Fun Fact - November 2015

Back on September 8, we celebrated the Nativity (birth) of the Virgin Mary. And this month, on November 21, we celebrate the fulfillment of the vow her parents, the “Holy and Righteous Ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna,” made in asking God to give them a child in their old age and in their barrenness. They had promised that, if God would give them this gift, this blessing, they would dedicate their child to His service.

This is from the ancient account of Mary’s early life, the “Protoevangelium of James”:

And the child was two years old, and Joachim said: “Let us take her up to the temple of the Lord, that we may pay the vow that we have vowed, lest perchance the Lord send to us [i.e., warn us of taking too long to fulfill our vow], and our offering be not received.” And Anna said: “Let us wait for the third year, in order that the child may not seek for father or mother.” And Joachim said: “So let us wait.”

And the child was three years old, and Joachim said: “Invite the daughters of the Hebrews that are undefiled, and let them take each a lamp, and let them stand with the lamps burning, that the child may not turn back, and her heart be captivated from the temple of the Lord.”

And they did so until they went up into the temple of the Lord. And the priest received her, and kissed her, and blessed her, saying: “The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, on the last of the days, the Lord will manifest His redemption to the sons of Israel.”

And he set her down upon the third step of the altar, and the Lord God sent grace upon her; and she danced with her feet, and all the house of Israel loved her. And her parents went down marveling, and praising the Lord God, because the child had not turned back. And Mary was in the temple of the Lord as if she were a dove that dwelt there, and she received food from the hand of an angel.

So each year on November 21, we celebrate the Great Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, just as the church has celebrated this feast from ancient times.