On 2 February, every year, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Presentation of the Lord. On the occasion of this great royal feast, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the Patriarchal Cathedral of Bucharest by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, together with His Grace Macarie, Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Northern Europe.
After reading the Evangelical pericope His Beatitude delivered a speech in which he emphasised the teaching of the text.
Waiting for God or meeting Him is prepared through fasting and prayer
“Your Grace, monks and priests, beloved faithful, men and women, the Church scheduled the Gospel text you have just listened to on the feast named Presentation of the Lord. This Gospel text shows us three great truths. First of all that the people had been waiting for centuries for the coming of Messiah, and this waiting was made in faith, with hope and much patience. Secondly, the Gospel shows us that Righteous Simeon predicted that Infant Jesus who would be brought to the Temple “would be for the falling and raising of many people as a sign that would cause much opposition”. And he says to the Mother of God that “a sword will pass through your soul to reveal the thought of many hearts”. In other words, Righteous Simeon makes a prophecy about the Mystery of the Cross of Christ, about His sufferance, as well as about that of His mother, Virgin Mary, who will see her Son crucified and killed. Thirdly, the Gospel shows us that the waiting of or meeting God is prepared through fasting and prayer. This is the teaching that Saint Prophetess Ana renders best. She represents the righteous people who are close to the Church, who spends their night and day fasting and praying”.
The Righteous is man with strong faith and living according to the will of God
The Patriarch of Romania has also explained the fact that “the Gospel is very spiritually useful for those willing to understand how the Holy Spirit who inspired the Righteous Simeon and Prophetess Ana to wait for tens of years the coming of Messiah can work in the souls of the faithful and patient to fulfil the promise of salvation, of man’s union with God. Thus, Righteous Simeon is named the “Receiver of God” in the calendar of our Church. He shows us how we can be receivers of God too. We see that the Holy Gospel according to Luke describes this servant of the Temple as a righteous man, afraid of God. Righteous in the Old Testament was not a man a man who applied the human justice, but rather a man who obeyed the words of God and accomplished His will in his life, who understood that, in fact, the word of God is a guide for man’s life. This is why the Psalms say, God, I obeyed your words, namely the advice for improving the man’s life coming from God. The Righteous is a man with strong faith, and living according to the will of God. The faithful man is the righteous man. The pious man is the righteous man too in the Holy Scriptures. This is why Righteous Simeon used to spend his time in prayer obeying the words of God and applying the commands of God. The Church tradition says that he was one of the 70 wise men who contributed to the translation of the Holy Scripture. However, he was a servant of the Temple who was waiting for the coming of Messiah, the Christ of God; the Gospel does not tell us how old he was, but only that he was very old. So, we see that he lives because the Holy Spirit told him that he would not die until he saw the Christ of the Lord, namely would not pass away till he met God the Man, the Son of God who was made man out of love for the men. We see in the Righteous Simeon how promise becomes reality, how hope becomes communion or meeting with God”.
Righteous Simeon is a Prophet of the Cross who ties the Glory and the Cross together
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel has also shown that The Righteous of the Old Testament do not wait for something, but for somebody: “Righteous Simeon and Prophetess Ana represent all the people chosen, all those who were waiting for the Lord, as Psalm 40 says: I waited patiently for the Lord. The Righteous of the Old Testament, among whom Simeon is a representative one due to his patience, piety, faith and hope, do not wait for something but for Somebody. I waited patiently for the Lord. They do not wait to be given something better in this world. They do not wait for an advantage, gifts from God, but for God Himself, Who is the source of life and of all gifts. So, I waited patiently for the Lord means that I was waiting to meet Him. This is why when the promise of the Holy Spirit becomes reality Righteous Simeon receives in his arms weakened by time the One who bears the entire Universe, all the galaxies, God the Creator of the heaven and earth as infant. He says: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” As the Gospel according to Luke says, the moment he met God he glorified Him and said you may now dismiss your servant in peace. We see here that Righteous Simeon is a Prophet too. He sees the future of this child whom he receives in his arms. He knows that this is the Saviour. Jeshua means God saves, Jesus means God saves. For my eyes have seen your salvation means the One through whom salvation comes. Which you have prepared in the sight of all nations means that Christ, the Lord, has not come only for the people of Israel, but for all nations. This is why he adds “in the sight of all nations” or revealed to all nations. Then he says glory of your people Israel. And he blesses Righteous Joseph and Virgin Mary, Mother of Infant Jesus. Then, after he blesses God, he also blesses those considered to be the child’s parents. Righteous Joseph was Jesus’ adoptive father, but the Mother of God was the mother that gave birth to Him. He blesses them and then he prophesizes that this Child who will be for the falling and raising of many people and a sign that will be opposed, and ‘a sword will pierce your soul too’ (of the Mother of God), namely the sword of sorrow, of the sufferance of the mother to see her One Son crucified and dead on the cross. We see that the Glory of Israel Righteous Simeon speaks about in the first part bears the sign of the Cross on it, of sufferance, because Christ was opposed and had crucifixion and death from the people He has come for. So, we see in the Righteous Simeon a prophet of the cross who ties the glory and the cross together because glory cannot be reached without bearing the Cross. Glory belongs to Resurrection, but Resurrection was reached through the Cross. So, Righteous Simeon represents, as we have already said, the period of waiting of all the righteous and prophets of the Old Testament. This is why the words uttered in the Temple of Jerusalem have become part of the Orthodox Vespers. In the end of the Vespers you may now dismiss your servant in peace is said, showing that the Vespers symbolize the period of waiting for Messiah. The Matins symbolize the dawn of Jesus’ coming, the Nativity of Bethlehem, the childhood, youth, not known by the people till His baptism and then the beginning of the saving work in the world which is represented by the Divine Liturgy. Thus, we see a relationship between our cult and the history of salvation. Our Orthodox cult represents the time blessed through waiting, prayer, and fasting”.
Prophetess Ana is a representation of all the faithful women, who pray, fast and do much good to the Church through silent prayers
The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church has also underlined that “Prophetess Ana, as already said, was a woman who was staying in the Temple and praying, as the Gospel says, night and day, not day and night. So, the vigils were done especially by night, because when people rest the faithful man is praying. He rests in prayer, in the communion with God who gives man the true rest. We see in this Prophetess, the daughter of Fanuel from the nation of Asher, a representation of all the faithful women, who pray and fast in silence and do much good to the Church through prayer. Then, she joins the praise that Righteous Simeon brings to Infant Jesus, because the Gospel says that she too spoke about Infant Jesus and about the salvation Israel was waiting for. Very interesting is the fact that Saint Evangelist Luke reveals her age, which thing is not done in the case of Righteous Simeon. He says that she was a widow, that she lived only seven years with her husband till he died, and she never married again, so that she was a widow aged 84. This explanation is very interesting, namely this detail, because it shows that Prophetess Ana was faithful both to her husband and to God. She loved her husband so much that when she became a widow she never chose another one, but wanted to dedicate all her life to God through fasting and prayer.”
Many faithful were present at the Divine Liturgy, among whom a group of young Romanian people from Scandinavia, Swedish, Danes, and Norwegians converted to Orthodoxy who participated these days in a winter camp in Romania. After the Divine Liturgy, the young people were received by the Patriarch of Romania at the Patriarchal Cathedral.
To end with, all the faithful present received little icons of the feast of the Presentation of the Lord on behalf of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.
The liturgical answers were given by Nicolae Lungu chorus of the Romanian Patriarchate.
