March 23, 2005
St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church
170 Lexington Avenue,
Passaic, New Jersey
07055
A parish of the
The Feast of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary
The Feast of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary comes nine months before Christmas on the twenty-fifth of March. It is the celebration of the announcing of the birth of Christ to the Virgin Mary as recorded in the Gospel of Saint Luke. The Angel Gabriel was sent by God to Nazareth to announce to Mary, a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, that she had found favor with God and that she would “bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.” She questions the possibility of this but is assured by the Angle Gabriel that the “Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” Her faithful response to this announcement “let it be to me according to your word,” makes her the highest model of obedience to God. The Incarnation of the Son of God is not only the work of the Trinity, but also the work of the will and the faith of the Virgin. The Virgin Mary is honored not only because God chose her, or because she bore the Son of God in the flesh, but also because she herself chose to believe and obey God firmly.
Annunciation to the Theotokos
(March 25)
Gregory Palamas Sunday
(March 27)
With the voice of the archangel we cry to Thee, O Pure One: Rejoice, O Full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee! (Magnification)
St. Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica.
St. Palamas was raised in the royal court of Constantinople, where he was instructed in both religious and secular knowledge. While still young, he left the imperial court and struggled in asceticism on Mount Athos, and in the Skete at Beroea. He taught that divine grace is not created, but is the uncreated energies of God which are poured forth throughout creation; otherwise it would be impossible, if grace were created, for man to have genuine communion with the uncreated God. He bore living witness that men can become divine through the grace of God in the Holy Spirit; and that even in this life, by prayer and fasting, human beings can become participants of the uncreated light of God’s divine glory. He was appointed Metropolitan of Thessalonica in 1347 and tended his flock for approximately twelve years. He wrote many books and treatises on the most exalted doctrines of our Faith and passed away in the Lord in 1359 at the age of 63. His holy relics are kept in the Cathedral of Thessalonica. We celebrate the great defender of the teachings of the holy Fathers today by commemorating St. Gregory Palamas on the second Sunday of Great Lent.
Light of Orthodoxy, pillar and teacher of the Church, adornment of monastics, invincible champion of theologians, O Gregory thou wonderworker, boast of Thessalonica, herald of grace: ever pray that our souls be saved.
