An important day for Orthodox believers is December 9 (22), when the Orthodox Church celebrates the Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by Righteous Anna. The action is truly long-awaited and desired, therefore the icon of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary serves as a true example of the power of pure faith and genuine happiness from the opportunity to have your own child.
In the modern world, with such terrible words as “unwanted pregnancy,” people cease to realize what a joy it is to have a child, while desperate spouses, deprived of the opportunity to be a mother and father, do everything to become happy parents. An example of human pain, suffering and sincere prayers is the icon of Anna’s Conception, which carries within itself all those feelings of grief and at the same time hope and steadfastness that every failed parent experiences. Over time, everyone, even those who do not value these chances now, will come to the realization that there is nothing better for a full-fledged family than to conceive, bear and give birth to a healthy baby.
A little history
The story begins with the married couple of Saint Anne and the holy righteous Joachim. They lived in Nazareth, near the Sea of Galilee, in the northern part of Palestine, and spent every new day with the hope and dream of children. However, righteous Anna was barren. This was God's Providence. All dreams of conceiving a child were shattered when the sun set.
Joachim and Anna led a pious life: for 50 years, every year they donated two-thirds of their earnings to the poor and the Jerusalem Temple. In their house there was no litter, there was no swearing, only one sublime feeling filled their abode - love.
Thus passed the years of countless attempts to have a child. But even despite the setbacks, the couple did not despair. They prayed fervently and asked God for a miracle. Anna blamed herself, grieved, and promised to give the Almighty a born child. And after 20 years of marriage, 20 years of prayer and fasting, a miracle happened, God heard them. The conception took place on December 9, and nine months later, on September 8, the Virgin Mary was born.
Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Righteous Anna (+AUDIO)
December 9 / 22
Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Righteous Anna
(MP3 file. Duration 4:23 min. Size 3.2 Mb) Read by Hieromonk Zosima (Melnik)
According to the eternal plan of God, who wished to create a most pure monastery for the Incarnation of God, Joachim and Anna were deprived of offspring for a long time. Having reached old age and remaining barren, having human nature withered and dried up under the burden of sin and death, they still did not cease with hope to pray to the Lord for deliverance from the shame of childlessness.
And now the time determined by God has come. The Lord sent the Archangel Gabriel to Joachim, who ascended the mountain, and to Anna, who was mourning her misfortune in the garden. The Messenger of God announced that soon through them what was once predicted by the prophets would be accomplished - they would give birth to a Child who was to become the Ark of the New Testament, the Divine Ladder, the Inexhaustible Chalice, the Uncut Mountain, the Living Temple in which the Word of God would dwell.
The conception of righteous Anna abolishes the sterility of all human nature, separated from God by the action of death. By His ineffable power, giving Anna the ability to conceive and bear a child at the age when nature itself closes a woman’s womb for childbearing, the Lord foreshadowed the even greater miracle of the immaculate conception of Jesus Christ in the womb of His Most Holy Mother and Ever-Virgin Mary.
The conception of the Most Holy Theotokos, although accomplished thanks to the miraculous intervention of God, still occurred from the union of husband and wife, according to the laws of fallen human nature, subject to corruption and death through Adam’s sin (cf. Gen. 3:16). The Chosen Vessel, the Precious Casket, prepared by the Lord from the beginning of time, the Mother of God is the purest and most perfect of people. But still She did not remain uninvolved in the consequences of the fall of our ancestors, common to all of us[1]. Just as Christ, after the Incarnation, had to become like man in everything except sin, in order to conquer death itself by His voluntary death (cf. Heb. 2:14), so it was fitting for His Mother, in whose womb God the Word united with human nature, to be subject to , like all people, to decay and death, so that the salvation and redemption then granted in its entirety could be accepted by each of us, the descendants of Adam.
The Most Holy Theotokos was chosen by God among all women precisely because He foreknew in Her the ability to preserve Himself as that pure and immaculate vessel that would be worthy to receive Him. Having been conceived and born like all of us, the Blessed Virgin Mary was awarded the great honor of becoming the Mother of the Son of God in the flesh and the mother of all people in the spirit of adoption. Filled with compassion, the Mother of God is our intercessor before Her Son and prays for our salvation. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ was the fruit of virginity, so His Most Holy Mother was the fruit of the chastity of the righteous Joachim and Anna. Therefore, we, monks and all pious Christians, pray to the Lord to guide us on the path of purity and righteousness and establish us on this saving path.
Varieties of icons
The icon of the Conception of the Holy Righteous Anna of the Blessed Virgin Mary has survived to this day in three versions. They consistently depict the moment desired by the married couple, namely the conception of Saint Anna, who was previously considered rejected by God, since she could not have a child.
The first among the icons is the meeting of the righteous Anna and Joachim. The day before, an Angel informed Joachim, who was sacrificing in the desert, who had fasted and repented for forty days, that he would soon have a child. From Angel and Anna she learns that she is pregnant and will soon give birth to “a queen great in heaven and on earth.” In the icon, the spouses hug each other tightly. Kissing at the Golden Gate is their first meeting after separation, which is filled with bright feelings of tenderness and joy from God’s gift.
