Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple
Service Schedule at St John's:
Thursday November 20, 2008 6:00 pm - Vigil of Entrance
Friday November 21, 2008 9:30 am - Divine Liturgy
Introduction
According to the tradition of the Church, the Theotokos was brought to the Temple at three years of age, where she was consecrated to God and spent her days until she was fourteen or fifteen years old; and then, as a mature maiden, by the common counsel of the priests (since her parents had reposed some three years before), she was betrothed to Joseph.
Biblical Story
Exodus 40:1-5, 9-10, 16, 34-35 RSV, especially vss.1-3: "The Lord said to Moses, 'On the first day of the first month you shall erect the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. And you shall put in it the ark of the testimony, and you shall screen the ark with the veil.'" One of the hymns at the Vespers of the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos declares: "Today the living temple of holy glory, the glory of Christ our God, who alone is blessed and
undefiled, is presented in the Mosaic Temple, to live in its holy precincts. Wherefore, Joachim and Anna rejoice now with her in spirit, and the ranks of virgins praise the Lord with songs honoring His Mother." Of course, the "living temple," of whom the hymn speaks, is the Holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The event described in the hymn is Saint Mary's entrance as a three year old child into the precincts of the ancient Jewish Temple in Jerusalem to remain there in residence through her youth. The details of the occasion are recorded in two apocryphal gospels, Pseudo-James and Pseudo-Matthew, pious literature written in Syria perhaps as early as the second century AD, but no later than the fourth century AD.
The apocryphal gospel of Pseudo-James begins its narrative with Mary's conception and birth as an answer to the fasting, prayers, and devout offerings of her heretofore barren parents. Her mother, Anna, childless after many years of marriage, vowed before an angel of the Lord that "if I beget either male or female, I will bring it as a gift to the Lord my God; and it shall minister to Him in holy things all the days of its life." At this same time, Joachim, Mary's father, after a long, forty-day fast in the desert, was told by an angel, "the Lord God hath heard thy prayers. Go down hence; for, behold, thy wife Anna shall conceive." And Anna brought forth a girl-child.
When the child was one year old, "Joachim made a great feast and invited the priests, and the scribes, and the elders and all the people of Israel; and they blessed her, saying: O God of our fathers, bless this child, and give her an everlasting name to be named in all generations." Then, when the child was two years of age, the couple decided to wait one more year before taking her to the Temple to give her to the Lord. Finally, in Mary's third year, "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."
At the Temple, she did not turn back, but entered joyfully as "the priest received her, and kissed her, and blessed her saying....In thee on the last of the days, the Lord will manifest His redemption to the sons of Israel. And," as the narrative notes, "Mary was in the Temple of the Lord as if she were a dove that dwelt there" until she was twelve when she was put into the care of the noble widower, Joseph, who received her and provided for her under the Lord's protection.
The vesperal reading from Exodus describes how the very first and all of the subsequent Tabernacles, or Temples of the Lord, were to be arranged, all in accordance with the word of the Lord to the Prophet Moses, their devoted nature being manifested by their anointing, that they should "become holy" (vs. 9). In the heart of the tabernacle, Moses was to place the ark of the testimony, screened off and separated from common view with a veil (vs. 3). These
arrangements form a type of the life of the Holy Virgin Mary herself, the "Maiden of God, the Theotokos" who was "forechosen from all generations for the abode of Christ, King of All."
Let us praise her with songs who hath been manifest as Theotokos, for today she is offered to the
Lord in the Temple as a child, as spiritual fruit to the righteous God.
Icon of the Feast
The scene found on the icon takes place in the inner court of the Temple. Joachim and Anne escort the child, Mary, to the steps, where Zacharias stands. Mary stretches her hand to the priest, who reaches to receive it and guide her to the Holy of Holies. She is reflected as a child only in stature, as she has a profound wisdom and purity. The figures of the high priest and the holy family are at the forefront of the image, as the presentation to the Temple is the main event. In some icons of the Entrance of the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary is portrayed in the upper left corner, seated in the Temple's Holy of Holies, but this is not seen in the image above. In the background we see the other Temple buildings.
