1. Who were Joachim and Anna?

2. Why did people mock (make fun of) them? How did the couple respond to this behaviour?

3. What did the Angel Gabriel announce to them?

4. How does our Church show that it thinks that Joachim and Anna were important people? How do you show how important your parents are to you?

5. Did the Angel Gabriel’s announcement that their daughter would be called "blessed" turn out to be true? Explain your answer.

6. Why is this feast celebrated at the beginning of the church year? What makes it a very important feast?

7. How is this feast important to our St. Sophie Cathedral parish?

1. The baby Mary appears two times - find her & colour her clothes blue.

2. Colour the robe of St. Anna in blue.

3. How can you tell the defence between Joachim and his family and the nurses who are looking after them? Show this in yellow.

4. Colour Joachim’s clothes in green.

5. Colour the clothes of the nurses so that they look different from the family.

To celebrate as its Patronal Feast Day, St. Sophie Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of Montreal has taken the Nativity of the Most Blessed, Ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of God (Theotokos). Celebrated on September 21, this is the first great feast of the Liturgical Year.

In Nazareth of Galilee, there lived a very wealthy and pious older couple, Joachim & Anna. Joachim was descended from King David whom God had promised that the Saviour of the world would be born from among his descendants.

Joachim and Anna lived quietly, dividing their wealth equally between sacrificing to God, supporting the poor, and providing for their own needs. They were content with their situation except for the fact that they were childless, something which, in their time, made them the object of scorn and mockery, for childlessness was regarded not merely as an absence of God’s blessing but also as a punishment from God. This scorn merely made them pray all the more fervently for the blessing of a child. Finally, their prayers were answered for the Angel Gabriel announced to them that they would have a daughter whom the whole world would call "blessed." This daughter they named Mary and she became the Mother of the First-Born of all Creation, Jesus Christ, our Saviour.

Our Church considers Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Blessed Virgin to be among the founding fathers of the Church; indeed they are mentioned at the closing of each Divine Liturgy.

This feast is celebrated with universal joy for it marks the boundary of the Old and the New Covenants, the day pre-arranged from ages ago by Divine Providence to serve the mystical Incarnation of God-the-Word through the birth of His mother Mary, the Birthgiver of God. Moreover, the Blessed Virgin Mary is the highest example of human holiness that the Orthodox Church holds precious and venerates. And so, it is fitting that this feast be at the beginning of the Liturgical year marking, as it does, the first step in the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecy.

The services are filled with joyful melodies. The main reasons for this joy are the end of childlessness for Joachim and Anna, the most wonderful dignity of Divine Motherhood bestowed upon Mary, and the unique role and significance of the Mother of God in the work of redemption of the human race and its salvation.

Tropar: Your birth, Virgin Birthgiver-of-God, has proclaimed joy to the universe. The Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God, has shone forth from you. By annulling the curse, He gave a blessing. By destroying Death, He has granted Life Eternal.

Kondak: By your birth, Most-Pure Virgin, Joachim and Anna were freed from childlessness and Adam and Eve from the corruption of death. We, your people, delivered from the guilt of sin, celebrate Him as we chant to you: " A barren woman gives birth to the Birthgiver-of-God and the Mother of our life."