The Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is dedicated to the remembrance and glorification of the event described in the Gospel of Luke (I, 26-38).

Among ancient Christians, this holiday had different names: the Conception of Christ, the Annunciation of Christ, the Beginning of Redemption, the Annunciation of the Angel to Mary, and only in the 7th century in the East and West was it given the name Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

This holiday was established in ancient times. Its celebration was known already in the 3rd century (see the words of St. Gregory the Wonderworker on this day). In his conversations, St. John the Golden Mouth and Blessed. Augustine mentions this holiday as an ancient and common church celebration. During the V-VIII centuries, due to heresies that humiliated the Face of the Mother of God, the holiday was especially exalted in the Church. In the 8th century St. John of Damascus and Theophan, Metropolitan of Nicea, compiled festive canons, which are still sung by the Church.

At Great Vespers:

Stichera on Lord I cried are sung and on Glory even now - .

Three are read.

Done.

Stichera on verse - .

According to Trisagion - three times

At morning:

Troparia on God Lord- twice, Slava and now - the same.

The greatness of the holiday is sung: The Archangel's voice cries out to You, Pure One: Rejoice, O Gracious One, the Lord is with You.

Degree -1 antiphon 4 voices.

Prokeimenon of the holiday, tone 4: Proclaim the salvation of our God day by day. Poem: Sing a new song to the Lord; sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Psalm 50 is sung.

Canons of the holiday and three songs of the Triodion. The canon of the holiday, according to custom, is read by two readers (until the 9th song); one reads the troparia “Angel”, the other - “Theotokos”. The troparia of the 9th canto are read by one reader with a chorus Bring great joy to the earth, which the choir sings.

On the 9th song The most honest we don’t sing, but we sing the chorus of the holiday Preach, O earth, great joy; praise, O Heaven, God's glory.

On praising the stichera.

The daily doxology is read.

On the poem - , on Glory even now - .

Watch Lenten readings are read . On all the clocks there is the kontakion of the holiday. At the end of each hour and fine - 3 great bows.

1st hour- Kathisma is not allowed.

At 3 o'clock the 7th kathisma is read (psalms -54).

At 6 o'clock- Kathisma 8th (psalms -63). Reading...

On fine art In Your Kingdom and so on is read “soon” (without singing or bowing).

Liturgy St. John Chrysostom begins evening.

Psalm 103 is read. There is no kathisma.

I cried out the verses to the Lord - , and, Glory even now- . While singing the stichera on Lord I cried The proskomedia ends. Three Lambs are prepared at the proskomedia - for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The entry is made with the Gospel.

After singing Sveta Quiet - And; And.

Then - reading two

Prokeimenon, tone 4: B proclaim the salvation of our God day by day. Poem: IN Sing a new song to the Lord, sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Alleluia, tone 1: WITH it falls like rain on the fleece, and like a drop dripping on the ground. Poem: B Blessed shall His name be forever; His name shall endure before the sun.

The worthy of the holiday - chorus: Preach, O earth, great joy; praise, O Heaven, God's glory, and irmos: Like the animate ark of God, let the hand of the wicked never touch it. The mouth of the faithful, the Mother of God, without silence, the voice of the Angel chanting, let them cry out with joy: Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.

Involved: The Lord has chosen Zion, and made it his dwelling place.

The Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is dedicated to the remembrance and glorification of the event described in the Gospel of Luke (1, 26-38). Among ancient Christians, this holiday had various names: the Conception of Christ, the Annunciation of Christ, the Beginning of Redemption, the Annunciation of the Angel to Mary, and only in the 7th century in the East and West was it given the name “Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” This holiday was established in ancient times. Its celebration was known already in the 3rd century (see the Word of St. Gregory the Wonderworker for this day). In their conversations, St. John Chrysostom and Blessed Augustine mention this holiday as an ancient and ordinary church celebration. During the V-VIII centuries, due to heresies that humiliated the Face of the Mother of God, the holiday was especially exalted in the Church. In the 8th century, Saint John of Damascus and Theophan, Metropolitan of Nicaea, compiled holiday canons, which are still sung by the Church.

Features of the holiday worship

In its characteristics, the Feast of the Annunciation is close to the holidays of Christmas and Epiphany. It belongs to the twelve feasts of the Theotokos, but, since it often coincides with the days of Great Lent, it has only one day of forefeast and one day of afterfeast, or the giving of the holiday.

The holiday occurs during the days of Great Lent or Bright Week, in the interval from Thursday of the 5th week of Great Lent to Wednesday of Bright Week (inclusive).

Liturgical illumination of the holiday

In terms of ideological content, the service on the day of the Annunciation is a lengthy and profound interpretation of the Gospel reading about the good news of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary before Her conception of the incarnate God the Word. The liturgical stichera and the canon of this holiday are dedicated to the explanation of the Archangel's greeting to the Most Holy Theotokos and Her response to the gospel (Luke 1: 26-38). Thanks to this exegesis, the entire mysterious meaning of the event remembered by the Church appears before the consciousness of believers in its universal and pan-human meaning.

St. Theophan, Metropolitan of Nicaea, compiled the canon of the holiday in the 8th century in the form of a dialogical conversation between the Archangel and the Ever-Virgin and skillfully introduced into it Old Testament prophecies about the Incarnation. The language of the canon is riddled with scientific and theological terms. The biblical-historical event of the Annunciation is called in the church troparion the “central point” of human salvation and the revelation to people of the secret of God’s eternal Council about the Son of God as the Son of the Virgin. On this day two thousand years ago, the Blessed Virgin Mary, by an incomprehensible act of God, seedlessly conceived the incarnate God of the Word 1, who “hurried” to inhabit the womb of the Virgin 2.

The herald of joy on earth about the incarnation of the Son of God was the “bodiless servant of the Lord” and together the chief and commander of the highest powers - Archangel Gabriel. In the sixth month of pregnancy by the righteous Elizabeth, St. John the Baptist, by God's will, he flew “from the heavenly circles” to the Galilean city of Nazareth, where the Virgin Mary lived 3. God sent him to tell the Virgin about the strange way in which she conceived the Son of God 4 .

