Feb. 2 – Meeting of the Lord
The Meeting of the Old Testament with the New, the meeting of Symeon the God-Receiver and the prophetess Anna with the Lord Jesus Christ. The word “Sretenie” most fully conveys the meaning of this event, for it signifies not merely a meeting, but the meeting of the lesser with the greater, of man with God.
Long before this event, when the righteous Symeon was translating the book of the prophet Isaiah, he came to the words: “Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son” – and he doubted: how can a virgin give birth? He was about to replace the word “Virgin” with “woman,” when suddenly an angel appeared to him, seized him by the hand, and said that Symeon would not die until he had seen the fulfillment of the prophecy.
In the time of the Lord’s birth, it was customary to bring a symbolic redemption for the firstborn into the Jerusalem Temple. Likewise, a woman who had given birth to a son was to undergo forty days of purification, after which she was to offer a sacrifice—an annual lamb and a young pigeon or turtledove. If the family was poor, they brought a pair of doves (Lev. 12:6-8). According to tradition, after the Nativity of Christ, the Holy Family lived in Bethlehem in the home of their kinswoman Salome. On the fortieth day, Joseph the Betrothed and the Most Holy God-bearer, together with the Infant Christ, set out for Jerusalem to fulfill the commandments of the Law. In the temple they were met by the elder Symeon, who had awaited this meeting through the many years of his righteous and pious life. And so the Sretenie took place, the meeting of the Old and New Testaments: Symeon took the Lord, the forty-day-old Infant, into his arms and, blessing Him, prophesied concerning the Savior: “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people: a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.”
With these words Symeon joyfully declares: “Now Thou, Master, lettest Thy servant (depart from this life into the next) in peace, according to Thy word (in accordance with Thy promise), because my eyes have seen the salvation which Thou hast prepared for all people.”
To the Most Holy Virgin, the righteous Symeon foretold the future concerning Christ and Her sufferings at the Cross of Her Son: “Behold, this Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against; yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Lk. 2:34-35). In the temple there was also the pious widow Anna the prophetess, eighty-four years old, who served God with fasting and prayer night and day. She too recognized the Savior, gave glory to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all in Jerusalem.
Thus, the feast of the Meeting of the Lord reminds us also of the approaching Great Lent and Holy Week—the time of commemorating the Lord’s sufferings on the Cross and His death. It was then that the prophetic words of Symeon were fulfilled, for the Most Holy God-bearer suffered in soul together with Her Son.
Glory to thy meeting, O Lord!