On March 25th, Orthodox Christians throughout the world celebrate one the twelve Great Feasts of the Great Church of Christ--namely, the Annunciation. The Feast is aptly named, for indeed, it is the clarion announcement to humanity, and through humanity, creation, that salvation has come to the world.

From the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke the Beloved Physician, Holy Disciple, and first historian of the Church, we learn that the Virgin Mary was visited by the Archangel of the Lord, Gabriel, who announced to her that she would be overshadowed by the Most-High and she would conceive and be with a Son.

However, This Son would not be any ordinary Son; He would be the Pre-eternal Logos, the Second Person of the Trinity, Who, in the Beginning, before time and space, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in concord and unison, proclaimed “let it be,” and creation came into being. This is a profound and unfathomable Mystery.

           This was the Only Begotten Son of God the Father before time without a mother Who would be born of a woman in time without a father as the Son of Man. He, Who as God, was before the Beginning, began as Man. He Who was outside of and unlimited by time and space entered time and space. For creation, the Creator willingly became a creature. God became Man. He Who has the Heavens for a Throne and the earth as a footstool would have a Womb as His Dwelling and the Virgin's lap as a Throne. This is an ineffable wonder.

           The Virginal womb now became a Sacred Tabernacle. The Womb was hallowed and sanctified, for through a Womb, God entered time and space to sanctify time and space, God entered history to consecrate it, ordain it, and guide it, and God became Man so that Man can become God.

In the Womb, heaven and earth, God and Man, eternal and ephemeral, infinite and finite, past and future were united in a sacred present that was a cosmic event with universal and eternal consequences. Fathom it: The Creator of the Universe voluntarily confined in the Womb.

           In short, salvation came to the universe through the Womb. It is now possible for us to be a new creation in Christ, the God-man, the New Adam, due to the New Eve. As The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit said "Let it be" in the First Beginning and creation came into existence, so the New Eve, Mary, said "let it be..." and a new beginning became possible for the universe, through the microcosm of the universe--namely, Man, now assumed by the Son of Man. Mysteriously, due to a Transformation of the Most High, there was a divine and human consensus and unity between the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, and through the New Eve, all of humanity.

           Due to the Womb, we now have the opportunity for a new birth from on high through water and Spirit and to be offered a regeneration and refashioning as a new being. God has taken flesh and blood. God is born so we can be born again, but this time from above, and this time, not for a limited period, but rather for eternity.

And as His birth in the Womb prefigured His Death in the Tomb, so too we must be born in the womb of the baptismal font to be born above with Him and also die with Him Who died for us so that, through His voluntary Death, we may live, and through His Burial, we may resurrect.

           His Birth pointed to His Death, so that through His Death, we may have life. His confinement pointed to our liberation, but this Womb was no surprise. This womb was prophesied, ordained, and consecrated from above for a purpose: the salvation of God's beloved creation.

Isaiah had the vision that the Virgin would be with child, and he danced for joy knowing, that no matter what, salvation was assured. Simeon the Righteous Elder and Priest of God had a dream that he would not die before he held in his hands and beheld the Lord's Salvation in a Child that the Virgin would bear and bring to the Holy Temple.

 The Old Testament foreshadowed, and the New Testament revealed, the One born of the Father before time now born of a Virgin in time, but for those who had eyes to see, this was all foreordained in the prophecies, and the Orthodox Christian Church brings these Sacred Scriptural references to life in the ritual of its Divine Services and in its imagery and Church architecture.

 The long anticipated and expected Messiah, Deliverer, Redeemer, and Saviour had come from the lineage of David in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God become the Son of Man.

           In Exodus (3: 1-8.), Moses encountered God, the One Who Is (I AM) in the Burning Bush. The Church Fathers see in this the prefiguring of the Incarnation and the Virgin birth, for the Divine Nature of the eternal Logos did not consume the human nature of the Virgin just as the ethereal fire did not consume the earthly wood of the bush. In Ezekiel (43: 27-44:4.), The Lord shows the prophet the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east. The Lord declares that this Gate will remain closed, and only the Lord, the God of Israel, will come and go through This Gate.

           Under the transfiguring prism of Christ, the Fathers can see clearly through the veil of the imagery that this refers to Mary's Virginity. She was a Virgin before, during, and after The Birth of Christ. This is why Orthodox Christian's call her "Ever-Virgin," and this is why in Iconography she has three stars on her shoulders and forehead declaring this eternal truth to the universe as the Queen of the Heavens and as the Mother of her Son and the Creator of the Cosmos.

