In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
Greetings, dear brothers and sisters, on the great feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple!
The events of this feast, along with some others concerning the life of the Mother of God, are not described in the canonical Gospels, but the Church knows of the so-called Apocrypha. These are collected stories from the childhood of the Savior, the Mother of God, and partly Christ’s sermons. The Church does not recognize these Apocrypha as part of the Holy Scriptures because they do not always agree with the spirit of the Gospel. In the canonical Gospels we read that Christ healed, raised from the dead, comforted, and even when He was angry in a human way, expelling merchants from the Temple or denouncing the Pharisees, it was not associated with anything destructive. The only thing the Lord allowed Himself was cursing the fig tree, which then withered away. But, as the theologians explain, it was done in order to clearly show man the consequences of his unreasonable acts.
In the Apocrypha, for instance, there is the following story about Christ the Child. As a Boy Christ gets angry for some reason, stamps His foot, and the bird that was the cause of His irritation dies. Beyond all doubt, such a narrative contradicts the Gospel spirit.
But the Apocrypha also contain stories and legends common in the Middle East, passed down by word of mouth and known to many.
For example, the Protoevangelium of James acquaints us with the events of today’s feast. The Virgin Mary was miraculously born to elderly parents, and they vowed to dedicate Her to God. It is written in the Apocrypha that parents could already send their child to the Temple usually by the age of two, but St. Anna asked St. Joachim to wait for another year so that the Maiden would not miss Her parents at the Temple. But probably the elderly Anna just wanted to spend one more year with her daughter Mary.
Joachim and Anna called together their acquaintances, lit candles and solemnly came to the Temple in Jerusalem. This event was quite ordinary—children were often dedicated to God. There were two wings at the Temple: the women’s wing, where girls and very young maidens were brought up, and the men’s wing, where boys dedicated to God were brought up. And little Mary was met there by the high priest: according to tradition, it was St. Zechariah, the father of St. John the Baptist. He took Her up the steps of the Temple. Some of these steps still exist, although the Temple is long gone. These steps are shown to visitors to Jerusalem today.
Tradition has it that the Maiden ascended these steps quite easily. Although the Protoevangelium of James does not provide any details, we know from other traditions that the high priest, violating norms and laws of the time, took Mary into the Holy of Holies, where he himself could enter only once a year. On that day not even he could go in there, much less let someone else in. This prohibition was very strict and serious. But St. Zechariah took the three-year-old Mary into the Holy of Holies.
Critics of this tradition believe that the high priest took the Maiden into the first, so-called women’s part. But we also know that there is such thing as guidance by the Holy Spirit. Having lived an extremely long life, the holy Elder Simeon the God-Receiver came, guided by the Holy Spirit, on the very day when the Infant Christ was taken into the Temple, and we celebrate the feast of the Meeting of the Lord to commemorate this event. We also know how two boys were once brought to St. Ambrose of Optina, and the elder took a blessing from one of them. With time that boy became a bishop, and this was revealed to St. Ambrose by the Spirit of God. When the future Elder John (Krestiankin) was eight years old, a bishop predicted that he would become a monk (but this would not happen soon) and serve as a priest—and his words came true.
We have the following words in one church hymn: “When God so wills, the laws of nature are overthrown.” That is, even the laws of nature can be violated by the will of God. For example, we know from the Holy Scriptures that the sun stops through the prayers of the righteous. For us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ there is nothing surprising here.
One of the early traditions has preserved information on Mary’s daily routine. Like other maidens who lived at the Temple, She would get up at dawn and pray inside the Temple until the morning sacrifice, which took place around nine in the morning our time. Then She would go to Her room, read the Holy Scriptures and study them. Then, at about twelve in the afternoon, Mary would go, as we would say now, to perform Her obedience—this was embroidery. According to some ancient sources, Mary embroidered both the veil of the Temple and vestments for the priests in the Old Testament Temple. After three in the afternoon Mary would spend time in stillness and silence. According to tradition, at this time the Archangel Gabriel would come to Her and instruct Her. That is why on the day of the Annunciation Mary met the Archangel Gabriel as a good friend and accepted the Glad Tidings from his lips.
What does the feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple mean to us, dear brothers and sisters? Of course, the meaning of this feast is deep and edifying. The Mother of God spent most of her time acquiring Knowledge of God until about the age of twelve. It was prayer, work, and studying the Holy Scriptures. Her life was whole and chaste in every way. As for us, we often have one life in church and another outside church. That is why it is difficult for us to focus on prayer without being distracted by extraneous thoughts, and outside the church walls it is hard for us to refuse to be involved in judging and arguments.
What else can serve as an example for us from the life of the Most Holy Theotokos? Her daily schedule! Nine in the morning is the time when most of us are already awake, even in a big city. Nine in the morning in our time corresponds to the third hour in the Bible. The third hour is the time when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles. Therefore, let’s make it our habit to say, for instance, “O Heavenly King” every day at nine in the morning in addition to our daily prayers. And not mutter it, as we do, but say it with concentration, seriously, and with a deep entreaty to God to send us the Holy Spirit for this day.
At twelve in the afternoon the Orthodox Church commemorates the events associated with the Crucifixion of the Savior. And we can also read the prayer “Our Father” three times attentively and slowly.
Three in the afternoon in our time is the moment of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. At this time we can read psalm 50 or the prayer “Our Father” three times. The martyred Priest Daniel Sysoev said: “Imagine that at three in the afternoon a big row is brewing at work, and you are about to participate in it. And suddenly you remember that you need to say a prayer. You read the ‘Our Father’, focus on the words, ‘and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ All your fire goes out, and you think, ‘Why do we need this argument? Why do we need this discord now?’”
In the evening we can read a prayer from the church services, for example, “O Gentle Light...” This is one of the oldest Christian prayers, a song that appeared at the dawn of Christianity: “O Gentle Light of the holy glory of the immortal, Heavenly, holy, blessed Father, O Jesus Christ!”
We modern Christians know a lot—we have YouTube, social media, many websites where sermons and lectures by famous priests are posted. To some extent, we are even oversaturated with this theological information, but our lives are not getting better, nor are we improving. Such simple moments can do a great deal together with the acquired knowledge that is vital for our spiritual state.
Igumen Pavel (Polukov)
The Most Holy Theotokos was taken into the Holy of Holies also because the prohibition on entering there was a reminder of the gulf between God and man that appeared after the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. But the Mother of God Who was the Precursor of goodwill, which is mentioned in today’s prayer for the feast, that this gulf will disappear, because Christ will come and take upon Himself the sins of the entire world.
Brothers and sisters, today’s feast is our great hope, and together with the Apostles we can say: “O Most Holy Mother of God, help us!” Amen.
