Christmas holiday Holy Mother of God, which is celebrated annually by believers on September 21, is of particular importance, because on this day the Mother of Jesus Christ was born. ...
The Nativity of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary is the most important church holiday, which in Orthodoxy is one of the twelve. The holiday was established by the Church in the 4th century.
In the Galilean city of Nazareth lived an elderly woman married couple- Joachim and Anna. They were very pious and righteous, but for many years they could not have children. One day, on a great holiday, Joachim brought gifts to the Lord God to the Jerusalem Temple. But the priest did not want to accept the gifts because he was childless, and children were considered a blessing from God.
Upon learning of this, Anna began to cry. Seeing a nest in the garden in which little chicks were squeaking, she thought: “Even birds have children, but we do not have such consolation in old age.” Then an angel appeared to her and said: “You will conceive and give birth to a Daughter, blessed above all. Through Her, all earthly nations will receive the blessing of God. Through Her, Salvation will be given to all people. Her name will be Mary.” With the same news, an angel appeared to Joachim.
Nine months later, Anna had a daughter. The birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary motivated her father to bring many gifts to God. He received the blessing of the high priest, the priests and all the people because he was worthy of God's blessing. In the church it is customary to call Joachim and Anna the Fathers of God, because Jesus Christ was born from their Most Holy Daughter, the Virgin Mary.
Since then, the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on September 21 has always been celebrated by believers with great trepidation.
Let's look at what you shouldn't do on the day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
- Do not engage in heavy physical labor: leave housework, gardening and gardening for another day;
- You cannot sweep crumbs from the table onto the floor. If there was bread left after a meal, it was given to domestic animals.
- You should also not quarrel with loved ones or conflict with others (if the situation is close to critical, try to resolve any controversial issues peacefully);
- On the day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, you should have pure thoughts. Don’t raise your voice to people close to you – it’s a sin. You also cannot wish harm on others or think badly about someone.
- On this day, fasting is observed: meat and alcohol are not allowed.
Remember, this holiday should start with going to temples or churches for prayer. After this, be sure to congratulate your loved ones and visit your relatives.
Merry Christmas to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Let the purity and light of this holiday fill your soul with grace, and let your faith be sincere and strong. And then real miracles will certainly happen in your life.
Merry Christmas Holy Mother of God ours,
I wish you to smile more often on holiday,
Be in full health and always cheerful,
An Orthodox holiday can be fun.
If your heart hurts, turn to God,
Don’t close yourself off from holy prayer,
Mother of God will help, just ask
Love the Lord with your soul and heart.
Merry Christmas to the Blessed Virgin Mary! I wish that prayers to God would be heard, that a miracle would happen every day, that the Lord would lend a helping hand in moments of hardship, and that an Angel would stand over your shoulder in moments of joy.
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary -
Reason for joy and rejoicing!
May bright celebration come to you,
Accept the wishes now!
May it be from the Virgin Mary in your destiny
Happiness will certainly come!
Let this day be the best of days,
And it will change everything overnight!
The Most Holy Mother of God was born on this September day. She gave life to the Lord, thereby blessing all humanity. We wish peace, light, goodness and pure thoughts to every Christian!
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Aspos day. Little Most Pure One. Smallpox. Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Popularly - Small Most Pure (Big Most Pure - Dormition, August 28). Other names: Pasikov, Lukov day, Asposov day, Aspozha, Oseniny, Ospozhinki. Lukov and Pasikov come from the words “onion” and “apiary”. This is the time to collect onions and work in the apiary. Second meeting of autumn. Autumn solstice. Every summer is over. If the weather is good on this day, then autumn will be good.
In the agricultural calendar, this day was called “Oseniny” or “Ospozhinki” and was celebrated as a harvest festival, which was sometimes celebrated for a whole week. The people greeted autumn with games and songs. Early in the morning, women went out to the banks of rivers, lakes and ponds to meet Mother Osenina with oatmeal bread. The older woman stood with bread, and the young people around her sang songs and prayed: “Pure Mother of God, deliver me from swearing, take away the annoyances from my soul, illuminate my life!” After this, they broke the bread into pieces according to the number of those gathered and fed it to the livestock.
