TEACHING ON THE DAY OF THE ENTRY INTO THE TEMPLE OF THE ALL-HOLY THEOTOKOS
IN ANCIENT TIMES, the Jews had a custom whereby in certain exceptional cases in family life, they would dedicate their children to the service of God. Usually it happened thus: they took the children, who were thus to be dedicated, to the Temple. There the priests blessed them, offered sacrifice to God and then took over their further education until they came of age. All those who were thus dedicated lived in the Temple precincts in quarters set aside for this purpose, occupying themselves with prayer, with the reading of the sacred Scriptures and with other studies that were appropriate to their sex and age.
The holy and righteous Joachim and Anna, though they had lived to deep old age, had no children, and they fervently prayed to God to grant them a child, whom they vowed to dedicate to the service of God. The Lord heard their prayer, and a daughter was borne to them, whom they named Mary. When the Virgin Mary reached three years of age, her parents hastened to fulfil their vow. It is true that the Law did not require such haste, but it was evident to all that the young child already sensed her high calling, and manifested an inclination to a pious disposition. Naturally it was hard for the parents to be separated from their daughter, but they evidently foresaw that before her their stood some exceptional ministry.
There is a touching tradition, which gives us the story of the Entry into the Temple of the All-holy Theotokos, in memory of which we are celebrating the present festival. On the appointed day the relatives of Joachim and Anna gathered in Jerusalem and then began the solemn, but at the same time unpretentious, procession of the the Living Ark [Mary] into the house of the Lord. Ahead of the All-holy Virgin, guided by their parents, went her companions, her contemporaries, all dressed in white and holding lighted candles, and accompanied by prayerful chanting; behind her came her parents and acquaintances. Before the doors of the Temple, there was a high stairway, comprising fifteen steps. When she was placed upon the first step, to the wonder of all present, without anyone supporting her, the Virgin Mary voluntarily ascended higher and higher until, on reaching the highest stage, she was met by the priests, headed by the High Priest. To the even greater wonder of those gathered there, the High Priest Zacharias, the father of St John the Baptist, moved by the Holy Spirit took the Most Blessed One into the Holy of Holies, into which he himself was only permitted to enter once a year, on the feast of the Purification. This even astonished the Angels, seeing how the Virgin entered into the Holy of Holies.
Shortly after this, Joachim and Anna departed to the Lord, and the All-holy Virgin, left at the Temple that she might raised before the Lord, grew ever stronger and stronger, and appeared like an angel in the flesh upon earth. Every day she entered the Temple itself and was permitted undisturbed to pray in the Holy of Holies, conversing with the Angels, who brought her heavenly nourishment, the which she gave to the poor, so that she should only receive in line with the others. Despite all these things, she in no way exalted herself, and she humbly fulfiled all the duties laid upon her, abiding in obedience to her instructors, the priests. At that time virginity was not considered to be such an exalted achievement as it now is, and consequently, when they came of age, all the virgins who were brought up at the Temple were given in marriage. However, the All-Immaculate Virgin, standing as it were on the very boundary of the Old and New Testaments, as the one who for the first time apprehended this virtue, gave a vow of virginity. The priests did not dare to counter such a strange resolution on the part of her whom they had brought up, but they did not know what to do. After some consideration, they found a recourse from their difficulty by betrothing her to a certain pious old man, Joseph, who was descended from the royal house of David, but who nonetheless lived in obscurity. He lived in the small Galilean town of Nazareth and worked as a carpenter. When she settled in with her ostensible husband, the All-holy Virgin helped him as the mistress of the house and, as she had done formerly, occupied herself with godly thoughts.
The are many instructive lessons which the record of the present festival gives us, and foremost among them it shows us that love, which we must needs have towards the house of the Lord. For the Mother of God, the Temple in Jerusalem was her dwelling place, where she desired to abide day and night, so that she might be in continuous prayerful communion with the Lord. One thing have I asked of the Lord, cries the holy Prophet and King David, this will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may behold the delight of the Lord, and that I may visit His holy temple (Ps.26:4). For her the Temple was a school, a source of joy, spiritual nourishment, a path on which she flew aloft much higher than every creature and became more honourable than the Cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim. After this, how could she not exclaim with the psalmist: How beloved are Thy dwellings, O Lord of hosts; my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord (Ps. 83:1). Wherefore: Better is one day in Thy courts (O Lord) than thousands elsewhere. I have chosen rather to be an outcast in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of sinners (Ps. 83:10-11). And if our parental home evokes in us such tender-feeling and love that under its roof we always find a quiet refuge, how can we not be drawn to the house of the Lord? Brethren, let us follow the example of the Mother of God, and always consider that attending God’s church is our first and most essential obligation. Amen.
From the Collection of Teachings of Archpriest Leonid Kolchev, published in Copenhagen in 1938