Appearing in Nazareth, the Archangel reflected on the upcoming miracle, about how the Incomprehensible and Inconceivable God the Word would fit into the virgin womb of the Most Pure God, by the mere word of Her consent. The Lord is with you! Do not be afraid of me, Archangel of the Heavenly King. You have found grace from God, which your foremother Eve lost. Through You, He, in His mercy, calls humanity to ancient bliss. Blessed is the immortal Fruit of Your womb, which gives purification to the world." 6 God has loved you from eternity and deigned to choose you as His dwelling place. I, the Master's servant, proclaim to You that You will give birth to the Lord and remain incorruptible 7 .

The Archangel's greeting embarrassed the Most Pure Virgin. With surprise, She said to the Messenger: “You appear to Me like a man with incomprehensible words. I am a Virgo who does not know a husband or marriage. Get far from Me. You will not deceive Me by saying that the Lord is with Me and will dwell in My womb. As I, the Maiden, will conceive the Immense and Incontainable, as I will be the Mother of My Creator 8 and a spacious place for the One who surpasses the Cherubim. I have nothing to do with marriage, I have not known sweetness. How can I give birth to a Son?” 9

“All-pure,” answered the Archangel, “Your affirmation of purity makes me happy. But incline Your ear and listen to me. My broadcasting is not seduction. The image of Your conception is beyond words and meaning and is inexpressible in words. The Holy Spirit will come upon you and, having overshadowed you with creative power, will accomplish conception 10 . You will give birth to a non-genetic Son, He will keep Your virginity intact” 11.

Without leaving any confusion, the Most Holy One asked the one who had appeared: “Not a single virgin has ever given birth without skill. God gave people the law of birth from common love. Are you really talking about seduction? I fear Your strange greeting for fear of sinful inclination. My foremother, having once adopted the mindset of a serpent, was expelled for this from using Divine food” 12.

“All-immaculate,” the Archangel continued his speech. “I, who stand before God, have been sent to tell You the words of the Divine Council.” Why are you afraid of me, who fears You more and reveres You? The Eternal Word - the Creator will descend on You like rain on a fleece. You will receive Him into the womb and immutably give birth to Him in the flesh. The unburned bush, upon receiving the flame, revealed the secret of Your being pure at birth. Let the blood of Abraham teach you now. Containing God, from afar he represented Your God-pleasing womb. Where God wants, the order of man’s natural life is defeated there” 13.

“I,” the Most Pure One said to the Archangel, “heard a prophet speaking in ancient times about the birth of Emmanuel by a certain sacred Virgin, I want to understand how human nature will endure the dissolution of the Divine and how, with the incorruptibility of My purity, the Incorporeal Word will be born in the flesh?” 14 “Pure,” continued the Archangel, “God promised the forefather Abraham to bless the nations in his seed. Today this promise comes to an end through You. Also, Your forefather David was promised from above to plant the Fruit of Your womb on the throne of his kingdom. God chose You, the Beauty of Jacob, to the village of the Word. I see You, Bride of God, as a multi-light candle, a God-built palace, a golden ark. Receive the Giver of the Law, who through You deigned to save and recreate the human being. Believe this message as a thing. All the fullness of the Divinity will dwell in You bodily through the favor of the Ever-Existing Father and the assistance of the Holy Spirit” 15.

Calmed by the Archangel’s explanation, the Most Holy One said: “I accept your joyful words, Gabriel! Let it be done to me today according to your word. Let God dwell in Me and give birth to the Incorporeal One, who will borrow flesh from Me, so that the One Mighty One will elevate man to his initial dignity” 16. "God! Cleanse My soul and sanctify my body. Create Me as an animate Church and Your adorned tabernacle, uniting the material body with the immaterial Light” 17.

The Virgin Mary’s expression of submission to God in the words “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Be unto Me according to Thy word" 18 - was the moment of Her conception of the Son of God. The Holy Spirit came upon the Immaculate One, and the power of the Most High overshadowed Her being. At that moment, the Son of God moved into the pre-cleansed and virgin womb.

“What a terrible secret of the presence of the Inconceivable in the maiden wombs and the self-limitation by time of the Supertemporal!” 19 In the conception of the Incarnate God, the Blessed Virgin Mary rose above the corruptible maternal nature, surpassing the order of his life. It clearly appeared for the whole world to be the top step of Jacob’s ladder, on which God was established, according to the vision of Patriarch Jacob.

With these words the church service describes the reasons for the general Christian joy on the day of the Annunciation. This holiday is a remembrance of the indescribable riches of God's goodness, when the grace of God overshadowed the human being in the person of the Virgin Mary, deified him by uniting with him and created him as the Church of God.

Christ our God from the joyful Mother of God accepted a nature similar to ours, excluding sin, and raised it to Himself. “He accepted,” in the words of Theophan, Metropolitan of Nicaea, “the worst in order to present the best” 20 . Once the first man on earth, Adam was deceived by desiring to be god, and did not achieve the fulfillment of his desire. But God the Word incarnate, having become man, deigned to make Adam a god.

On the day of the Annunciation, human nature emerged from the enslavement to sin and the bondage of the oath that had weighed on people since the time of the ancestral Fall. The Son of God then began the restoration of her fall by accepting Adam’s poverty, putting on a nature alien to Him 21 for the sake of saving people.