Relatives came to the newlyweds to see how they lived and to teach them wisdom. According to custom, the young people had to show off their entire household and then treat their relatives. Guests, as usual, were supposed to praise and teach wisdom. The owner took the guests to the yard, showed them livestock in the barns, summer and winter harnesses in the sheds, and treated them to beer from a keg in the garden. And the newlyweds gave a round loaf or pie to both the matchmaker and relatives.
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary- the first in a series of twelve fixed holidays in the annual liturgical circle; celebrated on September 8 (21). The holiday was established in the 4th century. It is dedicated to the “beginning of our salvation,” the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.
Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Apasov day. Autumn. Second meeting of autumn. Every summer is over. Bees are removed and onions are collected.
Winter must be strict if the birds take flight together.
If the hares' fur turns white, winter will soon come.
An abundance of fir cones means a harvest of spring crops, peas and cucumbers next year.
The flowers of the field marigolds shrank tightly, the word withered - before the rain.
Tales of the Russian people collected by I.P. Sakharov.
Aspos day
On Aspos Day, our people greet autumn with games and songs. Early in the morning, women go to the banks of rivers, lakes and ponds to meet Mother Autumn with oatmeal bread. The older woman stands with bread, and the young people around her sing songs. After this, they break the bread into pieces according to the number of people and feed it to the livestock.
In the Tula province, all relatives and friends came to the newlyweds. The caller invited such guests: to visit the young, to look at their life and existence and to teach them wisdom. After a hearty dinner, the young housewife showed off her entire household in the house. Guests, as usual, were supposed to praise and teach wisdom. The owner took the guests to the yard, showed them livestock in the barns, summer and winter harnesses in the sheds, and treated them to beer from a keg in the garden.
On September 21, Orthodox Christians celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - the first twelfth holiday of the church year, which begins on September 1 (old style).
The Church celebrates this day as a day of worldwide joy and the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s promised salvation of the human race from the curse and destruction that weighed on it.
On this bright day, it says, at the turn of the Old and New Testaments, in the small Galilean city of Nazareth, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary was born, giving the world the Savior.
Her parents were righteous Joachim, from the line of the prophet and king David, and Anna from the line of the high priest Aaron. As the Bible says, they were childless, and on one of the holidays Joachim brought his sacrifice to the Jerusalem Temple as a gift to God, but the high priest did not accept it, calling Joachim unworthy because of his childlessness.
Saint Joachim, in deep grief, went into the desert and there with tears he prayed to the Lord for the gift of a child. Saint Anna, having learned what happened in the Jerusalem temple, wept bitterly, but did not murmur against the Lord, but prayed, calling on God’s mercy for her family. And the Lord fulfilled their request when the holy spouses reached old age and prepared themselves with a virtuous life for the high calling of being the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the future Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The people used to call this holiday Gospozhinki or the Most Pure Second (Minor) to distinguish it from the Day of the Dormition. These names are based on the well-known names that are usually given by our Church to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Often September 8 (old style) is known as Aspozhka, Spasova or Aspasova day. The same names are used for the entire week from September 1/14 to September 8/21.
Blessed Virgin Mary was born at a time when people had reached such limits of moral decline that their rebellion seemed impossible. The best minds of that era realized and often openly said that God must come into the world in order to correct faith and prevent the destruction of the human race.
God wanted to accept human nature for the salvation of people, and He chooses the Most Pure Virgin Mary, the only one worthy to contain within Himself and embody the Source of purity and holiness, as His Mother.
The Nativity of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary is celebrated by the Church as a day of universal joy.
On this bright day, at the turn of the Old and New Testaments, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary was born, destined from the ages by Divine Providence to serve the mystery of the incarnation of God the Word - to appear as the Mother of the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Believers all over the earth worthily honor with songs and praises the One who dispelled the darkness of gracelessness in the world and brought humanity deliverance from eternal death and the gift of deification.
The Blessed Virgin Mary was born in the small Galilean city of Nazareth. Her parents were the righteous Joachim from the family of the prophet and king David and Anna from the family of the high priest Aaron. Anna was the daughter of the priest Matthan (his other daughter, Sophia, was the mother of Elizabeth, who became the mother of John the Baptist).
Joachim and Anna were righteous before the Lord, kept His commandments and were known to everyone not so much for the nobility of their origin, but for their humility and mercy. They lived comfortably, Joachim owned numerous herds. They spent only one third of their income on themselves, donated the other to the temple, and distributed the third to the poor.
