SS. Cyril & Methodius
Bulgarian Orthodox Mission
Entrance of the
Theotokos into the Temple
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Our services are held
at:
St. Luke Orthodox Church
6801 Georgetown Pike, McLean, VA 22101
A parish of the
Orthodox Church in America
Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple (Nov.
21)
According to Holy Tradition, the Entry
of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple took place in the following manner.
The parents of the Virgin Mary, Sts Joachim and Anna, praying for an end to
their childlessness, vowed that if a child were born to them, they would
dedicate it to the service of God.
When the Most Holy Virgin reached the age of three, the holy parents
decided to fulfill their vow. They gathered together their relatives and
acquaintances, and dressed the All-Pure Virgin in Her finest clothes. Singing
sacred songs and with lighted candles in their hands, virgins escorted Her to
the Temple (Ps. 44/45:14-15). There the High Priest and several priests met the
handmaiden of God. In the Temple, fifteen high steps led to the sanctuary,
which only the priests and High Priest could enter. (Because they recited a
Psalm on each step, Psalms 119/120-133/134 are called "Psalms of
Ascent.") The child Mary, so it seemed, could not make it up this
stairway. But just as they placed Her on the first step, strengthened by the
power of God, She quickly went up the remaining steps and ascended to the
highest one. Then the High Priest, through inspiration from above, led the Most
Holy Virgin into the Holy of Holies, where only the High Priest entered once a
year to offer a purifying sacrifice of blood. Therefore, all those present in
the Temple were astonished at this most unusual occurrence.
After entrusting their child to the Heavenly Father, Joachim and Anna
returned home. The All-Holy Virgin remained in the quarters for virgins near
the Temple. According to the testimony of Holy Scripture (Exodus 38; 1 Kings 1:
28; Luke 2: 37), and also the historian Josephus Flavius, there were many
living quarters around the Temple, in which those who were dedicated to the
service of God dwelt.
The earthly life of the Most Holy Theotokos from Her infancy until She
was taken up to Heaven is shrouded in deep mystery. Her life at the Jerusalem
Temple was also a secret. "If anyone were to ask me," said St Jerome,
"how the Most Holy Virgin spent the time of Her youth, I would answer that
that is known to God Himself and the Archangel Gabriel, Her constant
guardian."
But there are accounts in Church Tradition, that during the All-Pure
Virgin's stay at the Temple, She grew up in a community of pious virgins,
diligently read the Holy Scripture, occupied Herself with handicrafts, prayed
constantly, and grew in love for God. From ancient times, the Church has
celebrated the Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple.
Indications that the Feast was observed in the first centuries of Christianity
are found in the traditions of Palestinian Christians, which say that the holy
Empress Helen (May 21) built a church in honor of the Entry of the Most Holy
Theotokos into the Temple.
St Gregory of Nyssa, in the fourth century, also mentions this Feast.
In the eighth century Sts Germanus and Tarasius, Patriarchs of Constantinople,
delivered sermons on the Feast of the Entry.
The Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple
foretells God's blessing for the human race, the preaching of salvation, the
promise of the coming of Christ.
DISCOURSE ON THE FEAST OF THE ENTRY OF OUR MOST PURE LADY THEOTOKOS
INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIE
by Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica
If a tree is known by its fruit, and a good tree bears good fruit (Mt.
7:17; Luke 6:44), then is not the Mother of Goodness Itself, She who bore the
Eternal Beauty, incomparably more excellent than every good, whether in this
world or the world above? Therefore, the coeternal and identical Image of
goodness, Preeternal, transcending all being, He Who is the preexisting and
good Word of the Father, moved by His unutterable love for mankind and compassion
for us, put on our image, that He might reclaim for Himself our nature which
had been dragged down to uttermost Hades, so as to renew this corrupted nature
and raise it to the heights of Heaven. For this purpose, He had to assume a
flesh that was both new and ours, that He might refashion us from out of
ourselves. Now He finds a Handmaiden perfectly suited to these needs, the
supplier of Her own unsullied nature, the Ever-Virgin now hymned by us, and
Whose miraculous Entrance into the Temple, into the Holy of Holies, we now
celebrate. God predestined Her before the ages for the salvation and reclaiming
of our kind. She was chosen, not just from the crowd, but from the ranks of the
chosen of all ages, renowned for piety and understanding, and for their God-pleasing
words and deeds.
In the beginning, there was one who rose up against us: the author of
evil, the serpent, who dragged us into the abyss. Many reasons impelled him to
rise up against us, and there are many ways by which he enslaved our nature:
envy, rivalry, hatred, injustice, treachery, slyness, etc. In addition to all
this, he also has within him the power of bringing death, which he himself
engendered, being the first to fall away from true life.
