My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE. Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ.
ON DECEMBER 9TH OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE FEAST DAY BY SAINT ANNA OF THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS
By Saint Nikolai Velimirovich
The righteous Joachim and Anna were childless for 20 years of their married life. In their old age the Archangel Gabriel appeared to each one of them separately, telling them that God had heard their prayers and that they would give birth to a daughter, Mary. Then Saint Anna conceived by the husband and after nine months bore a daughter blessed by God and by all generations of men the Most-Holy Virgin Mary, the Theotokos.
HYMN OF PRAISE:
The Conception of the Most-Holy Theotokos by Saint Anna.
O Most-Glorious God wonderful and marvelous, Kind and Merciful toward all creation, The proud dost Thou overturn, the humble dost Thou raise; Thou Who doest extinguish, Thou Who makest to live, According to Thy plan, eternal and divine. With Thy blessing, teh fertile earth brings forth fruit; By Thy Holy word, Thou settest a seal upon the barren. From one who gives birth, Thou canst take away, And for the barren one, Thou canst bring forth good fruit. Thou madest fertile the barren Anna; Thou didst grant her a holy and noble daughter. That which was the subject of mockery, Thou didst crown with glory; The dream of a childless woman Thou dist openly surpass. The aged woman prayed; her prayer Thou dist accept. The seal of barrenness Thou dist remove from her body; Her dead boy Thou didst fill with life; Thou gavest her a Virgin, wondrous in beauty, And a daughter was born, the Most-Holy Virgin, A daughter, a Mother, and the Mother of God! According to Thy plan, O Creator, Thou canst do all, According to Thy plan, Eternal and Divine.
Saint Anna, the mother of the Virgin Mary, was the youngest daughter of the priest Nathan from Bethlehem, descended from the tribe of Levi. She married Saint Joachim (September 9) who was a native of Galilee. For a long time Saint Anna was childless, but after twenty years, through the fervent prayer of both spouses, an Angel of the Lord announced to them that they would be the parents of a daughter, Who would bring blessings to the whole human race.
The Orthodox Christian Church does not accept the teaching that the Mother of God was exempted from the consequences of Ancestral ("original") sin, etc) in the Roman Catholic tradition and theology, at the moment of her conception by virtue of the future merits of Her Son. Only Christ was born perfectly holy and sinless, as Saint Ambrose of Milan teaches in Chapter Two of his Commentary on Saint Luke. The Holy Virgin was like everyone else in Her mortality, and in being subject to temptation, although She committed no personal sins. She was not a deified creature removed from the rest of humanity. If this were the case, She would not have been truly human and the nature that Christ took from Her would not have been truly human either. If Christ does not truly share our human nature, then the possibility of our salvation is in doubt.
The Conception of the Ever-Virgin Mary by Saint Anna took place at Jerusalem. The many holy icons depicting the Conception by Saint Anna show the Most Holy Theotokos trampling the serpent (Satan) underfoot.
"In the icon of Saints Joachim and Anna are usually depicted with hands folded in prayer, their eyes are also directed upward and they contemplate the Mother of God, Who stands in the air with outstretched hands; under Her feet is an orb encircled by a serpent (symbolizing the devil), which strives to conquer all the universe by its power."
There are also holy icons in which Saint Anna holds the Most Holy Virgin on her left arm as an infant. On Saint Anna's face is a look of reverence. A large ancient icon, painted on canvas, is located in the village of Minkovetsa in the Dubensk district of Volhynia Diocese. From ancient times this Feast was especially venerated by pregnant women in Russia.
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Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn of the Feast. Fourth Tone
Against all hope, the bonds of barrenness are loosed today. For, God has hearkened unto Joachim and Anna clearly promising that they would bear a godly maiden. He who commanded the Angel to cry out to her, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you," will be born of her, the Infinite One Himself, becoming man.
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Kontakion Hymn of the Feast. Fourth Tone
Today the world rejoices in the conception of Anna, wrought by God. For she bore the One Who beyond comprehension conceived the Logos/Word.
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On December 9th
The Feast-Day of Saint Hannah, Mother of the Holy Prophet Samuel
Saint Hannah was the wife of Elkanah from Ramathaim-Zophim, or Arimathea (I Samuel 1). She had no child, being barren, and she wept and grieved bitterly for this. But God in His mercy took pity on her, and removed her barrenness in response to her ceaseless prayers and sighs. Saint Hannah bore a son, Samuel, and dedicated him to God from his childhood. Samuel was a great leader of the nation of Israel, and a Prophet who anointed two kings, Saul and David. Saint Hannah sang a hymn of thanksgiving to God, a hymn wonderful in its wisdom and beauty, which is used to this day in church services (I Samuel 2:1-10). (Source: The Prologue from Ochrid)
Saint Hannah's Prayer (Hymn)
My heart is strengthened in the Lord; My horn is exalted in my God. I smile at my enemies; I rejoice in Your salvation, Because no one is holy like the Lord, No one is holy but You. Do not boast nor speak of high things; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, For the Lord is God of knowledge; And God is preparing His actions. He weakened the bow of mighty men, And those who are weak are girded with strength. Those who were full of bread were made empty, And the hungry have forsaken the land. The barren woman has borne seven, And she who has many children has become feeble. The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to Hades and raises up. The Lord makes poor and rich; He raises the poor form the earth And lifts the needy from the dung heap, To set them among princely people And make them inherit a throne of glory. The One who gives a prayer to the one praying. He blesses with righteous years; For by strength no man can prevail. The Lord makes His adversaries weak; The Lord is Holy. Let not the man of learning boast in his understanding, Nor let the man of might boast of his might, Nor let the man of riches boast in his riches. Only let the one who boast in this: To understand and to know the Lord And to do justice and righteousness in the midst of the earth. The Lord went up into the heaven and thundered. The Lord judges the ends of the earth. He gives strength to our leaders, And He will exalt the horn of His Christ." (I Kingdoms ( I Samuel) 2:1-10)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George