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Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Lord, who wanted to be born on earth as a perfect man for the salvation of the world, first prepared His Most Pure Mother among it. She was born in the Galilean city of Nazareth, humiliated by the Jews, from righteous parents Joachim and Anna, whose names have been preserved by tradition. Epiphanius says: “Joachim means preparation for the Lord, for from Joachim the church of the Lord was prepared, i.e. Blessed Virgin Mary; Anna is grace, because Joachim and Anna received grace through the conception of the blessed Virgin from them.” According to her father, the Virgin Mary came from a royal family - through her mother, from a bishop’s family, and thus “She is crowned with glory and honor; glory - as if it had grown from a royal root, and in part - as if it had grown from a bishop's tribe." The Virgin Mary was the only daughter of Joachim and Anna, born to them in old age, according to their fervent prayers, according to the promise and blessing of God. “Rev. The Virgin, says Jerome, is called Mary, for that is what the angel called Her, who announced Her birth to her parents.” “Mary or Mariam from the Hebrew language,” says St. Epiphanius means: Lady and hope. For she was about to give birth to the Lord, who is the desire of the tongues.” Mary, having become the Mother of the Creator, says St. Damascene truly became the Mistress of all creatures. In memory of the Nativity of St. Since ancient times, the Church has established a feast day for the Mother of God. An indication of it can be found in the 4th century, in which Equal-to-the-Apostles Helen, as travelers write, based on Palestinian legends, built a church in honor and memory of the birth of the Mother of God. The indication can also be found in the writings of St. John Chrysostom, oh St. Proclus, Epiphanius and Augustine. In the 5th century, the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is mentioned in the service book (sacramentary) of Gelasius, and in the same century, Anatoly, Bishop of Constantinople, wrote some stichera on the day of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, now sung by the Church on this day. In the 6th century, St. mentions the celebration of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Gregory Dvoeslov in his sarcamentary. In the same century, Stephen of Svyatogorod, in the 7th century, St. Andrew of Crete, Sergius, Patriarch of Constantinople, in VIII - St. John of Damascus, Herman, Patriarch of Constantinople, in the 9th century Joseph the Studite - glorified the event of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary with many hymns, with which even now the Church glorifies the born Most Holy One. Virgo. So, since ancient times, “every Orthodox language praises and blesses and glorifies the most pure Nativity of Mary, the Bride of God!” Feast of the Nativity of St. The Mother of God is great, twelfth, universal, in accordance with the importance of the event in the economy of our salvation. Celebrating the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the Church and St. the fathers glorify the highest degree of approach of the Divine to grace-filled unity with humanity, in the person of the pre-elected Virgin, born according to the promise of God, “by the wave of the Creator of all.” “Today the fruit of grace begins to bear fruit, revealing the Mother of God to the world,” the Church sings during the service. “Today, world-wide joy has been proclaimed; today, the winds have blown, the herald of salvation. Joachim and Anna were freed from the reproach of childlessness in St. the Nativity of his Most Pure Daughter. The Mother of the belly is born, resolving the darkness, Adam’s renewal, and Eve’s proclamation, and the incorruptible source: For Her sake we were deified, and were delivered from death. The Mother of God is born, and the world with Her is renewed, the Church is adorned in its splendor.” St. Andrew of Crete in a homily for the day of Nativity. The Mother of God says: “The real holiday is for us the beginning of the holidays. It serves as the door to grace and truth. Now the Creator of everything has built an animated church, and creation is being prepared for a new Divine dwelling for the Creator.” According to St. John of Damascus, “the day of the Nativity of the Mother of God is a holiday of universal joy, because by the Mother of God the entire human race was renewed and the sorrow of the foremother Eve was transformed into joy. The Virgin Mary was born barren, because with miracles she had to prepare the way for the only news under the sun, the most important of miracles, and constantly ascends from lesser to greater.” The Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, within the pre-celebration and post-celebration, lasts 6 days, from September 7 to 12. Feast of the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God The following legends are preserved about this icon. In 1595, the Greek Metropolitan Neophytos, traveling in Russia, in gratitude for the hospitality shown to him, blessed one of the pious and hospitable wives with the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos he had brought from Constantinople. Staying in the house of the one who was blessed with the icon, this shrine was at first known to few. But God was pleased to glorify her. She repeatedly appeared in a radiant light to those who lived in Goyskaya’s house and to herself in a dream, but Anna did not believe either others or her dreams. It happened that she saw the Mother of God in the radiance of light, no