Annunciation

A key piece of the Paleologan Mannerism - the Annunciation icon from Ohrid.

An annunciation, by definition, is an act or instance of announcing or making a proclamation. In Christianity, the Annunciation is the announcement or proclamation to Mary, the mother of Jesus by the archangel Gabriel that she would conceive a child to be born the Son of God. Christian churches, particularly within the Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions, celebrate this with the feast of Annunciation on March 25. Since it occurs exactly 9 months before the birth (or Nativity) of Jesus on Christmas Day, the Annunciation also marks the actual Incarnation of Jesus Christ - the moment that Jesus was conceived and that the Son of God became the son of the Virgin. The date of the Annunciation also once marked the New Year in many places, including England (where it is called Lady Day). The traditional location of the actual and historical Annunciation is in the town of Nazareth, Israel, where is currently located the Church of the Annunciation. The feast of Annunciation has been celebrated since the fifth century CE.

Annunciation in the New Testament

In the New Testament, the official account of the Annunciation is narrated in Luke 1:26-38 (NIV):

²⁶In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary.²⁸ The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

²⁹Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. ³¹You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

³⁴"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

³⁵The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.³⁷ For nothing is impossible with God."

³⁸"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.''

Annunciation in the Old Testament

The Old Testament records an annunciation in Judges 13:2-4 prior to the birth of Samson:

²A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. ³

The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son."⁴

And in Isaiah 7:14 there is found what appears to be the prophecy of the Annunciation:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Eastern Traditions and Calendar Concerns

In Eastern Orthodoxy Mary is referred to as Theotokos ("god bearer" ; "the one who gives birth to God"; and less precisely, "Mother of God"). The term "Mother of God" caused a great deal of controversy in the early church (See Nestorianism) as some Christians found it to be a blasphemous doctrine. The feast of the Annunciation, as the action initiating the Incarnation of Christ, has an important place in Eastern Orthodox theology such that the Feast of the Annunciation within the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is always celebrated on March 25th, regardless of what day it falls on. The Feast of the Annunciation in the Greek Orthodox Church also marks a day of national celebration for Greece and those of Greek descent as it was on March 25, 1821, that Greece officially declared its independence after 400 years of rule by the Ottomans. Festivities and parades are held in recognition of Greek Independence Day in addition to the services for the Feast.

The Annunciation, by El Greco (1575)

In the Roman Catholic and Lutheran liturgical calendar, the feast of the Annunciation is moved, if necessary, to prevent it from either falling on a Sunday (because Sundays at that time of year are of the highest liturgical rank), or during Holy (or Easter) Week. To avoid a Sunday before Holy Week, the next day (March 26) would be observed instead. In years when March 25 falls during Holy Week, the Annunciation is moved to the Monday (then referred to as Low Monday) after the Octave of Easter, a week after the Sunday which is Easter.

The Eastern churches (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental and Eastern Catholic) do not move the date of the feast of the Annunciation under any circumstance. They have special combined liturgies for those years when the Annunciation coincides with another feast. In these churches, even on Good Friday a liturgy is celebrated when it coincides with the Annunciation.

The date of the feast of the Annunciation is close to the vernal equinox, as Christmas is to the winter solstice. Because of this, the Annunciation and Christmas were two of the four "Quarter days" in medieval and early modern England, which marked the divisions of the fiscal year (the other two were Midsummer Day, or the Nativity of St. John the Baptist—June 24—and Michaelmas, the feast day of St. Michael, on September 29).

The first authentic allusions to the feast are in a canon of the council of Toledo (656), and another of the council of Constantinople "in Trullo" (692), forbidding the celebration of all festivals in Lent, excepting the Lord's day and the Feast of the Annunciation. An earlier origin has been claimed for it on the grounds that it is mentioned in sermons of Athanasius and of Gregory Thaumaturgus, but both of these documents are now considered spurious. A synod held at Worcester, England (1240), forbade all servile work on this feast day.

File:Damiane4.jpg

The Annunciation, mural from Ubisi, Georgia

Annunciation in the Quran (Koran)

The Annunciation is also cited in the Quran, in chapters 3 (Aal 'Imran - The Family of Imran) verses 45-51 and 19 (Maryam - Mary) verses 16-26. Christians comment that this account, while recognizing Mary as the purified woman chosen to be the mother of the promised Messiah and noting Jesus as an important prophet, nevertheless contradicts the Biblical account; failing to mention or insinuate that Jesus is the son of God.Muslims counter that nowhere in the Christian Bible is there a whole book named after Mary herself and that the two accounts are, in essence, the same.

From chapter 3

[45] (Remember) when the angels said: "O Maryam (Mary)! Verily, Allâh gives you the glad tidings of a Word ("Be!" - and he was! i.e. 'Isâ (Jesus) the son of Maryam (Mary)) from Him, his name will be the Messiah 'Isâ (Jesus), the son of Maryam (Mary), held in honor in this world and in the Hereafter, and will be one of those who are near to Allâh."

[46] "He will speak to the people in the cradle and in manhood, and he will be one of the righteous."

[47] She said: "O my Lord! How shall I have a son when no man has touched me." He said: "So (it will be) for Allâh creates what He wills. When He has decreed something, He says to it only: "Be!" - and it is.

[48] And He (Allâh) will teach him ('Isâ (Jesus)) the Book and Al-Hikmah (i.e. the Sunnah, the faultless speech of the Prophets, wisdom), (and) the Taurât (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel).

