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| Meanwhile, the Protoevangelium tells us that Anne is mourning at home, and having an altercation with her uppity maid-servant Judith: | |
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2 And his wife Anne mourned
in two mournings, and lamented in two lamentations, saying: I shall bewail
my widowhood; I shall bewail my childlessness. And the great day of the
Lord was at hand; and Judith her maid-servant said: How long do you
humiliate your soul? Behold, the great day of the Lord is at hand, and it
is unlawful for you to mourn. But take this head-band, which the woman
that made it gave to me; for it is not proper that I should wear it,
because I am a maid-servant, and it has a royal appearance. And Anne said:
Depart from me; for I have not done such things, and the Lord has brought
me very low. I fear that some wicked person has given it to you, and you
have come to make me a sharer in your sin. And Judith said: Why should I
curse you, seeing that the Lord has shut your womb, so as not to give you
fruit in Israel? And Anne was grieved exceedingly, and put off her
garments of mourning, and cleaned her head, and put on her wedding
garments, and about the ninth hour went down to the garden to walk. And
she saw a laurel, and sat under it, and prayed to the Lord, saying: O God
of our fathers, bless me and hear my prayer, as You blessed the womb of
Sarah, and gave her a son Isaac.
3. And gazing
towards the heaven, she saw a sparrow's nest in the laurel, (Tobit 2:10)
and made a lamentation in herself, saying: Alas! Who begot me? And what
womb produced me? Because I have become a curse in the presence of the
sons of Israel, and I have been reproached, and they have driven me in
derision out of the temple of the Lord. Alas! To what have I been likened?
I am not like the fowls of the heaven, because even the fowls of the
heaven are productive before You, O Lord. Alas! To what have I been
likened? I am not like the beasts of the earth, because even the beasts of
the earth are productive before You, O Lord. Alas! To what have I been
likened? I am not like these waters, because even these waters are
productive before You, O Lord. Alas! To what have I been likened? I am not
like this earth, because even the earth brings forth its fruits in season,
and blesses You, O Lord. |
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| In Giotto's version, the angel is popping through the window, while Judith sulks in another room, holding, presumably, the disputed head-band. Ferrari's picture has two annunciations in one: Anne on the left, Joachim on the right. The meeting at he gate is in the background. This version of Anne's annunciation is more accurate than Giotto's as it takes place outside, though I can't see any sign of a sparrow's nest. The wonderful early fourteenth century mosaic in the Chora church, Istanbul, however, has the sparrows singing way. | |
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