The Nativity of our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary
Categories: feast-days
Date: 08 September 2008 00:44:54
A short description of this feast, one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church, may be read here. The Orthodox Church of America also provides a sermon on today's Feast by St Andrew, Archbishop of Crete in the late 7th and early 8th century; I hope to be able to read this tonight.
Troparion - Tone 4:
Your Nativity, O Virgin,
Has proclaimed joy to the whole universe!
The Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God,
Has shone from You, O Theotokos!
By annulling the curse,
He bestowed a blessing.
By destroying death, He has granted us eternal Life.
Kontakion - Tone 4:
By Your Nativity, O Most Pure Virgin,
Joachim and Anna are freed from barrenness;
Adam and Eve, from the corruption of death.
And we, your people, freed from the guilt of sin, celebrate and sing to you:
The barren woman gives birth to the Theotokos, the nourisher of our life!
From the OrthodoxWiki article on the Feast, we learn about the Scriptures read on this Feast and how they are interpreted. On the eve of this Feast, the service of Vespers contains three Old Testament readings that find new meaning in the events of the New Testament, and particularly in the life of the Theotokos. Genesis 28:10-17 describes Jacob's Ladder which unites heaven and earth, and points to the union of God with men -- which is realized most fully and perfectly in Mary the bearer of God; Jacob's words, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven" can be equally applied to Mary, who had God contained in her womb. In Ezekiel 43:27-44:4, we have the vision of the temple with the door to the East perpetually closed and filled with the glory of the Lord, which again symbolizes Mary -- and the closed gate particularly symbolising her being ever-virgin. And, lastly, Proverbs 9:1-11 in which the "house" which Divine Wisdom has built for herself is is identified with Mary.
For the Divine Liturgy, the epistle reading is Philippians 2:5-11. As with all Feasts for the Mother of God, the Gospel reading is taken from Luke 10:38-42 and 11:27-28 -- the words of the Lord "blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" being not only a call to us, but an example of how the Theotokos lived her life: hearing, and keeping, the word of God.
A blessed Feast Day to all!