The Feast of the Annunciation is one of the earliest Christian feasts, and was already being celebrated in the fourth century. There is a painting of the Annunciation in the catacomb of Priscilla in Rome dating from the second century. The Council of Toledo in 656 mentions the Feast, and the…
Saint Anna was the daughter of the priest Matthan and his wife Mary. She was of the tribe of Levi and the lineage of Aaron. According to Tradition, she died peacefully in Jerusalem at age 79, before the Annunciation to the Most Holy Theotokos. During the reign of Saint Justinian the Emperor…
Today we celebrate the Forefeast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, and tomorrow is the Feast Day itself. A Forefeast is one or more days preceding certain major holidays, in order to prepare the faithful for the celebration of the actual Feast Day. In the Services, hymns…
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, Saints 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…
The Gospels and other books of the New Testament do not mention anything about Saint Anna, the mother of the Theotokos. According to Tradition, the priest Matthan (Matthew 1:15), a resident of Bethlehem, had three daughters: Mary,1 Sobe (Sobḗ), and Anna. Mary was married in Bethlehem, where she…
The church, which was the property of the patrician Anthony, was located in the courtyard of his home at Neorion.1 During its restoration, the church received miraculous grace, working many miracles for those who came to it with faith. After the patrician Anthony reposed, the church was abandoned…
The journey was made from the diocese of Zḗla (in Cappadocia) to Constantinople in the year 942, when the Emperors were Constantine and Romanos, the Porphyrogénnētoi.1 The Zone (Sash) was then placed in the Holy Soros2 of Chalkopratia on April 12. 1 Born in the purple. This refers to a room…