The author of evil was jealous of Adam, when he saw him being led from
earth to Heaven, from which he was justly cast down. Filled with envy, he
pounced upon Adam with a terrible ferocity, and even wished to clothe him with
the garb of death. Envy is not only the begetter of hatred, but also of murder,
which this truly man-hating serpent brought about in us. For he wanted to be
master over the earth-born for the ruin of that which was created in the image
and likeness of God. Since he was not bold enough to make a face to face
attack, he resorted to cunning and deceit. This truly terrible and malicious
plotter pretended to be a friend and useful adviser by assuming the physical
form of a serpent, and stealthily took their position. By his God-opposing
advice, he instills in man his own death-bearing power, like a venomous poison.
If Adam had been sufficiently strong to keep the divine commandment,
then he would have shown himself the vanquisher of his enemy, and withstood his
deathly attack. But since he voluntarily gave in to sin, he was defeated and
was made a sinner. Since he is the root of our race, he has produced us as
death-bearing shoots. So, it was necessary for us, if he were to fight back
against his defeat and to claim victory, to rid himself of the death-bearing
venomous poison in his soul and body, and to absorb life, eternal and
indestructible life.
It was necessary for us to have a new root for our race, a new Adam,
not just one Who would be sinless and invincible, but one Who also would be
able to forgive sins and set free from punishment those subject to it. And not
only would He have life in Himself, but also the capacity to restore to life,
so that He could grant to those who cleave to Him and are related to Him by
race both life and the forgiveness of their sins, restoring to life not only
those who came after Him, but also those who already had died before Him.
Therefore, St Paul, that great trumpet of the Holy Spirit, exclaims, "the
first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening
spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45).
Except for God, there is no one who is without sin, or life-creating,
or able to remit sin. Therefore, the new Adam must be not only Man, but also
God. He is at the same time life, wisdom, truth, love, and mercy, and every
other good thing, so that He might renew the old Adam and restore him to life
through mercy, wisdom and righteousness. These are the opposites of the things
which the author of evil used to bring about our aging and death.
As the slayer of mankind raised himself against us with envy and
hatred, so the Source of life was lifted up [on the Cross] because of His
immeasurable goodness and love for mankind. He intensely desired the salvation
of His creature, i.e., that His creature would be restored by Himself. In
contrast to this, the author of evil wanted to bring God's creature to ruin,
and thereby put mankind under his own power, and tyrannically to afflict us.
And just as he achieved the conquest and the fall of mankind by means of
injustice and cunning, by deceit and his trickery, so has the Liberator brought
about the defeat of the author of evil, and the restoration of His own creature
with truth, justice and wisdom.
It was a deed of perfect justice that our nature, which was voluntarily
enslaved and struck down, should again enter the struggle for victory and cast
off its voluntary enslavement. Therefore, God deigned to receive our nature
from us, hypostatically uniting with it in a marvelous way. But it was
impossible to unite that Most High Nature, Whose purity is incomprehensible for
human reason, to a sinful nature before it had been purified. Therefore, for
the conception and birth of the Bestower of purity, a perfectly spotless and
Most Pure Virgin was required.
Today we celebrate the memory of those things that contributed, if only
once, to the Incarnation. He Who is God by nature, the Co-unoriginate and
Coeternal Word and Son of the Transcendent Father, becomes the Son of Man, the
Son of the Ever-Virgin. "Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today, and
forever" (Heb. 13:8), immutable in His divinity and blameless in His
humanity, He alone, as the Prophet Isaiah prophesied, "practiced no
iniquity, nor deceit with His lips" (Is. 53: 9). He alone was not brought
forth in iniquity, nor was He conceived in sin, in contrast to what the Prophet
David says concerning himself and every other man (Ps. 50/51: 5). Even in what
He assumes, He is perfectly pure and has no need to be cleansed Himself. But
for our sake, He accepted purification, suffering, death and resurrection, that
He might transmit them to us.
God is born of the spotless and Holy Virgin, or better to say, of the
Most Pure and All-Holy Virgin. She is above every fleshly defilement, and even
above every impure thought. Her conceiving resulted not from fleshly lust, but
by the overshadowing of the Most Holy Spirit. Such desire being utterly alien
to Her, it is through prayer and spiritual readiness that She declared to the
angel: "Behold the handmaiden of the Lord; be it unto Me according to thy
word" (Luke 1:38), and that She conceived and gave birth. So, in order to
render the Virgin worthy of this sublime purpose, God marked this ever-virgin
Daughter now praised by us, from before the ages, and from eternity, choosing
Her from out of His elect.
