Feast Day: November 21st
About the Entrance into the Temple of Our Most Holy Mother of God: When the Most Holy Virgin Mary reached the age of three, her Holy parents Joachim and Anna took her from Nazareth to Jerusalem to dedicate her to the service of God according to their earlier promise… Fifteen steps led up to the Temple. Joachim and Anna lifted the Virgin onto the first step, then she ran quickly to the top herself, where she was met by the High Priest Zacharias, who was to be the father of Saint John the Forerunner…
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Prayers
Apolytikion: Today is the prelude of God’s good pleasure, and the proclamation of humanity’s Salvation. In the Temple of God, the Virgin is presented openly, and in herself she announces Christ to all. Let us, then, with a great voice cry aloud to her: “Rejoice, you are the fulfillment of the Creator’s dispensation.”
Kontakion: The Saviourʹs Most Pure and Immaculate Temple, the very precious Bridal Chamber and Virgin, who is the Sacred Treasure of the Glory of God, on this day is introduced into the House of the Lord, and with herself she brings the Grace in the Divine Spirit. She is extolled by the Angels of God. A Heavenly Tabernacle is she.
Oikos: Seeing the Grace of God’s ineffable and Divine Mysteries evident and manifestly fulfilled in the Virgin, I rejoice; and I am at a loss to understand the ineffable and strange manner in which the Immaculate Maid alone proved to be chosen above all creation visible and invisible. Therefore, wishing to extol her, I am greatly perplexed in mind and speech. Nevertheless I dare to do it, and I proclaim and magnify: A Heavenly Tabernacle is she.
Doxastikon: Today has dawned a day of joy, and an all-reverent feast, for today, she who was a Virgin before giving birth, and remained a Virgin after giving birth, is led to the Temple. And Zacharias the Priest, the begetter of the Forerunner, cries out with joy: “The promise of those who suffer has come to the Holy Temple as one Holy, to be dedicated to become the dwelling place of the King of All.” Let Joachim the Forefather be glad, and Anna exalt, for the spotless Lady is offered to God as a three-year-old calf. O mothers, rejoice together, O virgins, skip for joy, and O barren ones, dance together, for the Kingdom of the Heavens has been opened to us, she who was preordained to be the Queen of All. Rejoice, O people, and exalt.
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“Saint Theophylact of Ohrid says that Zacharias “was outside himself and possessed by God” when he led the Virgin into the Holiest place in the Temple, beyond the second curtain – otherwise, his action could not be explained.” – Saint Nikolai Velimivoric