The Patriarch of Romania: Righteous Simeon and Prophetess Anna Express the Joy the Righteous Feel When they Meet God

3/2/2012

His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church explained in the sermon delivered to the faithful present in the chapel of Saint Gregory the Enlightener of the Patriarchal Residence the significance of the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

“This event is included in the Judaic tradition according to which 40 days after the child was born, he must be taken to the Temple to thank God for having given a child to the family and to bring an offering to the Temple, which must be either a pair of turtle doves or two squabs. Both the turtle doves and the pigeons have a spiritual significance, namely they express purity and kindness. The Mother of God, Virgin Mary, and Righteous Joseph brought Jesus Christ to the Temple when He was 40 days old. Old Simeon met them at the Temple; he was waiting for Messiah to arrive because the Holy Spirit had announced him that he would not die the physical death until he has seen with his own eyes the Messiah, the Anointed of the Lord, Christ, the Lord, waited for centuries. He was waiting for this event, his meeting with Christ, with all his piety and devotion”, explained His Beatitude, as Trinitas Radio station informs us.

The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church has also emphasised the meaning of the thanksgiving prayer of Righteous Simeon.

“Righteous Simeon is a Prophet too. He blesses Infant Jesus and His mother, Virgin Mary, and feels the divine presence in the Infant, and also utters a prophecy: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” This thanksgiving prayer, this exclamation and request of absolution, because he was aged and it was hard for him to bear his old body, was included in the Orthodox rite, to the end of the Vesper service. You may now dismiss your servant in peace means to be absolved of this waiting, because what he was expecting was accomplished. After this blessing in which the Infant is not called simply child, but a light for revelation to the Gentiles which is to be known by the Gentiles and a Glory of your people Israel means the glory of the people who had expected this light through the righteous and prophets of the Old Testament, as well as through the devotion of the people who believed what the prophets foretold”, also mentioned the Patriarch of Romania.

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel also emphasizes the fact that Prophetess Anna was also present at the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple.

The Gospel also tells us that a woman, named Prophetess Anna was also present at the Temple. She had been a widow for 84 years and was waiting for the salvation of Israel in fasting and prayer. This woman was also present at the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem and she too glorified God. In other words, we see that both Righteous Simeon and Prophetess Anna express a special joy, the joy that the Righteous feel when they meet God, when they intensely live the communion with God. In this regard, Righteous Simeon and Prophetess Anna become models of grandparents who pray, who bless the children, who watch over through prayer that the blessing of God should be always over the family, over the house, over those whom God calls to serve Him for the people’s salvation.”

The Patriarch of Romanian has also emphasized the fact that the babies are taken to the church when they are forty days old.

“The feast of the Presentation of the Lord has an echo in the Christian Orthodox cult because when they are forty days old, the children are usually brought to the church, namely in front of the altar screen and somehow introduced in order to be blessed and serve the Lord. If when forty days old a child is brought to the church and if he is a boy, he is also taken inside the Holy Altar and crossed in the four corners of the Holy Table hoping that when the child is an adult he may be either a servant of the Holy Altar or at least a man who sets up a faithful family and can be the head of a faithful Christian family. This relationship between the Temple of Jerusalem and every Church which is a Temple not only in Jerusalem, but everywhere there are Christians is a very significant one, because when the child is forty days old the parents bring him to the Church to thank God and be purified, to pray for good health and strength because a woman is weakened and exhausted after giving birth to a child. Forty days after the birth the woman had to avoid the contact with the world because she was weak and could get sick easier. Thus, when recovering after this hard work that is the birth, the mother can come to the Church where both she and the child are blessed”.

The time since the feast of the Presentation of the Lord has been celebrated is not a very long one. The feast is not mentioned either in the Apostolic Constitutions or in “Testamentum Domini”. The feast is first documentary mentioned in the pilgrimage journal of pilgrim Egeria who attends it in Jerusalem in 382 and 384, calling it “Quadragesemae de ephifania”, because the Nativity of the Lord was celebrated at the same with the Baptism of the Lord in Jerusalem at the time.

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