Turn your attention then, to where this
choice began. From the sons of Adam God chose the wondrous Seth, who showed
himself a living heaven through his becoming behavior, and through the beauty
of his virtues. That is why he was chosen, and from whom the Virgin would
blossom as the divinely fitting chariot of God. She was needed to give birth
and to summon the earth-born to heavenly sonship. For this reason also all the
lineage of Seth were called "sons of God," because
from this lineage a son of man would be born the Son of God. The name Seth
signifies a rising or resurrection, or more specifically, it signifies the
Lord, Who promises and gives immortal life to all who believe in Him.
And how precisely exact is this parallel! Seth was born of Eve, as she
herself said, in place of Abel, whom Cain killed through jealousy (Gen. 4:25);
and Christ, the Son of the Virgin, was born for us in place of Adam, whom the
author of evil also killed through jealousy. But Seth did not resurrect Abel,
since he was only a type of the resurrection. But our Lord Jesus Christ
resurrected Adam, since He is the very Life and the Resurrection of the
earth-born, for whose sake the descendents of Seth are granted divine adoption
through hope, and are called the children of God. It was because of this hope
that they were called sons of God, as is evident from the one who was first
called so, the successor in the choice. This was Enos, the son of Seth, who as
Moses wrote, first hoped to call on the Name of the Lord (Gen. 4:26).
In this manner, the choice of the future Mother of God, beginning with
the very sons of Adam and proceeding through all the generations of time,
through the Providence of God, passes to the Prophet-king David and the
successors of his kingdom and lineage. When the chosen time had come, then from
the house and posterity of David, Joachim and Anna are chosen by God. Though
they were childless, they were by their virtuous life and good disposition the
finest of all those descended from the line of David. And when in prayer they
besought God to deliver them from their childlessness, and promised to dedicate
their child to God from its infancy. By God Himself, the Mother of God was
proclaimed and given to them as a child, so that from such virtuous parents the
all-virtuous child would be raised. So in this manner, chastity joined with
prayer came to fruition by producing the Mother of virginity, giving birth in
the flesh to Him Who was born of God the Father before the ages.
Now, when Righteous Joachim and Anna saw that they had been granted
their wish, and that the divine promise to them was realized in fact, then they
on their part, as true lovers of God, hastened to fulfill their vow given to
God as soon as the child had been weaned from milk. They have now led this truly
sanctified child of God, now the Mother of God, this Virgin into the Temple of
God. And She, being filled with Divine gifts even at such a tender age, ...
She, rather than others, determined what was being done over Her. In Her manner
She showed that She was not so much presented into the Temple, but that She
Herself entered into the service of God of her own accord, as if she had wings,
striving towards this sacred and divine love. She considered it desirable and
fitting that she should enter into the Temple and dwell in the Holy of Holies.
Therefore, the High Priest, seeing that this child, more than anyone
else, had divine grace within Her, wished to set Her within the Holy of Holies.
He convinced everyone present to welcome this, since God had advanced it and
approved it. Through His
angel, God assisted the Virgin and sent Her mystical food, with which She was
strengthened in nature, while in body She was brought to maturity and was made
purer and more exalted than the angels, having the Heavenly spirits as
servants. She was led into the Holy of Holies not just once, but was accepted
by God to dwell there with Him during Her youth, so that through Her, the
Heavenly Abodes might be opened and given for an eternal habitation to those
who believe in Her miraculous birthgiving.
So it is, and this is why She, from the beginning of time, was chosen
from among the chosen. She Who is manifest as the Holy of Holies, Who has a
body even purer than the spirits purified by virtue, is capable of receiving
... the Hypostatic Word of the Unoriginate Father. Today the Ever-Virgin Mary,
like a Treasure of God, is stored in the Holy of Holies, so that in due time,
(as it later came to pass) She would serve for the enrichment of, and an
ornament for, all the world. Therefore, Christ God also glorifies His Mother,
both before, and also after His birth.
We who understand the salvation begun for our sake through the Most Holy
Virgin, give Her thanks and praise according to our ability. And truly, if the
grateful woman (of whom the Gospel tells us), after hearing the saving words of
the Lord, blessed and thanked His Mother, raising her voice above the din of
the crowd and saying to Christ, "Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and
the paps Thou hast sucked" (Luke 11:27), then we who have the words of
eternal life written out for us, and not only the words, but also the miracles
and the Passion, and the raising of our nature from death, and its ascent from
earth to Heaven, and the promise of immortal life and unfailing salvation, then
how shall we not unceasingly hymn and bless the Mother of the Author of our
Salvation and the Giver of Life, celebrating Her conception and birth, and now
Her Entry into the Holy of Holies?
