The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary According to the Byzantine Rite

The feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated on September 8, belongs on the list of the Twelve Major
Feasts of the Byzantine rite liturgical year (cf. Gospel of Sinai, 715 A.D.) We usually do not celebrate the birthday of the
Saints, but rather their “birthday to heaven,” that is, the anniversary of their death, considered as the beginning of their
blessed life with God. Nevertheless, there are two exceptions, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist, since we
commemorate not only their birthday to heaven, but also their nativity, their coming to this earth.

1. The Holy Gospel records but a few incidents from the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It says nothing about her
parentage, her nativity, or her childhood. All such information comes to us from the early tradition of the Church , which
was recorded in the middle of the second century (about 175 A.D.) in the apocryphal book, called – the Protoevangelium
of St. James.

The apocryphal books are those early Christian writings that tell us about certain events from the lives of Jesus and
Mary, which are not included in the Gospels. Although the apocryphal writings are not recognized by the Church as
authentic inspired works, still, much of what they relate belongs to the tradition of the primitive Church.

The so called Protoevangelium of St. James was held in high esteem by such inspired hymnographers as St. Sophronius
of Jerusalem (+ 638), St. Germanus of Constantinople (+ 730), St. Andrew of Crete (+ 740), St. John Damascene (+ 749)
and others, who used the Protoevangelium as the primary source for their liturgical compositions.

From the Protoevangelium of St. James we learn that the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Joachim and Anna, were
righteous and greatly devoted to God. Her Father was a descendant from the royal house of David, while Mary’s mother
came from the priestly line of Aaron. Their one great sorrow was that they had no children. In the Old Testament when
God blessed His chosen people, He always promised to bless them with a numerous offspring. Thus, among the Jews
childlessness was considered as a sign of God’s rejection, a “public disgrace” (Lk. 1 :25).

But God, in His divine providence, was actually preparing Joachim and Anna for “great things” (Lk. 1 :49). He was to
show them a unique favor, for the child to be born to them was to become the Mother of the Messiah, the promised
Savior of the world.

The Jews were acquainted with unusual births, in which Almighty God had intervened by His divine power to show His
predilection to some particular people. Such was the birth of Isaac from childless Sarah (Gen. 21 :1-3); of Samson from
the barren wife of Manoh (Jud. 13:24); of Samuel from the childless Hannah (1 Sam. 1 :26-28); and of course, the birth of
St. John the Baptist from barren Elizabeth (Lk. 1 :36-37). So, God blessed also Joachim and Anna in their old age with a
providential daughter, destined to become Mother of God. The birth of Mary has taken away not only the “public
disgrace” from her parents, but also became a source of great joy for them, according to the words of the Angel to
Joachim: “Joachim, rejoice! God has heard your prayer and your wife Anna shall conceive and give birth to a daughter,
whose nativity will become joy for the entire world.” Consequently, the feast is celebrated in the spirit of general
rejoicing and exaltation.

2. The nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was not accidental, it was well prepared by God from the very beginning of
sacred history. Already in the Garden of Eden, God promised our first parents, Adam and Eve, to send them a Savior
through the providential Woman, whose “seed will crush the head (power) of the serpent” (Gen. 3:5). In other words,
the Savior of the human race was to come as the “seed,” the offspring of the Woman.

Then, there was the vision Jacob had of a ladder uniting heaven and earth, by which the Angels were descending and
ascending to God, and the place was called “the house of God” and the “gate of heaven.” (Gen . 28:10-17) The holy
writers applied Jacob’s vision to the Blessed Virgin Mary, in whom it was fully realized both physically and spiritually.
Through Mary, as though by a ladder, the Son of God came down from heaven to earth.

Mary, by carrying the Son of God in her womb for nine months, became indeed “the house of God.”

And giving birth to the Son of God, Mary opened for us “the gates of heaven.”

Another prototype of Mary, taken from the Old Testament and used in the liturgical compositions by hymnographers, is
the burning bush seen by Moses on the holy mountain Horeb (Ex. 3:1-5). As the bush was burning but was not destroyed
by fire, so also the Blessed Virgin Mary, by giving birth to the Son of God, did not lose her virginity and after the birth
remained a Virgin.

The Blessed Virgin Mary was unmistakably foretold by the Prophet Isaiah: “Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a
Son, and he shall be called – Emmanuel, meaning God with us.” (Is. 7:14). The coming of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as we
sing at the Litia, was “announced beforehand.” In Mary, according to the testimony of St. Andrew of Crete, all the
prototypes and prophecies of the Old Testament were fulfilled.

3. The feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the oldest Marian solemnities, although the time of its
appearance cannot be precisely determined. It was mentioned already by St. Epiphanius ( + 403), St. John Chrysostom
(+ 407), St. Proclus of Constantinople (+ 446) and other Church Fathers. According to the Palestinian tradition, St. Helen,
the mother of Emperor Constantine ( + 330), built a basilica in Jerusalem dedicated to Mary’s nativity.

As happened with other Marian feasts, at the beginning the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated only
locally and without any major solemnity. Only later, in the sixth and the seventh centuries, the Marian feasts were
gradually spread throughout the entire East and were celebrated with greater solemnity. At the time of St. Andrew of
Crete (+ 740) the feast was already universally observed and celebrated like other major feasts of the Byzantine rite.

The solemn celebration of Mary’s nativity spread to Rome in the seventh century and then, during the following
centuries, it became diffused throughout the entire West. The celebration of Mary’s nativity was established on
September 8, since on that day the basilica in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was dedicated in
Jerusalem.

(Article taken in part from: https://archpitt.org/the-nativity-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-according-to-the-byzantine-rite/)