Homily on the Nativity of the Mother of God
Metropolitan Korniliy (Titov)
Homily on the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God
Luke 10:38-42, 11:27-28
Dear brothers and sisters!
Today, the Holy Church celebrates the Nativity of our Most Holy Lady, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary. This is the first Great Feast of the liturgical year. From it begins the history of the restoration of paradise and the salvation of the perishing human race—the divine plan for our redemption.
The Church year begins with the Nativity of the Mother of God, not by chance, for this event heralded the coming salvation of humanity. The Lord, in response to the first humans' disobedience in the Garden, imposed a punishment. This resulted in the expulsion of our ancestors from paradise and the loss of divine grace, bringing sorrow, suffering, and eventually death to all. As the Apostle writes, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).
However, the merciful Creator did not abandon His creation—mankind—to destruction. He did not condemn humanity to eternal torment but promised to deliver the human race from the bondage of sin and the curse of death. To fulfill this promise, God chose the Jewish people, promising through the patriarch Abraham that the Redeemer of the world would come from his descendants. Therefore, every family hoped that from among their offspring would come the Savior of the world, and families without children considered themselves rejected by God and were often despised even by their relatives.
Shortly before the Nativity of Christ, a righteous man named Joachim lived in a small town called Nazareth in Israel. He was of the lineage of King David. He had a devout wife named Anna, who was from the lineage of the high priest Aaron, a family dedicated to serving God. This couple lived in righteousness and fear of God, but they had no children. They had grown old, and with their old age, the hope of having children was fading. This caused them great grief, for childlessness in those days was seen as a divine punishment. Their sorrow was profound, but they did not complain against the Lord; instead, they called out to Him with hope. As St. Andrew of Crete says, “The holy couple was wounded by the sting of childlessness. They were saddened, grieved, and broken, bearing the reproach of their barrenness. Joachim and Anna lamented their lack of descendants. They were sorrowful, but the spark of hope had not completely died. Both continued to pray to God for a child, staying close to the temple and fervently beseeching Him to grant them fruit from their barren wombs.”
Sacred history tells us how painful childlessness was for women in those times. How many tears, both in secret and within the temple walls, did the childless Anna shed! Joachim’s sorrow was equally great, and it intensified when his offering was rejected at the temple during the Passover. The high priest, refusing to accept his gift, said: “Your offerings should not be accepted because you have no children, and therefore you do not have God’s blessing. Surely you have hidden sins, and you refuse to repent.” Deeply grieved and shamed, Joachim went straight from the temple into the wilderness and stayed there in prayer and fasting, unable to face people. The news of what had happened in the temple reached Anna, and her sorrow was immense, for she considered herself the cause of her family’s disgrace. Weeping, she secluded herself from others, saying: “Now I am the most unfortunate of all: rejected by God, scorned by people, and forsaken by my husband! What should I weep for now: for my widowhood or because I was not deemed worthy to be called a mother?” Loved ones tried to comfort Anna, but her grief remained. According to Tradition, one day, while praying in her garden, she saw a bird tending to its chicks in a nest. She wept bitterly and lamented: “Woe to me, childless one! I must be the most sinful of all, as I alone, among all women, have been so humiliated. Woe to me! To whom can I compare myself? Not to the birds of the air, nor to the beasts of the field, for even they bring forth offspring for You, O Lord. Only I am barren. Lord, You know the reproach of childlessness; end the sorrow of my heart, open my womb, and make me fruitful so that the child born to me may be offered as a gift to You, blessing, praising, and glorifying Your mercy.”
According to Tradition, Anna then heard a voice saying to her: “Anna, Anna! Your prayer has been heard; your tears have reached God. You will conceive and bear a daughter, and through her, all the nations of the earth will receive a blessing, and salvation will be granted to the whole world. Her name will be Mary,” which in Hebrew means “lady” and “hope.” Overjoyed by these words, Anna went to the temple and vowed to dedicate her child to the service of God.
At the same time, a voice came to Joachim in the wilderness: “Joachim! God has heard your prayer and will grant you His grace. Your wife Anna will conceive and bear a Daughter, whose birth will bring joy to the whole world.” Filled with great joy, Joachim returned home, and the reunion with his wife was joyful, as was their fervent prayer of thanksgiving to God.
In fulfillment of God's promise, Joachim and Anna bore a Daughter, whom they named Mary. She would become the Mother of the Savior of the world. Thus, the bonds of barrenness were loosed, and from these once-childless parents, through their fervent prayers, sprang forth the pure and spotless Virgin.
