The Birth Of The Holy Mother Of Godand Ever-Virgin Mary.
Your Nativity, O Virgin, has proclaimed joy to the whole Universe! The Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God, has shone from You, O Theotokos! By annulling the curse, He bestowed a blessing. By destroying death, He has granted us eternal Life.
By Your Nativity, O Most Pure Virgin, Joachim and Anna are freed from barrenness; Adam and Eve, from the corruption of death. And we, your people, freed from the guilt of sin, celebrate and sing to you: The barren woman gives birth to the Theotokos, the nourisher of our life!
Ezekiel 43:27 And when these [seven] days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord GOD. 44:1 ¶Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. 2 Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. 3 It is for the Prince; the Prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same. 4 ¶Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face.
And so the New Church Year begins, with the Birth of the Theo-Tokos on September 8, and the Conception of Saint John the Baptist on September 23; and ends with the Falling-Asleep of the Mother of Life on August 15, and the Beheading of the Fore-Runner on August 29.
2 comments:
What is the significance of the Second Vesperal Reading for this feast? Is it primarily in the passage about the glory of the Lord filling the House of the Lord?
Its significance is obviously of a typological nature: It relates to the Virgin-Birth, and to the "Eighth" Day. -- It also gives us the reason for the specific date of this Feast. (Just like Matthew 17:1 & Mark 9:2 do the same for Transfiguration).
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