The Annunciation to the Theotokos

Also known as: The Annunciation, The Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Annunciation of Our Most Holy Lady, The Evangelismos, Gabriel's Announcement to the Virgin Mary

The Great Feast of the Incarnation (Luke 1:26–38): the Archangel Gabriel is sent to Nazareth to the Virgin Mary with the greeting “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you,” and announces that she will conceive the Son of the Most High by the Holy Spirit. At her free assent — “Behold the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38) — the eternal Word takes flesh in her womb. Orthodox tradition keeps this as one of the Twelve Great Feasts on March 25, exactly nine months before the Nativity, and confesses it as the beginning of salvation, a manifestation of the Holy Trinity, and the fulfillment of the prophecy that a virgin shall conceive (Isaiah 7:14). Gabriel — the same named archangel who had appeared to Zechariah — is the created herald of the mystery, so, as at the earlier annunciation, no theophany question arises.