The couple were childless, since Saint Anna was barren. Childlessness was considered by the Jewish people as God's punishment for sins, therefore the saints and righteous Joachim and Anna suffered unjust reproaches from their compatriots. Having reached old age, Saints Joachim and Anna made a vow to dedicate to God for service in the temple the child that the Lord would send them.
On one of the holidays, Elder Joachim brought his sacrifice to the Jerusalem Temple as a gift to God, but the high priest did not accept it, calling Joachim unworthy because of his childlessness. Saint Joachim, in deep grief, went into the desert, where he remained in fasting and prayer for 40 days.
Saint Anna, having learned what happened in the Jerusalem temple, wept bitterly, but did not murmur against the Lord, but prayed, calling on God’s mercy for her family. In such an anxious state of mind, one day Anna went out into the garden and, in prayerful thoughts, raising her eyes to the sky, saw among the branches of a laurel tree a nest of barely fledged birds. The sight of these young chicks struck her grief-stricken heart even more.
“Woe to me,” she said, “alone, rejected from the temple of the Lord my God and a humiliated daughter of Israel before everyone! Who am I like? Everything in nature gives birth and nurtures, everyone is comforted by children; I alone do not know this pleasure. I cannot compare myself neither with the birds of the air, nor with the beasts of the earth: both of them bring forth their fruit to You, Lord; ! Not with the earth: and that vegetated one glorifies You with its fruits, only I am childless, like a waterless steppe, without life and plants!
“Lord,” she continued, “You, who gave Sarah a son in her old age and opened Anna’s womb for the birth of Your prophet Samuel, look at me and hear my prayer! Resolve the illnesses of my heart and open the bonds of my barrenness. May what I have born be offered as a gift to You , and may Thy mercy be blessed and glorified in it!”
As soon as Anna uttered these words, an Angel of God appeared before her. “Your prayer has been heard,” the heavenly messenger told her, “your sighs have penetrated the clouds and your tears have sunk before the Lord. You will conceive and give birth to a blessed daughter, above all the daughters of the earth. For her sake all the generations of the earth will be blessed, by her salvation will be given to the whole world and she will be called Mary.” !
Hearing these words, Anna bowed to the Angel and said: “As the Lord my God lives! If I have a child, then I will give him to the Lord to serve, let him serve Him day and night, praising holy name His whole life."
The Angel of God, after preaching the gospel to Anna, appeared to St. Joachim in the desert and said to him: “God has graciously accepted your prayers; your wife Anna will give birth to a daughter, about whom everyone will rejoice. This is a sign of the faithfulness of my words: go to Jerusalem and there, at the Golden Gate, you will find your wife, to whom it was announced the same ".
Reverent joy seized the heart of the holy elder: he immediately and with rich sacrifices went to Jerusalem and there, indeed, at the place indicated by the Angel he met his wife. Seeing her husband, Anna hurried to him with an exclamation: “I know, I know, the Lord God generously blessed me: because I was, as it were, a widow - and now I am not a widow, I was childless - and now I will have a child.”
Here they told each other all the details of the appearances of the Angel, brought a sacrifice to the Lord in the temple and, judging by the course of further events, remained for some time in Jerusalem to await the fulfillment of the promise they had received.
Soon the holy Fathers of God saw the fulfillment of this wonderful promise: on the ninth day of December, the Orthodox Church celebrates the conception of the Blessed Virgin by Anna and sings: “Anna now begins to grow the divine rod (the Mother of God), the vegetated mysterious flower - Christ, the Creator of all.” “The barren Virgin, fertile beyond expectation, who has to give birth to God in the flesh, glows with joy and rejoices, crying loudly: rejoice with me, all the tribes of Israel: I carry in my womb and am delivered from the reproach of childlessness; it is so pleasing to the Creator, who heard my prayer and healed my heart disease by dispensation what I want."
“People will see and marvel that I have become matter: so I give birth, because He who permitted the union of my infertility was so pleased.”
It is impossible not to be in awe of this wonderful conception and not to see in it the extraordinary and great goals of Divine Providence. God apparently wanted to prepare for faith in the future, even more wonderful - the conception and birth of His only begotten Son: “the sacrament - as the Holy Church sings - is the forerunner of the sacrament.”
“The Virgin Mother was born barren,” says St. John of Damascus, “because with miracles she had to prepare the way for the only news under the sun, the most important of miracles, and gradually ascends from lesser to greater.”
