September: Day 8: Teaching 3: Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos

September: Day 8: Teaching 3: 
Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos
 
(The Cause of Christian Joy at the Birth of the Mother of God)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The parents of the Most Holy Theotokos were the holy and righteous Joachim and Anna. Saint Joachim was descended from King David, while Anna was from the high-priestly lineage of Aaron, and both led a godly life: on every feast they gave alms and offered abundant sacrifices in the Temple. They had been married for fifty years, but, having no children, they grieved deeply over this and prayed to God for the removal of their barrenness. Once, on a great feast, Joachim wished to offer a sacrifice to God in the Temple. But the high priest, before the multitude of people, began to reproach him for his sins, saying that God had not blessed him with children and that he was unworthy to offer a gift to God.

Returning home in sorrow, Joachim went out into the field where his flocks were grazing, and there, pouring out his grief before God in prayer, he vowed to fast for forty days and to live in the wilderness. Anna, learning what had happened in the Temple and seeing that her husband did not return, likewise began to grieve and weep. One day, as she was sitting in the garden beneath a spreading tree, she saw on the tree a nest with young birds. This increased her sorrow even more. She thought that she must be more sinful than everyone in the world, since the Lord did not grant her even the joys that the birds and beasts have. She began to pray with tears, and suddenly an angel appeared to her and said: “Anna, your prayer has been heard. You shall give birth to a daughter, most blessed; through her all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed, and salvation shall be given to the whole world. You shall call her Mary.”

The angel disappeared, and Anna, filled with great joy, vowed to dedicate her daughter to God and hurried to Jerusalem to give thanks to the Lord in the Temple. At that same hour, the angel appeared to Joachim in the wilderness and, telling him of the mercy that had been granted to Anna, commanded him to go to Jerusalem, where he would see his wife at the Golden Gate of the Temple. Having met one another and prayed together in the Temple, Joachim and Anna returned home with joy.

And indeed, a year later, on September 8, a daughter was born to them, the Most Holy Virgin Mary. Joachim offered great sacrifices to God, and all glorified the great mercy of God that had been bestowed upon them. After Joachim and Anna brought their daughter into the Temple, so that she might be brought up there in holiness and purity, Joachim reposed at the age of eighty. Anna moved from Nazareth to Jerusalem and lived near the Temple, close to her daughter, praying continually to God. She reposed at the age of seventy-nine, two years after Joachim’s death.

II. In the hymns and prayers of the Church, the feelings of reverent joy at the birth of the most blessed Virgin are expressed. “This is the day of the Lord; rejoice, O peoples!”

a) First of all, the Church joyfully greets the birth of her who was to serve the great work of our salvation. The Lord predestined to save us before our forefathers sinned, indeed before the creation of the world. Immediately after the Fall, the joyful announcement of our salvation was proclaimed. Yet the Lord did not come to earth for more than five thousand years. There were many reasons for this; one of the principal ones was that throughout all this time there had not been found so pure and worthy a maiden who could receive and bear within herself Him whom the heavens cannot contain. It was necessary for the human race to pass through a long succession of trials in the persons of the forefathers, patriarchs, prophets, and kings, so that this branch from the root of Jesse might appear—this miracle of moral purity in the corrupt human race. In the birth of Mary, not only was the barrenness of Joachim and Anna brought to an end, but also the barrenness of the entire human race.

b) This is the first cause of joy; the second lies in the very thought of the Most Holy Virgin. Nations, societies, and states celebrate the birthdays of great people and weave wreaths for them. But of all the great people whom the earth has borne, there is none greater than the One who has now been given to the world. All the lofty qualities that distinguish a truly great person—purity of heart, wondrous patience, perfect obedience, complete concentration within herself, and faithfulness to her calling, and, finally, at such a height, the most sincere and perfect humility—adorned the soul and were manifested in the life of the most blessed Mary. She is higher not only than all human beings, but also than the highest angels, the Cherubim and Seraphim.

c) The third cause of our present joy lies within ourselves. A person who is weak in soul and body, as we all are, has need of protection and help. Earthly protectors are so changeable and so demanding, and at the same time so frail and unreliable. It would be better to find a protector in heaven who could come before God Himself with supplication on our behalf, who would always be ready to intercede for us, and whose intercession would be pleasing to God. Such a caring protectress, a mother who embraces each and every one in her love, an earnest, unceasing, and powerful intercessor, the Lord has now given to the earth in the person of the Nazareth Maiden, now surrounded by the glory of the Queen of Heaven.

III. Most Holy Theotokos, save us! Amen.

(Compiled from “Slov[es] and Discourses,” Archpriest P. Smirnov, Part II.)

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.