longer in a dream, but in reality, and from that time on she began to show more reverence to the icon of the Mother of God; She ordered the unquenchable lamp to be kept warm and prayed in front of the icon. A little time passed, and miracles began to flow from the icon of the Mother of God. Anna marveled at the grace from the icon of the Mother of God. But when her brother, blind from birth, brought to the icon and as if inspired from above by the grace that illuminated him, in tenderness of heart, with tears and prayer, stood before the icon, received his sight, - Anna, seeing so much great grace of the Most Pure Virgin, revealed from Her image, in 1597 triumphantly conveyed this image, with the advice and consent of clergy and lay persons, to the Pochaev monastery, located in the Volyn province in the town of Pochaev. Since then, the icon has been known under the name Pochaevskaya. Among the many miracles from the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God, especially was the miraculous deliverance of the Pochaev monastery in 1675 on the 20th day of July through the intercession of the Mother of God from the Turks, who had already approached the monastery walls. The Orthodox monks, placing their hope in the help of the Blessed Virgin, prayed all night and sang an akathist before the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, and when they exclaimed: “To the chosen Voivode,” at that moment the Mother of God appeared in light clothes, surrounded by angels with drawn swords, with a white shining omophorion, a sign of Her constant intercession and intercession. A sudden fear fell upon the infidels, which caused them all to flee. In 1770, when the Pochaev monastery was already owned by the Uniates, a special commission was established for the most reliable study of the legends about the miraculous icon of the Mother of God. The information collected by the commission was approved by the testimony of the bishops. From this information, confirmed by the handwritten signatures of many people, it is clear that not only Orthodox and former Uniates came to worship the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God and received healing from it, but also Christians of the Latin and Lutheran confession and even Jews, who after healing accepted the Christian faith. In 1831, upon the return of the Pochaev Monastery to the Orthodox department, it was named the Dormition Pochaev Lavra. And now Orthodox Christians have great reverence for the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God. Bogomals flock to her from remote places in Russia, even from the Arkhangelsk province and Siberia, and there are always many pilgrims in the Pochaev monastery. Celebration of the Kursk Icon of the Mother of God One of the residents of Rylsk, walking through the forest in 1295 on September 8, for hunting along the banks of the Tuskari River, saw an image at the root of a tree, facing the ground; He picked up the icon and saw that it was the image of the Sign of the Mother of God. When the image was raised, a source of water opened from the ground in the place where the icon lay. The rumor about the appearance of the icon reached the Rylsky prince Vasily Shemyaka. The icon, by his order, was transferred to Rylsk and reverently greeted by the people. The prince himself was not present at the meeting of the shrine, and during the meeting he was overcome by blindness. He recognized his guilt, offered repentance and prayer before the revealed icon, and regained his sight. In gratitude for this good deed, he built a church in the city of Rylsk in the name of the Nativity of the Mother of God, in which the revealed and miraculous icon was placed, and the feast of the appearance of the Kursk Icon was established on September 8. But she miraculously returned to the place of her appearance, where a chapel was built for her, and remained in it for 302 years. This chapel was burned during the Tatar invasion in 1385, the board of the icon was split and scattered. But later the icon appeared unharmed. The fame of the miraculous Kursk Icon reached the capital and in 1597 the shrine was moved to Moscow. Here she was greeted with great triumph by Tsar Fyodor Ioanovich, the clergy, the boyars and the people. In Moscow they placed it in a silver-gilded frame and added, in the likeness of the icon of Sophia - the Wisdom of God, an image of the Lord of Hosts on top, and images of the prophets on the sides and below. Tsarina Irina Fedorovna decorated the icon with precious stones. However, in the same year the icon was returned to the place of its appearance, and here, through the zeal of Theodore Ioanovich, a monastery or hermitage and a church in the name of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary were founded. From the appearance of the icon at the root of a tree, the icon is often called Korenskaya, and the hermitage itself is known under the name Korenskaya. During the invasion of Crimean predators on the southern borders of Russia, St. The icon was transferred from the desert to Kursk, and a copy of it was placed in the Root Hermitage. Boris Fedorovich, reverent for the shrine that protected Kursk from the famine that happened during his time, brought her many donations from his zeal. Even the impostor, after invading Putivl, wishing to attract the Orthodox to himself with imaginary piety, ordered the Kursk Icon to be transferred to his camp and, according to the modern narrative, prayed in front of it. Then she visited Moscow for the second time and remained in the royal palace. In 1612, Kursk citizens saw the special help of the