Dear and Faithful Orthodox Christian,
We shall soon arrive at the Fortieth Day since the Nativity of Our Saviour. In fulfillment of the Law, Our Lady, the Mother of God together with Joseph, bring Our Saviour to the Temple, and there takes place the Encounter of the Lord with Saint Symeon and Saint Anna the Prophetess. Saint Symeon beholding Him, reveals that Christ is a ‘light of revelation to the Nations, and the glory of Thy people Israel.’
This Monday is the great Feast of the Meeting of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple, and we will celebrate with the All-night Vigil and Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral on Sunday night. At that celebration, we will also keep the very ancient tradition of blessing candles which we will then distribute to the faithful.
As we all prepare for the Feast, please read this short excerpt from a Homily of Saint Sophronius of Jerusalem which he gave on this day back in the early seventh century.
Many Years for the Feast!
Father Anthony
On Blessing Candles for the Feast of the Meeting of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple
By St. Sophronius of Jerusalem + 638 AD
Our lighted candles are a sign of the divine splendour of the one who comes to expel the dark shadows of evil and to make the whole universe radiant with the brilliance of His eternal light. Our candles also show how bright our souls should be when we go to meet Christ.
The Mother of God, the most pure Virgin, carried the true Light in her arms and brought Him to those who lay in darkness. We too should carry a light for all to see and reflect the radiance of the true light as we hasten to meet Him.
The Light has come and has shone upon a world enveloped in shadows; the Dayspring from on high has visited us and given light to those who lived in darkness. This, then, is our feast, and we join in procession with lighted candles to reveal the light that has shone upon us and the glory that is yet to come to us through Him. So let us hasten all together to meet our God.
The true Light has come, the light that enlightens every man who is born into this world. Let all of us, my brethren, be enlightened and made radiant by this light. Let all of us share in its splendour, and be so filled with it that no one remains in the darkness. Let us be shining ourselves as we go together to meet and to receive with the aged Symeon the Light whose brilliance is eternal.
Rejoicing with Symeon, let us sing a hymn of thanksgiving to God, the Father of the light, who sent the true Light to dispel the darkness and to give us all a share in his splendour.
Through Symeon’s eyes we too have seen the salvation of God which he prepared for all the nations and revealed as the glory of the new Israel, which is ourselves. As Simeon was released from the bonds of this life when he had seen Christ, so we too were at once freed from our old state of sinfulness.
By faith we, too embraced, Christ, the salvation of God the Father, as he came to us from Bethlehem. Gentiles before, we have now become the people of God. Our eyes have seen God incarnate, and because we have seen him present among us and have mentally received him into our arms, we are called the new Israel.
Never shall we forget this presence; every year we keep a feast in His honour.
Today we gather to celebrate the birth in the flesh of the Son of God. Angels sang, shepherds came from their fields to worship and Magi journeyed a great distance to adore a Babe laid in a manger poor, cold and in swaddling bands, this tiny Babe Who is Lord of all creation. And what caused Him to empty Himself and take on our lowly human form? His inexhaustible love for His creatures. Man had disobeyed, had gone after false gods and rejected Him; and yet His love for us is so great that it causes Him to become incarnate and to labour and suffer all that He did, that He might bring us back to the Father. He has bestowed on us incalculable riches, which we can gain if we but strive to live in accordance with His commandments. The beauty and depth of our services are beyond compare. The means of acquiring grace are constantly with our reach. Every phase of our life has a blessing attached to it. And all this started in that humble cave and lowly manger. Let us hasten there in spirit to worship with the shepherds and with the Magi offer gifts to the new born King: a loving and humble heart, a grateful disposition and fervent prayer for one another.