1 Annunciation, Great Vespers, 1st stichera on “Lord, I have cried”
2 Small Vespers, 1st stichera on “Lord, I have cried”
3 Small Vespers, 3rd stichera on “Lord, I have cried”; Great Vespers, 3rd stichera at litia
4 Small Vespers, 4th stichera on “Lord, I have cried”
5 Great Vespers, 4th stichera on “Lord, I have cried”
6 Small Vespers, 1st and 3rd stichera on “Lord, I have cried”
7 Small Vespers, 1st verse stichera; Matins, 1st stichera of praise
8 Small Vespers, 2nd stichera on “Lord, I have cried”; Matins, canon, 1st hymn, 3rd troparion
9 Great Vespers, 2nd stichera on “Lord, I have cried”
10 Matins, canon, 3rd hymn, 2nd troparion; 1st canticle, 4th troparion; 8th Canto, 2nd and 4th Troparion
11 Small Vespers, 3rd stichera
12 Matins, canon, 3rd hymn, 3rd troparion; 5th canticle, 1st and 3rd troparion; 8th Canto, 3rd Troparion
13 Great Vespers, 3rd stichera on “Lord, I have cried”; Matins, canon, 3rd canticle, 4th troparion; sedal for the 3rd song; Bogorodichen sedalen on the 3rd canto; 4th canticle, 2nd and 4th troparion.
14 Canon, 3rd canticle, 1st and 3rd troparion
15 Canon, 5th hymn, 4th troparion; 6th canticle, 4th troparion; 7th canticle, 4th troparion; 8th Canto, 2nd Troparion; Great Vespers, 3rd stichera on litia
16 Great Vespers, 3rd stichera on “Lord, I have cried”; Matins, canon, 6th hymn, 1st troparion; 8th Canto, 5th Troparion
17 Matins, canon, 7th hymn, 1st and 3rd troparion
18 Luke. 1, 38
19 Matins, canon, 9th hymn, 1st, 2nd and 3rd troparia; 3rd stichera of praise.

Annunciation on Holy Saturday

The Annunciation is always celebrated on April 7, its date remains unchanged. And the dates of Lent and Easter are different every year. In 2018, the Annunciation coincides with Holy Saturday.

The Annunciation is the day of remembrance of how the Mother of God learned that she would give birth to Christ, and that this would happen in a miraculous way - through the descent of the Holy Spirit on Her.

Holy Saturday is a day of remembrance of that terrible moment when the Body of Christ was in the Tomb, and He Himself descended into hell. This day is also called the day of silence. Everything is already behind us - betrayal, crucifixion, Death on the Cross. Now the tomb is sealed, but a miracle occurs that is invisible to the human eye: Christ brings the righteous out of hell.

Both events, 33 years apart, are amazing and incomprehensible. Both in the events of the Annunciation and in the events of Holy Saturday, the unearthly Light of the Resurrection of Christ is visible. And the coincidence of the Annunciation and Holy Saturday allows believers to more deeply feel and understand the path that Christ, and next to him, the Mother of God, walked until Easter.

What does it mean if the Annunciation falls on Holy Saturday?

If the Annunciation falls on Holy Saturday, this means that on this day the Liturgy of John Chrysostom, which is scheduled for a holiday even during the days of Great Lent, will not be celebrated. a Liturgy Basil the Great, placed on Holy Saturday. The Liturgy of Basil the Great is celebrated only ten times a year, including on the day before Easter. Even such a significant holiday as the Annunciation cannot change this establishment. The service of Holy Saturday will have features associated with the twelfth holiday that falls on this day.

In addition, if the Annunciation falls on Holy Saturday, this means that it will not be possible to eat fish on the holiday. According to the monastery charter, fish is allowed twice per fast - on the Annunciation and on Palm Sunday. But the meaning of every day Holy Week so great that on these days believers observe a particularly strict fast.

The service of the Annunciation in 2018 differs from the usual festive service of this day, as it is combined with the services of Holy Saturday.

The All-Night Vigil is not celebrated the evening before. But at Matins (which is served on Friday evening, usually the services of Good Friday are called “Matins of Great Saturday with the Rite of Burial of the Shroud”) a polyeleos is performed (the solemn part of the service with the singing of psalms), and canons (troparia united by one theme) and fragments of the Gospel will be read laid down both on the Annunciation and on Holy Saturday. Then a procession with the Shroud will be held around the temple, symbolizing the burial of Christ.

At the morning service on Saturday, as expected on the last day before Easter, 15 proverbs will be read - passages from the Holy Scriptures containing prophecies and explanations of the events of this day. Usually the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is celebrated on the Annunciation, but since Holy Saturday is one of the ten days of the year when the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is celebrated, it will be celebrated on April 7, 2018. The Gospel of Holy Saturday and the Gospel of the Feast will be read there.

Another feature of the Annunciation service in 2018 will be that all readings and prayers, usually said at the Soleia, and the Small and Great Exit at the Liturgy are performed in front of the Shroud, which is located from the middle of Good Friday until the Easter night service in the center of the temple. Communion of Saints The mysteries of Christ are also performed before the Shroud. At the end of the service, believers venerate the Shroud, and not the Cross, as is usually the case.

- the twelfth holiday.

The Archangel Gabriel was sent by God to Nazareth to announce to the Virgin Mary that she was to conceive from the Holy Spirit and give birth to a child: He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end. Mary answered the angel: Behold, the Servant of the Lord; Let it be done to me according to Your word (Luke 1:26-38).

“Virgin Mother of God, rejoice, full of grace Mary, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, for you have given birth to the Savior of our souls.”,

The words of this one of the most famous and beloved prayers of the Church, addressed to the Most Holy Theotokos, almost literally repeat the promise to the Virgin Mary pronounced by the Archangel Gabriel.

The Annunciation marked the beginning of the fulfillment of the Divine promise fallen humanity in the person of Adam and Eve that their descendant, literally, “the seed of the woman” (Gen. 3:15), will destroy the serpent (devil) who deceived them. “The seed of the woman” is an image of the manless conception of Christ, born of the Virgin Mary.
Behold, the Virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call his name Immanuel,- lines of the most important Old Testament prophecy about the birth of the Savior from the immaculate Virgin (Isaiah 7:14). The name Emmanuel literally means “God with us,” which is why it is sometimes found on icons above the image of the Christ child.

Archangel Gabriel on icons he is often depicted with a cane as a traveler and messenger, with a candle or mirror - as a messenger of secrets, or with a lily - a symbol of blessing; it is mentioned several times in the Old Testament.

Annunciation in Greek - Gospel, Good News. This is the name given to the first four books of the New Testament, the most important books of the Bible. The prophecy about the birth of the Savior of the world, the fulfillment of which was so eagerly awaited in Judea, came true like a light breath of wind, unnoticed by the whole world. Bowing before the power of the Mother of God's faith and her complete trust in God, the Orthodox Church gives the Virgin Mary the primacy of honor among all people ever born.
The Annunciation is the central event of all Sacred history, it is exactly halfway between the Old and New Testaments. The covenant with Abraham began with the doubt of his elderly wife Sarah in her ability to become the mother, the ancestor of God's chosen people. New Testament became possible thanks to the pure faith of the Virgin Mary in the revelation of the supernatural birth of her future Son - the Messiah, the Savior of all mankind (Luke 1:26-38).

