“Rejoice! O Virgin Theotokos!” one of the most beautiful and well-known prayers in the world, is dedicated to Annunciation. Venerable Seraphim admonished to walk along the Holy Kanavka and say this greeting of the Mother of God by the Archangel Gabriel repeating it for 150 times.

This prayer instills in us the feelings of exultation, renewal of hope, re-emergence of life, and the exuberance from gaining the freedom. It is no coincidence that the feast of Annunciation is a spring feast and it’s not by accident that there is a tradition to let the birds free on this day. People used to say in the past: “The birds are going to pray to God.” Rejoicing on this feast, we touchingly express our joy by letting the birds loose with faith that they will favor the authors of their freedom before the Creator.

This ancient Orthodox tradition is observed at the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery, as well. Following the liturgy and the festive meal, in the presence of the sisters who sang the troparion to the Annunciation, Hegumenia Sergiya, the monastery’s abbess, freed three white pigeons bred at the Florovsky skete from the top of the stairs leading to the Annunciation Cathedral.

This year, Igor Anatolyevich Komarov, Plenipotentiary of the President of the Russian Federation in Privolzhsky Federal District, shared the joy of the feast of Annunciation with us.