My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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ON NOVEMBER 21st OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE ENTRANCE OF OUR MOST PURE, MOST BLESSED LADY, THE THEOTOKOS AND EVER-VIRGIN MARY, INTO THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD AND HER LIFE
When the Most Pure and divine Maiden, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary the Theotokos, reached the age of three, her holy and righteous parents, Joachim and Anna, remembered the vow they had made when they prayed to be delivered from childlessness, promising to offer their offspring as a gift to God. Therefore, as all the ancient Holy Fathers testify, they called together their relatives living in Nazareth, persons of royal and high-priestly lineage, for the righteous Joachim was of royal stock and his spouse Anna was of the high-priestly line. They also assembled a choir of virgins, for whom they had prepared a large number of candles, and arrayed the Most-Pure Virgin Mary with the splendor befitting a queen. Thus Saint James, the Archbishop of Jerusalem, says on behalf of Joachim, "Summon the undefiled daughters of the Hebrews, that they may take in hand burning candles"; and Saint Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, has the righteous Anna speak these words: "To the Lord "will I pay my vows which my lips pronounced and which my mouth had spoken in mine affliction." For this reason, I have assembled a choir of virgins bearing candles, called for the priests and for my kindred, and said to them, 'Rejoice with me, the mother of a daughter betrothed not to an earthly king but unto God, the King of Heaven.'
Concerning the royal magnificence with the divine Maiden was adorned, Saint Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria, writes, "It was necessary that the Most Divine Maiden should enter the Temple in a manner befitting her. It would not have been suitable for the brilliant and costly pearl to be clad in a pauper's rags; rather, royal vesture, which would serve to magnify and adorn her, was meet for the occasion.
When everything necessary had been prepared for the honorable and glorious entrance, the Virgin and those with her departed. Arriving in the city of Jerusalem after a journey of three days, Joachim and Anna proceeded to the Temple and let into it the Living Temple of God, the three-year-old Maiden, the Most-Pure Virgin Mary. She was preceded by the choir of virgins carrying lighted candles. Saint Tarasius, the Archbishop of Constantinople, relates that Saint Anna said at that moment, "Begin the procession, O candle-bearing virgins, and go before me and the divine Maiden!"
The parents of the Holy Virgin, one on each side, took the daughter given them by God and gently led her forward with reverence. The multitude followed candles in hand, surrounding the Most Holy Virgin like stars around the brilliant moon, to the amazement of all Jerusalem. Of this, Saint Theophylact writes, "The daughter forgets her father's house and is led unto the King, Who greatly desires her beauty. She is brought forth in majesty, with splendor and honor, from her father's house as the people clap their hands, and her kindred and neighbors, bound to her parents by ties of affection, follow. Fathers rejoice with her father and mothers with her mother, while virgin maidens bearing candles go before the divine Maiden, shining like a circle of stars around the moon. All Jerusalem poured out into the streets to behold a procession such as had never before been seen and to gaze upon the three-year-old Maiden escorted in great glory, whose coming was heralded by the appearance of numerous lights. But it was not only citizens of the Jerusalem here below who hastened to behold the Wondrous Entry of the Most Pure Virgin Mary; the inhabitants of the Jerusalem on high, the Holy Angels, likewise assembled, and seeing the procession, were filled with awe, as the Church sings. 'Beholding the Entry of the All-Pure One, the Angels were stricken with amazement, seeing how the Virgin entered into the Holy of Holies.'
Joining with the visible choir of pure virgins, the unseen choir of bodiless intellects invisibly accompanied the Most-Pure Virgin Mary to the Holy Place, by the Lord's command encompassing her who is God's chosen vessel. Saint George, Archbishop of Nicomedia, writes: "As the Virgin's parents led her to the doors of the Temple, she was surrounded by Angels, and all the heavenly Hosts rejoiced. Although the Angels knew nothing of the power of this mystery, as the Lord's servants they obeyed His command to serve at her entry. They marveled when they saw that the Most-Pure Vessel of the virtues bore the tokens of everlasting purity and were amazed that while she was clothed in flesh, no stain of sin could ever draw near her; then they proceeded to do the will of the Lord and to perform what they had been instructed to do."
Thus the All-Undefiled Maiden was accompanied not only by men but also by Angels into the Temple of the Lord. And this was truly fitting; for if the ark of the Old Covenant, in which manna was placed, being a mere type of the Most-Pure Virgin, was accompanied by all the people of Israel when it was carried into the Tabernacle of the Lord, it was surely proper that the Living Ark, the Most-Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God, who carried within the Manna that is Christ, be escorted by both men and Angels.
An earthly king, the divine forefather David who reigned over Israel, preceded the Old Testament ark as it was carried into the Tabernacle; but before the Living Ark, the Most-Pure Virgin, went not a temporal king but the King of Heaven to Whom we pray every day, "Heavenly King, O Comforter the Spirit of Truth..." The Holy Church testifies in a hymn chanted on this day that it was indeed this King Who went before the daughter of the King, for she cries, "Led by the Holy Spirit, the Sacred and Undefiled Maiden is taken to dwell in the Holy of Holies." The ark was translated to the accompaniment of song since David instructed the chiefs of the Levites to have singers and players of pipes, the psaltery, harp, and timbrel sing and play joyously' but the entrance of the Most Holy Virgin was accompanied not by worldly music, but by the chanting of Angels. Escorting the Virgin as she went into the Holy Place to serve the Lord, the Choirs of Heaven lifted up their voices, as the Church chants in the Kontakion hymn for this day: "She bringeth with her the grace that is in the Divine Spirit, and the Angels of God chant praise unto her: 'She is indeed the heavenly tabernacle.'"
Nevertheless, human song was not altogether absent at the entry of the Most-Pure One, for in the Homily of Saint Tarasius, the righteous Anna says to the virgins who preceded the Virgin, "Chant her praises; play upon the harp; glorify her with spiritual songs; magnify her upon the psaltery of ten strings!" The Church also proclaims, "Joachim and Anna rejoice in spirit, and choirs of virgins sing to the Lord, chanting psalms and honoring His Mother." Thus it is clear that while the choir of virgins walked before the Most-Pure Virgin, they sang the psalms of David, as the composer of the canon for this day indicates, saying to the maidens, "O ye virgins who carry candles in your hands, begin your songs!" Moreover, according to Saint Tarasius, the Virgin's holy and righteous parents, Joachim and Anna, had this song of David the forefather upon their lips: "Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear; and forget thine own people and thy father's house, and the King shall greatly desire thy beauty." (Source: The Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints)
(To be continued)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George