THE CONCEPTION OF THE THEOTOKOS

On the shortest day of the year, December 22, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by the Righteous Joachim and Anna.

The symbolic coincidence of the winter solstice with the Feast of She Who gave birth to the Light of the World and her parents is extremely important. In the words of the Apostle Paul to the Romans, “the night is past, and the day is near” (Rom. 13:12).

In the Orthodox Church these days this holiday goes unnoticed. However, unlike most feasts honoring saints or events, it has a direct connection to the economy of divine salvation.

Christian consciousness initially made a clear distinction between theology and economics, that is, literally from Greek, economy in the sphere of knowledge about God. This difference was of key importance for theory and practice in the life of the Church, in particular its worship.

Theology is the word, or later, the science of God in Himself. Economy is a word about God in His relation to the salvation of the world. God is the Great Master, He knows how to manage the Universe, this human house, and save it from spiritual “bankruptcy”. By the way, correct secular economics is called upon to seek compliance with His word, and not vice versa. So, theology is the word about God in Himself.

This division has a direct bearing on worship. In our calendar there are no holidays dedicated simply to God, His unity, uniqueness, omnipotence, holiness. And even Pentecost, which, thanks to the monastery of St. Sergius, became the Day of the Holy Trinity in the Russian Church, has economic significance. For the Lord Jesus sent down the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. In the Most Holy Trinity itself, the Spirit comes from the Father.

The question of the procession of the Holy Spirit was once one of the arguments in the mutual division of Orthodox and Catholics. In dogmatic matters it is extremely important to distinguish between economy and theology.

Returning to the Feast of the Conception of the Theotokos, it is important to emphasize that it has economic significance. The story of our salvation in Christ begins with. For by the decree of God, Mary the Virgin, conceived by Joachim and Anna, was to give birth to the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ.

“Today the bonds of barrenness are broken, God has heard Joachim and Anna. He has promised them that beyond hope, they would bear a divine child, by whom the un-circumscribable One was born as a mortal Man, Who commanded the angel to cry to her: “Hail, O full of grace, the Lord is with you!”, - says one of the holiday chants.

It is important to note that in the Catholic tradition, the day of the Conception of the Virgin Mary is celebrated with special solemnity. In many countries, in particular the Catholic part of Switzerland, it is a day off. And the event itself, that is, the Conception, is called Immaculate. To understand the essence of this difference from Orthodoxy, you need to know the Western Christian tradition very well and understand dogmatics.

The fact is that over the centuries, Latin theology began to lean towards the opinion that original sin is not only the sin of Adam and the guilt for it, which the entire human race accepted by virtue of its origin from Adam and Eve, but also some direct dependence on the founder of evil - the devil. According to the logic of the Latins, if the state of affairs was really like this, then Christ would certainly have delivered His Mother from this.

Therefore, the Roman Church teaches that the Mother of God was delivered from original sin at the moment of Her Conception due to the future merits of Christ. This teaching was elevated to dogma in 1854, that is, it became mandatory.

This happened despite the fact that the classics of the Latin Tradition themselves, Augustine of Hippo (354–430) and Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), who can easily be considered its main authorities, were actually against it in their writings.

The Orthodox Church does not know such a teaching. It is also important to remember that the worship and theology of our Church says that the Mother of God, by the Gift of the Grace of Christ, had no personal sins.

According to Tradition, Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anna, were barren until a very old age. In this they showed the image of the father of all believers, Abraham, and his wife Sarah. The righteousness of Joachim and Anna is likened to Abraham’s fidelity to divine promises. After all, the entire biblical history, and the history of economy, divine economy, the history of salvation, is based on his readiness to always and everyone to ‘believe God, believe in God and follow God’. For the Ancient Church, which lived exclusively by Scripture and the Fathers, this was extremely important.

‘The night has passed, and the day has approached. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light’ (Rom. 13:12). Thinking about the Greatness of the Gift, we will congratulate each other on today’s holiday. Let’s get closer to Christmas every day.