Forefeast of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos
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 describing the festive event are sung.
According to Tradition, the righteous Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Virgin Mary, vowed to dedicate their child to God. When the girl was three years old, her parents brought her to the Temple at Jerusalem holding candles and singing Psalms.
Psalm 44/45: 10-17 foreshadows this event:
"Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear; forget also your people and your father’s house. Because the king has desired your beauty; for he is your Lord. And the daughter of Tyre shall adore with gifts; the rich of the people of the land shall supplicate your countenance. All her glory is that of the daughter of the king of Esebon, robed as she is golden fringed garments, in embroidered clothing; virgins shall be be brought to the king after her, her fellows shall be brought to you. They shall be brought with gladness and exaltation; they shall be led into the king's temple. Instead of your fathers children are born to you; you shall make them princes over all the earth. They shall make mention of your name from generation to generation; therefore shall the nations shall confess you for ever, even forever and ever
She was met by the priests of the Temple and the High Priest Zachariah himself. With no help from anyone else, the girl walked up fifteen steps. Zachariah, the father of Saint John the Baptist, took the Virgin Mary into the Holy of Holies: the most sacred place in the Temple, where she remained until at the age of twelve, when she was betrothed to Saint Joseph. No one could enter there except the High Priest, who entered alone once a year (on the Day of Atonement) to offer the blood of sacrificial animals "for himself, and for the errors of the people" (Hebrews 9:7). But Zachariah was given an extraordinary inspiration for his action. After all, the Virgin herself was to become the Holy of Holies, a living temple, bearing in her womb the Savior of the world.