Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary among the Orthodox

The Orthodox Church celebrates the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 21 The birth of the Virgin Mary belongs to the twelve holidays, one of the twelve most important after Easter The birth of the mother of Jesus Christ is a great event for all believers, because it took place for the salvation of humanity and access to eternal life The celebration was not established in Christianity immediately It has been reliably determined that in the monthly calendars of the 5th century there are no mentions of the Theotokos feast The official introduction occurred at the behest of the Emperor of Mauritius at the end of the 6th century But only several centuries later it became especially solemn, with an all-night vigil and a special service The very appearance of the Blessed Virgin into this world is practically not described in the New Testament Found sources indicate that for the first time a detailed description of the conception of the source of purity and holiness was compiled in the 2nd century According to legend, Joachim and Anna, a pious married couple who lived in Jerusalem, had no children until old age In those days, far from the modern ideology of childfree, this was considered a shame and caused public censure The priest in the temple, where Joachim came one day, refused to accept his gifts The upset and grieving man went into the desert to pray again, and Anna at this time also offered a prayer to God They were heard: an angel who appeared to them predicted the birth of a girl, saying that they should name her Mary The couple met at the entrance to the city, or rather at the Golden Gate, sharing this divine gospel with each other And indeed, nine months later they became the parents of a daughter, whose name the whole world knew, as predicted With her appearance, a new period began for humanity, and Joachim and Anna began to be revered as Godfathers involved in the birth of Jesus No important church holiday in Rus' is complete without folk signs, which originate from the peasant calendar, formed back in pagan times The end of the period from the Dormition of the Mother of God in August until her Nativity, called by the common people the Little Most Pure One, is called the Osenins With the end of summer field work and the beginning of autumn preparations, the peasants assessed the harvest The higher it is, the longer the holiday, celebrated with widespread hospitality On this day, it is customary to thank the Blessed Virgin, who has been associated from time immemorial with Mother Earth, for fertility, to ask for family well-being, and health for children The Mother of God more than once delivered Rus' from terrible troubles and all kinds of misfortunes One of these miracles is considered to be assistance to the Russian army led by Dmitry Donskoy in the Battle of Kulikovo The victory coincided with the Nativity of the Holy Virgin - September 8th, old style In Orthodoxy it began to be celebrated jointly, and according to the modern calendar the date falls on the 21st In honor of the bright event of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, many churches were built on Russian soil But not all of them have survived to this day - not so much time as the Soviet government was merciless to them The gradual revival and construction is a significant moment for all Orthodox Christians One of the famous buildings is the ancient cathedral of the 12th century as the original burial place of Prince Alexander Nevsky, which was barbarically destroyed in 1930 Today it has been revived, like a number of others On September 21, the celebrations taking place there are led by senior church ministers and they pray during the service along with the parishioners Currently, various educational events and special projects, such as Christian book exhibitions, forums, and photography exhibitions, are organized for all believers on this date Orthodox volunteers try to coincide with the bright holiday of all kinds of charitable events, so that everyone has the opportunity to perform a virtuous, merciful act that will be appreciated by the Most Holy Lady