Now, brethren, let us remove ourselves from earthly to celestial things.
Let us change our path from the flesh to the spirit. Let us change our desire
from temporal things to those that endure. Let us scorn fleshly delights, which
serve as allurements for the soul and soon pass away. Let us desire spiritual
gifts, which remain undiminished. Let us turn our reason and our attention from
earthly concerns and raise them to the inaccessible places of Heaven, to the
Holy of Holies, where the Mother of God now resides.
Therefore, in such manner our songs and prayers to Her will gain entry,
and thus through her mediation, we shall be heirs of the everlasting blessings
to come, through the grace and love for mankind of Him Who was born of Her for
our sake, our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory, honor and worship, together
with His Unoriginate Father and His Coeternal and Life-Creating Spirit, now and
ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
(Courtesy
of OCA.org)
Saints
Commemorated Today
23rd SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (9th of Luke)
— Tone 6. Afterfeast of the Entry Into the Temple. St. Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium (394). St.
Gregory, Bishop of Agrigentum (6th-7th c.). Repose of
Rt. Blv. Great Prince Alexander Nevsky, in schema Aleksy (1263). St. Mitroph‡n, in schema Mak‡ry, Bishop of Vor—nezh
(1703). Martyr Sisinius, Bishop of Cyzicus (3rd c.). Martyr Theodore
of Antioch (4th c.).
May Their Memory Be Eternal
The
Archbishop GREGORY;
the
Archimandrite Innocent;
the
Priests Peter, Homer, Ishmael, Elary, and Leo;
the
Presbyteras Mary, Elizabeth, Sophronia, Barbara, and Platonida;
the
Reader Robert Michael;
the
servants of God, George, Anna, Elena, Olivera, Helen, Christo, Radka, Dale, Philemon,
Carmel, Thomas, Thomas & Marion, Andrew & Irene, Stamatia & Peter,
Panigyoti & Marianthi, Ginka, Elvetizio & Eva, Vasili, Mary Ellen,
George, Christophor, Rada, Julia, and Mary;
(If you wish to add a name to
this list, please contact Fr. Timothy)
Those Who Are In Need of Prayer
Priests
Photius, Joseph, Anthony, Mileta, Milorad, and Joseph;
Presbyteras
Artemis, Marie, Miriam, & Alexandra;
The
servants of God, Jose, Kasia, Catherine, Mathew, Elisabeth, Stella, Helen, Venko,
Tanya, Petya, Charlie, Vera, Magdalena, Bojanka, Albana, Yekaterina, Sasha,
John, Carmeta, Charlie, and Patricia.
(If you wish to add a name to
this list, please contact Fr. Timothy)
Schedule of Services
(All
Services begin at 2:00)
Sunday, December 7 St. Nicholas the
Wonderworker
Sunday, December 21 Forefeast of the
Nativity of Christ
Sunday, January 4 Forefeast
of Theophany (Baptism of Christ)
December Parish Council Meeting
The next Monthly Parish Council
Meeting will be held this Thursday evening, December 11 at St. Luke Orthodox
Church in MacLean, VA. The meeting
will begin at 7:00 PM and will end promptly at 9:00 PM. Parishioners are welcome and encouraged
to attend the meeting but are respectfully reminded that only Parish Council
members may vote.
2009 Annual Parish Meeting
The Annual Parish Meeting will take place after the Divine
Liturgy on Sunday, January 18, 2009.
The Annual Parish Meeting agenda will include, 1/ TreasurerÕs Financial
Report on 2008, 2/ PriestÕs Report on 2008 and Outlook for 2009, 3/ Adoption of
2008 Annual Parish Meeting Minutes, 4/ Budget for 2009, 5/ Election of 2009
Parish Council members, and 6/ New Business (items proposed and accepted by the
Parish Council by January 4). Only
members of good standing may either stand for nomination to the Parish Council
and vote.
The Orthodox Church
in America
Elects New
Metropolitan
Most Blessed, JONAH
Archbishop of
Washington and New York
Metropolitan of All
America and Canada
On Wednesday, November
12, 2008, His Grace JONAH (Paffhausen), Bishop of Fort Worth was elected by the
15th All-America Council to serve as the third Metropolitan of the
OCA.
SS Cyril &
Methodius Bulgarian Orthodox Mission
Bulletin, November 23,
2008
OCA, Diocese of
Washington and New York