The Holy Gospel says: “When the time comes for a child to be born, there is pain; but when the child is born, joy abides, for a new life has entered the world... And when a child is born, those around wonder: What will become of this child?” People rejoice at the birth of a new person, even though they do not know what kind of life this child will lead or what he or she will bring into the world. But all hope that the newborn will bring goodness into the world. Imagine the joy of the elderly parents Joachim and Anna, and their relatives, when not only was their barrenness resolved, but it was also revealed to them that through their Daughter, salvation would be granted to the world.
“ThyNativity, O Virgin Mother of God, has brought joy to all the inhabited earth...” St. John of Damascus writes, “The day of the Nativity of the Mother of God is a celebration of universal joy because through her, all mankind has been renewed, and the sorrow of our foremother Eve has been turned into joy.”
The Virgin Mary was born, as the Gospel says, not by the will of the flesh nor by the will of man, but as a fruit of prayer, a gift from God! Her appearance was the final link in a long chain of righteous individuals who, throughout human history, preserved purity, faith, and devotion to God with humility. They worshiped Him in spirit and truth with all fidelity and love. Among these people, there were both sinners and saints, but they all shared one common trait—humility and repentance. Throughout their lives, they fought for the sake of God—not against others, but against themselves—to purify themselves and allow God to reign in their souls. Gradually, from generation to generation, they prepared the Heir to their lineage, who chose purity from the beginning and lived entirely in fidelity to her great calling.
St. Nicholas Cabasilas, in his “Homily on the Nativity of the Mother of God,” writes: “All previous generations ascended toward Her, either because the old is related to the new in the same way that a shadow receives its form from the body, or because She was the common adornment even before Her coming into the world. She alone, of all people from the beginning of time to the end, stood against all evil and sin and returned to God the beauty that was given to humanity by Him without blemish.”
At the Nativity of the Mother of God, the earth, which had hitherto borne the thorns of sin, brought forth its fruit. Creation felt itself filled with greater beauty and light when universal Beauty appeared. Keeping their promise to dedicate their child to God, the righteous Joachim and Anna enjoyed their parental joy for only three years before offering Mary to the Lord as a precious gift, presenting her to the Temple in Jerusalem. There, the pure and spotless Virgin lived in silence and prayer, studying the Holy Scriptures, working with her hands, and growing in wisdom, while the grace of God was with her. With all her thoughts, feelings, and actions, she was entirely devoted to the Lord without a shadow of doubt.
Today, we celebrate the Nativity of the Mother of God, whose birth marked the beginning of the overcoming of the separation between God and man that had existed since the fall of Adam and Eve. As the troparion of the feast proclaims: “From thee, O Mother of God, arose the Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God, who broke the curse and gave the blessing.” By the sacrificial Cross of Christ, the curse was broken, and God’s love began to pour out on humanity. This was preceded by the Nativity of the Mother of God, who became the Bridge between heaven and earth, the Gateway of the Incarnation of the Savior, opening the way to heaven, the Mother of God, and the Mother of all Christians. She is the Mother of God because of the miraculous birth of the Son of God in virginity and the Mother of Christians by adoption. We, by God’s mercy, are called brothers of the Lord (Hebrews 2:11), and therefore we, as Christians, may also be called the sons of the Mother of God.
As the Mother of God, she has the boldness to possess such grace as is fitting for a mother toward her son. And as the Mother of Christians, through maternal love, she shows boundless and endless mercy to Christians, just as a mother would to her children. Brothers and sisters, let us offer worthy gifts to our Mother for her boundless sea of mercies bestowed upon us. What gift can we offer in return, and what does our reverence for the Holy Virgin consist of? It is the purity of our thoughts and feelings, repentance, self-control, humility, prayer, and fasting—the examples that the Most Holy Virgin herself has shown us.
“The Mother of God was the first in time to present humanity with purity,” writes Nicholas Cavasilas, “In her, humanity, with much superiority, demonstrated its capacity to resist sin. The Blessed Virgin, through the restraint of her mind, the uprightness of her will, and the greatness of her soul, from the beginning to the end, drove away every impurity.” Our prayers of thanksgiving to her should always be with contrite hearts and tears, with repentance and tenderness, with hope and trust in her intercession. St. Gregory Palamas, in his homily “On the Saving Nativity of the Mother of God,” writes: “Offer to the Virgin, honored today, the most beautiful and most appropriate gift for her—your sanctification and bodily purity, attained through self-restraint and prayer. See how chastity, fasting, and contrite prayer, when combined, produced Joachim and Anna as parents of the chosen Vessel of God. If we, too, hold fast to virtues and prayer, diligently and continuously abiding in God’s temple, we will also attain the purity of heart that allows us to behold and know God. Let us turn away from evil, return to God through good deeds, and strive, through fasting and prayer, to root out our bad habits and transform our inner thoughts into something better (and more worthy), with the help of Her, who was granted to us today because of the prayers and godly life of Her parents.”
