Advent, an eminently Marian time

The fact that Advent is “a time particularly suited to the veneration of the Mother of the Lord” does not mean that this liturgical season is a “month of Mary”.

In the liturgical calendars of the Christian East, the period of preparation for the mystery of the manifestation (Advent) of divine salvation (Theophany) in the mysteries of the Nativity-Epiphany of the only Son of God the Father seems to be very Marian, but the focus is on the preparation for the coming of the Lord in the mystery of divine maternity. 

In the East, all mysteries relating to the Virgin Mary are Christological mysteries, that is, they refer to the mystery of our salvation in Christ. 

Thus, in the Coptic rite, the praises of Mary are sung during this period in the Theotokia; in the Syrian East, this time is called Subbara, i.e. Annunciation, to emphasize its Marian character. In the Byzantine rite, the run-up to Christmas is marked by an increasing series of Marian feasts and refrains sung in honor of the Virgin Mary.

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