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 9th of September Our Holy Orthodox Church
Commemorates the Holy and Righteous Ancestors of God,
IOACHIM AND ANNA.
Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn of the Saints. Second Tone
As we celebrate the memory of Thy righteous Ancestors,
O Lord our God, through them we beseech Thee to save
our souls.
Kontakion Hymn. Fourth Tone
IOACHIM and ANNA were freed from the reproach of childlessness, and
Adam and Eve from the corruption of death, O immaculate one, by thy
Holy Nativity, which they people, redeemed from the guilt of offences,
celebrate by crying to thee: The barren woman giveth birth to the
THEOTOKOS, the nourisher of our life.
Saint IOACHIM (Joachim) was of the Tribe of Judah, and a descendant of King David. Anna was 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 the Baptist and 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 back as unworthy. This caused great grief to the two aged souls, and they were 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. Saint Ioachim lived for 80 years and Anna for 79, and they both entered into the Kingdom of God. [Resource: 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
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 