’s will. Therefore, it should have been so. Consequently, this was certainly required by God’s wisdom and God’s destiny.

Word on the Day of Annunciation Holy Mother of God. 1851

Sschmch. Grigory (Lebedev)

Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word

These are the words of surrendering oneself to God’s will; nothing could be more complete and expressive than them. In them, first of all, the affirmation of one’s obedience to God: "I am the servant of the Lord". Here is the recognition of one’s devotion to God and, therefore, the surrender of one’s entire life to His complete disposal. The slave is controlled by the master. And after confessing undivided surrender to God, the consequence of such surrender is expressed: a conscious, humble renunciation of one’s goals, one’s paths, and even one’s desires and thoughts if they run counter to God’s dominion. If God is the Lord and loving Provider of my life, then let him rule, let him provide for it... Why should I, who do not know the Lord’s truth and its ways, why should I interfere with the Lord in His providential care for my life? By my intervention, I will either completely go against God’s will and reject her structure of my life, or, in best case scenario, I, with my self-inflicted ways and my mistakes, will slow down the fulfillment of God’s plans in my life. And that means, if you acknowledge your subordination to the Lord and if you desire to be in unity with Him, surrender to the Lord with your whole life and allow Him to do good for you. And write the words of the Holy Virgin both in your heart and everywhere before your eyes: “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word.”.

Word from the monastery confessor

Today is my birthday Mother of God. And we want to present a gift to the One who, in a way incomprehensible to man, contained the love of God, who dared to step over Her mind, earthly, human laws and, through obedience, through humility, trust God. Her word: behold, the Servant of the Lord...(Luke 1:38), Her willingness to accept God's blessing gave birth to this world of Love, which saves a person from eternal death. Each of us says in confession: “I repent, Lord.” These words, of course, exceed our understanding, our capabilities, because we may not have yet begun to see our sin, but we still say that we are already repenting; We may not have even touched the love of God yet, but we say that we trust this love, we entrust our hearts, our lives to it; we believe that God will forgive us.

If we want to follow Christ, if we really have a goal - to achieve eternal life, we must all the time enter into different relationships with this world and with each other. We must live like Christians. But on the way to our goal, we often make stops that cost us dearly. In this world you can’t stop, you can’t feel sorry for yourself, convince yourself that you can’t do it anymore, that everything is beyond your strength, you have to stop, relax and somehow feel sorry for yourself. God has pity on everyone. His love, His humility is the highest concern for each of us. But, unfortunately, we still live according to the laws of this world. We rarely manage to break through the dark clouds that gather above us and see the light the way those who flew above the clouds in an airplane and, past the darkness, saw the bright sun. This is how a person is surrounded by vanity, his infirmities (they are countless) - and suddenly! - some completely different note of life. And nothing is old anymore. You racked your brains, suffered, tried to solve something, and everything was useless, and then suddenly you understand: everything is in God’s hands. And the only thing we need to say is to repeat the words of the Mother of God: Behold, the Servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word(Luke 1:38). But for this you need to humble yourself, you need to be obedient, you need to love God. To do this, you need to renounce sin, begin to repent and fight for your heart, for your mind, for your life, for your temple, which each of us should be...

On the day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we would probably like to give our heart, but it is not yet pure, to give our mind, but it is vain, to give our body, but it is all covered in sinful scabs. What can you and I give to the Mother of God on this holiday? We can give our desire to follow Christ, serve God, learn to love, believe and hope.

Help us, Lord, not to succumb to the temptations of this world, help us not to succumb to those states that we so often trust and then lose touch with You! We often withdraw into ourselves, do not see a way out, do not see further path, we do not see the Providence of God, we become blind and deaf from sin. We are deliberately leading ourselves into the dead end in which humanity finds itself, having lost God. And we must look for other ways, another way out. We must have hearts. There are no roads on earth that lead to the Kingdom of Heaven. Any earthly road leads a person to a cemetery. And we say: there is a road of life! And you and I already know this road. This road is our heart when it believes and touches God’s love, the grace of the Holy Spirit, which makes a person a partaker of eternal life.