In her, dwelt the full, inseparable God of the Trinity. She became the new Temple of the Living God, and her gates were closed forever, and only the Prince of Peace would enter and exit without these being opened, as only an Unlimited God can. Scripture declares this consistency, for the Incarnate God also could not be contained by the gates and locks of Hades, the sealed Tomb, or the closed doors of the Upper Room where He showed His Transfigured, Resurrected, and Glorified Body to His Disciples.

           In Sacred Ritual, the Orthodox Church enshrines this teaching of her Womb that contained the Divine Fire without being consumed in the shape and symbolism of the censer. The censer's shape is reminiscent of her Womb, and the charcoal represents the Divine Fire while the incense and smoke recall the presence of God that overshadowed her, like the cloud that followed the Israelites and rested on Mount Sinai and Mount Tabor.

           The three chains operating as one recall the unity and cooperation of the Three Persons of the Trinity Who always work in concert and harmony for the salvation of the universe just as They did at the creation of the universe. As the bells sound, we are reminded that this universal and eternal teaching of the Incarnation and the salvation of the world has gone throughout the world to its four corners.

At the Orthros (Matins) service, before the Megalynaria, in which we honor the Theotokos in hymn as being greater than honor than the Cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, the Priest holds the censer before the Icon of the Mother of God with Christ-Child on the Iconostasion and proclaims: "honoring the Theotokos and Mother of Light, in hymns, let us magnify her."

Clearly, through her relationship with her Son, she is the greatest of the Saints and the Heavenly Host, and this all came about because of her listening, her stillness, her humility, and her obedience--concepts now foreign and ridiculed in this tragically fallen world but, so much needed, indeed, now, more than ever.

           Yet, for precisely these qualities, she is exalted and held higher in honor above God's Altar where she is depicted in the apse of the Church as the New Ark of the Covenant Who held in her Womb and enthroned on her lap the One Who is the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets and the True Manna from Heaven.

In the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant held the manna that the Israelites ate in the wilderness but only lived for a time. In the New Testament, the New Ark of the Covenant holds the Manna, The Body of Christ, of Which we eat for eternal life. The Old Ark of the Covenant held the stone tablets of the law; the New Ark of the Covenant held the Author and the Fulfillment of the Law.

The Virgin Mary is magnified above all Saints for this unique relationship with her Son, and hence, the placement of her image as the Ark of the Covenant or Throne of God high above the Altar in the apse of the Church before which the Angels bow as they once did before the Old Ark of the Covenant.

Through her Son, she is truly more glorious than the Heavenly Beings, the Queen of the Heavens, and she is the one who is wider than the Heavens (Η Πλατυτέρα τών Ουρανών), for she contained in her womb the One Who created the Heavens and is infinitely greater than the Heavens. Her womb was the Abode of the Holy Wisdom of God, for indeed, for the salvation of the cosmos, “Wisdom has built her House.”

           Therefore, what can we learn from her example? Unlike the first Eve who strove to be god on her own terms, refused to listen, was disobedient, was busy, and manipulative, the New Eve was the opposite and requited the Old Eve--as the Christ, the New Adam, redeemed the Old Adam.

If we, too, want to be redeemed, we should follow the example of the Virgin Mary and listen to, accept, and obey the Word of God. If we think we have troubles, imagine what she endured when she saw her Son beaten, mocked, spat upon, His Flesh ripped away, unable to fend away the bugs and birds of prey that tore at Him and bore into Him, and His Body hideously twisted and disfigured as He fought for His last breath on the Cross.

Imagine what the Son of God suffered, stripped, helpless, and humiliated before His own mother for you and me? In America, in this day and time, do we really, in earnest, think we have problems?

           Would we let His Suffering and Death go in vain, when all He asks in return is that we follow His Commandments, believe in Him, and love one another? In spite of all we did to Him, with open arms stretched to their human limit on the Cross, He loved and tried to embrace us, and with His last words, He forgave us.

This was the Price of our salvation. In our day and time, with so much for which to be thankful, (especially considering the sum total of human history and those not fortunate enough to live in this country) would we hold His Sacrifice so cheap that we would not even come to Church on the Sabbath to honor His Commandment and give thanksgiving for what He has done for the world and accept His Offering to be One with Him in Holy Communion at the Heavenly Banquet that He gives at every Divine Liturgy?

Are two or three hours of convenience a week more valuable to us than His Sacrifice? Are these few hours more precious than eternal salvation? The Annunciation proclaims the Good News of Salvation accomplished in Jesus Christ. The Virgin Mary responded and accepted it on behalf of humanity. What will our response be?

Gratefully, joyfully, and prayerfully yours in Christ,

                                                                                                                      †Father Jim