"If - as St. Andes notesRay of Crete - it is a great thing that a barren woman gives birth: isn’t it more amazing that a Virgin gives birth?.. It was necessary that He who is all and in whom everything is, as the Lord of nature, showed a miracle in His foremother, making her from a barren matter, and then in the Mother he changed the laws of nature, making the Virgin Matter and preserving the seal of virginity."
And if Joachim and Anna, even before receiving the joyful news, surpassed everyone in purity and holiness: were they not more inflamed with holy zeal and devotion to God when they were honored to receive a gracious revelation about the removal of their reproach?
And at the same time, didn’t their holy qualities attract God’s favor to them to a greater extent and didn’t they bring down grace-filled gifts on them, preparing them for a miraculous event?
If the prophet Jeremiah and the Forerunner of the Lord John were sanctified by God before birth and filled with the Holy Spirit while still in their mother’s womb, then even greater sanctification, without a doubt, was acquired by the womb of righteous Anna.
What was being prepared here was not just a simple birth, but at the same time the revelation of the secret of the wise counsel of God, hidden for centuries and impenetrable even to the Angels themselves.
Here the ark of God, not made by hands, was built, and the living settlement of the Most High was prepared. From here the only and only Holy Virgin, which, according to the prophecy of the Prophet (Is. 7, 1.4), was destined to become the Matter of God the Word.
“The most glorious sacrament,” sings the Holy Church, “unknown to the Angels, great for men and hidden for centuries! Here chaste Anna carries in her womb the Virgin Mary, who is being prepared for the village for the King of all ages and for the renewal of our race.”
After the days of womb-bearing, the Angel's gospel was fulfilled - and St. Anna, on the 8th day of September, gave birth to a daughter. The delight of the parents, freed from the “reproach of childlessness,” was inexpressible.
The obvious miracle of God’s mercy, first of all, turned their eyes, full of tears of gratitude, to heaven - and Joachim reverently cried out to Almighty God: “You, who poured out water from the rock to disobedient people, give fruit from barren loins to the obedient, for our joy.” Anna, in silent delight, ascending to heaven with her soul, humbly thought: “He who closes and opens the abyss, who brings water to the clouds and gives rain! You, Lord, have given me to produce the most pure fruit from a barren root.” - And St. The Church, sharing the delight of the righteous Fathers of God, cries out with them to the whole world: “This is the day of the Lord! Rejoice, people!”
The Most Blessed Virgin, despite the then unimportance of the once famous house of David, in her birth inherited high glory: her lineage, coming from Abraham and David and continuing for many centuries, included names Old Testament patriarchs, high priests, rulers, leaders and kings of Judah. The virtues of the illustrious ancestors, at the very birth of the blessed child, already adorned his name. But all these advantages, so much valued by the world, soon faded in the radiant light of that unearthly glory that the Almighty had prepared for the newborn Virgin.
The Lord fulfilled their request when the holy spouses reached old age and prepared themselves with a virtuous life for the high calling of being the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the future Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. Archangel Gabriel brought good news to Joachim and Anna: their prayers were heard by God, and the Most Blessed Daughter Mary would be born to them, through whom salvation would be granted to the whole world.
The Most Holy Virgin Mary, with Her purity and virtue, surpassed not only all people, but also the Angels, and appeared as the living temple of God, and, as the Church sings in holiday hymns, “The Heavenly Door introducing Christ into the Universe for the salvation of our souls.
Only 3 years old, the Blessed Virgin was introduced into the temple. Many relatives and friends of Joachim and Anna gathered in Nazareth for the celebration of dedication. They all went to Jerusalem, three days' journey from Nazareth.
After entering the city and seven days of purification by fasting and prayer, the righteous Joachim and Anna with all those accompanying them approached the temple, leading their three-year-old daughter. The priests, led by the high priest Zechariah, came out of the temple to meet them.
The porch leading to the temple consisted of 15 high steps, according to the number of sedate psalms that the priests and Levites sang on each step upon entering the temple. Joachim and Anna placed their daughter on the first step, and, to everyone’s amazement, three-year-old Mary climbed to the very top without outside help, where the high priest Zechariah received her.
According to the word of legend, he did not stop where those praying usually stood, but led her into the Holy of Holies, like the Old Testament ark of God. Special rooms were built around the temple where virgins lived, dedicated and serving God. The life of the Virgin Mary at the temple was distinguished by its special purity and holiness.