Save and preserve us, Lord.

The Holy Church reads the Gospel of Luke. Chapter 1, art. 24 - 38.

24. After these days Elizabeth his wife conceived, and hid herself for five months, and said:

25. Thus did the Lord do for me in these days, in which he looked upon me, to remove from me the reproach of men.

26. In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee called Nazareth,

27. to a virgin betrothed to a husband named Joseph, of the house of David; The name of the Virgin is: Mary.

28. The angel, coming to Her, said: Rejoice, full of grace! The Lord is with You; Blessed are You among women.

29. When she saw him, she was embarrassed by his words and wondered what kind of greeting this would be.

30. And the Angel said to Her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for You have found favor with God;

31. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus.

32. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;

33. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.

34. Mary said to the Angel: How will this be when I don’t know my husband?

35. The angel answered Her: The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You; therefore the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

36. Behold your relative Elizabeth, who is called barren, and she conceived a son in her old age, and she is already in her sixth month,

37. For with God no word will be powerless.

38. Then Mary said: Behold, the Servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word. And the Angel departed from Her.

(Luke 1:24-38)

In the sixth month of the conception of John the Baptist, the Angel Gabriel was sent to the small town of Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a husband named Joseph, from the house of David; the name of the Virgin: Mary(Luke 1:27).

Although the Gospel does not indicate this, later Church Tradition says that the Blessed Virgin Mary lost her parents early and was left at the Temple along with other virgins. When Mary reached adulthood, that is, 12-13 years old, She, following custom, had to get married.

Alexander Pavlovich Lopukhin writes: “According to church traditions, the Blessed Virgin, having matured, took a vow of virginity for life, and She was betrothed to Joseph only to preserve her virginity and so that Joseph could give his name to the Messiah born of Her.” When Mary reached a certain age, the priests betrothed Her to the widower Joseph, known for his righteousness, who already had a large family from his first marriage and was a carpenter.

Entering the Virgin, the Angel called Her Graceful, that is, having received the special favor of God. The Angel's words confused Mary with their unusualness, and She began to reflect on their meaning. Calming Her, the Angel says: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God; and behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David(Luke 1:30-32).

Archbishop Averky (Taushev) explains: “... the kingdom of the Jews in Old Testament was intended to prepare people for the spiritual, eternal Kingdom of Christ and gradually transform into it. Consequently, the kingdom of David as such is one in which God Himself appointed kings, which was governed by the laws of God, all forms of civil life of which were imbued with the idea of serving God, which was inextricably linked with the New Testament Kingdom of God.”

Mary accepted the Angel's Gospel with full faith. But She, although she was formally considered the wife of Joseph, was in fact only betrothed to him, which means that until certain point they lived separately from each other. By law, the betrothed woman was already considered a wife to her husband. And if anyone had found out that the Virgin did not conceive from her husband, then She would have been considered guilty of treason, which was punishable by stoning. So She asked the Angel: How will this happen when I don’t know my husband?(Luke 1:34).

The Angel answered Her: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you(Luke 1:35), that is, the grace of God will accompany and protect Her from all humiliation until the birth of the promised Son. Subsequently, we learn that Joseph the Betrothed will protect the Virgin Mary and the Infant from desecration and death. And, although the Blessed Virgin did not demand any evidence, the Angel himself, in confirmation of the truth of his words, pointed Her to Elizabeth, who conceived a son in old age by the will of God, for whom nothing is impossible.

Showing trust in God, the Virgin Mary replied: Behold, the Servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word(Luke 1:38).

What an amazing and wonderful example of humility and obedience to God’s will we hear in these words of the Mother of God. So you and I, dear brothers and sisters, following the example of the Most Holy Theotokos, should acquire humility in order to always remain in trust in God and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Help us in this, Lord!

Hieromonk Pimen (Shevchenko)

There are words that make up the axis of the world: the universe rests on them. And among such words is “Behold, the Servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word,” spoken by the blessed Virgin Mary.

