Synaxarium

On this day, we commemorate the entry of the Lord Christ into the temple. After forty days from His glorious birth, Joseph the Righteous and the Virgin His mother presented Him, to fulfill what the Mosaic Law required of the people of Israel. The Evangelist Luke says that when His parents brought Him to perform the customary rites of the Law, Simeon the Elder took Him in his arms and blessed God, saying, "Now You dismiss Your servant, O Lord, according to Your word, in peace."

As for this Simeon, he was one of the seventy elders who translated the Torah from Hebrew into Greek. This occurred when Ptolemy, called 'the Conqueror,' reigned around 269 BC. By God's arrangement, he sent to Jerusalem and summoned seventy men from the Jewish priests and scholars, ordering them to translate the Torah from Hebrew into Greek. He then separated every two of them into a private place so they would not agree on a single translation, to ensure an accurate version after comparing these translations. Simeon the Elder was among them. It happened that when he reached the translation of the prophet Isaiah's words, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son," he feared to write "virgin conceive" lest the king mock him, so he wanted to write the word "young woman" instead of "virgin." When he was troubled inwardly by this incorrect translation, God revealed to him in a vision that he would not see death before he saw the Messiah of the Lord born of the virgin. This was fulfilled, and this righteous man lived about three hundred years until the birth of the Lord Christ. His sight had failed, but when the child was placed on his arms, he saw and the Holy Spirit informed him that this was the one he had been waiting for. So he blessed God and said, "Now You dismiss Your servant, O Lord, according to Your word, in peace, because my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and glory to Your people Israel."

The blessing of the prayer of this righteous man be with us, and to our Lord be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Note on today's rite:

+ If the feast falls during the Fast of Nineveh or the Great Lent or on a Sunday, the feast readings are read.

+ The procession is done after the Gospel of the Divine Liturgy, and the Gospel is wrapped in a white silk veil and carried three times in the temple.

On this day, we commemorate the departure of Saint Simeon the Elder. May his prayers be with us, and to our Lord be glory forever and ever. Amen.