She got up at dawn and, according to legend, prayed three times a day: morning, noon and evening. The rest of the time She occupied herself with reading the books of the Holy Scriptures and doing handicrafts. The hymns of the Church testify to the appearance of angels to the Most Pure Virgin with heavenly food.
When Mary was about 9 years old, She lost Her elderly parents: first Joachim died, and soon Anna died.
Virgin purity, respected in Christianity, was not considered a virtue among the Jews. All virgins raised in the temple were required to enter into marriage upon reaching age. When Mary was 14 years old, the high priest announced to Her that, according to custom, She needed to leave the temple and get married. The Blessed Virgin replied that She was dedicated to God from birth and desired to observe virginity throughout Her life.
Mary took a vow of eternal virginity. When Mary reaches adulthood, they find her an elderly husband, Joseph the Betrothed, who respects her vow. In his house, Mary worked on purple yarn for the temple curtain, and during the spinning the Annunciation took place.
On the meaning of the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The basis of the veneration of Mary in the Church has always been her obedience to God, the free trust she placed in a humanly unheard-of call. The Orthodox Church in general has always emphasized this connection between Mary and humanity and, so to speak, admired Her as the best, purest, most sublime fruit of human history, the human search for God, and in Him the final meaning, the final content of humanity itself.
If in the West, in Western Christianity, the center of veneration of Mary has always been the image of Her as a Virgin, whose virginity was not broken by motherhood, then for the Orthodox East such a core of his love for Mary, contemplation of Her and - I repeat once again - joyful admiration of Her from the very the beginning was and remains her Motherhood, Her blood connection with Jesus Christ.
The Orthodox East, first of all, rejoices in the fact that in the coming of the Son of God to earth, in the saving manifestation of God who became man in order to reunite him, man, with His Divine calling, that humanity itself took part in this coming.
If the most joyful and deepest thing in Christian faith- this is the “co-naturalness” of Christ to us, the fact that He is truly a Man, and not a ghost, not a mysterious phenomenon, that He is one of us, forever connected with us by His humanity, then the loving veneration of the One who Himself becomes understandable. it is humanity, our flesh and blood, that has given.
The one thanks to whom He, Christ, could call Himself as He always called Himself: “Son of Man.” The Son of God, the Son of Man... God, condescending to man in order to make man Divine, or, as the teachers of the Church say, to deify him, to make him a partaker of the Divine.
It is here, precisely in this stunning revelation about the true nature, about the true calling of man, that the source of the grateful, love relationship to Mary as our connection with Christ, and in Him with God.
And nowhere is this revealed more clearly than in the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Nothing is said about this event in Holy Scripture. And what special can be said about the birth of a child, a birth like any other birth. And if the Church began to remember and celebrate this event on a special holiday, it was not because it was something exceptional, miraculous, out of the ordinary, no, but precisely because its very ordinariness reveals a new and radiant meaning in everything what we call “ordinary” gives new depth to those details human life, about which we so often say that they are “nothing remarkable.”
But let’s look at the icon of this holiday, let’s look at it with our spiritual gaze. Here on the bed is a woman who has just given birth to her Daughter. Church tradition claims that her name was Anna. Next to her is her father, whose name, according to the same legend, is Joachim. Next to the bed, women perform the first ablution of the Newborn.
The most ordinary, unremarkable event. But is it? Doesn’t the Church want to tell us with this icon, first of all, that the birth into the world, into the life of a new human being, is a miracle of all miracles, a miracle that breaks everyday life, for here is a beginning that no longer has and will never have an end.
The beginning of a single, unique human life, the emergence of a new personality, in the appearance of which the world is, as it were, created anew, and now it is given, given to this new person as his life, as his path, as his creativity.
So, the first thing we celebrate in this holiday is the coming into the world of man himself, the coming of which the Gospel says that when it takes place, we no longer “remember the sorrow because of the joy that a man was born into the world.”
Second: we now know whose birth, whose coming we are celebrating. We know the uniqueness, beauty, grace of this particular Child, His destiny, His significance for us and for the whole world. And thirdly, we celebrate all that and all those who, as it were, prepared Mary, filled Her with this grace and beauty.
Nowadays they talk a lot about heredity, giving it some kind of slavish, deterministic meaning. The Church also believes in heredity, but spiritual. How much faith, how much goodness, how many generations of people who lived the highest and heavenly, it was necessary for this amazing and fragrant flower to grow on the tree of humanity - the Most Pure Virgin and the All-Holy Mother! And therefore it is also a celebration of humanity itself, faith in it, joy in it.
