Feast of the Annunciation
Categories: hymns, parish-life, feast-days, other-churches
Date: 24 March 2009 10:43:19
Troparion:
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!
March 25, nine months before December 25, Christmas Day, is the Great Feast of the Annunciation, the announcement to the Virgin Mary by the Archangel Gabriel that she would conceive the Son of God. As is custom in the Antiochian Church, at least Down Here, we celebrate an Evening Divine Liturgy for feasts on the Calendar day before the actual day [though in Orthodox "time", the day begins at sunset so we are already at March 25]. It was a blessed service, a small but vocal congregation, and an encouraging sermon by Father. A blessed Feast Day to all!
Upon getting home I read The Dialogue between the Watcher [Angel] and Mary, which is a poem in dialogue form by an Assyrian Saint, Mar Narsai [ca. 399–ca. 502], who is one of the greatest Assyrian writers. The translation was provided by Fr Andrew Younan as an appendix in his fascinating book, The Mesopotamian School & Theodore of Mopsuestia [he also provides translations of a number of other poems]. I will blog about this book on another occasion, but today, given it is the Feast of the Annunciation, I thought I would share a bit of Mar Narsai's work.
As Fr Andrew explains in the main section of his book [which contains two theses: there is an overarching “School of Thought” in Mesopotamia, consistent in its basic tenets, from ancient times to the late middle ages; and that the Christology of Theodore of Mopsuestia, as read as an expression of this School, is orthodox by the Chalcedonian standard], The Dialogue between the Watcher and Mary is a dramatic expansion of Luke 1:26-38 [which is the Orthodox Church's Gospel reading for today] divided into two parts: Mary's being troubled at the angel's message and then, after the mention of the Holy Spirit as the means of her conception by the archangel, her acceptance. As well as a 10 stanza introduction, the dialogue has 22 acrostic stanzas -- one for each letter of the Aramaic alphabet. There is much I could quote -- the entirety is well-worth reading as a meditation on this event of Salvation History. But I was particularly struck by a few stanzas in particular; I may share others in the coming week.
An interesting exchange occurs when Mary's trouble is revelaled as a fear of sinning against God as did, her -- and our -- mother, Eve; and her drawing a parallel between the "fruit" of a child in the womb and the fruit Eve took:
Dalath
Watcher: "It is a wonder that you do not believe -- that you would let go the trust that has come to you, for the Begotten of the Most High rejoices to dwell in your womb."
Mary: "I am afraid, Lord, to accept you, for indeed my mother Eve, when she accepted the snake who spoke to her as a friend, was deprived of glory."
Heh
Watcher: "That imposter deceived, my daughter, when he made her trust him. I am not like him, however, for I have been sent by God."
Mary: "The story you tell me is contentious like that one -- do not blame me -- for in a virgin has never been found a son, nor in a fruit, Divinity."
There is also the idea of Mary containing in her womb the uncontainable, the divine fire, a concept also in Eastern Orthodox hymnography; as we hear at Christmas, as the youths were not scorched in the fiery furnace,
"The fire of the Godhead scorched not the Virgin,
When He entered into Her womb."
In Mar Narsai's dialogue, in response to Mary asking what the Son resembles:
Simkath
Watcher: "Our ranks do not dare to look upon him who is so awesome, for he is hidden in the fire of his Father, and flame covers him."
Mary: "This shakes me very much, for is he is Flame, as you say, how will my womb not be harmed -- if a Fire dwells within me?"
How indeed? And how, in the words of another Eastern Orthodox hymn, can He who cannot be contained be contained in a womb: in Mar Narsai's words,
Resh
Mary: "... The sky above does not contain him, but behold: a womb below suffices for him."
A most marvellous and awesome mystery indeed. The only response I can consider is praise, and I could do no better than quote Mar Narsai's final two stanzas:
Shyn
Watcher: "Heaven and earth are made one, and sing to him with one voice -- even the angels and a virgin who serve the mysteries between them!"
Mary: "Heaven above rejoices in the angels, and earth below in a virgin. And when both sides exult, they bring glory to the Son of their Lord."
Taw
Watcher: "Both sides will mingle -- angels and men -- and will glorify the Son who has reconciled them who were angry and agitated."
Mary: "Thanksgiving to you from all angels of fire who are unseen. From every mouth in the world, the earth sings praises to you!"
[All quotes from Mar Narsai's The Dialogue between the Watcher and Mary above are by and (c) Fr Andrew Younan, and appear on pp. 211-216 of his book The Mesopotamian School & Theodore of Mopsuestia.]