Western Christianity The
Feast of the Annunciation is usually held on 25 March. It is often translated in the
Catholic Church,
Anglican and
Lutheran liturgical calendars when that date falls during
Holy Week or
Easter Week or on a Sunday. When the calendar system of
Anno Domini was first introduced by
Dionysius Exiguus in AD 525, he assigned the beginning of the new year to 25 March since, according to Christian theology, the era of
grace began with the
Incarnation of Christ. The first certain mentions of the feast are in a
canon of the 656
Council of Toledo, where it is described as celebrated throughout the church. The 692 Council of Constantinople "
in Trullo" forbade observance of any festivals during
Lent, excepting
Sunday and the Annunciation. An earlier origin had been claimed for it on the grounds that it appeared in manuscripts of the sermons of
Athanasius and
Gregory Thaumaturgus but they were subsequently discovered to be spurious. Along with Easter, 25 March was historically used as the
New Year's Day in many Christian countries. The holiday was moved to January 1 in
France by
Charles IX's 1564
Edict of Roussillon. In
England, the feast of the Annunciation came to be known as
Lady Day, and Lady Day marked the beginning of the English
new year until 1752.
Eastern Christianity In the
Eastern Orthodox,
Eastern Catholic, and
Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Feast of the Annunciation is one of the twelve "
Great Feasts" of the
liturgical year, and is among the eight of them that are counted as "feasts of the Lord". Throughout the Orthodox Church, the feast is celebrated on 25 March. In the churches that use the new-style calendar (
Revised Julian or
Gregorian), this date coincides with 25 March on the civil calendar, while in those churches using the old-style
Julian calendar, 25 March is reckoned to fall on 7 April on the civil calendar, and will fall on 8 April starting in the year 2100.
Greek Independence Day is celebrated on the feast of the Annunciation and 25 March is also a national holiday in the Lebanon. , Nazareth The traditional hymn (
troparion) for the feast of the Annunciation goes back to
Athanasius of Alexandria. It runs: As the action initiating the
Incarnation of Christ, the Annunciation has such an important place in Orthodox Christian theology that the festal
Divine Liturgy of
John Chrysostom is always celebrated on the feast, even if it falls on
Great and Holy Friday, the day when the
crucifixion of Jesus is remembered. The Divine Liturgy is celebrated on Great and Holy Friday only when the latter coincides with the feast of the Annunciation. If the Annunciation falls on
Pascha (Easter Sunday) itself, a coincidence which is called , then it is celebrated jointly with the Resurrection, which is the focus of Easter. Due to these and similar rules, the rubrics surrounding the celebration of the feast are the most complex of all in Orthodox Christian liturgics.
Ephraim the Syrian taught that the date of the conception of Jesus Christ fell on 10
Nisan on the
Hebrew calendar, the day in which the Passover lamb was selected according to
Exodus 12 (Hymn 4 on the Nativity). In some years, 10 Nisan falls on 25 March, which is the traditional date for the Feast of the Annunciation and is an official holiday in
Lebanon. ==In art==