Orthodox believers note the Annunciation

On Tuesday, April 7 (March 25 according to the old style), Orthodox believers celebrate the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary - one of the main holidays of the Christian calendar. Patriarch Kirill headed today a festive service in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, Interfax reports.

On this day, the Church recalls the event described in the Gospel of Luke, when the Archangel Gabriel appeared in the city of Mary in the city of Nazareth and announced that she would have a son, who would become a savior of the world. According to legend, in his hands the archangel held white lily - a symbol of purity and immaculate, which adorns almost all the icons of the Annunciation.

The plot of the Annunciation - the meeting of the Archangel and Mary - is depicted on the royal gates of all Orthodox churches. A large number of churches are devoted to this holiday.

The Annunciation is one of the twelve -indifferent holidays, every year it is celebrated at the same time. The date of its celebration was determined by the reference nine months ago from the Nativity of Christ.

According to many years of tradition, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church after today's liturgy in the Kremlin, along with students of the Orthodox gymnasium, released white pigeons into the Moscow sky. In modern times, this ancient Russian custom was revived in Moscow in 1995 by Patriarch Alexy II together with the Orthodox Society of Radonezh.

Birds will fly up on the feast of Annunciation into the sky over many Orthodox temples as a symbol of the spread of joyful news of the birth of Christ. In Orthodoxy, pigeons also symbolize the Holy Spirit - one of the three hypostases of the Lord.

Today in Nazareth the largest Orthodox community in Israel is operating. It has several tens of thousands of believers and consists mainly of Arabs, and the local church of the Annunciation is the main temple of this community. In her crypt there is a source, which, according to legend, archangel and appeared to the Virgin Mary.

The festival of the Annunciation in Nazareth is celebrated solemnly, an unusual cross with the participation of scouts that walk along the streets and play on Scottish tricks (the movement of scouts introduced the UK here when Palestine was under her mandate). At the same time, Soviet melodies are sometimes performed - for example, the famous Red Army song "Polyushko -Paul". This is the result of the influence of communist ideology, which was actively promoted in the 1950s among the local Arab population.