for long before her conception in
the womb,
the one who was to be born of the stem of Jesse
was destined to be the Mother of
God.
The one who is the treasury of virginity,
the flowering Rod of Aaron,
the object of the
prophecies,
the child of Joachim and Anne,
is born today and the world is renewed in her.
Through her birth, she floods the church with her splendor.
O holy Temple, Vessel of the
Godhead, Model of virgins and Strength of kings:
in you the wondrous union of the two natures
of Christ was realized.
We worship Him and glorify your most pure birth,
and we magnify you.
— from the Vespers for the Feast of the Nativity of our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God, Byzantine Book of Prayer.
The Vespers service, in the Byzantine churches, for this great feast is rich with biblical, theological, and mystical language about the mystery and joy of the conception and birth of the Theotokos. Archpriest Lawrence Cross, in the September 2012 issue of Theosis (see sample pages, PDF format), reflects on the history and meaning of this feast:
The feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the oldest of the Marian solemnities, was mentioned by the Church Fathers, such as St. Epiphanius and St. John Chrysostom, in the early fifth century. Like other Marian feasts, it began to be celebrated at local level without any major solemnity. As the feast began to spread throughout the Byzantine world in the sixth and seventh century, it was celebrated with greater solemnity. The solemnity of the feast spread to Rome in the seventh century, and in following centuries it spread throughout the whole Western Church. In the eighth century, at the time of St Andrew of Crete (+740), the feast of Mary’s nativity was already observed and celebrated in the same way as that of other major liturgical feasts of the Byzantine Church. The feast was established on September 8 because it was on that day that St. Helen, Emperor Constantine’s mother, dedicated the basilica she built in Jerusalem to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. ...
The following liturgical texts of the Feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God express the spiritual significance of this feast to Orthodox Christians:
"Today Anne the barren one gives birth to the maiden of God who had been chosen from all human generations to become the dwelling place of the Creator, Christ our God and King of all. In her He fulfilled his divine plan through which our human nature was renewed and by which we were to be transferred from corruption to eternal life" (Vespers, Tone 6).
What is this sound of feasting that we hear? Joachim and Ann mystically keep festival. ‘O Adam and Eve,’ they cry, ‘rejoice with us today: for if by your transgression ye closed the gate of Paradise to those of old, we have now been given a glorious fruit, Mary the Child of God, who opens its entrance to us all.’ (Great Vespers, Tone 2).
The Troparion for the feast is a beautiful work of theological poetry (or poetic theology):
Your birth, O Virgin Mother of God,
heralded joy to the Universe;
for from you rose the Sun of Justice,
Christ our God.
He took away the curse,
He gave the blessing,
and by trampling Death,
He gave us everlasting life.
The texts of the Byzantine liturgy for the feast are available in various formats on the Royal Doors Liturgical Texts site. I took the photo last night at the Vespers service at our parish, Nativity of the Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic Church, in Springfield, Oregon.
For more about Marian devotions in the Byzantine tradition, see:
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