Traditions of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The tradition of releasing white doves on the Annunciation dates back to folk tradition spring meeting. Like many others, this tradition became “churched.” From the Gospel we learn that the Holy Spirit descended on the Lord during his baptism in the Jordan River in the form of a dove. The Immaculate Conception of Jesus Christ by the Virgin Mary is also explained by the Archangel Gabriel as the invasion of the Holy Spirit on her: The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you (Luke 1:35). From this fusion of folk custom, the baptismal image of the Holy Spirit and the words of the Gospel, the modern tradition emerged.

The doves that the Patriarch releases for the Annunciation, raised by the Federation of Sports Pigeon Breeding. Having soared into the sky and circled over the temple, the birds gather in a flock and return to their nursery.

The Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (March 25, old style) is one of the most important holidays in all church year. It can be called both the Lord's and the Theotokos at the same time, since it combines the celebration in honor of the Incarnation with the remembrance of the good news of the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin. Even the date of the holiday itself is of particular importance - already the authors of the 3rd century sschmch. Hippolytus of Rome (In Dan. IV. 23) and Tertullian (Adv. Jud. 8) called March 25 the date of the Crucifixion of Christ according to the Roman calendar; in the works of St. Athanasius of Alexandria (PG. 28. Col. 632) says that March 25 is both the day of the creation of man and the day of the Incarnation; finally, in the so-called Byzantine era, adopted after the 7th century in Orthodox Church, March 25 is considered the date of the Resurrection of Christ according to the Roman calendar. That is why, if the Annunciation coincides with Easter, the holiday receives the name Kyriopascha, that is, “true, correct [i.e. i.e. correct not only according to the lunar, but also according to the Roman calendar - D.M.J.] Easter" (from Greek to kyrion Pasсha, but not Pascha Kyriou; see: Lebedev D., priest. Why is the Easter holiday on March 25 called “Kyriopascha”? // Theological Bulletin. Sergiev Posad, 1905. T. 2. No. 5. P. 118-128).

But the Annunciation can coincide not only with Easter, but also with many other days of the moving circle. In most cases, the Annunciation falls on one of the ordinary days of Lenten, therefore the normative charter of Annunciation services in the Typikon describes just such a case. Cases of coincidence of the Annunciation with various special days of the Triodion are regulated by a special section of the Typikon - the Annunciation chapters. This year, the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary fell on Holy Saturday, therefore, when worshiping on this day, one should be guided by the corresponding Annunciation chapter: “On the same feast [of the Annunciation— D.M.J.], if it happens on the Great Saturday.” This note is devoted to the question of how the content of this chapter changed in the history of Orthodox worship.

Like other Annunciation chapters, the indication of the coincidence of the Annunciation with Holy Saturday in the Byzantine tradition is first recorded in Typikon of the Great Church, monument to the Constantinople cathedral worship of the 9th-11th centuries. (Le Typicon de la Grande Église: Ms. Saint-Croix n. 40, Xe siècle / Introd., texte critique, trad. et notes par J. Mateos. R., 1962. T. 1. (OCA; 165). P. 256). It says here that the divine service in this case must be performed in the same way as when the Annunciation coincides with Maundy Thursday, namely: “After the tritekti [fast analogue of the daytime hours in the ancient cathedral tradition - D.M.J.]... Lithium comes out and ascends to the Forum, and goes to Chalcopratia [one of the main Churches of the Mother of God of Constantinople - D.M.J.], and there the singers sing: “Glory... and now...” - and immediately the Trisagion, the Prokeimenon, the Apostle, the Alleluia, the Gospel, the intense and petitionary litany and “Let us go out in peace.” Vespers, paremias (after the first of which the Patriarch of Constantinople went to the baptistery to teach the sacrament of Baptism to the catechumens, and during the last he returned with the newly baptized to the temple and, when they entered, anointed them with holy oil), liturgical readings and the liturgy of St. Basil the Great were performed in the Church of St. Sophia at their appointed time. In other words, in the ancient cathedral practice of Constantinople, when the Annunciation coincided with Holy Saturday, in honor of the Annunciation, a procession of the cross was held (the festive procession of the cross was one of the main liturgical features of the feast of the Annunciation in the Byzantine tradition) through the streets of the city and the liturgy of the catechumens - without the liturgy of the faithful - in the Chalcopratian Church . Thus, the liturgical readings of the Annunciation and Holy Saturday were distributed among independent services and sounded at different times in different churches; and the Typicon of the Great Church says nothing about how the hymnography of these most important days of the year was connected (if connected).

But already in the contemporary Typikon of the Great Church, the Studian synaxar - the post-iconoclast liturgical charter of the Constantinople monasteries - it is described exactly how to combine the hymnographic texts of the Annunciation and Great Saturday (sets of which in the Byzantine tradition were already basically formed and had a form close to that contained in the currently accepted in the Orthodox Church Menaion and Triodion) during Vespers on the evening of Good Friday, Matins on the night from Good Friday to Great Saturday and Vespers on the evening of Great Saturday, and also indicates the order in which the Annunciation and Great Saturday liturgical readings follow each other within the same service.

