Entering of Mother Mary into the Temple is one of the twelve great holidays celebrated by the Orthodox Church, also known as the Immaculate Holy Mother of God (Bogorodica Prechista). It is celebrated on December 4th.
According to the Holy Tradition, Mother Mary was presented at the Temple of Jerusalem from her devout parents, St. Joachim and Anna as a small three-year-old girl, in order to fulfill their covenant given to God. Because there is no immediate information from the books of the New Testament of the birth and early life of the Mother of God, the earliest source of this story can be found in the non-Canonical Prototype by apostle Jacob from the second-century. In her escort, girls were called to hold candles in their hands, giving a special meaning of the event itself. The Mother of God climbed the stairs, greeted by priests in the temple, led by Zechariah, the father of St. John the Baptist, and was introduced into the holiest part of the Temple - the Holy of Holies. She lived there for nine years, until she was handed over to her relative, Saint Joseph of the Celomudry, in order to be honored with the Law.
The significance of this holiday is very difficult, yet the Church sees it as a holiday that marks the end of the physical, material Jerusalem Temple as a place where God lives, and the beginning of the New Testament, where through the Mother of God, the Immaculate Christ is placed in the womb of the Immaculate Mother Mary.
This way, the Most Holy Mother of God is taught and devoted entirely to God and (later) becomes the abode of the Incarnate God, a bridge that connects heaven and earth - God and man; a step before the worship of man.
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| Mother Mary enters the temple as a 3 year old girl |
According to the Holy Tradition, Mother Mary was presented at the Temple of Jerusalem from her devout parents, St. Joachim and Anna as a small three-year-old girl, in order to fulfill their covenant given to God. Because there is no immediate information from the books of the New Testament of the birth and early life of the Mother of God, the earliest source of this story can be found in the non-Canonical Prototype by apostle Jacob from the second-century. In her escort, girls were called to hold candles in their hands, giving a special meaning of the event itself. The Mother of God climbed the stairs, greeted by priests in the temple, led by Zechariah, the father of St. John the Baptist, and was introduced into the holiest part of the Temple - the Holy of Holies. She lived there for nine years, until she was handed over to her relative, Saint Joseph of the Celomudry, in order to be honored with the Law.
The significance of this holiday is very difficult, yet the Church sees it as a holiday that marks the end of the physical, material Jerusalem Temple as a place where God lives, and the beginning of the New Testament, where through the Mother of God, the Immaculate Christ is placed in the womb of the Immaculate Mother Mary.
This way, the Most Holy Mother of God is taught and devoted entirely to God and (later) becomes the abode of the Incarnate God, a bridge that connects heaven and earth - God and man; a step before the worship of man.
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