This chosen Virgin was betrothed to a husband named Joseph, from the house of David, her kinsman. Why was She betrothed? God's Providence arranged Her in such a way in order to preserve Her from demonic and human ridicule. If She had given birth without being betrothed, who among men could have believed that Her Son was not illegitimate? And what earthly judge in this case would spare Her, delivering Her from the severity of the law? God's Providence did not want to bring misfortune upon His Chosen One and a heavy temptation upon people, therefore He arranged it in such a way that He would cover the Virgin and Her Nativity with the appearance of betrothal. ("If Christ Himself at first concealed many things, calling Himself the Son of Man and not clearly revealing His consubstantiality with the Father everywhere, why should we be surprised if, preparing some wondrous and great mystery, He concealed this also?"

Why was my husband's name Joseph? To remind us of the wondrous and chaste Joseph, who in terribly depraved Egypt preserved his physical and spiritual purity; and in this way the conscience of the faithful will be strengthened in the faith that the fruit of the Virgin womb of the Mother of God is truly from the Spirit of God, and not from an earthly passionate person.

The angel came in to Her and said: Rejoice, O Thou of Grace! The Lord is with Thee; blessed art Thou among women. A new creation is a joy to God and people; That is why it is revealed by the gospel: Rejoice! In a word, the drama of the new creation begins. This is the first, initial word that sounded when the curtain of the great mystery began to rise. Gabriel calls the Virgin Mary the Grace-filled, for Her soul, like a temple, was filled with the life-giving gifts of the Holy Spirit, heavenly fragrance and heavenly purity. Those without grace are those whose souls are closed to God, but are open only to the earth, and therefore smell of earth, sin and death. Blessed art Thou among women. With whom the Lord is, with him is the blessing. God's remoteness from man is a curse, God's closeness to man is a blessing. Of course, it is clear to those who have an understanding of God's love for mankind: God would never have departed from man if man had not been the first to depart from God. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world reveals this boundless love for mankind of God. And if man has created space between himself and God, behold, God is still the first to approach man, in order to build a bridge over that space. The woman was the first to put an abyss between man and God. Behold, the Woman also becomes a bridge over the abyss. Eve was the first to fall into sin, and moreover in a bright Paradise, where everything kept her from sin; Mary was the first to overcome all temptations, and moreover in a dark world where everything pushes to sin. For this reason the weak-willed Eve gave birth to the fratricide Cain as her first fruit on earth; while the Ascetic Mary gave birth to the Ascetic of ascetics, who brought out of the prison of sin and death the fratricidal human race, the race of the disobedient and impure Eve.

And when she saw him, she was troubled by his words, and wondered what kind of greeting it would be. Like a child! Mary is a true child. The Lord said: "Except ye be converted, and be as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:3). This world of passions and passions quickly ages a person. Our childhood is very brief, and nowadays it is getting shorter and shorter. Who can apply and become a child again? Mary was and remained a maiden all Her life, out of chastity and simplicity, out of fear of God and obedience to God. Did She not enter the Kingdom of Her Son even before His preaching about the Kingdom? Behold, the Kingdom of God was within Her (Luke 17:21)! Like a child, She was troubled at the appearance of the angel; like a child, and wondered what kind of greeting it would be. There is nothing artificial, dodgy, or feigned in Her, but everything is childishly simple, chaste, clear and straightforward.

