The encounter of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ with Simeon and Anna is one of the most ancient of all feasts established in Jerusalem in the 4th century. St. Sophronius of Jerusalem wrote about this feast: “Let us all hasten to meet (encounter) Christ. Everyone should be eager to join the procession and carry a light. Our lighted candles are a sign of the divine splendor of the One who comes to expel the dark shadows of evil and to make the whole universe radiant with the brilliance of his eternal Light.” The meeting is described in the third Gospel (Luke 2:22-40). Forty days after His birth the Divine Child was brought to the Temple at Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord. According to the Law of Moses (Lev. 12:2-8), a woman who gave birth to a male child was forbidden to enter the Temple for forty days. At the end of the time of her purification, the mother went to the Temple with the child, to offer a young lamb, two turtle doves, or pigeons to the Lord as a sacrifice. At this time the righteous Elder Simeon was living in Jerusalem. It had been revealed to him that he would not die until he beheld the promised Messiah. By divine inspiration, Simeon went to the Temple at the very moment when the Most Holy Theotokos and St. Joseph had brought the Child Jesus to fulfill the Law. At the Temple was an 84-year-old widow, Anna the Prophetess arrived just when Simeon met the Divine Child. She also gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of Him to all those who were looking for redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).
Rejoice, Theotokos, Virgin full of grace; for from you has shown forth the Sun of Justice, Christ our God enlightening those who are in darkness. Rejoice also, you just elder; you received in your arms the liberator of our souls, who grants us resurrection.
Christ our God, through Your birth You sanctified the virgin’s womb and blessed the hands of Simeon as was proper. Now You have come and saved us. Give peace to nations at war and strengthen our government. You, alone, love mankind.
Hebrews 7: 7-17
Brothers and sisters: it is indisputable that a lesser person is blessed by a greater. And whereas men subject to death receive tithes, scripture testifies that this man lives on. Levi, who receives tithes, was, so to speak, tithed in the person of his father, so he was still in his fathers loins when Melchizedek met Abraham.
If, then, perfection had been achieved through the levitical priesthood (on the basis of which the people received the law), what need would there have been to appoint a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, instead of choosing a priest according to the order of Aaron? When there is a change of priesthood, there is necessarily a change of law. Now he of whom these things are said was of a different tribe, none of whose members ever officiated at the altar. It is clear that our Lord rose from the tribe of Judah, regarding which Moses said nothing about priests. The matter is clearer still if another priest is appointed according to the likeness of Melchizedek: one who has become a priest, not in virtue of a law expressed in a commandment concerning physical descent, but in virtue of the power of a life which cannot be destroyed. Scripture testifies: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
Luke 2: 22-40
When the day came to purify the child and mother according to the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary brought Jesus up to Jerusalem so that he could be presented to the Lord, forward is written in the law of the Lord, “Every first-born male shall be consecrated to the Lord.” They came to offer and sacrifice “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” in accord with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
There lived in Jerusalem at the time a certain man named Simeon. He was just and pious, and awaited the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not experience death until he had seen the anointed of the Lord. He came to the temple now, inspired by the Spirit; and when the parents brought in the child’s Jesus to perform for him the customary ritual of the law, Simeon took the child in his arms and blessed God in these words: “Now, Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace; you have fulfilled your word. For my eyes have witnessed your saving deed displayed for all the peoples to see: A revealing light to the Gentiles, the glory of your people Israel.”
The child’s father and mother were marveling at what was being said about him. Simeon blessed him and said to Mary his mother: “This child is destined to be the downfall on the rise of many in Israel, a sign that will be opposed — and you yourself shall be pierced with a sword — so that the thoughts of many hearts may be laid bare.”
There was also a certain prophetess, Anna by name, daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She had seen many days, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage and then as a widow until she was 84. She was constantly in the temple, worshiping day and night in fasting and prayer. Coming on the scene at this moment, she gave thanks to God and talked about the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
When the pair had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee and their own town of Nazareth the child grew in size and strength, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
1 John 2:18- 3:10
Children, it is the final hour; just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many such antichrists have appeared. This makes us certain that it is the final hour. It was from our ranks that they took their leave — not that they really belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have stayed with us. It only served to show that none of them was ours. But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One, so that all knowledge is yours. My reason for having written you is not that you do not know the truth but that you do, and that no lie has anything in common with the truth. Who is the liar? Who denies that Jesus is the Christ. He is the antichrist, denying the Father and the Son. Anyone who denies the Son has no claim on the Father, but he who acknowledges the Son can claim the Father as well.
As for you, let what you heard from the beginning remain in your hearts. If what you heard from the beginning does remain in your hearts, then you will in turn will remain in the Son and in the Father.
He himself made us a promise and the promise is no less than this: eternal life. I have written you these things about those who try to deceive you.
As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in your heart. This means you have no need for anyone to teach you. Rather, as his anointing teaches you about all things and is true — free from any lie — remain in him as that anointing taught you.
Remain in him now, little ones, so that, when he reveals himself, we may be fully confident and not retreat in shame at his coming. If you consider the holiness that is his, you can be sure that everyone who acts in holiness has been begotten by him.
See what love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called children of God! Yet that is what we are. The reason the world does not recognize us is that it never recognized the Son. Dearly beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall later be has not yet come to light. We know that when it comes to light we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him keeps himself pure, as he is pure.
Everyone who sins acts lawlessly for sin is lawlessness. You know well that the reason he revealed himself was to take away sins; in him there is nothing sinful. The man who remains in him does not sin. The man who sins has not seen him or known him.
Little ones, let no one deceive you; the man who acts in holiness is holy indeed, even as the Son is holy. The man who sins belongs to the devil, because the devil is a sinner from the beginning. It was to destroy the devil‘s works that the Son of God revealed himself. No one begotten of God acts sinfully because he remains of God’s stock; he cannot sin because he is begotten of God. That is the way to see who are God’s children, and who are the devils.
Mark 11: 1-11
At that time as Jesus and the disciples neared Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, close to Jerusalem, he sent off two of his disciples with the instruction: “Go to the village straight ahead of you, and as soon as you enter it you will find tethered there a colt on which no one has ridden. Untie it and bring it back. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing that?’ say, ‘The Master needs it but he will send it back here at once.’” So they went off, and finding a colt tethered out on the street near a gate, they untied it. Some of the bystanders said to them, “What do you mean by untying that colt?” They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the men let them take it. They brought the colt back to Jesus and threw their cloaks across its back, and Jesus sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread reeds which they had cut in the fields. Those preceding Jesus as well as those who followed cried out: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the reign of our father David to come! Hosanna in the highest!” Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple precincts. He inspected everything there, but since it was already the afternoon, he went out to Bethany accompanied by the Twelve.
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Sunday, February 1 –
