The parents of the Holy Mother of God, Saints Joachim and Anna, had no children for many years and continually prayed, beseeching God to grant them a child. Their supplications were heard, and God granted them a daughter, whom they named Mariam, meaning “enlightened.” On the site of the home of Saints Joachim and Anna in Jerusalem, where the Holy Virgin was born, stands the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. Anne.
The Feast of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God was established in Jerusalem in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. The celebration was connected with the Church of the Holy Mother of God located in Probatike.
In the Armenian Church, the Feast of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin has been celebrated steadily since the 13th century.