The edition of the Studite Synaxarion closest to the original text has been preserved in the so-called Studiysko-Alexievsky Typikon 1034, which has come down to us only in the Slavic translation (see: Pentkovsky A. M. Typikon of Patriarch Alexius the Studite in Byzantium and Rus'. M., 2001). As in the Typikon of the Great Church, the service of the Annunciation on Holy Saturday is proposed to be performed here by analogy with the charter of connecting the Annunciation with the service of Maundy Thursday. The general order, therefore, is as follows. At Vespers on Good Friday: the stichera of the day (i.e., Great Saturday) and the holiday (i.e., the Annunciation), “Glory... and now...” - the holiday; there is an entrance with the Gospel; the proverbs of the day and the holiday are read (as is known, in the post-iconoclast lectionary of Constantinople the Annunciation has 5 proverbs - 3 general Theotokos and 2 special ones, Exodus 3. 1b - 8a and Proverbs 8. 22-30, prophesying about the Incarnation; only 3 general Theotokos proverbs are read here ); followed by singing “Let it be corrected...”; the Apostle and the Gospel of the day are read and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is performed (in ancient Constantinople practice, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts was always performed on Good Friday). At Matins on Holy Saturday: on “God the Lord” - the troparion of the holiday and the troparion of the day (“Blessed Joseph”); after the kathisma (it should be noted that the famous praises of Holy Saturday were not yet in the charters of the studio tradition - they appear only in the Jerusalem charter, and even then not immediately - the kathisma was sung with the usual refrain "Alleluia") - sedals of the holiday and day; then - sedate, prokeimenon, "Every Breath" and the Gospel of the Feast; after the 50th psalm - the canons of the holiday and the day (3 songs each - kontakion of the day, 6 songs each - kontakion of the holiday); on the praises of the stichera of the holiday and day; Readings at the end of Matins - Great Saturday. During the day on Holy Saturday there should be a procession of the cross. At Vespers on Holy Saturday: stichera of the day and holiday, “Glory... and now...” - holiday; there is an entrance with the Gospel; the first proverb of the day is read, and then 2 special proverbs of the holiday and, finally, the remaining proverbs of the day; after the small litany - “Elitsa was baptized into Christ” (this feature of the service of Holy Saturday, associated with its baptismal character, is specially noted as the difference between the charter of connecting the Annunciation with Holy Saturday from the charter of its connecting with Maundy Thursday); prokeimenon of the day; The Apostle and the Gospel - a holiday and a day; The liturgy of St. is celebrated. Basil the Great (Ibid. pp. 337-339).

In general, the same charter for combining the celebration of the Feast of the Annunciation with the service of Holy Saturday is also given in two derivatives from the original editions of the Studite Charter - Athos-Italian (represented by the Typikon of St. George Mtatsmideli compiled on Athos around 1042 and a number of Greek South Italian Typikons, among of which the oldest surviving one is the Messina Typikon of 1131) and Asia Minor (represented by the liturgical Synaxarions of the Evergetid Monastery (compiled c. 80s of the 11th century) and the Monastery of Christ the Lover of Mankind (compiled at the beginning of the 12th century)). The differences from the instructions of the Studiysko-Alexievsky Typikon are small: in the Typicon of St. Georgiy Mtatsmideli (Kekelidze K., prot. Liturgical Georgian monuments in domestic book depositories and their scientific significance. Tiflis, 1908. P. 259) they boil down to the fact that on “God is the Lord” the troparion of the day “Blessed Joseph” precedes the troparion of the holiday, and to a different order of reading the Annunciation biblical beginnings: firstly, the proverbs of the holiday are read only at vespers on Good Friday (but not on Holy Saturday); secondly, at the liturgy of Great Saturday, the Apostle of the holiday follows the Apostle of the day, the singing before the Gospel only “Rise up, O God...” is specially emphasized (as is known, the replacement of the liturgical alleluia with this chant is one of the most striking features of the service of Great Saturday), and about the liturgy gospel readings It says this: “The Gospel: “On the Sabbath evening...”. After this Gospel there is an exclamation: “Wisdom, forgive me!”, and another deacon reads the Gospel of the feast” - in other words, the Gospels of the day and the feast are emphatically separated with the help of an additional exclamation, as well as the fact that they are read by different clergy. IN Messina Typicon (Arranz M. Le Typicon du monastère du Saint-Sauveur à Messine: Codex Messinensis gr. 115, A. D. 1131. R., 1969. (Orientalia Christiana Analecta; 185). P. 141-142) among the differences is only the instruction to sing instead of kathisma at matins three holiday antiphons (here - Ps 44, 71 and 148; replacing morning kathismas with antiphons on holidays is common feature Athos-Italian branch of the Studite Charter; subsequently it influenced the emergence of the so-called. selected psalms), as well as additional detail given in the Typikon: “On praise... on “Glory...” - the self-vocal of the day, on “And now...” - “Blessed art thou...”; The instructions about the troparia for “God is the Lord” and about the liturgical readings on Holy Saturday completely coincide with what is said in the Typikon of St. Georgiy Mtatsmideli. IN Evergetid Synaxar (Dmitrievsky A. A. Description of liturgical manuscripts stored in libraries of the Orthodox East. T. 1: Typika. K., 1895. pp. 439-441) the instructions differ from those contained in the Studios-Alexievsky Typikon with a greater degree of detail (for example, only here it is said about the abolition of the Gospel and other principles on the hours of Good Friday and about the reading of the hours in cells; indicated incipita slavniks of all stichera (in particular, on “And now...” on the praises - not “Most Blessed Thou art...”, but the stichera of the day “Wearing thee...”)); one of the differences is the singing of the monastery pannikhis (a service that should not be confused with the cathedral pannikhis; on the basis of the monastic pannikhis, the rites of general prayer and memorial service subsequently arose) before Matins (at pannikhis there are canons for the Lamentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Annunciation (pre-celebration or dedication)); the same order of troparions for “God is the Lord” as in the Athos-Italian Typicons; an indication of three stichologies at Matins (it is unclear whether we are talking about three different kathismas or three articles of the immaculate), and after the first and second stichologies - the sedals of the holiday, after the third - the sedals of the day; unusual (in comparison with other statutes) order of canons at Matins: the canon of the day precedes the canon of the holiday; the paremias are read in the same way as in the Studian-Alexievsky Typikon (i.e., three common Theotokos - at Vespers on Good Friday; two Annunciation paremias - after the first paremia at Vespers on Great Saturday); the prokeimenon at the liturgy is only for the day (“Rise up, O God...” is also not combined with the alleluia), and the Apostle and the Gospel are for both the holiday and the day (unfortunately, the Typikon does not say anything about the order in which they follow each other).

