My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
On the 25th of July, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates
the Holy Dormition of Saint Anna, the mother of the Most Holy
Theotokos.
Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. Fourth Tone
O GODLY-MINDED Anna, thou didst give birth unto God’s pure
Mother who conceived Him Who is our Life. Wherefore, thou
hast now passed with joy to thy heavenly rest, wherein is the
abode of them that rejoice in glory; and thou asked forgiveness
of sins for them that honor thee with love, O ever-blessed one.
Kontakion Hymn. Second Tone
We celebrated now the memory of Christ’s ancestors, while asking
their help with faith, that we may all be saved from all manner of
tribulation as we fervently cry aloud: Be Thou with us, O Lord our
God, Whose pleasure it was to glorify them both.
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According to Holy Tradition, Anna, the ancestor of God, lived for sixty-nine years, and her spouse Ioachim, for eighty; according to one account, Iochim died two years before Saint Anna. The Theotokos had been orphaned by both her parents already when she was eleven years of age, when she was living in the Temple. Saint Anna is invoked for conceiving children, and for help in difficult childbirth. Saint Anna’s main feast is on September 9th where her life is written. Saint Anna was of the Tribe of Levi, and was the daughter of Matthan the priest.
Joachim was of the Tribe of Judah, and a descendant of King David. Saint Anna the daughter of Matthan the priest, of the Tribe of Levi as was Aaron the High Priest. This Matthan had three daughters: Mary, Zoia and Anna. Mary was married in Bethlehem and bore Salome; Zoia was also married in Bethlehem and bore Elizabeth, the mother of Saint John Forerunner; and Anna was married in Nazareth to Ioachim, and in old age gave birth to Mary, the Most Holy Mother of God. Ioachim and Anna had been married for fifty years, and were barren. They lived devoutly and quietly, using only a third of their income for themselves and giving a third to the poor and a third to the Temple, and they were well provided for. Once, when they were already old and were in Jerusalem to offer sacrifice to God, the High Priest, Issachar, upbraided Ioachim: ‘You are not worthy to offer sacrifice with those childless hands.’ Others who had children jostled Ioachim, thrusting him back as unworthy. This caused great grief to the two aged souls, and they went home with very heavy hearts. Then the two of them gave themselves to prayer to God that He would work in them the Wonder (Miracle)that He had worked in Abraham and Sarah, and give them a child to comfort their old age. God sent them His Angel, who gave them tidings of the birth of ‘a daughter most blessed, by whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed, and through whom will come the salvation of the world.’ Anna conceived at once, and in the ninth month gave birth to the Holy Virgin Mary. {Source: The Prologue from Ochrid]
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 