The great Gabriel, who was present at the creation of man at the beginning of time and had the power to despise human souls through and through, saw the agitated thoughts of the Most-Pure Virgin more clearly than we can see bodies. And so, seeing Her spiritual confusion, he hastened to pacify him with the touching words: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for Thou hast found grace with God." Do not be afraid, Child! Do not be afraid, gracious Daughter of God! Do not be afraid, O Most Blessed of all mortals, for the blessing of God will descend through Thee upon the whole human race! Do not be afraid, for you have found grace with God. (The divinely inspired Andrew of Crete, penetrating into the thoughts of the great archangel, explains the annunciation to the Most Holy Virgin in the following way: "Do not be afraid, Mary! You have found grace with God, a grace that Sarah did not receive, that Rebekah did not feel; she found a grace that neither the glorious Hannah nor Pennanah, her rival, was worthy of. For although they have become mothers, yet in childlessness they have lost their virginity, but You, becoming Matter, preserve Your virginity intact. Therefore, do not be afraid; Thou hast found the grace of God, a grace which, except for Thee, no one has ever received from eternity." Homily on the Annunciation.) These last words testify against the assertion of some Western theologians about the so-called "Immaculate Conception," that is, that the Virgin Mary was conceived and born of Her parents without the shadow of Adam's sin and responsibility for this sin. If this were so, why would the archangel say: "Thou hast found grace with God"? The grace of God, which includes the concept of forgiveness, is acquired, firstly, by the one who needs it, and secondly, by the one who seeks it. No, the Most Holy Virgin did a gigantic labor to elevate Her soul to God, and on this path of elevation the grace of God met Her.

Having pacified the Virgin Soul of Mary, the winged messenger of God now transmits to Her the main message of heaven: "And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bear a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus." He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God shall give him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and his kingdom shall have no end. God's messenger speaks precisely to the details. You will conceive in the womb, that is, in the body; as the Psalmist uses a similar expression: "And renew the spirit of righteousness in my womb" (Psalm 50:12). By emphasizing in the womb, the archangel seems to want to warn against the false teaching of the Docetist heretics, as if Christ did not have a real body, and was not truly born, and was not a real corporeal man, but only a ghost of a corporeal man.

The name Jesus, or Yeshua in Hebrew, is also meaningful. This name was borne by the son of Nun, who led the people of Israel into the Promised Land and thus foreshadowed the role and work of Jesus the Savior, Who led the human race into the true and immortal Promised Land, into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Everything else communicated by the archangel is calculated to assure the Virgin that Her Son will be the expected Messiah. He will be called the Son of the Most High, will receive from God the throne of David, and will reign over the house of Jacob forever - all this in the consciousness of every Israelite, especially in the consciousness of the spiritually educated Virgin Mary, refers exclusively to the expected Messiah. The Archangel does not tell the Virgin everything about the Lord Jesus Christ, but only what She knows and understands from the Holy Scriptures as a prophecy. He does not speak of the universal and all-human role of Jesus, does not speak of Him as the Saviour of all peoples and tribes, as the Founder of the spiritual Kingdom, the Judge of all the living and the dead, and still less as the Word of God, one of the Three Eternal Hypostases of the Holy Trinity. If he had told Her this, he would have embarrassed Her even more. She is not omniscient, despite Her chastity and purity. And She has much to learn from Her Son, both in time and in eternity, keeping all His words in Her heart (Luke 2:51; John 2:4). The archangel strictly adheres to the framework of Israelite ideas. He brings in an organic connection all that is scattered in the prophetic books and what She knows (Isaiah 9:6-8; 10:16; 11:1; Jeremiah 25:5; 30:9; Ezekiel 34:24; Hos. 3:5; Micah 5:4; Psalm 131:11; Dan 2:44; etc.). The Lord swears to David by the truth, and he will not deny it: "Of the fruit of thy womb I will sit on thy throne" (Psalm 131:11). The Lord sends the word upon Jacob, and it descends upon Israel (Isaiah 9:8).

Having heard this message from heaven, the Virgin Mary, in Her childlike chastity and innocence, asks the wondrous visitor: How will this be, when I know no man? ("She asked the angel well: "How is this possible?" - for She had previously read that the Virgin would conceive, but did not read how She would conceive. These words do not express Her disbelief in the voice of the Archangel, but only Her childlike chastity and innocence. What would any of you say to such an announcement received from the most extraordinary guest of all guests? The first thing that would come to your mind when your heart trembled, wouldn't it? But the Virgin Mary did not say anything superfluous. If Her question, let us suppose, is superfluous for Her, then it is not so for us. For our sake, Her grace-filled spirit asks what all of us, who are under the burden of the laws of nature, would certainly ask. A husband is needed for birth; Where is the husband? That is what each of us would ask, those who are far removed from the freedom that rejoices in the omnipotence of God, who are accustomed to the oppression of natural forces. Therefore, for our sake, it was necessary that the Virgin should ask this question, and we should hear the answer of the messenger of God. What does Gabriel answer?

