The Silence of the Children – Photo journal from Annunciation (Great Saturday) – Part 2: The Liturgy (Audio)
The Archangel Gabriel said to the Virgin Mary, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you amongst women.”
Hidden meanings in the words of the Mother of God
The Virgin did not say, “Who is the one who speaks to me?” But she was troubled by his word and thought to herself, “What kind of salutation can this be?” Because Mary knew the Archangel Gabriel very well, this is so for he was her spiritual guide and, so he did not use such a humbling greeting for her and glorious greeting to his disciple.
And the angel said unto her, “Fear not, Mary: for you have found favor with God. And behold, you shall bear in the womb and bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.”
The Virgin does not wonder how anyone born of her, who was totally poor and insignificant, could become a king to the throne of David. For her, virginity, her purity—which meant the total spiritual integrity of her connection with God—was more valuable to her.
When the angel explained to her that this integrity (that is to say, her virginity) will not be perverted, then the Virgin Mary gave her consent and thus became the Mother of God: at the moment of her consent, the Word was incarnated and the Son of God became the Son of Man without ceasing to remain perfect God.
The Silence of the Children
If the Mother of God had an abortion (God forbid!), then we would not have been saved and we would have been condemned to eternal and total death.
If before Christ, death was terrible for man, now, with Christ, man is terrible for death, even if only in 2016, 56.9 million people died. Of these, 15.21 million died of heart disease, which is the leading cause of death.
Until the moment we write, in 2020—that is in less than 3 months—there were recorded 9,820,756 abortions with a rate of about 81 abortions per minute, that is more than one abortion per second (!) [Yes, I timed it]. All this slaughter is done in silence: the silence of the children.
If for 18,905 deaths as a result of COVID-19, at the time of this writing, deaths for whom we pray, such drastic measures are taken, measures with which everyone agrees, including the isolation of the people, even though we can spread the virus involuntarily, what measures and what isolation should be applied to those who take so many millions of unborn babies voluntarily through abortions?
Based on Luke 1: 28-38, Saint Gregory Palamas, Elder Joseph of Vatopedi, World Health Organization, Worldometer.
In the photos, you may see snapshots of the celebration of the Annunciation in 2018, which fell on Good Friday, and so you will see, together with the service of the Annunciation, the service of the Epitaphion (burial) with the procession around the central church (katholikon) in Vatopedi. Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol and Elder Methodios, the Abbot of Chilandar monastery were present at the feast.
You can see the photos from the vigil at this link.
The audio is the kontakion of the feast:
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