Russia (bbabo.net), - Candlemas Day in our media is unlucky: apparently because it is celebrated immediately after Valentine's Day, from the evening of February 14, strange headlines with the word "Candlemas" begin to appear on the Web. And it’s good if it’s just: “Signs of the feast of the Presentation of the Lord”, or “The Presentation of the Lord: what everyone should do”, “The Presentation of the Lord: what absolutely cannot be done”, but among the headlines there are frankly wild ones: “The Presentation of the Lord: the biggest sin that cannot be committed on February 15", and even: "What is dangerous to do on the Meeting of the Lord on February 15, 2022".
I will answer right away - on February 15, 2022 it is dangerous to do everything that should not be done on February 14 and 16 of any year from the Nativity of Christ. As for sins, the Feast of the Meeting of the Commandments does not change the list of commandments in any way, and it is worth observing these commandments not only on February 15, but also on all other days. About how to spend this day correctly, later, first, what do we celebrate on the Presentation of the Lord.
Let me start by saying that the word "candlemas" means meeting. But the Meeting is special, that's why we write it with a capital letter. The holiday is based on an ordinary, everyday event: on the fortieth day after the birth of Jesus, the parents of the Divine Infant Mary and the carpenter Joseph come to the temple. Here, in the Temple in Jerusalem, the Meeting takes place, immortalized in the Gospel of Luke.
Long before the birth of the Divine Infant, the righteous Simeon lived in Jerusalem - the translator of the Holy Texts from Hebrew into Greek. Translating the prophet Isaiah and his prophecies that the coming Savior, the Messiah, would be born of a Virgin, Simeon doubted that a Virgin who did not know a husband could give birth. Then an angel appeared to Simeon and said that he would live until he saw the Savior with his own eyes. Life in infinity, life without a logical end, as it turned out, may not be a joy. The Gospel, without dwelling on this moment separately, makes it clear: the elder Simeon lived all these long years in anticipation of the Meeting with the Messiah. Long, long years in anticipation of the Candlemas.
And now the forty-day-old Infant Jesus is brought by the parents to the Temple in Jerusalem. Here, on this very day, led by God's inspiration, Elder Simeon also comes. In the Son of a poor carpenter from Nazareth, Simeon recognizes the Messiah and takes the Child in his arms. Listen how much warmth and tenderness in this scene, set out in a verse by Joseph Brodsky:
"It's done! I've been waiting for You, and now I can leave!" - joy beats in the heart of the biblical elder. And Simeon pronounces the famous words: "Now you release your servant, Master, according to your word, in peace..." me - for I have seen Salvation - mine and Your people." Now Simeon can depart into eternity, now he can descend into the world of the dead, bringing there, first, the message: he saw God on earth, who came into our world in the flesh.
From that moment on, the elder Simeon, who received the Christ Child in his arms, is called so - Simeon the God-bearer, Simeon, who accepted God.
As the Gospel further reports, Joseph and Mary, having heard the words of the righteous elder, "wondered at what was said," and Simeon, having blessed them, continued the prophecy.
"... and he said to Mary, His Mother: behold (i.e., behold), This lies for the fall and the rising of many in Israel and for the subject of wrangling - and to You Yourself the weapon will pass through the soul, - so that the thoughts of many hearts will be opened." These are words about the struggle that will unfold around the Savior who has appeared in the world. Words that predict the way of the cross of the Virgin, Her suffering, when She will stand at the Crucifixion of Her Son. See how the episode draws Brodsky's chiselled verse:
The prophetic words of the elder Simeon to Mary, "And the weapon will pass through the soul to Yourself" formed the basis of the famous icons "Softener of Evil Hearts" and "Seven-Shot". These miraculous images are similar; the Mother of God is depicted on them with swords stuck in her heart. Before they pray for peace, wanting to soften the hearts of enemies.
The Gospel does not tell what happened next with Elder Simeon. Brodsky completes the scene described by the Evangelist Luke - the departure of Simeon the God-Receiver from the Jerusalem Temple. Departure not into death, departure into Eternal Life:
An ingeniously captured image: Elder Simeon, waiting for the Meeting - the Meeting with the Divine Infant, born of the Virgin, waiting for the Meeting as deliverance from an unnaturally protracted life, and, oh, a miracle! - A meeting that becomes not so long-awaited end, but a door opened to Eternal Life. Open from now on for all of us!
For centuries, people have thought about whether it is so good to live forever? What is the most important thing to do in life? The gospel story gives a very definite answer to the first question - life without the Meeting is meaningless, even if it is an infinitely long life. It turns out that such a Meeting is the main thing. But that's not all.Let's pay attention to one fundamental point: it was not angels who brought God to the elder Simeon, but people! The young Virgin Mary and the carpenter Joseph revealed the Divine Infant to Simeon. So it was two thousand years ago, so it is now. Everyone has their own Meeting with God. And it always happens not through angels, not through wondrous visions. The meeting with God happens through people. Always ordinary and extraordinary. Through someone's sacrifice, selflessness, love, someone's forgiveness and mercy... When behind a human deed we are visibly manifested the presence of God in our world.
And now, since I promised, about how to properly celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Usually believers came to the temple on this day, the omicron strain made its own adjustments here. Therefore, when going to church, we must take care not to inadvertently infect anyone, this will be a manifestation of our love for our neighbor. Well, sick people at risk can follow the course of worship on the Internet and pray together with those praying in churches.
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