Annunciation of the Theotokos

The whole New Testament rests on one short answer, given by a young woman in Nazareth to a question no one had been asked before her.

The Archangel Gabriel came to Mary with the words: Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you. She was troubled — not by the angel, but by the greeting, for ordinary people were not addressed that way. Gabriel told her she would bear a Son who would be called the Son of the Most High, and of his kingdom there would be no end. Mary asked the one thing that made no human sense: how shall this be, since I know not a man? And having heard the answer, she said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to your word.

Theology calls this the beginning of our salvation. God did not present a fact to be accepted: he waited for consent, and received it from someone with no power, no protection and no guarantees.

Exactly nine months

The feast falls on April 7 (March 25 on the old calendar), exactly nine months before the Nativity. It almost always lands inside Great Lent, sometimes in Holy Week or even on Pascha itself; for its sake the fast is relaxed to fish.

Customs

An old proverb says that on this day the bird builds no nest and the girl braids no hair: work was set aside. The custom of releasing birds also survives — a simple gesture, and an exact one, for this is a feast about the freedom in which an answer was given.

Today is the beginning of our salvation, the revelation of the eternal mystery. The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin as Gabriel announces the coming of grace. Together with him let us cry to the Theotokos: Rejoice, O full of grace, the Lord is with you.