Categories: parish-life, feast-days, spiritual-journey
Date: 24 March 2007 06:46:42
A truly joyous, as well as challenging and informative, day: thanks be to God.
Due to me speaking for a long time to a friend over in London (Happy Birthday M!; many years!), I missed the Liturgy and arrived just as the first speaker was starting. Fr Geoff Harvey, from the Good Shepherd Orthodox Mission in Melbourne flew up for the day to talk to us about parish life: in particular our relationships within the parish, with one another and with our priest and bishop. Fr Stavros Karvelas, from the St Therapon parish in Northern Sydney, gave the talk after lunch on his experience of building a mission parish, as our parish is, together with some information on how he sees the future of Orthodoxy. As Fr Geoff noted, Fr Stavros also made mention of the importance of an interior conversion within each us of and the need for true relationships with all. A wonderful Lenten lunch, with desserts, was served between the two talks, and the day finished with the service of Vespers.
Tomorrow, as well as commemorating St Mary of Egypt, as we do every fifth Sunday of Great Lent, it is also, for us Orthodox on the New Calendar, the Feast of the Annunciation. A number of hymns were sung at Vespers, the first service of the new day, in honour of this great feast; here are some of them:
Truly, Gabriel did come to you, disclosing the purpose which was before the ages, hailing you and saying, 'Rejoice, O unseeded land! Rejoice, O unburning bush! Rejoice, O depth inaccessible to vision! Rejoice, O bridge leading to the heavens! Rejoice, O lofty ladder whom Jacob did behold! Rejoice, O jar of divine manna! Rejoice, O dissolution of the curse! Rejoice, O recall of Adam! The Lord is with you.'And the blameless Maiden, replied to the captain of hosts, 'Truly, you do appear to me as a man. Wherefore, then, do you utter superhuman things, saying that God shall be with me and dwell in my womb? Tell me, how am I, then, to become a spacious place of sanctification for him, who rides on the cherubim? Mislead me not with deceit; for I have known no pleasure, and have not approached wedlock. How, then shall I give birth to a son?'
Then the incorporeal one cried unto her, saying, 'Whensoever God wills, the order of nature is overcome, and that which is superhuman is accomplished. Wherefore, O all-pure and holy one, believe you my true words.' But she cried, saying, 'Let it be unto me as you say, and I will give birth to the Incorporeal, who shall take a body from me, that by his union therewith he may raise man to the first rank, since he alone is mighty.'
From heaven the archangel Gabriel was sent to announce the Conception to the Virgin. He went to Nazareth thinking within himself and wondering greatly, 'How it is that he who is in the highest and incomprehensible shall be born of a Virgin? He whose throne is heaven, and earth his footstool, how shall he be contained in a woman's womb? How was he pleased to be incarnate of her by a word only, he whom the six-winged ones and those of many eyes cannot gaze upon? Yea, he who comes is the Word of God. Why then do I hesitate, and not address the Maiden, saying, "Hail O full of grace, the grace of the Lord is with you? Hail, O spotless Virgin! Hail, O groomless bride! Hail, O Mother of life; blessed is the fruit of your womb?"'