Alas, we know better and understand the heredity of evil. And indeed, there is so much evil around us that this faith in man, in his freedom, in the possibility of good and bright heredity has almost disappeared in us and has been replaced by skepticism and distrust...
However, it is precisely this evil skepticism, this sad distrust that calls us to push away the Church on the day when she celebrates - and with what joy and faith - the birth of a little Girl, in Whom, as it were, are concentrated goodness, moral beauty, perfection, which constitute true human nature. Through Her, this newborn Girl, and in Her the world meets Christ coming to it. He is our gift - to Him, our meeting with God. And now we are already on the way to the Bethlehem Cave, to the joyful mystery of the Mother of God.
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - This is the holiday of the beginning! The people firmly believe, quietly pray, that the Lord on this day will send everyone patience, blessings, and joy, and great secret love...
Among the mountains, in a deep hollow, keeping the legends of ancient years, it still flaunts to this day holy city Nazareth. A pious man, Joachim and his wife Anna, lived out their quiet life here in labor and unceasing prayer. The gray hairs of old age have long since gone out in their hair, the fire in their eyes has long gone out, wrinkles have appeared on their foreheads.
Strength weakens; but, alas, there is no support for the honest elders, and perhaps they will soon have to leave the world childless, and their generation will not see the days of the coming of Christ, when the redemption is accomplished - the bright dream of the prophets. And the hearts of the elders constantly ached with secret melancholy, and the melancholy Anna sometimes shed bitter tears. But then different days came for the poor elders - finally the Creator took pity on them - they had a daughter - Mary.
The birth of a wonderful baby seemed like a sweet dream to the elders, as if a heavenly vision had overshadowed their peaceful home. It seemed as if angels were hovering in the midst of this peaceful silence and secretly instilling holy, joyful dreams in my heart.
Their life was like a path without a goal, empty, dull and dark: - at this children's cradle it suddenly changed. Grief and sorrow are forgotten, the sorrows of former days are forgotten; Now their days were passing in quick succession, the dawns were clearer.
The power of prayer to our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary.
The Mother of God, the Intercessor for our salvation, constantly prays at the Throne of the Lord.
If the intensified prayer of the righteous can do much (James 5:16), then all the more powerful is the prayer of the Most Holy Theotokos. Even during Her earthly life, She found grace from the Lord and turned to Him with intercession for those who asked for Her help and intercession.
The Most Holy Theotokos was awarded special grace and closeness to the Throne of God after Her glorious Dormition. She moved to Heaven not only in order to abide in the radiance and majesty of the Divine Glory of Her beloved Son, but also in order to intercede for us before Him with Her prayers. “Rejoice! I am with you all the days,” She said, appearing to the holy apostles.
The Blessed Virgin, while living on earth, herself experienced the same deprivations, needs, troubles and misfortunes that we also experience. She experienced the sorrow of suffering on the cross and the death of Her beloved Son.
She knows our weaknesses, needs and sorrows. Our every sin causes Her suffering, and at the same time, our every misfortune finds Her sympathy. What mother does not take care of her children and is not heartbroken by their misfortunes? What kind of mother leaves them without her help and attention? The Mother of God is always ready to give us timely help.
The Mother of God, like the sun, shines and warms us with the rays of Her love and revives our souls with the grace given to Her from God. By Her Spirit She always abides on earth. When blessed Andrew the Fool, like the Apostle Paul, was caught up in spirit into the heavenly abodes and saw the Lord there, he began to grieve, not seeing the Most Pure Mother of God. But the Angel told him that She had retired into the world to help people.
We are all burdened with sorrows, life's adversities, illnesses and misfortunes, for we all sin. The Word of God says that there is no person who would live on earth and not sin (see: 2 Chron. 6, 36). But God is the highest Love (1 John 4:8), and out of love for His Mother and for us, He accepts Her prayers.
We believe in Her constant intercession and intercession for us sinners before the Merciful and Humane-loving God and in the power of Her prayers. Let us resort to Her as a quiet and kind refuge and diligently call on Her all-holy and all-sung name. And She won't leave us unexpected joy salvation.
The believer prays - the Mother of God smiles.
On this day, it was customary for the people to pray to the Most Holy Theotokos for everything that troubled the soul.
