thumb|200px|[[イコン：生神女福音祭のイコン。オフリドのもの。]]

'''生神女福音祭'''（しょうしんじょふくいんさい）は、生神女マリヤを天使首十二大祭のひとつである。グレゴリオ暦では現在4月7日に行われる。カトリック教会の受胎告知に相当する。

* ギリシャ語 - 
* ロシア語 - 
* 英語 - Annunciation

正教会では、マリヤは自分では罪を犯さなかったものの、人祖アダムとエヴァからの罪を受け継いでおり、後者の罪（陥罪）はこの応諾の時点で恩寵により浄められたと考える。応諾が無ければ、人類が救いに与る事も無かったとも解釈されている。

この応諾におけるエヴァの従順さは、旧約において智慧の木の実を食べないよう命じられていたのにも関わらず蛇の誘いに乗って智慧の木の実を食べてしまったエヴァの不従順と対照的なものであるとされ、従順に神の意思を受け入れる生神女マリヤを生涯の模範とするよう正教会では教えられる。

thumb|250px|A key piece of the Paleologan Mannerism - the Annunciation icon from [[Ohrid.]]
In Christianity, the '''Annunciation''' ('''', ''Evangelismós tēs Theotókou'' in Greek) is the revelation to conceive a child to be born the Son of God. Some Incarnation is nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Jesus, or Christmas. The date of the Annunciation also marked the New Year in many places, including England (where it is called ''Lady Day'').  Both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faiths hold that the Annunciation took place in the then village of Nazareth, but differ as to where exactly.  The Catholic Church of the Annunciation marks the site preferred by the former, while the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation marks that of the latter.

==The Annunciation in the Bible==
In the Bible, the Annunciation is narrated in the book of Luke, Chapter 1, verses 26-38 (NASB):
<blockquote style="text-indent: 2em;">
<p><sup>26</sup> In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel  to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, <sup>27</sup>to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. <sup>28</sup>The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."<sup>29</sup>Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. <sup>30</sup>But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. <sup>31</sup>You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. <sup>32</sup>He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, <sup>33</sup>and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."</p><p><sup>34</sup>"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"<sup>35</sup>The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. <sup>36</sup>Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. <sup>37</sup>For nothing is impossible with God."<sup>38</sup>"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.</p>

==Eastern traditions==

In Eastern Orthodoxy Mary is referred to as Theotokos (Θεοτόκος="God-bearer"). The traditional Eastern Orthodox Troparion (hymn for the day) of the Annunciation is:
::Today is the beginning of our salvation,
::And the revelation of the eternal mystery!
::The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin
::As Gabriel announces the coming of Grace.
::Together with him let us cry to the Theotokos:
::"Rejoice, O Full of Grace, The Lord is with You!"

The Feast of the Annunciation is one of the twelve Incarnation of Christ, Annunciation has such an important place in Eastern Orthodox theology that the Festal Pascha (Easter Sunday) itself, a coincidence which is called ''[http://orthodoxwiki.org/Kyriopascha Kyriopascha]''. The only time the Divine Liturgy may be celebrated on Greek, literally meaning "spreading the Good News".

==Related dates==
left|thumbnail|The Annunciation, by [[El Greco (1575)]]

In the Anglican, and Lutheran liturgical calendars, the feast is moved if necessary to prevent it from falling during Holy Week or Easter Week. In the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches it may also be moved to prevent its falling on a Sunday. To avoid a Sunday before Holy Week, the next day (March 26) would be observed instead. In years like 2008 when March 25 falls during Holy Week or Easter Week the Annunciation is moved to the Monday after Octave of Easter, which is the Sunday after Easter.

It might be thought that with a very early Easter, the feast of St Joseph would be displaced from 19 March to the Monday after Easter week, thus displacing the Annunciation to the Tuesday. However, in the Feast of St Joseph, normally falling on Congregation for Divine Worship in ''Notitiae'' March-April, 2006 (475-476, page 96).) In the Church of England it is moved to the Tuesday after Easter Week, following the Annunciation on the Monday, which is of higher rank and takes precedence.

The Eastern churches (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental and Eastern Catholic) do not move the feast of the Annunciation under any circumstance. They have special combined liturgies for those years when the Annunciation coincides with another feast. In these churches, even on New Calendarism is the fact that in the New Calendar churches (which celebrate the Annunciation according to the New Calendar, but Easter according to the Old Calendar), these special Liturgies can never be celebrated any more, since the Annunciation is always well before Holy Week on the New Calendar. The Old Calendarists believe that this impoverishes the liturgical and spiritual life of the Church.

thumb|The Annunciation, mural from [[Ubisi, Georgia]]
The date is close to the vernal equinox, as Christmas is to the winter solstice; because of this the Annunciation and Christmas were two of the four "Quarter days" in medieval and early modern England, which marked the divisions of the fiscal year (the other two were Midsummer Day, or the Nativity of St. John the Baptist—June 24—and Michaelmas, the feast day of St. Michael, on September 29). 

When the calendar system of grace began with the Incarnation of Christ.

The first authentic allusions to it are in a canon, of the in Trullo" (692), forbidding the celebration of any festivals during Feast of the Annunciation. An earlier origin has been claimed for it on the ground that it is mentioned in sermons of Athanasius and of Gregory Thaumaturgus, but both of these documents are now admitted to be spurious. A synod held at Worcester, England (1240), forbade all servile work on this feast day. See further Lady Day.

==Annunciation in the Quran==

Annunciation is also cited in the Quran, in Suras 3 (Aal 'Imran - The family of Imran) verses 45-51 and 19 (Maryam - Mary) verses 16-26, although without  mentioning Jesus as the son of God.