Daily Calendar – September 21

The 265th day of the year; 100 days remain until the New Year.

Church Calendar

The Nativity of the Most Holy, Glorious Lady and Ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Feast of the Mother of God.

Diduboba; Gelatoba; Shuamtoba; Betanioba. Commemoration of the Holy Confessors John (Maisuradze, 1957) and George-John (Mkheidze, 1962).

The Most Holy Virgin Mary was born in the small Galilean town of Nazareth. Her parents were the Righteous Joachim—a descendant of the lineage of the Prophet-King David—and Anna, a descendant of the High Priest Aaron. This God-fearing couple was childless. They reached an advanced age, yet never lost hope that God would deliver them from childlessness. The saints prayed to God for a child and vowed to dedicate the newborn to service in the Temple. The Lord heard their supplications and granted them a daughter only when the righteous couple, through their virtuous and holy lives, had become worthy of the exalted calling: to be the parents of the All-Holy Virgin, the future Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, the holy couple was blessed with the birth of the all-blessed daughter, Mary.

The All-Immaculate Mary was born at a time when humanity had reached the depths of moral degradation, and its restoration seemed impossible. The greatest thinkers acknowledged that God must surely come into the world to save His creation—mankind—from eternal perdition.

The Holy Church celebrates the Nativity of our All-Holy Queen, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, as a day of universal joy for all mankind. On this most radiant day—at the threshold between the Old and New Testaments—the all-blessed Virgin Mary was born; by God’s providence, she had been ordained before all ages to serve the greatest divine mystery: to give flesh to God the Word and to become the Mother of the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Born:

1415 – Frederick III, King of Germany. Died in 1493.

1866 – H.G. Wells, English writer. Died in 1946.

1887 – Iovel Kutateladze, Georgian pharmaco-chemist, founder of the chemical-pharmaceutical industry and the science of pharmaco-chemistry in Georgia, Doctor of Biological Sciences. Died in 1963.

1900 – Severian Maisashvili, Georgian painter and graphic artist, People's Artist of Georgia. Died in 1980.

1914 – Kita Buachidze, Georgian playwright.

Died:

1832 – Walter Scott, Scottish writer.

1972 – Kalenike Abuladze, Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

1973 – Gustaf VI Adolf, King of Sweden.

Events:

1380 – The Battle of Kulikovo took place.

1931 – Japanese troops occupied the territory of Northeast China—Manchuria. 1938 – More than 600 people died as a result of a powerful hurricane in New York and New England.

1961 – Antonio Abertondo swam across the English Channel (in both directions) in 24 hours and 25 minutes.

1964 – Malta gained independence from Britain.

1996 – John Kennedy married Carolyn Bessette on Cumberland Island.

1999 – The "Yamal" gas pipeline—one of Western Europe's major lines—was connected at the border between Poland and Belarus.

Observances:

International Day of Peace.

Armenia – Anniversary of the independence referendum.

Belize – Independence Day.

Malta – Independence Day.

Argentina – Students' Day.