Mother of God over their city, when the Poles with a large army besieged the city that year. At the very beginning, some saw a wife with two bright monks above the city walls, overshadowing the city. At this time, the residents of Kursk repeatedly made religious walks around the city and made a vow, if God would help them free themselves from the siege, to erect a monastery in the middle of the city in honor of the Mother of God and place Her miraculous icon in it upon her return from Moscow. The enemies soon retreated from the city with great loss. Fulfilling their vow, the residents of Kursk, in gratitude to the Intercessor, built a monastery in Kursk in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos of the Icon of the Sign. In 1615, at the request of Kursk citizens and by order of Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, the miraculous Kursk icon was returned from Moscow to Kursk and placed in the cathedral church. In 1618, Kursk citizens asked for permission to move the icon from the cathedral to the monastery, where it was moved with the permission of Mikhail Feodorovich and where it still remains and is therefore called Kursk. In 1676 St. The icon was raised to the Don to bless the brave and pious Don residents. In 1684, from the sovereigns and great princes John and Peter Alekseevich, a copy of the miraculous icon of the Sign of the Most Holy One was sent to the Root Monastery. Mother of God in a silver-gilded frame, with the command to wear this list on the campaigns of Orthodox soldiers. In 1689, according to a charter from the same kings, a new list was taken from the miraculous Kursk icon for the regiments setting off on the campaign. And in the memorable year 1812, the Kursk City Society and rights. The army placed their trust in the Most Holy One. Virgo. Due to their zeal for the fatherland, the Kursk citizens sent a copy of the miraculous Kursk icon to the army in the field to Prince Kutuzov-Smolensky in a gilded robe for the blessing and encouragement of those struggling for the faith and the fatherland. The prince, in his letter dated September 20 of the same year addressed to the Kursk city mayor, expressed his gratitude to the citizens, with the assurance that the city of Kursk is and will always be safe. In memory of the transfer of the Kursk Icon from Moscow to Kursk and the initial appearance of the image, every year since 1618 after Easter, on Friday of the ninth week, this image is transferred, with a procession of the cross, from Kursk to the place of its appearance - to the Root Hermitage, and remains there until September 13th. “It is impossible not to notice, says one eyewitness, that when making a religious procession with the miraculous Kursk Icon to the Root Hermitage, pilgrims accompany it in such numbers that such a gathering of people will not be met not only in Russia, but throughout Europe. The faces of everyone accompanying the procession of the icon express reverent tenderness, and in their hearts there is pure devotion to the shrine.” Celebration of the Syamsk Icon of the Mother of God In the village of Otvodnoye, near Lake Kubenskoye, not far from Vologda, the peasant Ivan Rodionov lay in relaxation for two years. In 1524, the Mother of God appeared to him in a dream, commanding him to go to the Syamskaya volost to the Church of the Intercession and announce to the parishioners the will of the Lady and to build a monastery here in the name of Her Most Pure Nativity, near this volost near the Kruttsa River in the Dolgaya glade. For fulfilling this command, the patient was promised healing. Obeying heavenly inspiration, he proclaimed the will of the Mother of God and at the same time received healing. Seeing in the miraculous healing of the peasant a clear confirmation of the truth by his word, the inhabitants of the volost that same year erected a wooden monastery in honor of the Nativity of the Mother of God. The miraculous icon of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary has since become a local church icon, known under the name Syamskaya; The monastery chronicler recorded many miracles from her. In 1542, this entire monastery burned to the ground; Only one miraculous icon was saved and the monastery buildings were erected again. St. new Afanasy of Thessalonica St. new Athanasius of Thessalonica, who suffered from the Turks in 1774 for denouncing the Mohammedan faith and not accepting Islam. (See “Christian Martyr” by Solovyov). Originally from Galich. Even in his youth, he shared pious and ascetic solitude with his father Dionysius in the Bryn Forest. After that, having lived in the Pokrovskaya monastery near Uglich, Lucian (before he was tonsured - Hilarion) retired to a deserted place 30 versts from Pereslavl, set up a cell for himself near the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, which was abandoned after the invasion of Lithuania, in which there was Her miraculous icon; resumed this church and, having taken monastic vows with the name of Lucian, officiated in it. He suffered a lot from the slander of envious people. He was the founder of two monasteries: a women's monastery near the city of Alexandrov and a men's monastery at the deserted Church of the Mother of God, where he was buried after his death in 1655. He was distinguished by a touching gift of speech and the gift of insight (for example, he predicted long ago about the destructive pestilence, warning the people about the need for repentance, since “the great wrath of God is coming and the Lord will send a deadly plague”). (See “Historical Dictionary of the Saints of the Russian Church”).