The most famous among the three is the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary trampling a serpent. On it, the parents of the Virgin Mary are depicted on two sides at the bottom of the icon. They hold their hands up in prayer and look up, beholding the Mother of God hovering in the air. Under the feet of the Blessed Virgin there is a ball entwined with a serpent. The serpent means the devil, who is eager to subjugate the entire universe to his power. However, he does not succeed, because he is restrained by the purity and purity of his daughter Anna and Joachim.
The latest variation of the icon of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary by righteous Anna is less common, but does not lose its significance because of this. The youngest daughter of the priest Matthan, Anna, holds the Virgin Mary as an infant on her left arm. The face of Saint Anne displays truly joyful emotions and special reverence. It is this icon that women who want to get pregnant and give birth to a healthy child most often resort to.
Optina Pustyn
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Today is the Mother of God day. Today we remember the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary by righteous Anna. On this day, more than two thousand years ago, the economy of our salvation began to be embodied and the dawn of the Good News began to rise over our land, the land of suffering and exile. And in a few days we will celebrate Christmas.
Also, on this day, a festive service to the Most Holy Theotokos is held, in honor of Her icon “Unexpected Joy”. Therefore, today can rightfully be called the Mother of God day; today there are many memories associated with the intercession and protection of the Mother of God for the human race.
Veneration of the Mother of God is a mysterious dogma of our Holy Church. It is mysterious not because of its inaccessibility to human consciousness, like, say, the dogma of the Holy Trinity. The mystery of this dogma is that it is entirely based on love. The love of the Most Holy Theotokos for us, for the sinful human race. And our reciprocal love for the Heavenly Queen, Intercessor.
Saint Demetrius of Rostov says: “Only the Lord can forgive sinners, and His Mother begs Him to do this.” It was Saint Demetrius who left a detailed narrative, an entire book, “The Irrigated Fleece,” about the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Unexpected Joy.” The legend tells how a certain lawless man spent his life in sins, but did not abandon his prayer to the Mother of God and brought her the Archangel’s greeting: “Rejoice, O Blessed One!” The Most Holy Theotokos did not reject his prayers. She prayed to God for mercy on this sinner. And the Lord granted him repentance in a miraculous way: suddenly, in fear, he saw on the icon that blood was flowing in streams from the Savior’s rib, arms and legs. The Mother of God revealed to the wicked man that he and other sinners crucify Her Son again and again when they commit sins.
Shocked to the depths of his soul, with a contrite heart, the man prayed to the Most Holy Theotokos to be his Intercessor before God. The Mother of God did not stop her prayers for the sinner until she heard the words from the Lord Jesus Christ: “Now his sins are forgiven for Your sake.” Thus, this man was given the unexpected joy of forgiveness and remission of sins.
Saint Gregory the Theologian says: “Just as a cloud covers the radiance of the sun’s rays, so a sinner who does not want to acknowledge his sins and renounce them, blocks for himself the rays of God’s love and the mercy of the Mother of God.”
Angels in heaven rejoice over every repentant sinner. In many different ways the Lord leads each of us to repentance. The Lord wants us all to “be saved and come to the understanding of truth.” And these paths are amazing, and often seem random, “accidental” to us. But behind all this is the Providence of God, which for years leads a person, through admonitions, temptations, with love, leads to this often brief, “accidental” moment of repentance.
God is love, love and patience. And how many times the Lord brings us to repentance, gives us the opportunity to see the abyss of our fall and the depth of God’s love. And just as many times we return to our passions again, and the Lord again begins this patient path to us, to our soul.
I remember an incident with one person. He lived lawlessly, in sins. And one good Christian took pity on him, and persuaded him, convinced him, to go to confession and prepare for Communion. And so this sinner, for the first time in his conscious life, for the first time since childhood, came to confession, and in His mercy the Lord allowed him to begin Holy Communion. Moreover, this man did not even understand well what the Sacrament of Communion was. Having received communion, he stood until the end of the service with impatience, even grumbling, since he was unaccustomed to long services and standing on his feet.
And when he finally left the temple, going down the steps, he noticed something amazing - he did not feel his weight. Amazed by what was happening, he crossed the street and sat down on a bench. Out of habit, I took out a cigarette and lit it, but I couldn’t smoke and for the first time in my life I threw away a whole cigarette. He couldn't explain what was happening. He did not immediately connect what was happening to him with the fact that he had just left the temple. Arriving home, he took out a prayer book, and he read the Orthodox prayers, which had previously seemed incomprehensible and too complex to him, without stopping. I also began to read the Gospel, and although I had tried to read these words many times before, only now did I begin to understand what the Lord was saying in His Word. And this amazing state, which changed his consciousness, his view of the world, the inner and outer world, lasted three days, and passed only by the evening of the third day.
This is such an unexpected and amazing joy, joy both for this sinner and for the angels in heaven. This man did not expect, did not expect any of this when, yielding to persuasion, he went to the temple. And talking about it afterwards, he had difficulty finding words to convey what he had experienced. But even after this event, as this man said, after some time he again fell into old sins. A terrible struggle began, the octopus of sin and passion would not let him go. And the Lord again and again, with patience and love, accepted the sinner’s repentance. As the Lord says in the book of the Apocalypse: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20).
