According to the ancient tradition of the Church, since Saint Anna, the Ancestor of God, was barren, she and her husband Joachim remained without children until old age. Therefore, sorrowing over their childlessness, they besought God with a promise that, if He were to grant them the fruit of the womb, they would offer their offspring to Him as a gift. And God, hearkening to their supplication, informed them through an Angel concerning the birth of the Virgin. And thus, through God's promise, Anna conceived according to the laws of nature, and was deemed worthy to become the mother of the Mother of our Lord (see also Sept. 8).
Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Against all hope, the bonds of barrenness are loosed today. For,
God has hearkened unto Joachim and Anna clearly promising that they
would bear a godly maiden. He who commanded the angel to cry out to her,
"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you," will be born of her, the
infinite One Himself, becoming man.
Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
Today the world rejoices in the conception of Anna, wrought by
God. For she bore the One who beyond comprehension conceived the Logos.