Hear Now We’ll now be together with the day by day studying of Epistle and Gospel with The Prayer Crew.
For it’s written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and one by a free lady. However the son of the slave was born in keeping with the flesh, the son of the free lady by means of promise. Now that is an allegory: these ladies are two covenants. One is type Mount Sinai, bearing kids for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the current Jerusalem, for she is in slavery together with her kids. However the Jerusalem above is free, and she or he is our mom. For it’s written, “Rejoice O barren one who doesn’t bear; break forth and shout, you who aren’t in travail; for the youngsters of the desolate one are many greater than the youngsters of her that’s married.” Galatians 4: 22-27 (Epistle from Feast of Conception of the Virgin Mary by St. Anna)
Good morning Prayer Crew!
On December 9, we rejoice the Feast of the Conception of the Virgin Mary, by St. Joakim and St. Anna. We all know that Joakim and Anna have been superior in years and didn’t have any kids. We all know additionally that at the moment (NOT in up to date occasions) that those that didn’t have kids carried a stigma, maybe have been even considered as being forsaken by God. (Once more, as our understanding of marriage developed, particularly within the New Testomony e book of Ephesians, we all know that the objective of a wedding is to not have kids, however for 2 folks to share within the journey to salvation. Youngsters are a blessing, which not all {couples} select to have or are capable of have). We additionally know that Joakim and Anna have been very trustworthy folks. That they had a robust religion in God regardless of their life’s circumstances or what folks could have thought of them. Of their outdated age, they have been conceived a toddler, and this baby was going to be the lady who would bear in her womb the Son of God. They conceived the Virgin Mary and after she was born, they gave her at about age two or three to be raised by clergymen within the temple, in order that she could be pure till the day chosen for the Incarnation.
If we have been to divide the historical past of the world into chapters, the primary chapter could be the Creation, when the world was good. The second chapter could be the Fall of mankind. The third chapter could be the redemption of mankind by means of Jesus Christ. The conception of the Virgin Mary is the top of that second chapter and the start of the third. The conception of St. John the Baptist (celebrated on September 23, which additionally has the identical Epistle studying) is the primary occasion recorded within the New Testomony. The conception of the Virgin Mary shouldn’t be talked about within the Gospels however is present in different writings of early Christianity and was initially handed down by means of oral historical past.
The Epistle lesson, taken from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, refers back to the Previous Testomony. Within the e book of Genesis, we learn that Abraham and his spouse Sarah, weren’t capable of conceive kids. In Genesis 16, we learn that Sarah (on the time referred to as Sarai) instructed Abraham (at the moment referred to as Abram) that he needs to be together with her maid, Hagar, since she couldn’t give him kids. So, Abram went with Hagar and she or he conceived an illegitimate son, whom she named Ishmael. It was instructed by an angel that Ishmael “shall be a wild ass of a person, his hand in opposition to each man and each man’s hand in opposition to him. (Genesis 16:12)
Later, after God made a covenant with Abraham, He promised that Sarah would conceive in her outdated age. So, now Abraham ended up with two sons, one illegitimate and one the product of his union with Sarah.
Saint Paul refers to those two sons, evaluating the 2 ladies to 2 allegories. Hagar represents the Previous Covenant, given on Mount Sinai within the Ten Commandments. This covenant gave order, similar to the conception by Hagar gave Abram a son. However neither was an ending. Ishmael didn’t play out to ending and neither did the Previous Covenant.
A New Covenant got here by means of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. The New Covenant is ideal and everlasting. It has changed the Previous Covenant. Our hope shouldn’t be present in protecting good order however within the sacrificial love that Christ confirmed to us. We’re descended from Abraham, however not from the road of Ishmael however by means of the road of Isaac, Jacob, then to David and finally to Jesus.
Earlier than the Incarnation of Christ was the beginning of His mom, the Virgin Mary. And earlier than her, there have been two pious and trustworthy dad and mom, Joakim and Anna, who like Abraham and Sarah, and later Zaharias and Elizabeth (dad and mom of John the Baptist) gave beginning miraculously in outdated age to individuals who have been essentially the most important precursors to the approaching of God’s Messiah. John the Baptist. Earlier than John was born, whereas Elizabeth was pregnant, that is when the Annunciation passed off. So, if we have been to mark the primary occasion or our salvation, it will be the conception of the Virgin Mary (the primary scriptural occasion could be the conception of John the Baptist). Her Nativity is well known on September 8, 9 months later.
As we speak the bonds of childlessness are damaged. For listening to the prayers of Joachim and Anne, God promised that in opposition to all hope they might give beginning to the Mom of God. He, the Uncircumscribed, could be born of her, when He would develop into man, and by the Angel’s instance, He instructions us to name to her: “Rejoice, Maiden filled with the grace, the Lord is with you.” (Apolytikion, Feast of the Conception of the Virgin Mary, Trans. by Fr. Seraphim Dedes).
Realizing our historical past helps us know the place we come from and the way we got here to be the place we’re. We’re reminded right this moment that we’re descendants of Abraham by means of Isaac and never Ishmael, and that we’re followers now of the New Covenant and never the Previous Covenant. The change begins first with the Conception of the Theotokos, which we commemorate on December 9.
+Fr. Stavros
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