To receive help from God, you need to enter God’s world, you need to not prevent God from extending His grace and His love to us. And in order to enter this world, you need to know what this world of God exists, by what rules God offered man to live. You need to know the Divine commandments, you need to know the words of the Lord, and strive to fulfill them in your life. And then the person who listens to God becomes part of this God’s world, and Divine power and help are abundantly poured onto him. And not only human passions, but also devilish temptations, and any mediastinum are destroyed on the path of such a person who has enormous inner strength. St. Justin of Serbia says: “The Lord Christ gives a person the strength not only to displace all sins and passions from the abyss of his being, but also to throw them off easily, like clothes.” These were the saints of God who gave us an example of what life is in God.
One day, the brethren asked an elder to tell them about one of his visions. The elder said: “If you see a pious, pure person with a repentant heart, this is the most beautiful of visions. After all, in this man you can see the invisible God. And don’t ask me about other visions that would be higher than this.”
Let us pray that the Lord will give us the inner strength to live according to His commandments, because only such a life is happy and complete, and no other. And may the Cover of the Queen of Heaven remain over us all. Amen.
Hieromonk Simeon (Kulagin)
June 6, 2014
Icon of Joachim and Anna
Childbearing in Old Testament times was considered in Jewish society to be the most important sign of the blessing of the family by God - and all because the Lord, through the prophets for many centuries, promised people that in due time the Son of God, Christ, would be born among the Jewish people, who would take upon himself the sins of the world and again reveal them to people. doors to heaven. However, many people, due to the depravity of their nature and the herd instinct, misinterpreted this prophecy: in Jewish society, those who did not have children were often reviled, because they were deprived of the opportunity to give birth to the Messiah and receive a special blessing from the Lord. Having children was the duty of every devout Jew. Moreover, it was accepted that a husband could divorce his wife and look for a mother for future offspring; the woman was always allegedly to blame for childlessness. And if the family was preserved, but children were not born, people mocked both spouses, saying that only sinners do not have children and suspecting terrible secret crimes they had committed.
However, God denounced this unrighteous custom and blessed the birth of the Mother of the Lord Christ precisely among people who could not conceive a child for a long time, but at the same time sincerely loved each other, patiently awaited conception and humbly endured insults and ridicule.
Information about the conception and birth of the Mother of God is found in the monuments of Sacred Tradition and the Apocrypha Gospels. These are historical, but not sacred books: the four Gospels were written by the apostles of Christ and they themselves collectively studied them for truth and correspondence to events. Some books, also called gospels, have not been fully verified and have not entered the canon of the Church, but some of them have been blessed by the Church and are used. This is also the Proto-Gospel of James, which contains information about the birth of the Mother of God.
Saint Joachim came from the family of King David (the name of his father, the great-grandfather of Jesus Christ, Varpathir, was preserved), and Anna came from the families of Levi and Judah blessed by God in Old Testament times (the Levites and Jews, after whom the entire people were named), the name of her father is Matthan. They lived in the region of Galilee, in Nazareth - where the Lord Jesus Christ later grew up, Whom the Jews called Nazarene and Galilean. Joachim and Anna led a righteous and quiet life, prayed for children, but did not have them until old age. People despised and reproached them, tried to quarrel and separate them, but the saints did not grumble, relying on the will of God and not forgetting to pray to Him, hoping to give birth to children, despite their old age.
Just before the conception of the Mother of God, the saints had to endure a terrible ordeal of popular humiliation. During the great feast, Saint Joachim, according to custom, brought gifts to the Jerusalem Temple. Since in those days many people knew about the circumstances of each other’s lives, even there the high priest knew about the childlessness of a couple of future godfathers. The head of the Jerusalem temple, High Priest Reuben, did not take gifts to God from the hands of Joachim, denouncing him in front of everyone for hiding sins, which allegedly served as the cause of childlessness. Saint Joachim was forced to leave the temple in shame and grief, considering himself unworthy, sinful and expelled by the will of God. However, the Lord’s providence was different: God seemed to test the righteous man for the last time and directed his path into the desert. Here, alone, Saint Joachim spent several days - and so did Anna, waiting and worrying about him at home - they both fasted to show God their love for Him, prayed for each other and for the birth of a child. And it was in such emotional excitement, on the verge of despair, that an Angel appeared to both of them - according to legend, it was Archangel Gabriel - and announced the future birth of a child, a Daughter, who would be able to please the entire human race. It is not known whether the Archangel told them that the Virgin Mary would give birth to the Son of God - but such news was enough for their great happiness after many years of prayers, people’s ridicule and worries. They knew that the birth of their child was a miracle of God. After the news of the coming joy, they met with the blessing of the Archangel in Jerusalem. This moment of joyful meeting, marital embrace is called the icon of the Conception of the Virgin Mary.
The saints did not forget God after such a miracle: in their prayers they prepared for the birth and upbringing of their Daughter. The Virgin Mary truly delighted her parents for three years with her obedience, piety, beauty and intelligence. One can imagine the worries of elderly parents about Baby. Obviously, at the behest of their grateful hearts, they decided to give the Girl up to be raised in a temple in order to live nearby and take care of Her. This event is celebrated as the Entry into the Temple of the Virgin Mary. According to legend, the righteous saints were already about 80 years old at that moment.