The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; wherefore also the Holy One who is born shall be called the Son of God. Behold, Elizabeth, thy kinswoman, who is called barren, and she conceived a son in her old age, and she is now six months old, for with God no word shall be powerless. A complete and completely exhaustive answer. Where God wills, the order of nature is overcome. Nature and its laws do not seem to exist when the living God does His will and His economy for human salvation. "Grace does not obey the law of nature," says St. Gregory of Neocaesarea (I homily on the Annunciation). The Spirit gives life (John 6:63), - testified the Renewer of all creation, the Lord Jesus Christ. The spirit gives life indirectly or directly. The Spirit of God directly gave life in Paradise, before the Fall. And God spoke, and it was so! After the Fall, the Spirit gives life indirectly, through created souls and created bodies. But the Spirit of God has a reserved right and unlimited power to give life both directly, according to His own will and in accordance with God's economy of human salvation. Nevertheless, even by giving life indirectly, the Spirit is the initiator and master of life. Nature, as it is, is only a shadow, a veil through which the Spirit acts. However, even in cases of indirect influence of the Spirit, there are different degrees, more direct and more indirect influence. This happens with fertile and infertile women. Indirect, but less indirect, is the case of the aged Elizabeth, as well as of the mothers of Isaac, Samson, and Samuel. For the conception of aged wives cannot be called the direct action of the Spirit, since all fertile and barren women, beginning with Eve, are partakers of sin, bound to this world by lusts and lusts, to a greater or lesser extent. The only conception under the direct inspiration or influence of the Spirit of Life is the conception of the Most-Pure Virgin Mary. In the entire history of the created world from Adam to Christ, there was no such case. There is only one such case in time and only one in eternity. Both of them refer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

For with God no word will remain powerless. This means that every word of God is always fulfilled in its fullness. Through the divinely inspired prophet Isaiah, God said: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son" (Isaiah 7:14). And this is coming true. Since the creation of the world, God has only to say once. And God spoke, and it was so! The word of the Lord, the word is pure, the silver is kindled, the earth is tempted, it is cleansed by the week (Psalm 11:7).

The Virgin Mary did not doubt the words of the Lord, announced to Her by the Archangel. For if She had doubted, as the priest Zechariah doubted, then She too would have been punished, just as Zechariah was punished. And although the questions that both Zacharias and Mary put to the angel are quite similar, nevertheless, their hearts are completely different. And God looks at the heart of man. Two very different hearts can say similar words.

Having listened to the explanation of the messenger of God, the humblest of the humble virgins concludes Her conversation with the archangel with the touching words: Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to Me according to thy word. She did not say: "Behold, thy servant, archangel"; but he says: Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, for he knows that the archangel is only the herald of the will of God, and that he, too, although majestic and immortal, is only a servant of the living God. And on the other hand, She did not say: "May it be done to me according to the word of the Lord," but: "May it be done to Me according to your word," so that She may honor the immortal Archangel of all the immortal host. Meanwhile, both thoughts express the greatest readiness for obedience and the most complete humility. Such a wise answer could only be given by a heart full of purity, because true wisdom is most readily poured into such a heart. In the hour of her temptation in Paradise, Eve instantly forgot such a language. For in the hour of her temptation she inclined her ears to the words of Satan, and her heart was defiled in the twinkling of an eye, and because of impurity wisdom was withdrawn from it. From pride and disobedience, Eve's heart was defiled and her mind was darkened; from pride and disobedience to God, the Old World perished, the human race was disfigured, and all creation was destitute. A new world will be built on humility and obedience. Indescribable is the humility and obedience of the Most Holy Mother of God, Her only Son, the Savior and Renovator of all creation, will surpass Her in His immeasurable humility and obedience.

Finally, the winged herald of the primacy of our salvation flew up to the heavenly world, to his immortal brethren. And his annunciation was not only a word, but also, like every word of God, a deed. And God spoke, and it was so. Never did any messenger bring more joyful news to a land cursed for its alienation from God and for its union with the gloomy Satan than the radiant and wondrous Archangel Gabriel. Whose lips will not praise him, whose heart will not thank him!