As the holy evangelist Luke narrates: “The angel came to Her and said: “Rejoice, full of grace! The Lord is with You; blessed are You among women.” She, seeing him, was embarrassed by his words and wondered what kind of greeting this would be. And the Angel said to Her: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God; and behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him a throne David his father; and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the Angel: “How will this be when I don’t know my husband?” The angel answered Her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You; therefore the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Here is Elizabeth, Your relative, who is called barren, and she conceived a son in her old age, and she is already in her sixth month , for with God no word will remain powerless." Then Mary said: “Behold, the Servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” And the Angel departed from Her" (Luke 1:28–38) .

The Church calls this the Annunciation - the proclamation of good, joyful news. We can roughly imagine what bad news is: a person learns that he has a fatal and incurable disease and soon he will die. Or he finds out about someone he loves. Or he learns of the betrayal of someone he trusted and relied on. Or something else - our world is full of bad news. We know what it looks like: even if nothing has changed physically yet, the sun still shines the same, the world looks the same as it looked yesterday, but at the same time it has completely changed, plunged into darkness, curtained by a dark veil.

We can imagine what good, joyful news is: when physically nothing has changed, difficulties remain difficulties and pain remains pain, but the whole world has become different, it is flooded with light and, no matter what happens, it will not crush us or destroy us - because we know something infinitely joyful and comforting, something against the background of which all our sorrows take on a completely different look and scale.

The world of Judea in the 1st century differed from ours only in the direction of greater severity: most people lived from hand to mouth, conflicts were characterized by bitterness, and the authorities were characterized by extreme ferocity. There was plenty of bad news. But people had hope: they were waiting for good, very good news. So good that it will make them completely forget all their misfortunes. They waited for this news for a long time, a very long time - for centuries of their bloody and tragic history.

People lived, suffered and died, were defeated and taken captive, suffered hunger and many troubles - but they remembered the truth proclaimed by the prophets: our world belongs to God. Not the false pagan gods that were worshiped in powerful ancient empires, but the one true God Who called Abraham and made a covenant with him.

The prophets foretold that God would send a Savior, a Messiah, a Christ (as we say using the Greek word) to deliver and comfort the human race. People remembered the mysterious prophecies about the Son of Man: “I saw in the night visions, behold, one like the Son of Man walked with the clouds of heaven, came to the Ancient of Days and was brought to Him. And to Him was given power, glory and a kingdom, so that all nations, tribes and the tongues served Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and His kingdom will not be destroyed." (Dan. 7:13–14) .

They reverently reread the promises that the nations would turn to the true God and even death itself would be destroyed: “And the Lord of hosts will make for all the nations on this mountain a feast of rich foods, a feast of pure wines, of the fat of bones, and of the purest wines; on this mountain is the veil that covers all nations, the veil that lies on all nations: death will be swallowed up forever, and the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and will take away the reproach of His people throughout all the earth; for thus saith the Lord, And they will say in that day. “Here is He, our God! In Him we trusted, and He saved us! This is the Lord; we will rejoice and rejoice in His salvation!” (Isa. 25:6–9) .

God Himself will come to dwell among people: “Behold, I send My angel, and he will prepare the way before Me, and suddenly the Lord, whom you seek, and the Angel of the covenant, whom you desire, will come to His temple; behold, He comes, says Lord of hosts" (Mal. 3:1) . And all these long centuries of hope and expectation led to one event - and to one person. To the Virgin of Nazareth of Galilee, Mary. But this can be said not only about Old Testament history - the entire history of mankind was leading up to the moment when the Virgin will appear, who on behalf of the entire human race will say: “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord.”

Not only the hopes of God's people, but of all nations are fulfilled at this moment. We see that God did not abandon the human race - and that the human race did not perish, since the Virgin was found in it, capable of these words. Thanks to these words, God came into our world - God became a man, one of us, similar to us in everything, except for sin. Now we know that we have salvation, that all who live in repentance and faith await happiness so great that we did not even dare to imagine. The True King has come to receive us into His Kingdom.