[49] And will make him ('Isâ (Jesus)) a Messenger to the Children of Israel (saying): "I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, that I design for you out of clay, a figure like that of a bird, and breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by Allâh's Leave; and I heal him who was born blind, and the leper, and I bring the dead to life by Allâh's Leave. And I inform you of what you eat, and what you store in your houses. Surely, therein is a sign for you, if you believe.

[50] And I have come confirming that which was before me of the Taurât (Torah), and to make lawful to you part of what was forbidden to you, and I have come to you with a proof from your Lord. So fear Allâh and obey me.

[51] Truly! Allâh is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him (Alone). This is the Straight Path.

From chapter 19

An Armenian miniature from the Roslin Gospels, 1287.

[16] And mention in the Book (the Qur'ân, O Muhammad (peace be upon him) the story of) Maryam (Mary), when she withdrew in seclusion from her family to a place facing east.

[17] She placed a screen (to screen herself) from them; then We sent to her Our Ruh (angel Jibrîl (Gabriel)) and he appeared before her in the form of a man in all respects.

[18] She said: "Verily! I seek refuge with the Most Gracious (Allâh) from you, if you do fear Allâh."

[19] (The angel) said: "I am only a Messenger from your Lord, (to announce) to you the gift of a righteous son."

[20] She said: "How can I have a son, when no man has touched me, nor am I unchaste?"

[21] He said: "So (it will be), your Lord said: 'That is easy for Me (Allâh): And (We wish) to appoint him as a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us (Allâh), and it is a matter (already) decreed, (by Allâh).' "

[22] So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place (i.e. Bethlehem valley about 4-6 miles from Jerusalem).

[23] And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a date-palm. She said: "Would that I had died before this, and had been forgotten and out of sight!"

[24] Then (the babe 'Iesa (Jesus) or Jibrîl (Gabriel)) cried unto her from below her, saying: "Grieve not: your Lord has provided a water stream under you. [25] "And shake the trunk of date-palm towards you, it will let fall fresh ripe-dates upon you."

[26] "So eat and drink and be glad. And if you see any human being, say: 'Verily! I have vowed a fast unto the Most Gracious (Allâh) so I shall not speak to any human being this day.'"

Virgin Conception

Some Christian writers have tried to show that the verses in Luke 1:34:35, containing the account of conception through the Holy Spirit are interpolated (or inserted/added later) or that the origin of the virgin conception derives from "myth" and/or from heathen hero worship. Some leave it to be "merely" of Judaic origin (Isaiah 7:14, Behold a Virgin shall conceive, etc.) postulating that Luke may have taken his knowledge of the event from an older account, written in Aramaic or Hebrew. The words: "Blessed art thou among women" (v. 28; KJV), are considered spurious as they are taken from the later verse 42, the account of the Visitation (with Elizabeth). There is, as well, the opinion that Joseph at the time of the Annunciation was an aged widower and Mary twelve or fifteen years of age, founded upon apocryphal documents. The local tradition of Nazareth pretends that the angel met Mary and greeted her at the fountain, where she fled from him in fear; but he followed her into the house and there continued his vital message. For many Christians today, the virgin conception of Jesus virtually hinges upon belief in an act of supreme obedience (by Mary), beyond reason, beyond any kind of scientific theory or reality.

As Pope Benedict XVI of the Roman Catholic Church has stated: “The Annunciation is a humble, hidden event that no one saw or knew, except for Mary. But at the same time it is a decisive moment in the history of humanity. When the Virgin said ‘Yes’ to the Angel’s Annunciation, Jesus was conceived and with Him began a new era in history, which was eventually sanctioned by the ‘new and eternal covenant.” “In fact, Mary’s Yes was the perfect reflection of that by Christ when he came into the world as one can read in the way the Letter to the Hebrews interprets Psalm 39: “Then I said, 'As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God' (Heb 10: 7).” The Son’s obedience mirrors that of the Mother and thus, thanks to the meeting of these two “Yes”, God was able to take a human form. Since it celebrates a central mystery of Christ, His incarnation, the Annunciation is also a Christological event.”

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Balay, Diane Huie. The Man from Nazareth: The Life of Christ from the Annunciation to the Resurrection in a Series of 24 Chancel Dramas. Abingdon Press; Spiral edition (July 1997). ISBN 978-0687053186.
• Braaten, Carl E. and Jenson, Robert W. (Editors) Mary, Mother of God. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (June 2004). ISBN 978-0802822666.
• Editors of Phaidon Press. Annunciation. Amazon Remainders Account (September 25, 2000). ASIN B000FILLNC.
• _____________________. Annunciation (Art). Phaidon Press; New Ed edition (November 1, 2004). ISBN 978-0714844473.

External links

All Links Retrieved November 8, 2007.

• Entheomedia.org www.entheomedia.org.
• 'The Annunciation' by Edward Burne-Jones at the Lady Lever Art Gallery www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk.
• Read the account (Luke Ch.1 26-55) at Bible Gateway www.biblegateway.com.
• The Annunciation Icons (mostly Russian) www.icon-art.info.
• MP3 of Orthodox Byzantine Hymn(s) for the Annunciation archangelsbooks.com.
• The Feast of the Annunciation of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary
• The Feast of the Annunciation BBC- Religion and Ethics-Christianity-Holy Days
• The Annunciation - Catholic Encyclopedia
• The Virginal Conception of Christ by Jonathan Sarfati, CMI–Australia First published in:Apologia 3(2):4–11, 1994

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