Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple

November 21 (Gregorian Calendar)
December 4 (Julian Calendar)

HISTORY OF THE FEAST

      This feast traces its origins to the tradition of the Church and apocryphal writings.

From these writings, the parents of Mary, being childless, made a promise to God that if they would have a child, they would offer him/her up the Lord’s service in the temple in the temple in Jerusalem.

The Lord blessed them with a daughter, Mary.  When Mary was three, her parents, Joachim and Anna, brought her to the Temple.  When Mary was presented, she was received by St. Zacharias, the father of St. John the Forerunner, as he was the High Priest at that time.  He took her by the hand and led her into, not only the Holy Place, but into the Holy of Holies.  This was the place that only the High Priest was to enter, and only on the Day of Atonement.  The only explanation for this is that he was moved by the Spirit of God.

Mary studied and served in the temple.  She wanted to remain in the Temple all her life and had no desire to marry, but the law had no provision for this.  It was unheard of for a girl to vow perpetual virginity.   When she was 14, Mary was betrothed, following a religious custom, to Joseph. She went to Nazareth with Joseph, where she continued her religious life of prayer and study.  It was there, in Nazareth, that Mary was visited by the angel who told her she would be the mother of Jesus, God’s Son.

The Virgin Mary is called the Theotokos, which in the Greek language means: “She who bears God”.

This Feast celebrates the entry of Mary into the life of the Temple. When Mary was three years old, Anna, her mother, brought her to the Temple, and dedicated her to God’s service.   It was customary for many young Jewish virgins and widows to live at the temple where they studied the Word of God and performed temple service.

Some mention is made to this feast in the 5^th century.  It was established in the 8^th century since mention of it as one of the twelve major feasts was made by the Patriarchs of Constantinople in their sermons as well as in the Sinai Gospel which Emperor Theodosius III donated to the Sinai Monastery.

The feast was universally recognized and celebrated by the East in the 9^th century.

In the West, the feast of the Entrance began to be celebrated in the 14^th century.  By the middle of the 15^th century it spread throughout all of Europe.

The feast of the Presentation is one of the 12 great feast days, having a one-day pre-feast and a four-day post-feast.

DID YOU KNOW?

• The encounter between Mary and Zechariah takes place in front of the porch of the “holy of holies”.
• Mary resembles a three-year-old only in size; she is an adult in miniature.
• The virgins who form the retinue have their heads uncovered as a sign of their virginity.
•  Mary wears a veil (maphorion), although she is a virgin and remains a virgin even in giving birth, because she has attained spiritual maturity and perfect union with God, even from a very early age.
• The Church as placed this feast at the beginning of the Philippian Fast when we relive the expectation of the Messiah by the Jewish people.  Mary represents all of Israel; she fulfills the promise.
• All of the hymns of this feast day celebrate this tradition which is not intended to give precise historical information, but to lift up the holiness of Mary and her spiritual preparation to receive Christ in her womb.