Church of St. Anne and Pool of Bethesda, Jerusalem
The Churches of Constantinople in the East and Rome in the West celebrate liturgies in honor of Mary’s birth from the sixth and seventh centuries on. The feast may have originated somewhere in Syria or Palestine in the beginning of that century, when after the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus (AD 431) adopted the term Theotokos in her honor, the veneration of the Mother of God was greatly intensified, especially in Syria. The origin of the liturgy is traced to the consecration of the church in Jerusalem built by St. Helena, the mother of Roman Emperor Constantine I, in the sixth century that has been traditionally known as Basilica Sanctae Mariae ubi nata est, now called the Basilica of Saint Anne. The original church built in the fifth century was a Marian basilica erected on the spot known as the shepherd’s field and thought to have been the home of Mary’s parents. After its destruction and reconstruction in the sixth century, the basilica was named in honor of the ancestress of God.
Around AD 560, Romanos the Melodist, was a native of Syria and later a deacon of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. He is known to have composed and written many prayers and hymns now in use in the Eastern Church. He was probably the first one who brought this day to the attention of the Church leaders. He wrote a hymn, a Kontakion which is a poetical sketch of the apocryphal Gospel of St. James, in honor of her birth and spread the knowledge of it among the people.
Both St. Andrew, bishop of Crete (c. AD 650); and St. John of Damascus (c. AD 675), Syrian monk and presbyter, were the oldest existing sermons about this event. Andrew of Crete said in his Homily on the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God:
“This day is for us the beginning of all holy days. It is the door to kindness and truth. Today is arranged for the Creator of all, an inspired Church and creation prepares itself to become the divine dwelling place of its Creator”.
John of Damascus stated in his Homily on the Nativity of the Most Pure Theotokos:
“The day of the Nativity of the Theotokos is the feast of joy for the whole world, because through the Theotokos the entire human race was renewed and the grief of the first mother Eve was changed into joy”.
By the seventh century the liturgy was also celebrated in Rome where it had been introduced by monks from the East. From there, it spread throughout the West, and by the thirteenth century the liturgy had developed to a solemnity with a major octave (eight days of commemoration prior to the liturgy) and a solemn vigil which prescribed a fastday. Pope Sergius I (687-701) established a procession (a litania) from the Roman Forum to St. Mary Major for the feast.
During the reform of St. Pius X, the octave was simplified, and in 1955 Pius XII abolished it. The liturgy received the rank of feast.
The date, September 8, was chosen as the eighth day (an octave) after the former Byzantine New Year. Although Mary’s birth was celebrated on various dates throughout the centuries, September 8 predominated. The feast celebrating Mary’s Immaculate Conception, December 8, (a liturgy instituted later) was set to correspond to nine months before Mary’s birth.
In the East, Mary’s birthday is celebrated as one of the twelve great liturgies. The title for the liturgy in the East: “The Birth of Our Exalted Queen, the Birthgiver of God and Ever-Virgin Mary.”
May the Virgin Mary, being the mother of God, earnestly intercedes for us, for she gave her flesh to Christ in all humility and obedience, so that the Word of God could become man.