Everything else is swept away and thrown into the fire — into outer darkness. It only seems to us that it exists, but in fact, as one holy father says: "In the beginning there was no evil, because even now it is not among the saints, and for them it does not exist at all." (St. Athanasius the Great, "Homily on the Gentiles" – 2, Works, Part 1, p. 127).

Truly, there exists only life in God and that which follows the path of acquiring the Kingdom of God in us. St. The Fathers tell us that man is created in the Image and Likeness of God, that he is the crown of nature and the king of all visible creation, and, at the same time, the co-mystery of God's grace. They teach that man is connected with all earthly creation by his body, because it is the Lord who created the body "with a finger taken from the earth" (Genesis 2:6), and with his soul he is united with the heavenly angelic world. Man stands on the verge of two worlds – earthly and heavenly. "In his creation," says Gregory the Theologian, "the artistic word creates a living being, in which invisible and visible nature are brought into unity; creates, taking a body from the already created matter and putting life into Himself, He sets up on earth another Angel, composed of different natures, a spectator of the visible creation, a mystery of the contemplative creation" (Homily 38 "On the Epiphany or the Nativity of the Saviour," Creations, Part III, pp. 199-200).

But created in the Image of God and placed by the Lord on the verge of two worlds, man did not fulfill his destiny: he sinned, falling away from God, and through him the entire visible world, of which he is the crown, began to depart from the Lord. Then the Son of God appeared on earth, Who by His death abolished death and by His Resurrection opened to us the way to eternal life. He has granted us eternal memory, and not only to us, who believe in Him, but also to all visible creation.

Therefore, the task of man, cleansing his soul of sin, is to raise and spiritualize also the substance from which his body is created, making it a worthy abode of the immortal soul. St. The Fathers say that on the day of the last Resurrection, not only our souls will appear before the Lord, but also our resurrected bodies. And in this earthly life, in his ascent to God, man can only follow the path that is shown to him by the Lord, Who has placed him on the verge of two worlds. Only in communion with these two worlds and together with them can man serve God here on earth. The Holy Church constantly reminds us of this in its divine services.

Recently, we celebrated a New Year's service. On this day we brought praise to the Lord not only from ourselves, but also from the whole world, visible and invisible, with which we are united in body and soul.

This is clearly stated in the canon of this day: "All Thy works, O Lord, the heavens and the earth, the light and the sea, the waters and all the fountains, the sun and the moon and the darkness, the stars and the fire, men and cattle with the angels praise Thee" (Service on September 1, canon of the indiction, ode 9).

Whoever believes that these words correspond to reality and that in divine services we truly unite with both worlds, understands what a great mystery is contained in Orthodox worship.

This mystery consists not only in the fact that here the boundary between man and all creation, heavenly and earthly, is destroyed, the boundary that we feel so clearly when we live in this "temporal world," but also in the fact that through divine services we overcome the very boundaries of the "time of current nature" and enter the world of eternity. Consequently, there is nothing temporary in the divine services, but everything lives in eternity.

Usually, we see the meaning of celebrating this or that event from the life of Jesus Christ or the Mother of God in going to church, listening to the Gospel and hymns telling about events that took place a long time ago, and remembering these events. This is how we can treat today's holiday. Church tradition tells us that about 2000 years ago the Most Holy Virgin was born in the Galilean city of Nazareth from elderly parents, the righteous Joachim and Anna. It tells us that by her birth the Virgin Mary loosed the bonds of their barrenness and gave them great joy. The hymns of today tell us about this, and, apparently, the whole meaning of the holiday comes down to remembering these events.

But if we turn to the text of the hymns themselves and try to delve into the meaning of what their creators say, then we will be convinced that such an attitude to the feast is characteristic only of external people who do not understand the mysteries of church life. In reality, the hymns of the feast say something completely different. In the stichera of today's Vespers we heard: "Today the barren gates are opened, and the Divine Virgin Door is coming," "Today is the proclamation of the Universal Joy; today the winds have been blown, the herald of our salvation; of our nature, barrenness is resolved", and, finally, "Today the barren Anna gives birth to the Virgin of God" (Service of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos: on "Lord I have cried" stichera 4, 5, 6).

What does this "today" mean? ("today barrenness is resolved", "today Anna gives birth to the Virgin of God"). Are these only the techniques of figurative poetic speech, or is there some other meaning in these words?

If we reason from the point of view of the wisdom of this age, then the assertion of the real meaning of these words is madness. After all, all this happened a long time ago. But for those who "philosophize spiritually" (Rom. 8:5), everything that was accomplished "for our sake and for our salvation" not only happened in time, but also in eternity.

Therefore, when we hear today that "now the Virgin is pure from Anna," the gates of Eternity open to us.

The divine services of today tell us that the birth of the Most Holy Virgin was a joy not only for Her parents and relatives who lived in Nazareth, but also became a worldwide joy, that it resolved the barrenness not only of Sts. Righteous Joachim and Anna, but in him "the barrenness of our nature is resolved" and "the life-bearing fruit of the world" is born.