Sunday, December 9, is the Feast of the Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary: one of a cluster of holy days on which the Armenian Church expresses its tender devotion to the mother of Jesus Christ, and is part of the Church’s preparation for Christmas. The faithful rejoice in the event that celebrates Mary’s conception in fulfillment of the prayers of her parents and nurtured to become the mother of the Messiah.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Artist: ANGELICO, Fra (1430s)

This is one of the eight feast days devoted to the Holy Virgin Mary in the Armenian Church’s Liturgical Calendar. This feast is always on December 9, which this year coincides with the third Sunday of Advent, called Hisnag in Armenian (from the word for “fifty”), Advent is the 50-day season of anticipation—physical and spiritual—leading to the Nativity of our Lord.