From the Gospels read on the feast day we learned about the Good News: the mankind brought forth and dedicated to God the Virgin Who was able, in Her free will, to become the Mother of the Savior of all mankind.

The icons of Annunciation symbolizing the starting point of the redemption of mankind are usually placed at the Royal Gates. The Royal Gates denote the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven while the icon of Annunciation reminds us of the opened gates of Paradise. “Tenderness,” the most revered icon of the Mother of God in the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery, is part of the diptych of “Annunciation” depicting the Queen of Heaven at the moment of complete and unyielding submission of Her will to God: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” The Incarnation of God would never have been accomplished without a free will of the Mother of God just as it was impossible without the creative power of the Divine will.

The feast of Annunciation is filled with bright joy, for, with the Divine Incarnation, every man was granted a chance to become a partaker of the eternal bliss in the Kingdom of Heaven.

An assembly of clergy celebrated the festive evening service at the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery’s Trinity Cathedral. There were two Divine Liturgy services celebrated at the monastery today: a late morning liturgy service at the Trinity Cathedral and an early liturgy at the Dormition Church’s side chapel to the Vision of the Mother of God to Venerable Seraphim of Sarov on the feast of Annunciation in 1831.