IN Jerusalem Charter, which - contrary to its name - is not directly related to the ancient Jerusalem worship, but is a reworking of the original and Asia Minor editions of the Studite Synaxarion, made in Palestine, the instructions on the order of combining the services of the Annunciation and Holy Saturday initially completely coincided with the instructions of the original edition of the Studite Synaxarion. Thus, in one of the oldest surviving manuscripts of the Jerusalem Rule, Sinait. gr. 1094, XII century ( Lossky A. Le Typicon byzantine: edition d'une version grecque (partiellement inédite); analyze de la partie liturgique: Diss. P., 1987. T. 2. P. 203-205), for the case of the coincidence of the Annunciation with Holy Saturday, a reference is made to the charter of connecting the succession of the Annunciation with the service of Maundy Thursday - the same as in the Studios-Alexievsky Typikon - and this charter coincides in everything (except for the single additional instruction about the Slavnik on “I cried to the Lord” on Good Friday) with the instructions of the original edition of the Studite Synaxarion (including even the preserved (perhaps inadvertently) instruction to perform the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on the eve of the Annunciation - despite the fact that , that according to the main text of the Jerusalem Rule, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is no longer celebrated on Good Friday). The same picture is observed in the Shio-Mgvim Typikon - the Georgian version of the Divnogorsk edition of the Jerusalem Charter of the 12th century. - the only differences compared to the original edition of the Studite Synaxarion are that the slavniks of the day are indicated on all stichera (on “And now...” - everywhere of the holiday), and at Matins the canon of the holiday follows the canon of the day; Otherwise, the instructions are the same - including the instructions on the insertion of two Annunciation proverbs after the first proverb of Holy Saturday, and the instructions on the liturgical readings (the prokeimenon - only the day; the Apostle and the Gospel - first the holiday, then the day).

IN later editions of the Jerusalem Charter a new difficulty arises in connecting the Annunciation with Holy Saturday - on the one hand, in the XIII-XIV centuries. choruses of “praise” are added to the immaculates at Matins on Holy Saturday; on the other hand, to the polyeleos (which by this time had become an absolutely integral part of the festive matins - including the Matins of the Annunciation) from the 13th-14th centuries. certain selected psalms and choruses of magnification could be added; therefore, the problem arose of combining the immaculate with praise and the polyeleos with the chosen psalm and magnification. This problem could be solved in different ways: for example, in the first printed Greek edition of the Typicon (Venice, 1545), where the instructions about connecting the sequences of the Annunciation and Great Saturday are basically the same as in the most ancient editions of the Jerusalem Rule (and, therefore, approximately the same the same as in the original edition of the Studite Synaxarion), at Matins it is prescribed to sing the polyeleos, but nothing is said about the immaculates. On the other hand, in Russian handwritten charters of the XV-XVII centuries. (for example, RSL. TSL. main. 239, XV century; 240, XV century; 241, mid-XVI century; 246, early XVII century) on the morning of Holy Saturday if this day coincides with the feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy The Virgin Mary is ordered to sing both the Immaculates and the Polyeleos. The text of the corresponding chapter in the indicated manuscripts is practically unchanged (the only difference concerns the indication of the liturgical Apostle on Holy Saturday - the Charter of the RSL. TSL. main. 239, 240 and 241 prescribe reading the Apostle of the day and holiday, and the Charter of the RSL. TSL. main. 246 - only Apostle of the Day) and is reproduced in the same form in the first printed Russian edition of the Typikon (Moscow, 1610), prepared by the charterer of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra Longin (Korova) (and here, as in the RSL. TSL. main. 246, it talks about reading at the liturgy on Holy Saturday only the Apostle of the Day. The omission of the apostolic conception of the Annunciation can be justified by the fact that this reading - Heb 2. 11-18 - is read not only during the liturgy of the feasts of the Annunciation and the Synaxis of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but also during the rite that became very widespread in later times small blessing of water).