The Holy Virgin drew much from her lineage—the virtuous ancestors who preceded her. And of course, her purity and holiness were strengthened by her parents, the righteous Joachim and Anna. The parents of the Virgin Mary possessed an important spiritual quality—a high degree of humility. They did not grumble against the Lord for the disgrace they innocently endured as childless. They bore the reproach of those around them with humility, not for a year or two, but for decades. For their long-suffering, they received the grace of God, which is given only to the humble, as this is a quality of the Lord Himself, who says: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29).
For the meekness and humility embodied in the Virgin Mary, she was chosen by the Holy Spirit, who overshadowed her. She alone, of all the human race, was the embodiment of deep and sincere humility, as she said at the Annunciation: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to Your word” (Luke 1:38). She alone could bring forth the Fruit of her womb, from whom salvation came into the world through His humility and obedience to the will of the Heavenly Father. Christ came into the world for our sake: “Taking the form of a servant, He was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). Thus, the foundation of the miracle of the Nativity of the Mother of God and the coming of the Savior into the world was the humility of the Virgin Mary.
Much has been written by the holy fathers about humility, which cleanses a person from sin and raises them to heavenly heights. St. Isaiah the Recluse wrote: “Humility is to think of yourself as a sinner and that you do nothing good before God.” He teaches that we should not be vain, even when we manage to do something good, but attribute this goodness to God, who works His good deeds through us sinners. We must strive to live in such a way that we do not offend anyone, help everyone, be gentle and kind to all, try not to respond to evil with evil, and as the Apostle teaches: “Be at peace with everyone, as far as it depends on you” (Romans 12:18). We must treat every person with care and mercy, as the image of God. Even if we do not reach the highest level of sanctity, by humility alone we can attain the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, let us acquire humility, which will guide us on the path of salvation, a path paved by the humble labors of Joachim and Anna, and by the Most Holy Mother of God herself.
Brothers and sisters! Let us honor the memory of the righteous Joachim and Anna and offer gifts worthy of their labors and prayers. St. Andrew of Crete writes about this: “Let us offer a fitting gift to this celebration. Parents, offer your pious children; the barren, offer the fruit of repentance. If any of you are fathers, imitate the father of the Most Holy Virgin. Let mothers who raise their children rejoice with Anna, nurturing the child given to them through prayer. Let virgins who live chastely become mothers of the word, adorning their souls with the beauty of purity. Let the rich and the poor together, the young and the old, celebrate today in honor of the Maiden who is the Mother of Christ our God.”
The hymns of today’s feast echo with triumphant words, calling us to spiritual joy: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice, O people! Today is the proclamation of universal joy! Your Nativity, O Virgin Mother of God, has brought joy to all the inhabited earth.” What happiness and joy for the entire human race, which lost paradise through the fall of our foreparents, that with the Nativity of the Most Pure Mother of God, hope entered the world, giving us the possibility of drawing near to Heaven and regaining the lost grace of paradise!
This day is the beginning of our salvation, for with the birth of the Virgin, the hope of deliverance from spiritual death was given to every person. The Mother of God appeared as the helper and intercessor for the human race, for all Christians who observe the divine commandments. Therefore, let us, brothers and sisters, also observe these commandments, which lead us to salvation, and the Lord will be with us and help us in this holy endeavor, for He was pleased to give us this comforting promise: “And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
And, of course, with us always is our first Helper—the Most Pure Virgin Mary, who has granted the world endless, eternal joy. Day and night, she prays to her Divine Son for the gift of salvation’s joy to replace the sorrow of sin. With this hope, let us always turn to the intercession and protection of the Most Pure Virgin Mary, repeating the words of the Church’s hymn: “O Virgin, invincible Champion of Christians, unfailing Advocate to the Creator, do not disregard the prayers of sinners, but come quickly to help us, who in faith cry out to thee. Hasten to intercede, and make speed to supplicate, for thou art ever ready to protect those who honor thee, O God-bearer.”
Glory to our God, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages, Amen!