Celebration in honor of the conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by the righteous Anna (22/12)

The holy righteous Anna was the youngest daughter of the priest Matthan, who came from the tribe of Levin from the family of Aaron.

Her husband, the holy righteous Joachim, was from the tribe of Judah, from the house of King David. According to an ancient promise, the Messiah was to come from the family of David.

The couple lived in Nazareth of Galilee. Every year they gave two-thirds of their income to the Jerusalem Temple and to the poor. According to the special Providence of God, the holy couple had no children until old age. The couple mourned this greatly, since misfortune among the Jews was considered a grave misfortune and punishment of God. The saints fervently prayed for the gift of offspring to them.

On one of the holidays, when the Israelites brought gifts to God to the Jerusalem Temple, the high priest, believing that the childless Joachim did not have the blessing of God, refused to accept gifts from him. Saint Joachim was deeply distressed. He turned to the genealogy of the twelve tribes of Israel and made sure that all righteous men had offspring, including the centenary Abraham. Without returning home, Saint Joachim went into the desert and spent forty days there in strict fasting and prayer, calling on the mercy of God and washing his dishonor with bitter tears.

His wife, Saint Anne, considered herself the main culprit of the grief that befell them.

One day, seeing a nest with barely fledged chicks among the branches of a laurel tree, she tearfully prayed for the gift of a baby to her, promising to bring a born child as a gift to God. As soon as Saint Anne had spoken the words of her vow, the Angel of God announced to her the fulfillment of the prayer and revealed that she would have a daughter named Mary, through whom all the tribes of the world would be blessed. Rejoicing, Saint Anne hurried to the Jerusalem Temple to thank God and repeat her vow to dedicate the expected baby to Him.

An angel appeared with the same gospel to Saint Joachim in the desert and commanded him to go to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, the holy righteous Anna conceived the Blessed Child and gave birth to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Until the age of three, Blessed Mary lived in her parents' house, and then was solemnly brought by Saints Joachim and Anna to the Church of the Lord, where she was raised until she came of age.

Soon after being inducted into the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the eighty-year-old Elder Joachim died. Saint Anne survived him by two years and went to the Lord seventy-nine years. The advanced age of the righteous spouses shows that the birth of their Daughter was the action of a special Providence of God.

The church calls Joachim and Anna the Fathers of God, for they were the ancestors of Jesus Christ according to the flesh, and every day at the leave of the Divine service he asks for their prayers for the believers coming from the temple.

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