Charter for combining the observances of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Holy Saturday according to the version of the Jerusalem Charter now accepted in the Russian Orthodox Church almost completely coincides with what is described in the Typikon of 1610; there are only five differences: the option of a service with an all-night vigil is not provided (the first printed charter allowed, if desired, to sing the Annunciation Small Vespers on Good Friday, and to combine the Vespers of Good Friday with the Matins of Great Saturday (in this case, “Blessed is the Man” and lithiums appeared at Vespers with Annunciation stichera); in the modern Typicon these instructions are omitted); according to the ninth song of the Matins canon, an order appeared to sing a double catavasia - both from the canon of the day (irmos) and from the canon of the holiday (chorus and irmos); not specified incipita most of the Slavniks (thus, on the praises, the old printed Typikon allowed one to choose between “Ask Joseph...” and “The day [day] secretly...”; in the post-reform Typikon it simply says: “Glory...” - to the day); liturgical Apostle - both day and holiday; instructions about the liturgical “Arise, O God...” and the Gospels are missing. The text of the charter (the text is slightly Russified and accompanied by some comments) is as follows: “ On Friday evening at the hour of the 10th day, it marks the Great, and the Great, and we sing Vespers. On “The Lord I cried”: stichera of the day on 6, and the holiday on 4. “Glory...” - the day, “And now...” - the holiday. Entrance with the Gospel. “The world is quiet.” Prokeimenon, and reading of the day, and feast 5 (NOTE: thus, in the modern Russian Typikon, unlike the original edition of the Studite Synaxarion, the general Theotokos and special proverbs of the Annunciation are not separated - D.M.J.). Also the Prokeimenon, the Apostle, Alleluia, and the Gospel of the day. Therefore, the litany “Rtsem all.” Also “Lord grant this evening”, “Let us perform the evening prayer”. On the poem are the stichera of the day with their choruses. “Glory...” - the holiday, “And now...” - the day. Also “Now you let go.” According to the Trisagion: the troparion of the holiday: “Glory... and now” - “Noble Joseph.” Priest: “Wisdom”, and dismissal. We sing Compline in our cell(NOTE: the omission of secondary daily services is characteristic of all statutes for combining the services of the Annunciation and Holy Saturday; in particular, all editions of the Jerusalem Rule prescribe the reading of Compline in cells (or are completely silent about it); the canon for the Lamentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is also read in cells or at all is omitted - of all the statutes of the pre-printing era, only the Evergetid Synaxarion speaks about the preservation of this canon, which is not surprising: the canon on the Lamentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary first appears in this statute - D.M.J.); Kontakion of the day, “Glory... and now...” - the holiday. At the 1st hour of the night it marks the Great, and the Great, and we sing Matins. On “God is the Lord” troparion of the day, tone 2: “Blessed Joseph” (once), “When you descended to death” (once), “Glory...” - “Myrrh-bearing women”, “And now...” - holiday: “Today our salvation." We also sing blameless, on tone 5. The priest censes on the 1st glory, and also on the 2nd and 3rd, as is custom. After the death of the immaculates, we sing the resurrection troparia: “The Council of Angels...” and so on. The same small litany and sedalian of the day. Also the polyeleos, and the sedals of the holiday, and the reading of the holiday. Degree, 1st antiphon of the 4th tone. Prokeimenon of the holiday. "Every breath." Gospel of the holiday. Psalm 50, stichera of the holiday. Canon of the holiday with Irmos on 8, Irmos twice; and day, with irmos at 8 (NOTE: thus, both canons must be sung with irmos, which clearly separates them from each other: irmos of the canon of the holiday and troparia of the canon of the holiday, then - irmos of the canon of the day and troparia of the canon of the day - - D.M.J.). Katavasia is the Irmos of the day, both faces together. According to the 3rd song: kontakion and ikos of the day; and sedalen of the day, “Glory... and now...” - the holiday; and holiday reading. According to the 6th song: kontakion and ikos of the holiday; Prologue and synaxarium. On the 9th song, we don’t sing “The Most Honest,” but we sing the chorus of the holiday, as indicated. At the end of the 9th song there is the irmos of the day: “Don’t cry for Me, Mati,” the same holiday chorus and irmos. “Holy is the Lord our God” in tone 2. The luminary of the holiday is twice. On the praises: three self-vocal stichera of the day and three similar feasts, the same self-vocal feast, tone 8: “Let the heavens rejoice...”, with the refrain: “Teach good news day by day the salvation of our God”; “Glory...” - day, “And now...” - “Blessed are you, the Virgin Mary...”. The doxology is great, and there is an entrance, as it is written in the Triodion. Therefore, the prokeimenon and proverbs of the day. Prokeimenon, Apostle, Alleluia and Gospel - of the day. Litany and dismissal; and at the 1st hour we eat in the vestibule. Other watches sung in due time. On the clock: troparion of the holiday and day; kontakia is a verb changing. Blessed we say quickly, without singing. “Remember us, Lord...” and so on. According to “Our Father”: kontakion of the day, “Glory... and now...: - holiday. “Lord, have mercy” (40 times) and the prayer: “All-Holy Trinity...”, and dismissal. On Holy and Great Saturday evening, about the 10th hour of the day, marks great things, and all serious things. And having gathered in the temple, having blessed the priest, we sing Vespers according to custom, without kathisma. On “The Lord I cried”: there are three resurrection stichera, tone 1: “Our Vespers prayers...”, and three self-concords on Holy Saturday, tone 8, and four holidays; “Glory...” - day, tone 6: “This day is secretly...”; “And now...” - the holiday: “He was sent...”. Entrance with the Gospel. “The world is quiet.” We do not say the prokeimenon, but the priest abiye says: “Wisdom,” and the readings of the day according to their order. At the end of the reading: small litany and exclamation. And we sing instead of the Trisagion: “Be baptized into Christ.” Hallelujah.” Prokeimenon of the day and holiday. Apostle of the day and holiday. (NOTE: the omission of instructions about the liturgical Gospels is more than noticeable). Instead of the Cherubic song, it is sung: “Let all flesh be silent” - and in a row Divine Liturgy Great Vasily. Instead of “It is worthy,” we sing irmos: “Don’t cry for Me, Mother”; In the Church of the Annunciation of the Theotokos we sing the irmos: “Like God’s ark to the living.” Involved - day and holiday."

