Luke 1:39-49,56 (Matins)
Hebrews 2:11-18
Luke 1:24-38

"Yes" to our God

The Feast of the Annunciation falling in Passion Week is dissonant to the ears of many Christians: the joyful strains of Gabriel's most happy news sounding midst the solemn drum beat of our journey to the door of a tomb. You know how this happens: two great wheels are constantly turning marking the life of the Church: there is the Great Paschal cycle, which marks the Feasts of the Lord, and the cycle recorded in the Synaxarion, which marks the fixed dates concerning the holy ones. In the West, the first wheel is called the Temporale, the second, the Sanctorale. The Temporale has no fixed beginning nor end. The wheel's circumference is fixed. It is one year long. Meantime, the Sanctorale is also one-year long but begins and ends at a fixed time each year. The Feast of the the Annunciation is always celebrated on March 25. Lent by contrast is variable; only rarely does it fall as early as March 22.

Now, people are confused by the Orthodox Calendar, so I'll say this briefly. Most Orthodox Christians follow the calendar used by Jesus and the Apostles, which regulated life in the Roman Empire. It is one year long. It has all the months as our secular calendar and all the dates. Christmas is on December 25, the Feast of the Transfiguration on August 6, and the Annuncation on March 25. The New Style calendar was adopted in the West in 1582. The Greek Orthodox Church adopted it in 1923 — the same time the ROCOR was establishing itself in the West.

Though mostly an American institution, the ROCOR will never depart from the Apostolic calendar (called the Julian Calendar). For compromise with the world is just not in her nature. She will always say Yes to God and No to the world. These antipodes are inherent since the rejection of Eden: Yes to God always mean No to the world. And Yes to the world always means No to God. It is hard for us to internalize that. We want harmony between the world and God, expressed in the phrase "God and Country." But this can never be. The ROCOR will always say Yes to God and No to the world. She does not first make calculations — Would the new calendar boost church attendance? Would we be in sync with the culture? .... None of that. For during the great defection from God in the twentieth century, Russians continued to say Yes to God even as atheists murdered 100,000 monastics and clergy and went on to exterminate 20 million Orthodox faithful, destroying churches and cathedral and monasteries. But the declaration to God is still Yes .... come what may. And this simple Yes, without counting the cost, goes to the heart of a twelve-year-old girl's Yes to God, which we celebrate today.

In this sense, Passion Week is in deep harmony with Ever-Virgin Mary's once-for-all rejection of world. As we consider the Church year in 2026 we encounter the Most Holy Theotokos about a week after celebrating St. Mary of Egypt's encounter. In the case of this other Mary, the Theotokos represented the path to life, which lay just beyond the gate of metanoia. As the Greek word implies, this was a new way of seeing, a new way of being, which is God's will for all mankind. And this is the point about our Lady Theotokos, Ever-Virgin Mary. She is the Gateway to our "Yes" to God and our "No" to the death trap of the world. Do you know that the world is the culture of death and that it inevitably leads to the house of death.

It is that simple. When God calls you to Himself, this is not the time to count the years until your pension pays out or your next promotion is offered. One of our favorite anodynes is the phrase, "God will understand." But God will not understand. Jesus says plainly, "Let the dead bury the dead" (Mt 8:22, Lu 9:60) meaning that He will not have patience for the man who hangs around till he receives his inheritance. God always means now. The Annunciation was not the occasion for negotiation. As Zechariah was to learn: now. As he began muttering his protests, he was suddenly struck dumb by an angel of God. God does not negotiate. He does not make deals. And He certainly does not accept mumbled promises about later.

Mary's simple reply to the annunciation of an angel is built upon these lines of division. For as soon as Mary consents, "Behold, the Handmaid of the Lord," at that same moment she would become great with child — a perfection of God's will for all of us: the literal indwelling of God. And her Ever-Virgin nature betokens the permanence and sanctity of that indwelling long after the Nativity, even through all eternity. And by that same measure she will be condemned by the world. She will be dogged her whole life with the filthy rumor that she had entertained a Roman soldier one night. I say "all her life" — as an adult Jesus would Himself be called "Son of Mary" (Mk 6:3) (an epithet for bastard in a world where every boy was called Bar-Jonah or Bar-Sabbas: that is, "son of his father." And Jesus famously would be born an outcast among outcasts.

Here is the great dividing line. Either you take your place in the dog-think world or you devote yourself to God. You cannot have it both ways. There is no middle way. In this sense, Mary's reply to Gabriel is identical to our Yes when Jesus commands us to take up our cross and follow Him.

I emphasize command. This is not invitation which we might ignore. These are imperative verbs: Take up! and Follow!.

Consider the Lord's words:

and

and, most strikingly,

Do we suppose that John heard words like these issue from the Master's mouth? I have no doubt.

But where is the meek and mild Jesus in these teachings? The meek and mild Jesus Who always understands? The is our invention. It is our contrived answer to the dilemma we face when we stand at the crossroads God has prepared for each and all of us.

After all, consider the ones chosen to be the first followers and leaders:
our forerunner, the Man of Eden, showing us the way, had nothing of the world about his holy person. Far from it! He represented in his person rejection of the world. And in sending the first apostles, He said,

Salute no one along the road?! You are not to stride into town waving a people, "Good morning! .... How are you! .... Happy to meet you!" None of that. You are to communicate by your manner that you are not of the world.

Everyone stands at the crossroads! "Two ways there are" says the Didache. One way to life. One way to death. There is no middle way.

His disciples are to be as "wise as serpents and gentle as doves" (Mt 10:16). Neither of these implies merry fellowship with those you minister to.

The Feast of the Annunciation is our day to remember the holy gentleness of a twelve-year-old girl and, at the same time, to mark our decree of divorcement from the world. This is meaning of metanoia. You will recall this was Jesus' first command. Turn away from the "dog-think" world, and fix your eyes on Heaven!

Today as we tread the stony road to the Golgotha, let us take heart, let us renew ourselves in the salutation of an Angel, and let us, like gentle Mary, say "Yes" to our God. Let us say "Yes" every morning, and "Yes" every night. And by this sign, we will live forever under the shadow of her wing, under her protecting mantle, whose eternal name is Yes.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.