The Feast of the Conception of St Anna

Children are a blessing to those who have them. While there are many difficulties a  couple faces when raising them, the love, the joy, the sense of purpose they bring more than makes up for the challenges they present. Too often, the way children affect a marriage, and improve it, are forgotten by those who have them; parents grow too accustomed to the fact that they have kids without reflecting upon it, and so fail to recognize that their children are a gift from God and that God should be thanked, everyday for that gift. It is those couples who, for whatever reason, have not been able to have children, which are most likely to see children for the blessing that they are, and it is for such a reason that couple after couple will try whatever they can to gain that blessing (some, only following moral means, others, immoral). 

Surprises do happen in life. Sometimes those who thought they could never have children, do, as Scripture relates. Thus, we have the example of Abraham and Sarah, an elderly couple who had so long given up hope of having children together, that Abraham had sired a son by a concubine. Nonetheless, God, in his wisdom and grace, had special plans for Sarah.  “The LORD said, ‘I will surely return to you in the spring, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.  Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?’ The LORD said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, in the spring, and Sarah shall have a son’” (Gen 18:10-14). Similarly, St John the Baptist was born to another elderly couple, Sts Zechariah and Elizabeth, who did not think they would have a child. “In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years” (Lk. 1:5-7). When the archangel Gabriel announced to Zechariah God’s plan, it was, this time, the elderly man who did not believe. “And Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.’ And the angel answered him, ‘I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God; and I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things come to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time’” (Lk. 1:18-20). St Elizabeth, we are told, rejoiced in the gift she had been given. “After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she hid herself, saying, ‘Thus the Lord has done to me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men’” (Lk. 1: 24-25). In both accounts, the children born under miraculous conditions were special, St Isaac being the one whom God chose to use, not only to become the father of all Israel, but also to pre-figure Christ on Mount Moriah, while St John the Baptist was to become the friend and forerunner of the bridegroom, Jesus Christ. 

Tradition accords a similar story to Sts Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Theotokos. They were a pious, generous, and faithful couple, often rebuked by others because their marriage was left childless. Since children are a blessing of God, many in Israel wrongly believed that their childless marriage indicated that they had some some sort of sin which caused them to be without children. That is, many believed a childless marriage was a curse given to them by God. Indeed, they were ridiculed at the Temple, being told their sacrifices would not be acceptable, all because they had not produced any children. But God had great plans for them, and their faithfulness would be the means by which his desires would be made known. They went off to pray, each by themselves; both of them promised that if they were to have a child, he or she would be dedicated to the service of God. And to the great joy of each, God heard their prayers; Gabriel visited both of them and told them that God would give to them a child, a daughter through whom God would bring salvation to the world. When they came together after being told such great news, they embraced each other in such a pure love and joy, that it was the kind that only the most righteous could have. 

“Today the bonds of barrenness are loosed; for God listened to Joachim and Anna. He promised them – although it was beyond hope – that they should bear a divine child. From this child was born incarnate the Infinite God, Who told the Angel to cry to her: Rejoice, full of grace; the Lord is with thee” (Troparion of the Conception of St Anna). 

The conception of St Anna celebrates one of the greatest miracles in history. We have an elderly couple who should not have been able to have children being given the gift of a young child, Mary.  For God, all things are possible; old age will not stop him if he has something planned. Why Sts Joachim and Anna, until this point, were childless, we do not know, although it probably had to do with the fact they were chosen by God for a special purpose, that of being the parents of the Theotokos, and God, in his plans, knew the best time and place for Mary’s birth. She had to be special, and the lives of her parents should indicate that. In other words, it was not a curse which made them childless, but a blessing, a blessing which neither they, nor any others, knew, but a blessing which would make them one of the most special couples in salvation history. Like Job, they were tried, and found blameless. It was from how they responded to that trial, ever turning to God, that allowed them to partake of a glory known to no other, that of being the grandparents of Christ. Tradition says they spent over twenty years waiting, praying to God, to be blessed with a child. How many of us would be as faithful as they? Very few, if any. And yet not only did they persevere: their love, tried by such hardships, increased and became as great a love as possible this side of paradise. It was only in such love, such holiness, and such devotion to God, that the Theotokos could be conceived. 

“Today creation celebrates Anna’s conception which was effected by God. For she conceived the Maiden who conceived the Word Who is beyond all words” (Kontakian of the Conception of St Anna).

That something special happened when Mary was conceived could be seen by the fact that she was conceived by such an elderly couple. She was their gift, given to them in their chaste love. God brought out of the barren womb the one who was to have the most fruitful womb of all; this could only have been accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. The event, one of the most important in salvation history, was marked by a special grace, given to Mary, but not just to Mary, but the whole human race: Mary was brought forth from the sons and daughters of Adam, to represent them in their original purity so that, in her, and through her, humanity can find its intended end: the incarnation of God. And for that incarnation, he needed a body, which Jesus described to others as his temple (cf. John 2:21); it was a temple built up by the Spirit from the flesh of Mary, taken from her, similar to how Eve is said to have come from Adam. “God took from the Virgin flesh endowed with a mind and soul, the [same] flesh which He had taken from Adam, and replaced it with other flesh in its stead.”[1] The greatness of this grace was understood by St John of Damascus. “Thus Grace, for such is the interpretation of Anna, brings forth the Lady, for that is the meaning of the name Mary. And Mary really did become Lady of all created things, since she was accounted Mother of the Creator. And she was born in the house of Joachim at the Probatica and was brought to the Temple. From then on she grew up in the house of God, nourished by the Spirit, and like a fruitful olive tree became the abode of every virtue with her mind removed from every worldly and carnal desire.”[2] Her conception in grace was represented by St Anna, whose name typified that grace. 