It was believed that not a single prayer said on this day would go unheeded. But it should be noted that no matter what day you turn to the Mother of God, she will always help if a person needs her help. Our Lady will rejoice if believers simply offer her prayers of thanks.
Prayer before the icon of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Before the icon of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, they pray for the salvation of lost souls and to guide them on the right path.
,Oh, Most Holy Theotokos! Look with mercy at the prayers of us, Thy sinners and humble servants, and pray to God Thy Son, that He may bestow upon us and all who flow to You, mental and physical health and everything necessary for eternal and temporal life, and forgive us every free sin. and involuntary; May he deliver us from all sorrows and illnesses, misfortunes and all evil circumstances. To her, our Blessing Queen, our indestructible Hope and invincible Intercessor! Do not turn Your face away from us for our many sins; but extend to us the hand of Thy Motherly mercy, and do a sign for good with us. Show us Thy rich help and prosper in every good deed; Turn us away from every sinful undertaking and evil plan, so that we may glorify Your Most Honorable Name and worship Your honorable image; and we magnify God the Father, and His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, with all the saints, forever and ever. Amen."
An unusual text of a prayer called Rejoice, Virgin Mary.
It is literally blasphemous not to know this Orthodox prayer.
This text, addressed to the Most Holy Theotokos, welcomes and glorifies her.
Its original meaning does not change and the grateful component is not removed.
Virgin Mary, rejoice, helps to strengthen Orthodox faith and praise the Virgin Mary.
Virgin Mary, rejoice...
, Mother of God Virgin Mary, I greet you sacredly. Women trust in you, men also pray to you. In the sorrow of humanity, you gave birth to Christ and blessed him for our salvation. Thank you for your great holiness and intercession before the Lord God
Virgin Mary, we love you. Virgin Mary, we believe in you. Amen."
As a rule, on this holiday - the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 21) - women who, due to some illness, cannot have children, pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary for their healing and for the speedy conception of children.
But besides this, on this day you can also make any prayer request for help and protection.
First prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos:
To be continued in the next post.
What is your favorite holiday of the year? Many, without hesitation, will answer: “Birthday!” - and they will be right. A rare event can be compared to this day in scope, strength and joy. It’s the same among believers: the dates of the births of saints, or, as they are commonly called, “Christmas”, are especially revered and eagerly awaited. One of these great holidays for the Orthodox is the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is celebrated annually on September 21. Why is this date so significant for believers?Origins of the holiday
This event is the first holiday from which a new one begins church year. So significant for Orthodox date It is also customary to call it the day of universal joy. And this is no coincidence: believers celebrate the day when the Virgin Mary was born, who later became the Mother of Jesus.
The holiday has a solid history: the church established it back in the 6th century. According to legend, the righteous couple Joachim and Anna lived in the city of Nazareth. Despite their prosperity and wealth, the couple enjoyed great respect and love from those around them, because the main principles of their life were love for God and mercy for people. The only thing that darkened the life of a pious family was that the Jews considered it a sign of punishment from above. Despite their age, the husband and wife did not stop asking the Almighty to send them a child.
One day, Joachim, bringing another gift to God, heard a reproach from his back - they say, it is not right for a barren person to bring a gift to the Almighty ahead of others. Being in great grief, the pious Joachim went into the desert to devote his time to prayer and strict fast. His wife Anna, having learned about this, did not hesitate to devote all her time to fervent prayers for the desired child, promising to give him to God for service. Their prayers were heard: an Angel appeared to the suffering spouses in turn and said that their groans were heard. After the allotted period, the couple had a daughter, who was named Mary at the command of the Angel. This day went down in history Christian Church like the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
We especially honor this holiday among the Russian people, because it was on September 21 that Dmitry Donskoy and his army won the Battle of Kulikovo. On this day, those women who have not yet had the opportunity to experience the joy of motherhood, and all those who find themselves in a difficult life situation, can ask for the most cherished things. Moreover, it is customary to think that one should turn to the Mother of God not with requests and entreaties, but to extol her, then everything that disturbs the soul will not remain unattended. Any service on the Nativity of the Virgin Mary includes the obligatory praise of the Virgin Mary, who was destined for the role of the Mother of Christ, and a mention of her believing parents, the ancestors of the Savior of the World.