A few years later, Saint Joachim departed to the heavenly monasteries. Anna also outlived her beloved husband by only two years: she moved to Jerusalem, where she lived in peace and joy at the temple with the young Virgin Mary.
The righteous did not have time to learn about the Annunciation and were not present at the Birth of Christ - they saw it already from Heaven. Their example shows: the Lord rewards patience and prayers not just with the fulfillment of a desire, but also with enormous unexpected joy (after all, the saints simply asked for the birth of a child, and the Mother of the Lord herself was born, glorifying the entire family forever and becoming the Queen of Heaven).
Orthodox Life
On December 22, according to the new style, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by Righteous Anna.
In the light of this holiday, I would like to remember the holy married couples Abraham and Sarah, Joachim and Anna, Zechariah and Elizabeth. Moreover, the above-mentioned New Testament spouses lived in a rather aggressive environment, where childlessness was considered a sign of hidden grave sin and God’s punishment.
But, despite this, neither the holy righteous godfathers Joachim and Anna, nor the holy prophet Zechariah and righteous Elizabeth despaired, did not lose faith in God, but, on the contrary, delved into prayer, into His holy contemplation. And even at his highest dramatic moment of life, when the high priest in the Jerusalem temple, in front of a large crowd of people, publicly accused Saint Joachim of a hidden grave sin due to infertility and rejected his sacrifice, the saint does not fall into all seriousness, does not fall into extreme despondency, no. On the contrary, he retires into the desert to pray. He seems to delve even deeper into God, on the path to Him, finding consolation and joy in Him Alone. And after these difficult trials, somewhat reminiscent of the trials of the righteous Job the Long-Suffering, the Holy Archangel Gabriel appears to him and announces (oh, so joyful, so blessed!) God’s will for the birth of the Most Holy Theotokos precisely from his marriage with Anna.
Today we can say that infertility is the scourge of modern society. Many married couples suffer from this disease. Of course, from the physiological side, ecology, nutrition, and, perhaps, personal life mistakes, and many other factors influence. On the other hand, one can discern a certain will of God in relation to this or that married couple.
I knew some spouses who also had disappointing tests. A lot of remedies have been tested. Hormones, artificial insemination, and other means were offered. Artificial insemination was immediately rejected, since the doctor told them that five or six sperm are injected into the eggs. It happens that all five take root. Conception occurs. Then leave one or two as desired. The rest are killed. So why is this better than abortion?
As a result, the couple decided: “Everything is God’s will!” And they bowed under her. They accepted her.
We should, with God's help, understand the following...
Yes, the holy chief apostle Paul said that a woman is saved by childbearing. But if the Lord does not give children, then this is also God’s obvious will. It’s not the sin of these people, no. The Almighty has some kind of plan for them. And it doesn’t necessarily involve childbearing. Yes, you need to try, to the extent necessary medically and by means permitted by the Church (for example, the Church prohibits surrogacy) to conceive a child. No one takes away this right from spouses. They can do it and strive for it.
But even more we must pray and trust in the will of God. You need to anticipate more deeply, to sense His all-good Providence for yourself. Each person's path in the world is individual, as is the path of every married couple. A husband and wife should not despair if there are no children. It is not necessary to see the purpose of your own life only in them. A child is a guest in the house. He also exists tangentially in the lives of his parents, fulfilling a certain mission. And if a child is born, God has his own plans for him. But if a child is not born to the spouses, then God also has his own specific plans for this family. We don't know which ones. We believe in one thing: the Creator has one plan for all of us - our salvation. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, let us not rush to lose heart, those who have no children. Ineffable and wondrous are Your ways, O Lord! He leads each of us on our own personal path to salvation. And if we are given exactly this health, exactly these situations in life, then it means that they are useful and saving to us.
Some have ten children. Others have infertility. Still others have a wheelchair. Someone has a bishop's miter. Some have rags and a bowl of alms, others have the presidential chair. But in the eyes of God, all these paths are equal! This is what you need to understand, it seems to me. Everyone has their own path that is personal and useful only to them.
Therefore, we need to trust God, like our partner in that exercise game: if you fall, he will catch you. If you fall, God will catch you. You need to bend your heart, your soul, your will under His holy will and feel how the warm, shining stream of God’s grace carries you in the necessary and only right direction. Of course, to the Kingdom of Heaven!
May the Virgin Mary and Her holy parents help us in this matter.
Most Holy Theotokos, save us!
Holy righteous Joachim and Anno, pray to God for us!
Priest Andrey Chizhenko
The meaning of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception
Adam's fall, which consisted in disobedience to the will of God, deprived him of those supernatural gifts with which God, in His goodness, endowed his human nature. Deprived of them, Adam gave birth to offspring deprived of these gifts; Moreover, every person is born with some defect in his nature in comparison with the perfect nature that was given to Adam and Eve at their creation. The deprivation of supernatural gifts and the defect in natural nature constitute the original sin of every person.
- If the Mother of God is not excluded from the general law of heredity, then it means that she was born in original sin. The Savior was a true man, He took upon himself all the properties of human nature, except sin; therefore, He, according to the law of this nature, was nourished in the womb of the mother from her blood, from her nature. If the Mother of God was born in original sin, then it means that the Savior - God, Holiness itself - was nourished by sinful nature!
