Nativity of the Theotokos
Categories: hymns, feast-days, church-history
Date: 08 September 2006 09:08:00
Troparion:
Your nativity, O Theotokos, Virgin Mother of God, has proclaimed joy to the whole world; for out of you has shone the Sun of righteousness, Christ our God, who annulled the curse and bestowed his blessing, who abolished death and gave us life eternal.
Kontakion:
By your holy birth, O most pure Lady, Joachim and Anna were freed from the reproach of barrenness; and Adam and Eve from the corruption of death; We, your people, also celebrate your birth, for we are released from the burden of our misdeeds, and sing to you, that the barren one gives birth to the Theotokos, Mother of God, who is the nourisher of our Life.
Epistle: Philippians 2:5-11
Gospel: Luke 10:38-42, 11:27-28
Today we celebrate the Feast of Nativity of our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary. The Gospel reading prescribed for today is the same as that read on two of the other three main feasts of Mary in the Orthodox Church: the exception being the Feast of the Annunciation which is described in the Gospels. The final part of the reading, Luke 11:27-28 is interesting in its selection on a Marian feast, as it appears to solely direct our attention away from Mary. But, as I've just read in The Mystery of Christ: Life in Death, in this incident, and the prior story of Mary and Martha, we hear of the importance of us hearing the Word and keeping it in our life. And, in Orthodox thought:
... the Gospels present no one else as keeping the Word of God in a pure heart apart from Mary ... This is what we celebrate in the Feast of Annunication: that Mary, as she is presented in the infancy narratives of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, hears the Word of God announced by the angel, accepts it, and conceives Christ in her womb.One other episode in the canonical Gospels, in fact its climatic event, presents Mary's faithfulness to the Word and her adherence to Christ: the Crucifixion, as described in the Gospel according to John. ... we have the scene thereafter depicted in Byzantine iconography: Jesus on the cross, with his mother and the beloved disciple standing at its foot. ... The words spoken by Christ from the cross pertain ... to motherhood: "Woman behold your son"; and to the disciple, "Behold your mother." (Jn 19.26-27)
The Mystery of Christ: Life in Death, John Behr, 2006, SVS Press, pp 127-8
A Happy and Blessed Feast Day to all!