In Jesus's Footsteps 
跟随基督的脚步

Basilica of the Annunciation - Nazareth

天使报喜堂

天使报喜堂位于以色列北部城市拿撒勒。

这座教堂建在罗马天主教传统上认为报喜信发生的地点。

希腊东正教认为这件事发生的时候玛利亚正在拿撒勒一个水泉打水，因此希腊东正教报喜堂就建在那个备用地点。

现在的报喜堂始建于1969年，是一座在早期拜占庭时代及其后十字军时代教堂的遗址上被建造的二层建筑。教堂内部第一层包含了报喜的洞穴，许多基督徒相信这正是童女玛利亚家的遗迹。

根据罗马天主教教会法，这座教堂享有圣殿的地位。该具有历史意义的遗址，在基督教的某些圈子尤其是在天主教中被认为是神圣的。这座教堂每年都会吸引许多天主教、圣公会和东正教的信徒前来朝拜。

教堂首次被建造可能是在四世纪中期的某个时段，建筑体包含了岩洞内的一座祭坛，玛利亚也曾住在这里。

君士坦丁大帝一世构建了一个更大的建筑结构，他指导其母亲圣海伦娜建立教会以纪念耶稣基督生平所发生的重要事件。

天使报喜堂、伯利恒的圣诞教堂及圣墓大教堂都在同时期被建造。

其他一些类似的教堂建筑被认为直到公元570年仍然存在；然而，当七世纪穆斯林征服了巴勒斯坦地区后，这些建筑皆被摧毁。

第二座教堂建于1102年，即十字军东征、拿撒勒被坦克雷德征服期间，是在拜占庭遗迹的基础上被建造的。

然而十字军时代的教堂却没有完工。五座由法国北部艺术家雕刻而成的罗马风格的斗拱建筑于1909年的挖掘过程中被发现，这些斗拱直到1187年萨拉丁夺回圣城大战的胜利消息传遍城市时仍未被安装。

萨拉丁准许方济各神父留在拿撒勒并在教堂监督各项服侍。

The Church of the Annunciation is in Nazareth, in northern Israel.

The church was established at the site where, according to Roman Catholic tradition, the Annunciation took place. Greek Orthodox tradition holds that this event occurred while Mary was drawing water from a local spring in Nazareth, and the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation was erected at that alternate site. ,

The current church is a two-story building constructed in 1969 over the site of an earlier Byzantine-era and then Crusader-era church. Inside, the lower level contains the Grotto of the Annunciation, believed by many Christians to be the remains of the original childhood home of Mary.

Under Roman Catholic canon law, the church enjoys the status of a minor basilica. A historically significant site, considered sacred within some circles of Christianity, particularly Catholicism, and the basilica attracts many Catholic, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox Christian visitors every year.

The first shrine was probably built sometime in the middle of the 4th century, comprising an altar in the cave in which Mary had lived.

A larger structure was commissioned by Emperor Constantine I, who had directed his mother, Saint Helena, to found churches commemorating important events in Jesus Christ's life.

The Church of the Annunciation was founded around the same time as the Church of the Nativity (the birthplace) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the tomb). Some version of it was known to have still been in existence around 570 AD, but it was destroyed in the 7th century after the Muslim conquest of Palestine.

The second church was built over the ruins of the Byzantine era church during the Crusades, following the conquest of Nazareth byTancred in 1102. The Crusader era church was never fully completed.

Five Romanesque capitals carved by artists from northern France, and discovered during excavations in 1909, had not yet been installed in 1187 when news of Saladin's victory in the Battle of Hittin reached the city. Saladin granted permission to Franciscan priests to remain in Nazareth to oversee services at the church.

Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Hail, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 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, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 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. 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. For nothing is impossible with God." "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said?" Then the angel left her.