- Sin, even original sin, makes a person a slave of the devil. If sin had touched the Blessed Virgin and remained on her, then the Savior would have been the son of the devil’s slave. If we assume that she was freed from sin after her birth (for example, before the Annunciation or at the conception of the Savior), then the Savior would still be the Son of the former slave of the devil.
This, obviously, could not have happened, and to prevent this from happening, the Lord, in the name of God the Son, who was incarnate from her, freed her from inheriting original sin. This absence of sin in her, whose womb from eternity was destined to receive, bear and give birth to the Son of God, must be absolute.
The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary confesses that from the first moment of the union of the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary with her future body, she was not involved in original sin.
- The Blessed Virgin had a supernatural, gracious destiny - to become the Mother of God; her nature received supernatural grace-filled power for the implementation of this motherhood.
God the Father prepared an earthly paradise for our first parents; therefore it is also fitting that He should prepare a worthy abode for His Son, the Redeemer. God the Son protected the human race from slavery to the devil and sanctified St. John in his mother's womb; therefore, it is necessary that He protect His Mother from the power of the enemy and pour out even greater grace on her than on His Forerunner. It is also necessary that God the Holy Spirit protect His Bride so that she will not be vicious for a single moment of her existence.
Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem
No one, having lit a candle, covers it with a vessel, or puts it under the bed, but puts it on a candlestick, so that those who enter can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be made manifest, nor hidden that will not be made known and not revealed. So, watch how you listen: for whoever has, to him will be given, and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him (Luke 8:16-18).
Abraham had two sons, one from a slave and the other from a free woman. But he who is of a slave is born according to the flesh; and the one who is free, the one according to the promise. There is an allegory in this. These are two covenants: one from Mount Sinai, begetting into slavery, which is Hagar, for Hagar means Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, because he and his children are in slavery; and Jerusalem above is free: she is the mother of us all. For it is written: Rejoice, O barren, unbearable; shout and shout, you who did not suffer from childbirth; because the one who is abandoned has many more children than the one who has a husband. We, brothers, are the children of the promise according to Isaac. But just as then he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now. What does Scripture say? Cast out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will not be an heir along with the son of the free woman. So, brothers, we are not the children of slaves, but of a free woman (Gal. 4:22-31).
Today the Holy Church celebrates the Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by righteous Anna, that Woman whose Seed - the Savior of the world Christ - will erase the head of the serpent. In addition to the joy of fulfilling the prophecy given to people back in paradise, this holiday teaches us to believe, hope and not give up in spiritual battle, even if it sometimes seems to us that we are spiritually barren. After all, St. right Joachim and Anna grew old in prayer, suffering reproaches from those around them for their childlessness, before God heard their prayer. But the fruit of the womb, given to them for their patience in faith, surpassed in glory and perfection not only all people who lived on earth, but also the disembodied Angels, for from their Daughter, Who is blessed by all generations, the salvation of the world came.
We, who are walking the spiritual path, when we suddenly see that we have already left the world of ordinary people, the Egypt of passions, and have not yet arrived at the Promised Land, stuck somewhere in a barren desert, we begin to become despondent and envy those who have succeeded in worldly things. affairs. As a result, our hope weakens, our faith wavers, and the enemy, taking advantage of the moment, instills various doubts.
But we must not forget that our goals are immeasurably higher and require more strength, work and great patience, and we must endure not only others, but also ourselves. Just as heaven is distant from earth, so spiritual perfection surpasses all worldly goals in value. Yes, it is generally unattainable on our own without God, and in order to receive His help, we must humble ourselves a thousand times, otherwise He will not live and act in us.
Today we honor the memory of another Saint Anna, the mother of the prophet Samuel, whose life is no less instructive and speaks about the same thing. She was her husband’s second wife and, unlike the first, she could not give him children for many years, but she did not lose heart and continued to pray with faith. Once, when she was praying on the steps of the temple, silently moving her lips and promising to dedicate her unborn child to God, the priest Eli even thought that she was drunk. This is what our faith looks like in the eyes of the rational mind. But she, being a prophetess, answered: “No, I am not drunk, but I pour out my soul to the Lord.” God generously rewarded her strong faith and hope, giving her not only heavenly fruit - the glory of Israel, the last judge and prophet Samuel - but also earthly joy, for after that she bore her husband three more sons and two daughters.
Truly, “rejoice, you who are barren, who do not give birth, shout and shout, who did not suffer from childbirth,” as the Apostle Paul says today in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “for she who is abandoned has many more children than she who has a husband.” The Lord sometimes deliberately leaves His children so that they learn to act independently. Spiritual fruit requires more time to ripen, but its dignity in the eyes of God is incomparably higher. Yes, Christian and, especially, monastic feat are not visible from the outside and are incomprehensible to the people of the world, but sooner or later it will manifest itself and shine.
Today’s Gospel speaks about this: “No one, having lit a candle, covers it with a vessel, or puts it under the bed, but puts it on a candlestick, so that those who come in can see the light.” So God, having called us to this path, will make sure that the light of our souls is visible, whether here or in the Kingdom of Light. “For there is nothing hidden that will not become apparent...” This applies both to hidden virtue, which is destined to be revealed, and to secret sins. If you don’t fight them and don’t repent of them, they will get stronger and one day they will become obvious to everyone. The Gospel of the day recalls Judas, who was so blinded by the passion of the love of money that he was not ashamed to betray his Friend and Teacher, destroying his soul and becoming the most despicable person in history.
