The Nativity of The Theotokos

© Church of Cyprus

Today, September 8, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Nativity of The Theotokos.

Today is born the glory and the preaching of the Prophets. With her birth, Mariam overturns the curse of infertility. The formerly barren country and the formerly sterile Anne miraculously gives birth to the fertile land, the daughter of the God and nurturer of our lives. The womb of the Virgin Mary receives the heavenly Bread, our Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ.

The feast of the Nativity of The Virgin Mary has a special place in the feast of our Church. If the first woman, Eve, with her disobedience, together with Adam led humanity out of Paradise and to death, the obedience of Our Lady to the will of God, recalled us from slavery and led us to the Resurrection of human nature in the Person of Jesus Christ and consequently led to the salvation of all mankind.

The virtuous Joachim and Anne prayed daily to have a child. God answered their prayers and made their request come true: He required them to bring into the world the Virgin Mary, the woman who was to give birth to the Savior of the world.

Along with the righteous Joachim and Anne, all the faithful rejoice. This is because the Mother of life, cleansed by the Holy Spirit from the original sin, which she inherited from her parents, with her Pure birth, brought joy, dissolved the curse and the darkness of sin and freed the human race from decay, rescuing it from death.

Source: Church of Cyprus