Almost the same charter as in the Russian editions of the Jerusalem Charter is given in "Typikon" prot. George Riga, authoritative Greek charterer 1st half. XX century (2nd ed.: Thessaloniki, 1994). The only differences are in the choice of slavniks among some groups of stichera; in the number of troparions of the Matins canon (the canon of the holiday is sung on 6, and not on 8) and the number of stichera on praises (self-concords of the day - on 4, and not on 3; the stichera of the Annunciation have not one, but two additional verses); in the choice of liturgical prokemna (day only). Extremely interesting statutes for connecting the Annunciation with Holy Saturday are contained in in handwritten cathedral Typikons of Athonite monasteries XVIII-XIX centuries, which still regulate the liturgical life of the Holy Mountain. Thus, in the cathedral Typikons of Dionysiatus (one of the most authoritative on Athos) and Filotheou (based on the Typikon of Dionysiatus), Xenophon and Kostamonita (based on the Typikon of Xenophon), in the event of the coincidence of the Annunciation with Holy Saturday, an all-night vigil is provided for - as in the Russian pre-Nikonov Typicons. On Good Friday, in this case, two vespers are served.- but, unlike the Russian pre-Nikon practice, this is not the small vespers of the Annunciation performed separately and the great vespers of the Annunciation and Good Friday performed as part of the all-night vigil, but the full vespers of Good Friday performed separately (according to the Athonite Typikons, it is served entirely according to the usual rite of Good Friday; from Annunciation chants here - only the stichera on “And now...” on “I cried to the Lord” (according to the Dionysiatic Typikon, on “I called to the Lord” the Annunciation stichera are also sung from Little Vespers) and the stichera on “Glory...” on the stichera) and performed as part of the all-night vigil Great Vespers of the Annunciation (all hymns are only Annunciations; prokeimenon: “Who is the great God ..."; according to the Typikons of Xenophon and Costamonitus - but not Philotheou - the all-night vigil is preceded by a small compline with a canon for the Lamentation of the Most Holy Theotokos; the Dionysiatic Typikon mentions the performance of compline before the vigil, but does not talk about canon). At matins(as part of the same vigil) for “God is the Lord”: two troparions of the day (“Blessed Joseph” and “To the Myrrh-Bearing Women”) and twice the troparion of the holiday; immaculate with the praises of Holy Saturday (the polyeleos are omitted according to the Typikons of Xenophon and Costamonitus; according to the Typikons of Dionysiatus and Philotheou, it is sung after the immaculates, the troparions “Angelic Council...”, the small litany and sedals - just as in the Russian Typikons); sedate, prokeimenon, “Every breath”, Gospel and stichera according to Psalm 50 - Annunciation; canon - on 16 (holiday with Irmos on 8 and day with Irmos on 8), chaos from both canons - not only in the 9th, but in all songs; the instructions for chanting the 3rd, 6-1 and 9th songs of the canon are practically the same as in the Russian Typicons; on the praises stichera on 6 (i.e. without an additional verse), “Glory...” - day (Typicon of Philotheu: “The day is secretly...”; Typicons of Xenophon and Costamonite: “Ask Joseph...”; Dionysiatic Typikon prescribes the singing of the glory of the holiday) , “And now...” - the holiday: “Let the heavens rejoice...” (but not “Most blessed art thou...”; the Dionysian Typikon prescribes singing “Most blessed art thou...”); the end of Matins - according to modern Greek practice, with a three-time circumambulation of the temple with the Gospel and the shroud, etc. Rules Vespers and Liturgy on Holy Saturday in the Typikons of Xenophon, Kostamonit and Dionysiatus - practically the same as in the Russian Typikons (but according to the Typikons of Xenophon and Kostamonit, the stichera on “I cried to the Lord” are not 3 Sundays, 3 days and 4 holidays, but 4 Sundays, 3 days and 3 holidays) , whereas according to the Typicon of Philotheou, when the Annunciation coincides with Holy Saturday, the liturgy is served not at Vespers, but at its usual time (at the 3rd hour of the day; the transfer of the liturgy from Vespers to the usual morning time is due to the fact that the Catholicon of Philotheou is dedicated to the Annunciation); at the liturgy - pictorial antiphons and the blessed one from the canon of the holiday; entrance verse of the holiday; readings - as in Russian Typicons. Vespers on Holy Saturday is served in the evening; the order of singing the stichera on “I cried to the Lord” is the same as in the Typicons of Xenophon and Costamonite; after the proverbs - “Rtsem all” and the rest of the vespers (stichera on the verse - only for the holiday; at the end of vespers - the troparion of the holiday three times and dismissal). As accepted in modern Greek parish and cathedral practice "Typicon of the Great Church of Christ", compiled by protopsalt George Violakis, which - despite the name - is a special edition of the Jerusalem Rule (but not the ancient cathedral Typikon of the Great Church), if the Annunciation coincides with Holy Saturday, the holiday is simply transferred to Easter Day: this was already done in the Typikon of the Protopsalt of Constantine (Constantinople, 1838), on which the Typicon of George Violakis is based.

So, the charter for connecting the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary with Holy Saturday in the Byzantine and post-Byzantine tradition was developed in great detail. The basic principles of this connection were laid down a thousand years ago and represent, although a small, but valuable part of the diverse and rich liturgical heritage of the Orthodox Church. They should be guided when performing divine services on this day - in the form in which they are presented in the Typikon accepted in the Russian Orthodox Church and approved by its hierarchy at the end of the 17th century (you can also pay attention to the possibility of celebrating the all-night vigil in the Russian pre-Nikon Typikons vigil in the event of the coincidence of the Annunciation with Holy Saturday and on the charter for performing such a vigil and Vespers on Good Friday in the cathedral Typicons now accepted in the practice of Athonite monasteries; probably, the use of this charter could be especially appropriate in churches dedicated to the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos). The main problem is the order of reading the Gospel at the liturgy of Holy Saturday, which is discussed in the Typikon now accepted in the Russian Orthodox Church Nothing not said. The problem here is that reading the Gospel of the holiday after the Gospel of the day will contradict the order of Sacred history - in this case, after the story of the Resurrection of Christ (Gospel of Great Saturday), there will be a story about the Annunciation, which in fact happened not after, but before the Resurrection. The Charter avoids cases of violation of the order of events of Sacred History - as an example, we can cite the instruction of the Typikon and the Colored Triodion that on weekdays during the period of Pentecost, Sunday hymns are sung first and after them - the day, but on Wednesdays and Fridays the hymns of the day (of the Cross) are sung first. , and only then - the Resurrection: “Be aware that on Wednesdays and Fridays the stichera of the Cross are preceded...before our Lord was first crucified, therefore He rose from the dead.” Examples of reading at the liturgy of Great Saturday, when it coincides with the Annunciation, first the Gospel of the holiday and only then the day, are contained in such important monuments of the history of Orthodox worship as the original edition of the Studite Synaxarion (according to the Studite-Alexievsky Typikon, adopted in Rus' until the end of the 14th century c.) and the most ancient editions of the Jerusalem Charter. However, this solution to the problem seems unsatisfactory for two reasons - it contradicts the instructions of the Russian pre-Nikon Typikons (on which the charter for combining the services of the Annunciation and Holy Saturday in the modern Russian Typikon is based), but most importantly, it breaks the connection between the famous chant of Great Saturday “Rise, O God... ” and following this hymn is the great Gospel of the Resurrection of Christ. The Good News of the Resurrection, proclaimed by the deacon in snow-white vestments, is closely connected with the preceding prayer singing “Rise, O God...”, during which the clergy change the dark vestments of sorrow to the light vestments of joy. Therefore, the Gospel of the day should still be read before the Gospel of the holiday. But how then can we solve the problem of violating the order of presentation of the events of Sacred History? It seems that for this one could resort to the instructions of the Typicons of the Athos-Italian edition of the Studite Rule (especially since the Menaion and Triodion corresponding to this edition underlie the Old Russian Menaion and Triodion of the Studite era): the first deacon reads the Gospel of the day, then the exclamation follows: “Wisdom, forgive me, we will hear...” and the second deacon (or priest) reads the Annunciation Gospel.

Deacon Mikhail Zheltov

Patriarchy.ru