So, the Lord calls us not to weaken in faith and in spiritual achievement, trusting in God and not paying attention to the ridicule and misunderstanding of the people of the world. But what can we say about those involved in the “earth” or pagans, if even representatives of the main monotheistic world religions cannot comprehend the essence and greatness of Orthodoxy in their minds?! In the apostolic reading for the Conception of St. Paul draws a profound analogy between God's two covenants with man and the children of the patriarch Abraham. One of his sons, Ishmael, was born from the slave Hagar, and the other, Isaac, from a free woman, i.e. from Sarah. The first was born according to the flesh and doomed to be a slave of the flesh and the letter, and the second appeared miraculously according to the promise to inherit freedom. The Apostle includes among the children of Hagar the Jews who are in slavery to the law and the flesh, the children of present-day Jerusalem, who were later joined by the Hagarites themselves - Muslims, who in their religiosity are also limited to the performance of certain rituals, being in the bonds of the flesh.
We, the children of the New Testament, are free from the letter of the law and not tied to the flesh, because Christ freed us, making us spiritual. Our mother - Jerusalem on High, the Holy Church - gives birth to children not for this world, in the eyes of which she looks barren and non-bearing, useless, but for Heaven. And these children are much more numerous, because they are holy and glorious before God, and this is a condition of eternal life, while the larger children of the earth, having moved away from God, did not realize themselves in eternity.
What does the Apostle advise the children of light? In the words of Scripture he says: “Cast out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will not be heir with the son of the free woman.” Those. drive out passions from your soul as slavery to the flesh, drive out formalism and jurisprudence as slavery to form, letter and human traditions. All this deadens, takes away from life, while the spirit gives life. Become spiritual, which means truly free, and then you will be fruitful and have many children and you will inherit God’s property, the eternal Kingdom of Christ, prepared for the wise, faithful, patient and who firmly trust in God, who saves those who love Him. Amen.
Hegumen Leonty (Kozlov)
At that time there were no people on earth more pleasing to God than Joachim and Anna, because of their immaculate lives. Although at that time it was possible to find many living righteously and pleasing God, these two surpassed everyone in their virtues and appeared before God as the most worthy for the Mother of God to be born from them.Such mercy would not have been granted to them by God if they had not truly surpassed everyone in righteousness and holiness. But just as the Lord Himself had to be incarnate from the Most Holy and Most Pure Mother, so it was fitting for the Mother of God to come from holy and pure parents. Just as earthly kings have their purples, made not from simple matter, but from gold-woven material, so the Heavenly King wanted to have His Most Pure Mother, in whose flesh, as in royal purple, He had to put on, born not from ordinary incontinent parents, as would be from simple matter, but from chaste and holy ones, as if from cloth woven with gold, the prototype of which was the Old Testament tabernacle, which God ordered Moses to make from scarlet and scarlet cloth and fine linen (Ex. 27:16).
This tabernacle prefigured the Virgin Mary, in whom God dwelt “to dwell with men,” as it is written: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them” (Rev. 21:3). The scarlet and scarlet cloth and fine linen from which the tabernacle was made typified the parents of the Mother of God, who came and was born from chastity and abstinence, as if from scarlet and scarlet clothing, and their perfection in fulfilling all the commandments of the Lord, as if from fine linen.
But these holy spouses, by God’s will, were childless for a long time, so that in the very conception and birth of such a daughter the power of God’s grace, the honor of the Born One and the dignity of the parents would be revealed; for it is impossible for a barren and aged woman to give birth otherwise than by the power of God’s grace: it is no longer nature that acts here, but God, who defeats the laws of nature and destroys the bonds of infertility.
To be born from barren and elderly parents is a great honor for the one born herself, because she is born not from incontinent parents, but from abstinent and elderly ones, such as Joachim and Anna, who lived in marriage for fifty years and had no children. Finally, through such a birth, the dignity of the parents themselves is revealed, since after a long period of infertility they gave birth to joy to the whole world, thereby becoming like the holy patriarch Abraham and his pious wife Sarah, who, according to the promise of God, gave birth to Isaac in his old age (Gen. 21:2).
However, without a doubt, we can say that the Nativity of the Mother of God is higher than the birth of Isaac by Abraham and Sarah. Just as much as the born Virgin Mary herself is higher and more worthy of honor than Isaac, so much greater and higher is the dignity of Joachim and Anna than Abraham and Sarah.
They did not immediately achieve this dignity, but only through diligent fasting and prayers, in spiritual grief and in heartfelt sorrow, they begged God for this: and their sorrow turned into joy, and their dishonor was a harbinger of great honor, and the diligent petition of the leader to receive benefits, and prayer is the best intercessor.
| “The Expulsion of Joachim from the Temple” Detail. Benozzo Gozzoli 1491 |
Joachim and Anna grieved and cried for a long time that they had no children. Once, on a great holiday, Joachim brought gifts to the Lord God in the Jerusalem Temple; together with Joachim, all the Israelites offered their gifts as sacrifices to God. Issachar, the high priest at that time, did not want to accept Joachim’s gifts because he was childless.
