Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

            In the Feast of the Entrance of the Most-Holy Theotokos into the Temple—the Tradition, the hymnography, the theology—the Church discloses some of her richest symbolism and draws upon a wealth of Old Testament parallelism. In the events of the Entrance, historically-speaking, the Church witnesses a number of Old Testament antitypes fulfilled: the Temple, the Ark of the Covenant, Aaron’s rod that budded, to name a few. If you will recall, the Feast of the Entrance commemorates the events recorded in the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal work, which details the birth of the Virgin Mary, the child of the once childless, Ss. Joachim and Anna, and her presentation in the Temple, among other things (an account of the birth of Christ is also recorded in the Protoevangelium, as well the death of St. Zachariah, the father of St. John the Baptist). Let’s review these details together, in brief.

            St. Anna is barren. St. Joachim is without heir. Both are advanced in age, and their likelihood of ever having children is diminishing, even momentarily. They call on God for help. St. Joachim goes into the wilderness to pray. St. Anna, in a state of deep lamentation, also prays to God. Their prayers are heard, and an angel declares to St. Anna that she will bear a child (you will notice here some clear parallels to our Lord’s own birth narrative). When Mary is born, Ss. Joachim and Anna dedicate her to God, and St. Anna vows that she will not only be dedicated to God in theory (as one might say, “I dedicate my life to this or that cause… .”). Rather, St. Anna vows that her daughter will be given to God, to be reared in the Temple of God. Can you recall here an Old Testament parallel? How about the birth of the Prophet Samuel? Elkanah’s wife, Hannah (Khanah, “grace”; it is the same name as St. Anna’s; hers is a diminutive of “Hannah”), was childless. She made a vow to the Lord:

“Lord, Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life…” (1 Sam 1:11).

So, Samuel was born to Elkanah and Hannah, and he was taken to the “house of the Lord at Shiloh” (v. 24), to the priest Eli, along with a three-year old bull.  And Hannah says to Eli,

“I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord” (1 Sam 1: 27-28a).

Elkanah and Hannah are childless. God gives them a child. That child is dedicated to the service of the Lord. Ss. Joachim and Anna are childless. God gives them a child—the Most-Holy Theotokos. That child is dedicated to the service of the Lord. This parallelism runs even deeper though. We could go on almost ad nauseum: Samuel in conjunction with the Ark of the Covenant; Mary as a type of the Ark; the “three-year old bull” brought to Shiloh with Samuel; Mary as the “three-year old offering” to the Lord. Do you remember the calling of Samuel by the Lord?

“Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, ‘Here I am. … Speak for your servant is listening’” (1 Sam 3:3-4, 10b, italics mine).

And do you remember the dialogue between the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin at the time of the Annunciation?

“Hail, Thou who art full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art Thou among women! … [And Mary in response:] Behold, the servant of the Lord; may it be unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1: 28, 38).

Barrenness. Prayer. A blessing by the hand of God. Gratitude. Dedication. A servant in the house of the Lord. Now, let us return to the Protoevangelium. Ss. Joachim and Anna bring Mary to live in the Temple of the Lord. She is received by the priest Zachariah and taken into the Holy of Holies, where she is fed bread by the hands of angels for the next nine years, at which time, she is given into the care of St. Joseph.

            In the Epistle Reading for the Feast, we hear St. Paul recount in Hebrews:

“Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared… and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had… the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail” (Heb 9: 1, 3-5).

“For a tabernacle was prepared.” Here the Apostle speaks plainly and literally about the Temple in Jerusalem, and its architectural features, and its holy objects: the veil, the lampstand, the Ark. But symbolically, the Apostle speaks of the Most-Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. Hence, he says, in reverence and awe, “Of these things we cannot now speak in detail” (v. 5). “For a tabernacle was prepared… .” Listen, brethren, to St. Stephen’s speech in Acts, chapter 7:

“So, it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands…” (Acts 7:46-48, italics mine).

Do not miss the wordplay here, brethren! “So it was until the days of David, who found ‘favor’ in the sight of God.” Do you know what this word “favor” is? In Greek, Kharin (in the accusative case; but in the nominative, Kharis), “grace.” Khana in Hebrew; Kharis in Greek. Khana, Hannah, Anna, grace. “So, it was until the days of David, who found [‘Hannah’, ‘Anna’] in the sight of God.” Follow me now! From the Protoevangelium:

“And, behold, an angel of the Lord stood by, saying, “Anna, Anna, the Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive, and shall bring forth; and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world” (Prot Jas 4.1).

David, the King and Prophet of the Lord, according to St. Stephen Martyr, foresaw the birth of the Theotokos! He foresaw the construction of the temple of God, not made with hands, for “the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands” (v. 48). Rather, the Lord chose to dwell in a Virgin’s womb, and to take flesh of her, for the salvation of mankind.

            Our Most-Holy Lady Theotokos is the fulfillment and the derivative of the Old Testament tabernacle, the sanctuary, the Ark of the Covenant. She is the Holy of Holies! Do you understand? She did not merely dwell in the Holy of Holies; this locus behind the veil was only a precursor to the one who stood therein. The true Holy of Holies is not a geographical location, a longitude and latitude, a veiled room! Rather, the true Holy of Holies is our Most-Holy Lady Theotokos! She is the one who is of Khana, “Anna” and full of Khana; she is “of Anna,” her mother, and full of grace by virtue of her sinless disposition. She sees the Ark of the Covenant, plated in gold, arrayed in splendor, adorned with cherubim, and she becomes the True Ark, “more honorable than cherubim,” the kapōreṯ, the “mercy seat,” the throne of the incarnate God. She is nourished by bread from heaven, and she gives birth to “the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever…,” says the Theologian, quoting our Lord (John 6:51). She enters into the temple of God to become the temple of the living God, and as such, to become the aspiration of all the faithful, for though she be Panagia, the “All-Holy One,” she is nonetheless an example and a realization of the Apostle’s commendation: “Do you not know that you [believer!] are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor 3:16, italics mine).

The Incarnate God, brethren, dwelt in our Most-Pure Mother. And the Spirit of God, believer, dwells in you.

“Today is the prelude of the good will of God / of the preaching of the salvation of mankind. / The Virgin appears in the temple of God, / in anticipation proclaiming Christ to all. / Let us rejoice / and sing to her: / ‘Rejoice, O Fulfillment of the Creator’s dispensation”’ (Troparion for the Feast, Tone 4).

Through the intercessions of our Most-Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen. 

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!