St Anna was not chosen to conceive the Theotokos just because she prayed with great sincerity and reverence, but also because of the symbolism God can show in and through her, for Mary represents the whole Church and all the redeemed. To be chosen by God, to be built up by God as a temple for the Spirit, we must be purified, and born in grace. It is for this reason we are told to be born again: so that in our second birth, accomplished through baptism, we can be born in and of grace, purified from the stain of sin and become fit as a temple of the Lord. Spiritually, Christ is to be born in us, just as Christ was physically born in the Theotokos. Our new birth is tied to the death and resurrection of Christ, where we are given new life. In baptism we are crucified with Christ, and in our exit from the water of salvation, we are born again, of the spirit and not just of the flesh. “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life”  (Rm. 6:4). But in the same way we are born of the Spirit, so to is Christ born in us. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”  (Gal. 2:20). Meister Eckhart put this together beautifully when he said, “God in things is activity, reality and power, but in the soul he is procreative. For creatures are only God’s footprints, but by nature, the soul is patterned after God himself. This pattern must be adorned and fulfilled by divine conception and no other creature except the soul is adapted to such a function. In fact, whatever the perfection that may become to the soul, let it be divine light or grace, or any other blessing, it cannot come except by birth. No other way is possible. Cherish in yourself the birth of God, and with it all goodness and comfort, all rapture, reality and truth will be yours.”[3] But if God is to be born in us, it must be only a pure soul, cleansed from sin through the waters of regeneration. Likewise, if God is to be born in the flesh, of a woman, can only be born in a pure woman, and thus The Woman, Mary, must be full of grace. The life of Mary points to Christ; but for this to be so, she must be the first chosen, first of the redeemed, so that she can be the one who gives birth in the flesh the one whom we are all to give birth in the soul. And it was her special privilege to be just that: born in grace, by the one who represented grace (St Anna), she is the new Eve, the mother of restored humanity. 

“As for Mary, to whom was announced the tidings of joy from the mouth of Gabriel, she is eternally immaculate and eternally holy.  It is impossible to say of her (that) she was unclean at such a time and clean at such a time.  There was no time at all when she was unclean.”[4] Christian tradition has always presented the Theotokos as immaculate and pure, the All-Holy Virgin Mother. While there might be different ways this is explained, depending upon different theological starting points, there was no question of Mary ever being tainted by the stain of sin. Vladimir Solovyov called those Orthodox theologians who have recently denied this teachers of pseudo-Orthodoxy. He believed they did so because they did not want to be seen as agreeing with Rome: “Thus these theologians blinded by hatred have the temerity to deny the manifest belief of the Eastern Church, both Greek and Russian, which has never ceased to declare the Blessed Virgin to be all-immaculate, immaculate par excellence.“[5] Obviously the modern age, with its scientific understanding, has come to understand life, and its beginning, better than those in previous eras. There was a time when it was questioned as to when life began, and there were many different theories of ensoulment. But with our greater understanding of the biological process, the Church, to make sure it was understood that Mary was pure at all moments of her existence, saw it necessary to proclaim this fact – to proclaim the immaculate conception as dogma. “We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.“[6] Only with modern theories of conception could the dogma, as it is now proclaimed, make any sense, which is why it could only be proclaimed in modern times -although this does not mean, as can be seen, the general principle behind it was denied. “She who is truly and literally the Mother of God has been sanctified by God himself, and is holier and more glorious than cherubim and seraphim.”[7] Only one who is unfallen can be said to be holier and glorious than someone else who is not fallen. Of course, it is the grace of God which strengthens the unfallen angels to remain steadfast, even as it is the grace of Christ which, when given to Mary, is what allowed her to remain pure and immaculate in her entire existence. 

Today we remember, with the whole of the Church, the grace given to St Anna, and through her, to the Theotokos, so that salvation can be had in the world. God prepared the world for his incarnation through the just, pious and righteous love, so that, born in love, Mary can impart to the world Love itself, Jesus her son. Let us rejoice in this glorious blessing to Sts Joachim and Anna, because this gift was not for themselves, but for us as well.  

Footnotes 

[1] St Symeon the New Theologian, On the Mystical Life: Ethical Discourses Vol. I: The Church and the Last Things. Trans. Alexander Golitzin (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1995), 110 – 111.
[2] St John of Damascus, On the Orthodox Faith. trans. Frederic H. Chase, Jr. (New York: Fathers of the Church, Inc., 1958), 363.
[3] Meister Eckhart, “This is Another Sermon,” pgs. 103 – 108 in Meister Eckhart: A Modern Translation. Trans. Raymond B. Blakney (New York: Harper and Row, 1941): 103.
[4] Zär’a Ya’eqob , The Mariology of Emperor Zär’a Ya’eqob of Ethiopia Trans. Getatchew Haile. (Roma: Pontificium Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 1992), 25.
[5] Vladimir Solovyev, Russia and the Universal Church. trans. Herbert Rees (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1948), 48.
[6] Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus.
[7] Modestus of Jerusalem, “An Ecomium on the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary”  pgs. 83 – 102 – 81 in On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies. trans. Brian E. Daley, S.J. (Crestwood, NY: St Vladmir’s Seminary Press, 1998): 83.