البِشارةِ (Annunciation)

From the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos
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"To the Virgin Mary was sent, not any one of the angels, but the Archangel Gabriel; for upon this service it was that the highest angel should come as being the bearer of the highest of all tidings...For Gabriel is interpreted, 'the strength of God' "

Saint Gregory the Great

Thanks to Fr. Peter Hanna for permission to use his beautiful recording.

The use of spheres or orbs in iconography is for angelic representation. This can be distilled from ancient writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Thomas Aquinas, with the latter more for each type of angel's sphere of influence.

Fr. George Fakhoury translated [to Arabic] and modernized [to the new age] the New Testament, published in 1953. عام 1953، بيروت. المعروفة بالبوليسية نسبة إلى الأب البوليسي جورج فاخوري ونقل الترجمة إلى عصر جديد في ترجمات الإنجيل إلي العربية أسلوباً وتبوبياً وإخراجاً. A Mekite priest, he went missing in 1977.

Last icon: Our Lady of Damascus, Pray for us.