“I shouldn’t,” he said, “accept gifts from you, because you don’t have children, and therefore no blessings from God: you probably have some secret sins.”
| "The Return of Joachim to the Shepherds" by Giotto di Bondone. Fresco 1304-06. Cappella del Arena | Also, one Jew from the tribe of Reuben, who brought his gifts along with others, reproached Joachim, saying: “Why do you want to make sacrifices to God before me?” Do you not know that you are not worthy to bring gifts with us, for you will not leave descendants in Israel? These reproaches greatly saddened Joachim, and in great sorrow he left the temple of God, disgraced and humiliated, and the holiday for him turned into sadness, and the festive joy was replaced by sorrow. Deeply grieving, he did not return home, but went into the desert to the shepherds who tended his flocks, and there he cried about his barrenness and about the reproaches and reproaches made to him. Remembering Abraham, his forefather, to whom God had given a son already in old age, Joachim began to earnestly pray to the Lord that He would grant him the same favor, would hear his prayer, have mercy and take away the reproach from people from him, granting him in his old age the fruit of his marriage, as Abraham once was. |
“May I,” he prayed, “have the opportunity to be called the father of a child, and not endure reproaches from people childless and rejected from God!”
Joachim added fasting to this prayer and did not eat bread for forty days.
“I won’t eat,” he said, “and I won’t return to my house; Let my tears be my food, and let this desert be my home, until the Lord God of Israel hears and takes away my reproach.
In the same way, his wife, being at home and hearing that the high priest did not want to accept their gifts, reproaching her for barrenness, and that her husband had retired into the desert out of great sorrow, cried inconsolable tears.
| “Now,” she said, “I am the most unfortunate of all: rejected by God, reproached by people and abandoned by my husband!” What to cry about now: about your widowhood, or about childlessness, about your orphanhood, or about the fact that you are not worthy to be called a mother?! She cried so bitterly all those days. Anna's slave, named Judith, tried to console her, but could not: for who can console one whose sadness is as deep as the sea? One day, sad Anna went into her garden, sat down under a laurel tree, sighed from the depths of her heart and, raising her eyes, full of tears to the sky, saw a bird’s nest with little chicks on the tree. This sight caused her even greater grief, and she began to cry with tears: - Woe to me, childless! I must be the most sinful among all the daughters of Israel, that I alone am so humiliated before all the wives. Everyone carries the fruit of their womb in their hands - everyone is comforted by their children: I alone am alien to this joy. | "The Blessing of Anna" by Giotto di Bondone. Fresco 1304-06. Cappella del Arena |
Woe is me! The gifts of everyone are accepted in the temple of God, and they are shown respect for their childbearing: I alone am rejected from the temple of my Lord. Woe is me! Who will I be like? neither to the birds of the air, nor to the beasts of the earth: for they too bring You, O Lord God, their fruit, but I alone am barren. I cannot even compare myself with the earth: for it vegetates and grows seeds and, bearing fruit, blesses You, the Heavenly Father: I alone am barren on earth. Woe is me, Lord, Lord! I am alone, sinful, without offspring.
| "The Dream of Joachim" by Giotto di Bondone. Fresco.Approx. 1305-1308 | You, Who once gave Sarah the son Isaac in her old age (Gen. 21:1-8), You, Who opened the womb of Anna, the mother of Your prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 1:20), look now upon me and hear my prayers. Lord Hosts! You know the reproach of childlessness: stop the sadness of my heart and open my womb and make me barren fruitful, so that we bring what I have born to You as a gift, blessing, singing and glorifying Your mercy in agreement. When Anna cried and sobbed, an angel of the Lord appeared to her and said: - Anna, Anna! your prayer has been heard, your sighs have passed through the clouds, your tears have appeared before God, and you will conceive and give birth to the most blessed Daughter; through Her all the tribes of the earth will receive blessings and salvation will be granted to the whole world; her name will be Maria. Hearing the angelic words, Anna bowed to God and said: “The Lord God lives, if a child is born to me, I will give him to serve God.” Let him serve Him and glorify the holy name of God day and night throughout his life. |
After this, filled with indescribable joy, Saint Anna quickly went to Jerusalem, there to give thanks to God with prayer for His merciful visit.
| At the same time, an Angel appeared to Joachim in the desert and said: - Joachim, Joachim! God has heard your prayer and is pleased to grant you His grace: your wife Anna will conceive and give birth to you a daughter, whose birth will be a joy for the whole world. And here is a sign for you that I am preaching the truth to you: go to Jerusalem to the temple of God and there, at the golden gates, you will find your wife Anna, to whom I announced the same thing. Joachim, surprised by such angelic news, praising God and thanking Him with his heart and lips for his great mercy, hastily went to the Jerusalem temple with joy and joy. There, as the angel had told him, he found Anna at the golden gate, praying to God, and told her about the angel’s gospel. She also told him that she had seen and heard an angel who announced the birth of her daughter. Then Joachim and Anna glorified God, who had shown them such great mercy, and, having worshiped Him in the holy temple, they returned to their home. | "The Appearance of an Angel to Joachim" by Benozzo Gozzoli. 1491 |
And Saint Anna conceived on the ninth day of December, and on the eighth of September her daughter was born, the Most Pure and Most Blessed Virgin Mary, the beginning and intercessor of our salvation, at whose birth both heaven and earth rejoiced.