Folk signs and traditions
The days preceding the autumn equinox (September 22-23) have long been rightfully considered the time when autumn comes into its full rights and the cold begins. In Rus', these days coincided with the holiday of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary - therefore, on the eve or immediately after it, people were engaged in collecting the vegetable harvest, as well as all the fruits from the trees. These days, beekeepers removed all the hives from the apiary in order to protect the bees from the deadly cold, which was coming into its own. On the very feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, it was customary to visit each other and treat themselves to richly laid tables.
People can also hear other names for this Orthodox event: the Second Most Pure (the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which falls on August 28, was called the First Most Pure), Oseniny, Pasekin Day, Ospozhinki (from the word “harvest”), etc. Church holidays for the peasants they were a kind of “marks” of time, they were guided by them, it was not for nothing that this and other similar sayings appeared: “The Most Pure One came - the tree is clean, but when she comes, the tree is bare” (The Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos is celebrated Orthodox Church October 14).
The peasants also paid attention to the weather these days. Thus, centuries-old observations have noted: the weather outside is sunny without a hint of clouds - expect a clear and warm autumn, which will pass without heavy rains. And vice versa: if the horizon is clouded and it’s getting ready to rain, it’s time to take out warm clothes and waterproof ones.
The Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos is the day when one can pay tribute to the Patroness, who does not forget for a moment about our needs and, more than other saints, can intercede for human concerns and anxieties to God. The Queen of Heaven, she is ready to give hers to everyone who needs her. Our task is simple: to be grateful to the Mother of Christ for her aspirations and mentally express words of gratitude and love from the heart. The effort is minimal, and the reverse effect, which often cannot be called anything other than a miracle, can be amazing.
The birth of the Virgin Mary is a holiday full of bright energy. It conceals many mysterious and important signs that are not always noticeable to Christian believers.
In September the 21st is celebrated Christian holiday, which is of great importance - the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This day is celebrated annually in the church with special services and chants, since the event is directly related to the salvation of humanity from sin and Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is very important on this day to read prayers on the day of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, at least at home.
The Birth of the Virgin Mary: a story from the apocrypha
The Gospel includes very little information about the Virgin Mary, and literally nothing is said about her childhood. But there are apocryphal descriptions of these events, which became the basis of the holiday. It talks about two righteous people: Joachim and Saint Anna. The couple was already old and, unfortunately, had no children. Joachim was once denied acceptance of his sacrifice to God precisely because there were no children in the family.
Saint Anna prayed a lot, wanting to become a mother. Then an angel appeared to her, who announced that she would be able to conceive and all her offspring would be glorified. There is also a story about how, after this, happy Anna met her husband at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem and told him about what had happened, hugging him. After these events, Anna actually became pregnant. Exactly nine months after these events, the Virgin Mary was born.
The meaning of the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary
For Christian believers, in addition to the fact that the future Mother of God was born, her origin is also important. It combines two important family lines: on the father's side - royal, since his family originates from the tribe of King David, and on the mother's side she continued the line of the high priests of Israel. For this reason, Jesus Christ is understood as the Heavenly King and Heavenly High Priest. It is also believed that from birth the Virgin Mary was freed from original sin. This can be seen in connection with the fact that her son, Jesus Christ, became our Savior, saving all people from sin.
Folk customs and traditions on September 21
The people have long celebrated the birth of the Virgin Mary in a special way. It was a very common custom to extinguish the old fire in the stove and light a new one. From that day on, traditional gatherings with fire were held. It has always been believed that fire has a special power that can rid your home of accumulated energy dirt. Try to get rid of negative energy with the help of candles on this day: today these rituals will be especially effective.
Of course, women were given special honor and many rituals were performed specifically for them. They greeted autumn with ritual songs, and this was done, of course, also in order to call higher power to help before the winter: now a lot depended on the supplies that the peasants had.
The Day of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is also directly related to family ties. Ancient traditions bequeathed on this day to visit the newlyweds, with whom the parents shared the experience of living together. It was also customary to gather for feasts. It is always useful to support such a pleasant tradition, not even in honor of the holiday, but so that family ties are strong and contact between parents and children is always established. Therefore, try to visit your parents on this day, or even better, invite at least close relatives to visit.
To strengthen family ties and to keep your family and friends healthy, try to go to church and light a candle. Refer to the icon Mother of God with prayers for the family and soon you will feel their power. All the best and don't forget to press the buttons and
19.09.2016 04:07
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