A Tale of Two Feasts
Categories: uncategorized
Date: 25 March 2005 00:53:13
In the West, today is both Good Friday and the the Feast of the Annunciation [the announcement by the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would become incarnate and enter into this world through her womb]. In the East, as Easter Sunday isn't until May 1, we celebrated the Annunication only. The Feast of the Annunciation is one of the 12 Great Feasts of the Orthodox year, and the hymns for the day communicate the great event to take place: God would become Man: a mystery indeed:
Today is the beginning of our salvation,
The revelation of the eternal mystery!
The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin
As Gabriel announces the coming of Grace.
Together with him let us cry to the Theotokos:
Rejoice, O Full of Grace,
The Lord is with You!Troparion
One of my favourite poets, John Donne, wrote the poem The Annunciation and Passion to commemorate the Annunciation and Good Friday falling on the same day in a year in his life time. The way Donne reflects on both events, as if happening simultaneously, gives me much pause for thought. He also makes note of the traditional belief that Christ's Passion occurred on the same day as His Conception. The ending also strikes me, a call to daily remembrance:
This treasure then, in gross, my soul, uplay,
And in my life retail it every day.
Edit [26.03]: Occidentalis has a wonderful historical perspective on the importance of the Annunciation and the Passion throughout Church History. Well worth reading.