| “Meeting of Anna and Joachim at the Golden Gate” Master of the Life of Mary, c. 1460, Alte Pinakothek. Munich | On the occasion of Her birth, Joachim brought great gifts, sacrifices and burnt offerings to God, and received the blessing of the high priest, priests, Levites and all the people for being worthy of God's blessing. Then he arranged a rich meal in his house, and everyone glorified God with joy. Her parents took care of the growing Virgin Mary like the apple of their eye, knowing, by a special revelation of God, that She would be the light of the whole world and the renewal of human nature. Therefore, they raised Her with such careful prudence as befitted the One who was to be the Mother of our Savior. They loved Her not only as a daughter, long awaited, but also revered Her as their mistress, remembering the angelic words spoken about Her, and foreseeing in spirit what would happen to Her. She, filled with Divine grace, mysteriously enriched her parents with the same grace. |
Just as the sun illuminates the stars of heaven with its rays, giving them particles of its light, so God’s chosen Mary, like the sun, illuminated Joachim and Anna with the rays of the grace given to her, so that they too were filled with the Spirit of God and firmly believed in the fulfillment of the angelic words.
When the youth Mary was three years old, her parents led Her with glory into the temple of the Lord, accompanying her with lighted lamps, and dedicated Her to the service of God, as they had promised. Several years after the introduction of Mary into the temple, Saint Joachim died, eighty years old. Saint Anna, remaining a widow, left Nazareth and came to Jerusalem, where she remained near her Most Holy Daughter, praying incessantly in the temple of God. Having lived in Jerusalem for two years, she rested in the Lord, being 79 years old.
Oh, how blessed are you, holy parents, Joachim and Anna, for the sake of your Most Blessed Daughter!
You are especially blessed for the sake of Her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all the nations and tribes of the earth received blessings! It is right that the Holy Church called you Fathers of God, for we know that God was born from your Most Holy Daughter. Now standing close to Him in heaven, pray that at least some part of your endless joy will be given to us. Amen. Dmitry Rostovsky “The Lives of the Saints”
What do they pray for on the day of the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary?
During their lifetime, Saints Anna and Joachim helped everyone in need and believed in divine power and the significance of the righteous path. Despite this, God sent them a test - they had no children.
This moment determines that many women who are unable to conceive a baby turn to saints for help. They have the gift of healing.
In the iconographic tradition, there are separate and joint images of the righteous. Very often they depict the moment when the saints met after a long separation and proclaimed the joyful news and the conception of the Virgin Mary. They are in the center of the created composition, which is associated with the meeting of the angel and the birth of Mary.
Prayers
Troparion, tone 4
On the day of childlessness, the bonds are resolved, having heard Joachim and Anna, God, more than the hope of giving birth, thus clearly promises the Mother of God, from Whom Himself was born the Indescribable Man, having become an Angel, commanding her to cry out: Rejoice, O Gracious One, the Lord is with Thee.
Kontakion, tone 4
Today the universe celebrates Anna’s conception, which was from God: for she gave birth to the Word who gave birth more than the word.
Reading for the holiday
Gal. 4, 22-31, Luke. 8, 16-21.
Where are the relics of the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary?
The parents of the Most Holy Theotokos are called godfathers. Saint Jokim died at the age of 80, Saint Anna died at 70. Particles of their relics are in the Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg.
The first churches began to appear in the East at the beginning of the 6th century, in the West only in the 12th century. Already in the middle of the 6th century, a temple was built in the name of St. Anna in Constantinople. The first monastery in the West appeared in France near Rouen in 701. In subsequent years, a huge number of cathedrals and temples were created, which were erected in honor of the saints. Over the centuries, saints have also been depicted in paintings. Holy Righteous Anna was depicted on the coat of arms of many cities, for example, Jachimov or Kobrin.
What does the Immaculate Conception mean?
Many people misinterpret the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God.
Some think that it concerns the miraculous conception of the Savior by the Blessed Virgin; others claim that Catholics teach about its seedless conception. Therefore, it is useful to explain what kind of conception we are talking about. The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary should not be confused with the Immaculate Conception of Jesus Christ. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God does not assert that she was conceived in a seedless manner, but only emphasizes the removal of original sin from the Virgin Mary by the Divine will.
The conception of the body of the Blessed Virgin by her parents took place according to the law of nature common to all people. The supernatural influence of God was felt at the moment of the creation of her soul and its union with the body. Not allowing the Blessed Virgin to remain for a moment under the curse and under the power of the devil, the Creator, at this first, unknown moment of the union of soul and body, endowed her with the abundant gifts of the Holy Spirit. That grace-filled liberation from original sin that we receive at baptism was granted to the Mother of God from the first moment of her existence.
Another erroneous understanding of the dogma is the conclusion that it follows from the dogma that the Virgin Mary, as preserved from sin, does not need redemption. However, the Church directly points out that the unique holiness “is entirely given to her by Christ: She was “redeemed in the most sublime manner in anticipation of the merits of her Son.” This foresight, according to Catholic teaching, is expressed by Mary in the words: “And my spirit rejoiced in God my Savior” (Luke 1:43).
